There’s no fun anymore in claiming to be developing an IoT solution to visualize data remotely or receive alerts in real time. It’s becoming as common as any company having a website. However, we need to acknowledge that the IoT, I-IoT or the I4.0 boom is motivating many to go back to the basics of engineering practices ranging from Applied Physics (data capture) to Applied Mathematics (analytics).

In a sense, IoT is evolving to be more of a combined Information Technology (IT) and Product Engineering (PE) field. Offering one without the other appears like a piece meal solution than a complete one. There are few companies providing integrated solutions as System Integrators (SI), all under one roof. This appears to be the trend right now. It wouldn’t be a surprise if all IT companies’ re-brand themselves as IoT or SI companies in the near future.

With such changes in the Tech industry, more emphasis will be on closed loop solutions – pushing the eco-system to churn out skills such as Embedded programming, Mathematical & Numerical Programming, Mixed signal circuit design, Reliability analysis, Systems Engineering and User experience design. Also, non-technical skills such as Cross functional team coordination and Product Management will be in need to ensure all blocks are assembled in an appropriate manner.

These are not easy skills to acquire, yet are going to be more in demand. In order to compete, we need to build such expertise in parallel while we develop marketable products and solutions.

At present the most practical approach seems to be pursuing the path of DIY & Hack >> Make & Sell >> Innovate & Lead – the challenge is, will the fuel last the journey? How do we refuel if it doesn’t?

(This is a slightly modified version of the original article, which was first posted on LinkedIn, June’2017)