Everyone needs digital skills, not just mastercoders

Advancements in artificial intelligence have changed the way society can benefit from this technology. Due to these changes, digital skills are becoming a universal requirement for today’s workforce. Here, Glyn Townsend discusses the future demand for digital skills and how the education sector should react.

Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are creating burning new challenges for the future of digital skills, coding, and education as a whole. The increasingly widespread use of this technology in the coming years means basic data literacy skills are a ‘must’ for pretty much everyone in the workforce – and should underpin all further education courses.

We’ve seen a surge of interest in Open AI’s ChatGPT which reached over one million users in less than a week thanks to its readily accessible generative text capabilities, making it in many ways akin to a glorified search engine. Not only that, but with the correct instructions, reliable code can be designed and refined in minutes. Using basic technical literacy, very effective simple coding can be created and, in more complex projects, AI tools can be used to shave hours from code design.

The idea that programmers need to be masters of technology and are the only people who require strong digital skills no longer applies. The reality is that we’re sitting on the precipice of an AI industrial revolution, meaning some level of digital literacy is a necessity for everyone, not just those from a tech background.

However, we will still need enough experts in data science to understand how platforms like ChatGPT work and to ensure its outputs remain accurate, ensuring that AI does not become a ‘box of magic’ nobody understands. It is important to be able to interpret outputs from AI, and to ensure they are free from bias, where the emerging field of AI ethics becomes even more critical. We need data scientists who can integrate and validate, but  we also need everyone to have a basic level of data literacy.

The demand for data scientists

The UK is in the midst of a data skills crisis, and government data has reported that 48% of companies have already struggled to recruit for roles requiring the more advanced data science skills.

There are well in excess of 35,000 data scientist roles being advertised on LinkedIn in the UK currently, and only around 10,000 new data scientists set to be graduating from universities each year. It’s clear how deep the advanced data skills deficit runs.

The skills gap is already hindering progress within businesses across a variety of sectors. In a study by SAS, it was found that 63% of companies surveyed said their staff did not have the skills necessary to make the most of AI advancements. More than half (54%) also reported that they need to take on extra staff to make up for a lack of skills when working with AI and machine learning, data visualisation, and data analytics.

The study covered nine sectors, including banking, insurance, government and retail, showing how the lack of data skills is already affecting many more industries than just those at the forefront of IT.

Currently, digital skills in the UK workforce come primarily from companies providing internal training and individual learning courses. However, this comes at a cost for businesses, both financially and in time, leading many to outsource their data needs internationally. Instead, the new focus should be on bringing this talent back “in house” to the UK by investing in education and upskilling the talent pool.

New advancements in AI and cloud analytics will create the space for new talent, change the way most industries work, and open new jobs – but, with a digital skills crisis already here, the UK workforce is largely unprepared.

Changing the face of data education

As already outlined, there is a pressing need now for more data scientists. But with the emergence of platforms such as ChatGPT and the availability of low-code/no-code solutions, access to AI and analytics capabilities has expanded to a much wider range of people. It means the education sector needs to reassess its approach to data literacy.
Data literacy is the ability to read, understand, create, and communicate data as information. It is a key part of working in digital environments and provides a foundation for stronger data skills.

As more industries gain access to advanced tools, people in those industries will need a base-level of understanding to achieve their full potential. For this reason, data literacy needs to become a steadfast practice across almost all education, not just IT and Statistics courses.

Finding the balance between a strong baseline of day-to-day data skills and encouraging those with the ability or drive to go deeper will be integral for education. A great starting point will be to ensure that courses at all levels at least touch on relevant skills and that people of all abilities have a pathway to more advanced teaching.

Decision-makers in further education must lead the charge on providing data literacy for all. Not only by offering an optional or stand-alone module as part of a degree course, but embedding it into the core curriculum.  These changes have happened in other aspects of curriculums, with many universities lauding the integration of sustainability topics, where the previous optional modules are now core-content. For the core skill of data, this has been slower, but we are starting to see this happen. The University of Bradford, one of a number of universities that SAS works closely with, has courses where data literacy or data analytics are already part of the core curriculum. Their aim is to continue this and make data literacy (as a minimum) core to all curricula.

Data skills will become a norm over time, just as adapting to any new technology has.

Positioning everyone for the future

Any major shift in the way we work as a society should be reflected in the education system. This is at the core of being prepared for a successful transition into the workforce.
Already, the youngest generations in education have begun to show a willingness and interest in coding – with many being inspired by video games. Among these young coders is the future talent of the IT industry and these natural skills must be nurtured.

However, the challenge goes far beyond targeting those already interested in coding. Many young people will typically want to work in more creative areas, such as marketing, or more people-focused areas such as HR. What is key is that all these disciplines now require a level of data literacy as they all involve working with data – a marketer needs to measure and understand key metrics as to how marketing campaigns are performing, while an HR professional needs to consider the likelihood of certain employees leaving the workforce, measure the effectiveness of employee programmes, and forecast what roles it will need to recruit for and when.

Pretty much any career you care to mention now uses data to some degree. Media and entertainment involve analysing data – for example, to understand what content is best suited for which audience segment. The world of sport is the same – whether it’s using data to improve athlete performance or for clubs to understand how best to interact with individual supporters to improve the fan experience.

The demand for these skills is such that we can’t rely on those intent on a career in analytics. We need to target a broader community of students, as well as the current workforce. This will require collaboration between industry, education providers and local government to increase the awareness of the need for data, and support the emergence of AI hubs.

There are many free courses available, such as the SAS STEP Programme aimed at jobseekers interested in upskilling. As well as being free to access courses like SAS STEP often have multiple learning pathways to suit different skill levels – from basic data literacy to more advanced data science.

The UK is currently third globally for AI start-up investment, but this position is under threat if we cannot provide the skills and talent for the future. The UK Government’s recent paper on becoming a technology superpower, relies, at its core, on importing skills with a new visa programme for overseas workers. We have the talent in the UK to meet this demand, we just need the combined will to move people from ‘unaware of the opportunity’, to ‘curious about the potential’, and support those becoming ‘intent on the career path’ these new technologies afford them

The next digital revolution is already here, and that means many more people are going to be using technology that was reserved for specialists a matter of years ago. Now is the time for the UK to begin to change its approach to promote, improve, and educate on digital and data skills for all.

By Glyn Townsend, Senior Director, Education Services – SAS EMEA