Technology is developing at a lightning fast pace, and so is the need to be acquainted and updated with it. The talk of technology creating unemployment and reducing jobs has been around for decades now, but the fact is that technology doesn’t destroy jobs, it just changes them and raises the minimum education threshold. No matter how much your inertia towards being tech savvy stops you, it is a fact that the world is moving towards a more digital and advanced world at an ever increasing pace. And with that, the type and nature of jobs are also changing. Things like tourists visiting outer space, and a vacation trip in virtual reality are near future possibilities, whether you agree with them or not.
Today Wonderful Engineering will cover some of the new jobs predicted to exist by 2025 according to the Tomorrow’s Jobs report. This report has been released by the mutual collaboration of the Future Laboratory consultants and Microsoft.
Virtual habitat designer
Virtual reality is the future! With companies like Facebook and Samsung being interested in the technology, there is no doubt it will take over consumer electronics soon enough. To give you an idea, just in China around 200 VR start-ups have popped up from nowhere, and now are looking to hire the most talented designers. This has lead to an increase in the global demand for VR related jobs, which has jumped 800 percent since 2014.
With the VR equipment getting cheaper yet more powerful by the day, the designers who are able to combine the narrative skills designer with the spatial awareness of the architect and landscape will be the ones in highest demand.
Ethical technology advocate
Fear of robots replacing humans has been rampant, especially with the advent of Artificial Intelligence. Some even say that creation of an autonomous, intelligent robot will be the last human invention ever, as with the superior processing abilities, robots will make the process of human thinking seem redundant. And there’s no doubt that some categories of jobs will be automated in the near future, but how can we ignore the multitudes of jobs that will be created due to advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI)?
People with expertise in robotics engineering, AI specializations and maintenance will hit jackpot real soon. And along with the technical bunch, jobs for people who are expert on the rules and laws governing behaviour between humans and robots will also blossom. These people will be required to let’s say teach the intelligent machines about our idiosyncratic behaviours so that they can adapt and respond appropriately.
These robot “ethicists” will be responsible for mediating between people and robots, advocating on behalf of the concerned parties. Germany has already allocated €200 million ($US 263 million) towards this field, which gives you an idea about its potential.
Digital cultural commentator
With the apparent rise of platforms like Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr, we can see a noticeable shift from text communication to a more visual and digital one.
And by the 2020s we expect visual communication to rule the roost. This means people who are good at blending advanced technological skills with the artistic ones are going to be in demand big time. Multimedia artists, animators and illustrators’ stock will rise, along with people who are able to complement these skills with music, text, object-oriented programming and augmented reality.
Freelance biohacker
Open-source software platforms are trending these days, with freelancers and volunteer programmers giving away their hard work for the benefit of the society in large. When these are combined with a tremendously information-rich internet, we get citizen scientists, who are able to produce remarkable products while being amateurs in the field. The report predicts that by the 2020s, the prospect of being a citizen scientist will evolve into a viable career for many bioscience graduates with a fire for entrepreneurship.
They have specifically pinpointed biosciences professionals because of the recent advent open-source gene-editing tool CRISPR. It is already being used by thousands of scientists in order to collaborate and search for cure of things like sugar, blood pressure, depression, schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer’s etc.
Internet of things data creative
We already know this as Big Data, but it the report predicts that it is only going to get much bigger! By 2025 billions of embedded devices in the everyday household or otherwise objects will be gathering data in real time, turning the sheer quantity of data into an unimaginable one.
This is where Internet of things creative analysts come in. Using their creative flair, they will be in demand to not only sort out the useful information in the plethora, but also they’ll help you use it to better your lifestyle.
The technical skills of the data scientist will be combined with the communication skills of the digital cultural commentator to make a major impact in tomorrow’s hyper-connected world.
Other future employment options
There were many other employment opportunities being discussed in the Future Laboratory/Microsoft report.
Other options like being a sustainable power innovator seem to be something for the very near future (Elon Musk anyone?). Or attractive jobs like human body designer and making people live beyond 100 years could be a thing in the future.
The report aims to bring some clarity for career planners and iterates on the importance of being a creative thinker along with having a combination of technical and non-technical people skills.
What are your views on the possible jobs of the future?
Do you think your present career will remain relevant in the coming future? Comment below!