As QR payment, mobile package tracking, and other internet services become a part of our daily lives, the role of IoT (Internet of Things) installer is becoming an increasingly popular new career choice.

IoT installers are experts who use testing devices and professional tools to install, configure, and commission the application and equipment for IoT. They are responsible for linking between real things and electronic tags to achieve centralized management and control of machine, materials, and people through computers.

In 2018, the revenue of China's IoT industry grew by 72.9 percent. More than two million people worked in the industry or relevant fields, and that figure is likely to hit five million within the next five years, according to a recent report on IoT installers issued by China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Smart manufacturing, smart agriculture, intelligent transportation, and other industries are seeing the highest demand of IoT professionals, and are therefore expected to absorb the most talents.

As IoT has been well accepted by society, more enterprises are attaching high importance on the development of the industry, thus offering higher salaries for relevant practitioners.

At present, more IoT talents are employed in the private sector, as it started earlier than state-owned enterprises (SOEs). However, with the issuance of related policies, major SOEs are also speeding up in the development of the IoT industry.

The IoT industry has been added as one of the strategic emerging industries in China's 13th Five-Year Plan. In 2020, the market of the sector is expected to reach 2.2 trillion yuan, 30 times larger than the overall size of the internet industry, according to a report on the Chinese IoT market from 2016 to 2021 issued by the Chinese Business and Industry Research Institution.

Training is the foundation for the development of the IoT industry. Therefore, it is essential to focus on the cultivation of professionals and implement more policies to satisfy industry demands, said Wang Zhiliang, a professor with the University of Science and Technology Beijing.