Finding your place in tomorrow's technology landscape

MrYohan Launay, Senior Software Engineer, Google

"Networking is probably one of the best things you can do to better your career."

Senior Software Engineer at tech giant Google, MrYohan Launay, spoke on finding one's place in tomorrow's technology landscape. Mr Yohan started off with a few observations about the development of technology over the years.

With the advent of new technologies such as smart homes and cashless transactions, there has never been such a huge need for engineers or tech-savvy people to build scalable products and address big societal problems. More than 3 billion people are now using the Internet, making data one of the biggest and most valuable resources for businesses and technology. While the data was compiled automatically, a greatly sought-after skill set was analysing and making sense of the data. He also noted the change in technology usage, with more people accessing the internet on their phones more often rather than on their laptops or desktops. This underlined the shift in skillset, with an increasing demand for coding and software skills for mobile applications.

Mr Yohan urged the audience to get started on learning digital skills, such as mobile application creation and web programming. There were many free and comprehensive resources available online where one can learn to code or create websites on their own. To Yohan, it's important for one to get started on self-led projects, such as creating an app, running a YouTube channel, etc. in order to test-drive your skills, challenge your understanding and make yourself more competitive. In the rapidly progressing world, it's important to be mobile and build skills such as engineering, design and social networking that can be exported, says Yohan.

He also encourages the audience to pay attention to networking. To Yohan, networking is probably one of the best things you can do to better your career, as you never know which conversations or which relationships can give you the help you need.