Here’s a lightly edited and
☀️ July 30, 2025 — A Morning of Reflection
A lovely morning—with the sun peeking out and my coffee cup warming my hands. This is my time to reflect, whether on yesterday, today, or something I read. And today, I found myself deep in thought over one headline: a well-known company laying off 12,000 people.
Over the past seven months, many MNCs have done the same—layoffs across continents. But when I sit down and do the math, many of these cuts are less than their regular annual performance management churn (<10%). Yet the moment “12,000” is in the headlines, the reaction is dramatic. Understandably so—but there’s more nuance to it.
I also read a few CEO messages, those open letters that often go viral. Surprisingly, I found nothing wrong with most of them. These leaders are simply seeing the road ahead—something employees often miss. They’re re-aligning their organizations for the future. Are you, as an employee, preparing yourself the same way? If not, you risk falling behind.
📈 The Constant in Tech: Change
Throughout my own career, I’ve watched technology transform the job market—again and again:
- The Y2K bug that created a flood of IT jobs
- The birth of the World Wide Web
- The B2B boom of the early 2000s
- The ERP explosion
- The shift to EDI and data integration
- The rise of AI/ML
- And now, the horizon of quantum computing
Yet despite all this change, jobs continue to be created. The challenge is simple but not easy: reskill and stay relevant.
🧠Where Should New Graduates Look?
Here’s my take on a few areas that are promising right now. This list is not exhaustive, but based on what I’ve seen and continue to work on:
1.
SAP Cloud Migration
Just like the Y2K shift, SAP is pushing customers to move from on-premise to cloud. This alone will generate jobs—not just in SAP but across all cloud ecosystems. I remember being in the room when Steve Ballmer first announced Microsoft’s shift to the subscription model in Bombay. At the time, I didn’t fully get it. Today, it’s reality. SAP is headed the same way.
At NOBL Q, we’re preparing students for exactly this transition—building skills that make them job-ready.
2.
Go Beyond AI/ML Buzzwords
It’s not enough to know what AI/ML are. Learn to build with them. Create agents, solve problems, automate, and optimize. Businesses don’t care about the technology itself—they care about the value it brings.
Ravi Venkatesan, in his book Conquering the Chaos, spoke about how service companies must transform, just like the US auto industry did. At NOBL Q, we’re helping Oracle customers reduce onboarding time by 50% through AI-driven agents built on OIC. This is the kind of impact that sets you apart.
3.
Own the Whole Solution
Too often I hear people on calls say, “I did my part—I don’t know what comes next.” That mindset doesn’t work anymore. Especially for job seekers in India: be curious, take ownership, and aim to deliver end-to-end solutions.
What’s surprising is that the same professionals, when working abroad, handle everything. So why not do it here?
🧠Final Thought
The future belongs to those who prepare for it today. Don’t wait to be told what skills to pick up—be proactive. Be curious. The job market is not dying, it’s evolving. And those who evolve with it will not just survive—they’ll thrive.
— Suresh Perugu
