ThinkstockSoftware engineers, application developers, and programmers – We're covering a lot of bases here because these jobs will be required in various forms from one end of the Industry 4.0 ecosystem to the other. Manufacturers will need folks to write and modify programs for machines as well as develop new interfaces for their human counterparts to interact with them. There will be a raft of data visualization and dashboarding jobs because many of these processes will require a "digital twin" so operators can oversee and interact with operations from a network operations center (NOC).
Companies will also need folks who know how to code in the high-level languages like Java as well as older languages like C and C++. They will be further challenge by having to link legacy systems and machines to new proprietary platforms from different manufacturers as well as ERP systems and supply chain applications. To do this, they will also have to become familiar with 40-year-old serial communications protocols and architectures.
DevOps and Agile will also be highly sought after skill sets. Also in high demand will be those who have an understanding of open source projects like Spark, Kafka, and Cassandra to Docker and Kubernetes.