Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most revolutionary technology trends of this lifetime. The need for developers is growing since the IoT continues its rapid ascent and a recent report foresees that 4.5 million IoT developers will be needed by 2020.

Companies are increasingly taking a look at how they can implement the IoT into their business and huge professional opportunities will be provided by this sector in the next years although IoT requires developers to have a multidisciplinary knowledge beyond their own area of expertise.

First of all developers should be able to program in a number of languages as C/C++, Node.js or Java. Hardware skills are also required to build out a circuit on a breadboard for prototyping while understanding basic electronics is a must. Other important skills include reading data sheets, understanding timing diagrams and clocking.

In addition companies will have more and more need for people who are a combination of data scientists and operation managers and look for these interdisciplinary skills in new hires.

However the lack of IoT-related talent is considered one of the top obstacles and it has been estimated that 2 million IT & communication jobs and 2 million cyber security jobs will be unfulfilled in the next 2 years.

In this context the number of technical graduates should be increased. On the other hand students should be supported by educators in the development of new skills related e.g. to business intelligence, information security, UI/UX design, mobile development, hardware engineering, networking, etc.