AI Upskilling Barriers: Time Crunch, Costs Hinder Engineers, Study Reveals

• A joint study by Scaler and CyberMedia Research (CMR) highlights a significant "confidence–capability gap" in India's AI talent pool.
• 89% of engineers believe they are AI-ready, but only 19% are actively involved in sustained AI/ML system development.
• Key barriers to AI upskilling include lack of time (55%) due to work demands and financial constraints (49%) for quality training.
• Gender disparities exist: 65% of women engineers cite work-life balance pressures, and 56% lack AI mentors.
• 86% of recruiters struggle to find genuinely AI-skilled candidates, emphasizing practical validation over self-reported skills.