Shibu Nambiar – Chief Operating Officer, EMEA and Americas – Genpact shares his views on the impact of generative AI and skills that Genpact is looking for while hiring freshers. (Image: Debashis Sarkar/News18)
Generative AI is not new. It is at least a decade old technology. Generative AI became the talk of the town with ChatGPT version 4 but no one spoke about version 1, 2 and 3. Genpact COO Shibu Nambiar in this interview shares his viewpoint on AI killing jobs.
While Generative AI like ChatGPT sounds exciting as to how it makes work easy there’s a constant fear that if AI keeps getting better, holding on to regular jobs may become difficult. On the sidelines of London Tech Week 2023, Debashis Sarkar, Editor, News18 Tech spoke with Shibu Nambiar – Chief Operating Officer, EMEA and Americas – Genpact on the impact of generative AI and skills that Genpact is looking for while hiring freshers. He also shared tips on what IT employees can do to beat this AI rush. Excerpts.
AI will not take our jobs away if we make sure that we are ready to do something else. That’s how I feel, which is… reskilling and adapting to the new world which AI is going to bring. So, I personally don’t think that AI will take away our jobs.
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Unfortunately, there’s no magic mantra here. I cannot do a course on the side today and expect to stay relevant for the future. For me, the easiest way around this is by staying current. The first thing is don’t try to push back a change. For example, generative AI is not new. It is at least a decade old technology. Generative AI became the talk of the town with ChatGPT version 4 but no one spoke about version 1, 2 and 3. It is all about making sure that you stay current so that you don’t get ‘shocked’ the moment a new tech starts to trend.
AI will not take our jobs away if we make sure that we are ready to do something else.
Also, simply knowing about a new technology is not enough. Just having surface level knowledge about a new tech is dangerous and that’s what worries employees. Everyone has a smartphone, it is so easy to spend some time doing an in-depth analysis of a new technology, say for example, generative AI. This helps in having a plan to learn and grow in jobs.
The next step is to use the right opportunity to raise your hand and grab the right project to learn further.
I personally wish there will be a day when a college degree is not what we look for when it comes to hiring freshers. While we still consider college degrees seriously at present, I wish this changes. For me, vocational training or the understanding of a particular field plays a crucial role. The core skills we are looking for primarily are communication skills along with subject level expertise in mathematics, physics and applied statistics. There’s nothing in the world in future which will not have these subjects as the denominator. If you don’t like maths, it’s going to be tough in tech.
The core skills we are looking for primarily are communication skills along with subject level expertise in mathematics, physics and applied statistics.
I personally look for people who have got the appetite for doing well for themselves. I firmly believe that when people start doing well for themselves, they automatically start doing good for others too. It is a bit of this leadership style that I look for at a very early stage.
I personally think a lot of people will talk about the sheer luck that plays a crucial role but I believe that you have to always be prepared and ready for bigger roles. People should ask themselves as to what they are doing to continuously learn and upskill. The moment there’s a slight chance, people should be ready to raise their hands and aim to grab it. You have to make yourself visible and say that I’m ready to take this opportunity and it doesn’t matter if I need to travel or relocate for that opportunity.
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Always identify your primary stakeholder. In my view, 99% of the time it is the end customer. In your role, if what you do for that day, for that week, for that quarter or year is going to create a meaningful positive impact to the customer and if the customer can actually vouch for you then chances are that your organisation will immediately recognise you. Instead of saying why I’m not given the opportunity to make more money, if you focus on the outcome, money will automatically follow.
