Although you use the internet every day, you won’t necessarily have the skills you need to meet today’s growing demand for trained digital professionals.
“We need more people who can code, [for our business] to be able to grow”, said a spokesman for Zalando, the German fashion e-commerce website. “Although the jobs are there, it’s sometimes hard to find people with the right skills.”
Shockingly, 44 percent of Europeans do not have basic digital skills. It gets worse, though: the British Chamber of Commerce revealed recently that a severe digital skills shortage in the UK costs the British economy £63 billion a year (US$88 billion).
This isn’t just a problem in Europe. According to a report by Accenture, US manufacturers also face a severe digital skills problem at a cost of US$4.6 million in annual earnings. But what is the digital economy, and how can students help plug the skills gap?
The digital economy: not just another buzzword
If you’re not entirely sure what it means, the digital economy refers to the economic output generated by the billions of online connections that are made everyday between people, devices and businesses, thanks to mobile technology, the “internet of things” and big data.
The term has been around since the 90s, but the rise of cloud technology and smartphones in the late 2000s has lent it greater weight. In the past 20 years, the digital economy has grown into a US$3 trillionbusiness and it continues to grow exponentially.
This short video with Javier Rodriguez Zapatero, the former Managing Director of Google Spain and Portugal and current Executive Chairman at the digital business school, ISDI, explains what all the fuss is about.
The skills grads need to join the digital economy
According to a 2016 survey conducted by LinkedIn, all of the top 10 skills that could get you hired on the jobs-listing site that year were internet-related. They included competencies like cloud computing, data mining, SEO marketing and user interface design, to name a few.
It probably won’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that many of the old skills which could get your parents hired have now become totally irrelevant thanks to the path the global economy has taken.
As Tom Goodwin put it for TechCrunch: “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.”
It’s within this whirlwind that the world’s first digital business school, ISDI, set up in 2009, with campuses in Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City and the Silicon Valley.
Forget stuffy professors, all 500 tutors at ISDI are trained digital professionals with years of experience with digital giants with the sole intent of helping students and working professionals meet the digital skills gap.
Forget stuffy professors, all 500 tutors at ISDI are trained digital professionals with years of experience with digital giants with the sole intent of helping students and working professionals meet the digital skills gap.
ISDI tutors know exactly what skills and specialist knowledge you need to thrive in the industry. In their study “The new professional profiles for e-Leadership”, you can read more about the skills requirements that candidates who want to fill these positions should meet.
If you’re a graduate or a digital professional looking to move up in your career, ISDI’s Global Executive Master in Digital Business might be just what you’re looking for.
The school also offer a number of other master's degrees and executive programs, fully taught in Spanish or English, including data analytics, internet for business, mobile development, and marketing automation.