Michael Page | 5G network: the IT job market and the development of new technologies

5G is the fifth generation of mobile telecommunications which is due to become commonly available in 2020, along with the launching of devices that are compatible with it. It will be looking at a data transfer speed ten times faster than in the case of 4G, with minimal latency. In 2017, Huawei cooperated with LG U+ and conducted tests which allowed to attain a data transfer speed close to 20 Gb/s. This is clearly a great achievement, but 5G should eventually allow for a data transfer of up to 100 Gb/s. For comparison’s sake, the maximum speed of 4G LTE is 45 Mb/s, a result obtained in Singapore. In Poland, it reaches an average of 20.17 Mb/s. How will the launching of a new standard of mobile network impact employment in the IT sector, and how will 5G contribute to technological progress?

Great timing for Cloud Computing

Thanks to 5G, most processes will be able to function in cloud computing: resource-consuming operations will no longer encumber users’ infrastructure. This means a farewell to the far too low computing capacity of mobile devices, which would anyway be unable to keep up with the ultra-fast 5G transfer. The job market will see a growing demand for Cloud Computing specialists: for the next years to come, software developers and engineers specialising in handling cloud computing will be sought-after and well paid. At the beginning of their career, cloud developers can count on a wage bracket of approximately PLN12,000, and in the case of specialists, it could be up to PLN22,000 gross. A brief overview of job offers gives us a better picture of the situation: the ones wanted by the market are, among others, Test Automation Engineers, and Python, Java, .NET and C++ developers. More and more processes will be moving to the cloud, which means it will have to be “closer” to the user. As anticipated, big companies that render cloud computing space available will join forces with smaller, local providers of Cloud Computing solutions.

The development of 5G also carries with it a serious challenge e.g. for Chief Information Officers (CIOs), and heads of marketing departments. It is indeed on their shoulders that the responsibility for full use of the 5G potential will rest: searching for and creating new services and business models, and adapting the existing ones to a vast array of new possibilities that will appear, once 5G has become a household name.

Virtual reality – real job

Data transfer speed will allow to take full advantage of the potential of Virtual Reality technology, and provide users with an entertainment at an unprecedented scale, level of realism, and user experience. VR technology needs a large bandwidth, and possibly lowest latency, and 4G LTE is often unable to meet these requirements. VR, however, will be applied not just in dedicated devices, but is here to stay in our computers, smartphones, and cars. Soon, the ones who are sure to gain popularity are virtual reality engineers, Gameplay and Level Designers, and creators of applications that – given the endless technological possibilities – will actually only be restricted by their imagination.

Cybersecurity – top priority

The 5G bandwidth will allow the phenomenon known as the Internet of Things to reach its heyday. More and more devices will be able to connect and communicate with one another, creating smart homes, districts, and entire towns and cities. All this to make people’s lives easier. In theory… Practice can indeed turn out to be different. The more devices will have access to our data – and 5G will keep us on-line almost 24/7 – the bigger the chances that the data will fall into the wrong hands. In the age where all household appliances are connected into one digital organism, a hacker will be able to break into our computer, or phone through a smart vacuum cleaner, or coffee machine! One of the real challenges, and indeed a great opportunity, for cybersecurity experts will be to make sure all the potential “gates” are locked tight against the amateurs of electronic theft. According to Huawei, 5G can make it possible for up to one million of various devices to connect with one another on an area of one square kilometre. This means a great deal of potential threats for users’ security and privacy. Cybersecurity specialists should, therefore, expect a whole heap of work to make us sleep soundly.