Digital transformation: building the workforce and businesses of tomorrow

According to the latest DXC Technology and Telsyte research, the rise of digital transformation across organisations is expected to create 35,000 jobs across Australia in 2019 alone. This might seem a lot, but this is actually a very conservative estimate as this doesn’t take into account the creation of jobs and roles that do not exist yet.

As we continue to evolve in a digital-led world, with companies of all sizes becoming software companies, the role of the developer is expected to grow and become even more instrumental to drive business growth.

Software and coding have become so pervasive, they are now a necessity of the modern world and workplace. While business leaders and non-tech teams don’t need to be software development experts, it is important they gain an element of fluency so they remain relevant, and understand how to best run business operations.

A digital world, powered by code and open source

Code is powering and underpinning every facet of our lives, from how we connect as citizens to our governments, how we shop or access medical records, to how we communicate, live, and work.

Software has become a key driver of innovation, making coding an absolute necessity to survive and thrive in the modern world. As a result, more organisations are tapping into the open source community to access the wide range of skills available globally, and re-use existing, public code.

Open source also enhances collaboration among teams and departments, fostering a smarter way of working and driving innovation, through the implementation of open source best practices within the organisation’s firewall. Called innersourcing, this practice leads businesses to become more efficient by breaking down barriers and silos, so teams can share skills and better collaborate across the entire organisation.

This creates a company culture where big ideas thrive, and where everyone contributes to innovation.

Coding literacy: a personal, professional and business development tool

Coding and the adoption of open source practices have much more to offer than just the access to technical skills, and it can benefit professionals from various backgrounds.

Coding encourages critical, logical and creative thinking, problem-solving skills, and helps unlock cognitive functions. When fostered, all of those can add incredible value to an organisation, helping businesses create new opportunities and allowing professionals to broaden their career development paths.

Using the power of open source also enables people to share ideas, experiences, contribute to each other’s projects, which ultimately creates a culture of collaboration and an open business mindset.

An upskilling journey accessible to anyone

As the demand for tech and coding literate employees continues to rise, it has become obvious that coding should be introduced through education programs and school curricula.

While we’re starting to see great progress in the education space, it will still be a decade before today’s students are introduced to the workforce. Therefore, it is every organisation’s responsibility to implement coding and open source literacy trainings as part of their corporate professional development programs.

The good news is that coding is much more accessible than what most business leaders might think.

First of all, open source platforms provide a fantastic avenue to make coding accessible to anyone, whether you are experienced or have no understanding of software development. The open source community offers access to a unique pool of public global resources, and millions of qualified developers who are happy to help upskill more individuals.

Programs such as Codecademy, freeCodeCamp, Pluralsight and Udemy, as well as a wide range of online resources can help businesses and their employees understand the basics and fundamentals of coding.

Finally, GitHub’s Learning Lab also offers interactive courses that teach various skills and coding languages, including tips and best practices on how to use and take advantage of open source, and collaborate on code to help bring projects to life.

Coding has become a core part of organisations’ DNA. It is the powerhouse behind every digital project, continuously evolving as every part of the business deepens its digital journey. Coding literacy needs to become top of mind across the board, from the marketing, sales and operations teams, up to the C-Suite. By gaining coding skills, each individual will become an active contributor to delivering successful innovations, and be empowered to break down silos, create efficiencies, as well as foster a more collaborative and open business mindset.

It is now up to businesses and government leaders to work together to ensure coding literacy be weaved into education and professional training programs, so we prepare the workforce of tomorrow and equip organisations to succeed in a fast-paced, digital world. This is how our country will become an exporter of innovation.

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