Quantum Computing Skilling up

Among the key emerging technologies in the area of information technology, three of the major ones are Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Quantum Computing.

Quantum Computing promises unparalleled computing power both in terms of size of the problem and execution time. It is likely to solve problems intractable by combined resources of all conventional computers including supercomputers combined. It is going to have huge impact in multiple sectors like Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Optimization, Finance, Drug Design and many more.

Being more nascent technology quantum computing companies have already garnered investments nearing $1B, but this is aside big corporate and government sector initiatives. Chinese govt. has reportedly $11B initiative into Quantum. The likely annual industrial impact of technology is going to be $25-50B in 10+ years, $450-850B in 20+ years (source: BCG). Further it has a lot of strategic implications for governments.

The quantum computing technology may take few years to a decade to mature before making a major impact owing to the challenges in scaling quantum hardware. However, access to some of these early quantum computers are already available in the cloud. Quantum software and APIs are already available to for technologists to learn and play with

Quantum computing technology underlies both new hardware and algorithmic paradigm. There are several free and paid online resources available today to know and learn about quantum. Skilling up on Quantum will typically go three phases – Quantum Awareness, Quantum Readiness, and Quantum Expertise.

Quantum Awareness – This is mostly for CIOs, CTOs, fund managers, R&D heads and non-techies working in relevant technology sector, who want to understand the field and its likely impact, its limitations and use cases.

Following are few links to understand the likely impact of Quantum Computing:

https://www.bcg.com/en-in/publications/2018/next-decade-quantum-computing-how-play.aspx

https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/quantum-computers-create-value-when.aspx

https://quantumcomputingreport.com/

Following are few online courses with minimal maths and overview of technology:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/intro-to-quantum-computing

https://www.edx.org/course/the-quantum-internet-and-quantum-computers-how-will-they-change-the-world

https://learn-xpro.mit.edu/quantum-computing

Quantum Readiness – This is mostly for techies who are either software, algorithm or application developer who want to get their hands dirty into quantum computing. Basic knowledge of linear algebra, probability and calculus along with some programming experience is generally a prerequisite.

Following are links to few online courses:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/quantum-computing-algorithms

https://www.edx.org/course/quantum-machine-learning-2

https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:MITx+8.370.1x+1T2018/course/

Following are links to few popular quantum software development kits:

https://qiskit.org/

https://github.com/dwavesystems/dwave-ocean-sdk

https://github.com/quantumlib/Cirq

Quantum Expertise – This is mostly for researchers who want to get into the field either from perspective of quantum hardware development or quantum algorithm/software development. The best way to get into it is either through research positions/internships in either academic institutions or core quantum computing companies.

PS: More comprehensive compilation of quantum learning resources can found in following:

https://qosf.org/learn_quantum/

https://github.com/desireevl/awesome-quantum-computing