4 IoT skills to learn this year

It was back in 1982, when researchers at Carnegie Mellon University made a modified cola vending machine, which could report its inventory and also if newly loaded drinks were cold. From this point, right up to 2014, there have been visions, by various scientists and technologists, on communicating devices. It took the maturing of the mobile ecosystem for the coining of one of the hottest buzzwords in the tech industry today – Internet of Things.

The concept of electronic devices which can share information over a network to people or other devices have existed since the days of RFID. However, it wasn’t until the emergence and adoption of wearables, namely activity bands and smart watches, that manufacturers really started to entertain the idea of doing the same with other devices. Now there are many applications to the concept and massive backing from their respective industries and even the governments.

By 2020, it is estimated that the number of connected devices will be anywhere between 26-30 billion. And building this network of devices will be IoT engineers. So what does it take to be an IoT engineer? Learn one of these four skills, and you’ve got a good chance of being one.

Hardware

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The “things” component in IoT is essentially electronic or electromechanical devices. The knowledge of embedded systems electronics design, fabrication technologies, measurement systems and mechanics. IoT teams will typically consist of hardware experts who understand the physical working of the machines and if you’ve got skill sets aligned to this, you’ve got a good chance of finding yourself in an IoT team.

All IoT devices will have a prime focus on communication and there will be lot of scope for hardware engineers in communication devices.  Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other connectivity solutions, computer-aided design, micro-electromechanical systems engineering, wireless sensor design, and quality assurance, are some other hardware aspects that will be valuable for IoT engineering.

Software

Embedded software is more important than ever now. Every device will need to have intelligence and communication capabilities. Embedded software, which was used to great effect in automobiles and aeroplanes, is now being used in most devices. Embedded software is making machines smarter and this will be at the heart of the Internet of Things movement.

However, there are many who’re saying that just programmers won’t do anymore. It will more important to think like a software architect, to understand where the software fits into the scheme of the whole system. Also, with platforms like Android and iOS tailoring themselves for other devices, other computer science languages like Objective C, Java, Python etc. will be relevant IoT skills, but only when it supplements an architect mindset.

Data Sciences

When we talk smart devices, which interact with the external environment, we’re talking sensors. And when we talk sensors, we’re talking massive amounts of data. The importance of the data scientist has been on the ascension over the past few years and the IoT era will only cement their emphasis on the computing world.

Sensors are going to generate a lot of data and it will be up to the data scientists to make sense of it. The growth in capabilities of IoT systems largely depends on how data is interpreted and used. Experience of working with big data platforms and data warehousing tools will be greatly valued too.

Data security

A lot of the data that will be exchanged within IoT systems will be sensitive user data. Forbes recently commented – “We have created a whole new playground for attackers to dream up things to do — whether it is nuisance, whether it is theft, or whether it is violence.” And this is not just paranoia talking – the plethora of ways in which your data can be exploited is a possibility today.

Location data from your smartphone, your health data from your smart bands, and we’re just getting started. Now what happens, when this is your car? Or even your home? Securing this data is going to be a matter of life and death and cyber security engineers are going to be pivotal in keeping the sanctity of the ecosystem

Raghu Mohan Author 58 Blogs