THE TOP JOBS IN 10 YEARS MIGHT NOT BE WHAT YOU EXPECT
WE TALKED TO THREE FUTURISTS TO FIND OUT
WHAT THE HOT JOBS OF 2025 COULD BE, AND THEIR ANSWERS MAY SURPRISE YOU.
For decades, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor’s Economic and Employment Projections have been the bellwether for predicting
what the hottest jobs up to a decade out would be. But with the rapid pace of
technological change disrupting industries faster than ever before (think:
robotics, 3-D printing, the sharing economy), it’s becoming obvious to many
futurists that past trends may no longer be a reliable indicator of future job
prospects.
Top Jobs Today That
May Disappear By 2025
Many jobs in 2015 that
are considered "hot" likely will be much diminished by 2025,
according to Graeme Codrington, a futurist at TomorrowToday Global. Is yours
on the chopping block?
Front-line Military
Personnel Will Be Replaced With Robots: While maybe not a "hot job" today, there are
still many young people in many countries around the world who are incentivized
to sign up for military service as a viable career option, says Codrington:
"The U.S. military will lead the way, but will soon be followed by other
advanced military forces, including China, Russia, and Israel, to replace
front-line troops with robots, drones, and other mechanical fighting machines.
Wars will be engaged remotely."
"This will, of
course, create new military jobs in the new engine rooms of these wars, with
drone operators, robot designers, and cyber warfare experts in high
demand," he says. "But the front-line trooper will find no place in
the military."
Private Bankers and
Wealth Managers Will Be Replaced With Algorithms: "Already we’ve stripped the
financial industry of its most iconic personnel: the stock exchange floor
traders. Now we’ve even taken most of the backroom traders away too, as stocks,
currencies, and commodities are all traded by complex—and lightning
fast—algorithms," says Codrington. "The next group of financial
experts to be replaced by machines is going to be private banker deal makers
and the personal wealth managers. Their primary jobs involve information
arbitrage—they know where to find you money, or find return on your money. When
the machines know how to do this, we will dispense with the people fairly
quickly."
Lawyers, Accountants,
Actuaries, and Consulting Engineers Will Be Replaced With Artificial
Intelligence: "Any
professional that is mainly involved in dealing with information is going to be
replaced by algorithms and AI," says Codrington.
"In the last two
centuries, we’ve seen two significant shifts in the global labor market,"
says Graeme Codrington, futurist atTomorrowToday Global. "First we stripped the agricultural
sector of workers, and then we did the same to manufacturing. Now the machines
are coming for the tertiary sector, and will begin to strip companies of their
white-collar workers in the next decade."
What that means, says
Codrington, is that some of the hottest jobs of today could be obsolete by 2025
(check out the sidebar to see if yours is on the chopping block). Yet all hope
isn’t lost, he says. "History tells us that somehow the labor market
creates new jobs whenever it destroys some old ones. While it’s easy to see how
the overall job market could contract significantly, and certainly many jobs
that exist today will not exist in a decade or two, it’s also quite easy to see
myriad new jobs being created."
So just what are the
jobs that will be in demand in this brave new world only a decade away? Codrington
and two other futurists give us their predictions.
"At
TomorrowToday, we’re predicting that nearly 25% of today’s full-time employees
will be working ‘on demand,’" says Codrington, referring to the
increasing preference of companies to hire freelancers for short contracts when
the need arises instead of keeping people on staff.
Currently the
on-demand economy is popular in the creative fields or for the odd
personal-services job, but Codrington notes that almost any job that can be
done at a digital distance will be attractive for companies to opt for
freelancers over staff, even when looking to hire "top-end professionals
who can solve significant problems for companies."
The demand for these
"on demand" workers will result in an increased need for individuals
to brand themselves to set them apart from the competition. To do so, they will
need a new set of skills related to "self-management, self-promotion,
relentless marketing, administration, and self-development," says
Codrington—anyone who can teach this on-demand workforce these skills will be
in great demand themselves.
Related to
Codrington’s personal worker brand coaches and managers will be the role of
what he calls the "professional triber," says Joe Tankersley, a futurist and strategic designer at Unique Visions. Tankersley says that as more companies rely on on-demand
workers, the role of a professional triber—a freelance professional manager
that specializes in putting teams together for very specific projects—will be
in demand.
The professional
triber is "the Hollywood model dispersed across the general
workplace," says Tankersley. Just as Hollywood studios don’t themselves
hire the individual cinematographer, editor, scriptwriters, and actors to make
a movie, neither will companies of the future want to hire individual components
of a team to get a job done.
Instead, they’ll turn
to the professional triber, or director, to let them assemble the team they
think is most appropriate to complete the project. Companies, just as Hollywood
studios do with directors, will keep working with the same triber, provided his
varying teams keep producing hits.
Tankersley also
believes that by 2025, there will be a large need for freelance professors as
teaching moves into the on-demand realm. "The continued growth of online
courses and the introduction of alternative accreditations will spawn a growth
in freelance or independent professors. By 2025 all you need to start your own
university is a great online teaching style, course materials, and marketing
plan."
BY 2025, ALL YOU NEED
TO START YOUR OWN UNIVERSITY IS A GREAT ONLINE TEACHING STYLE, COURSE
MATERIALS, AND MARKETING PLAN.
Though technology
continues to move the world into the virtual space, the 21st century may see
the return of local farming due to the number of people living in urban areas
and the increasing awareness of the detrimental environmental impacts of
industrial farming.
"Small artisan
farmers will continue to grow in numbers as urban farming becomes a small but
significant part of the food chain," says Tankersley, who believes that
individuals and companies will spring up to teach and assist amateur urban
farmers lead a healthier and more eco-conscious life.
By the year 2100, the
planet is predicted to have another 4 billion inhabitants, yet well before
then, the average age of a person living here will also increase. By 2025,
the World Health
Organization predicts that 63% of the
global population will live to over the age of 65—some well past their
centenary. As the average age continues to get older, Tankersley says
end-of-life planning will become a hot job sector by 2025.
BY 2025, THE WORLD
HEALTH ORGANIZATION PREDICTS THAT 63% OF THE GLOBAL POPULATION WILL LIVE TO
OVER THE AGE OF 65.
"As boomers grow
older, they will reshape the last phase of life as they have every other phase.
We can expect to see a major push to redefine end of life. New ‘business’
opportunities will range from life memorial planners as funerals become more
elaborate than weddings, and even euthanasia guides as more boomers opt to
decide when life ends."
The aging population
will seriously start affecting world economies in the next decade, agrees
Codrington, and a workforce built around caring for the aging population will
be one of the hottest sectors of the economy, with demand for employees well
outstripping the supply of workers trained in the field.
"My mother is one
of many women in their 50s and 60s, many divorced or widowed, who are being
recruited across the EU and UK to spend a few months a year looking after the
elderly in those countries. Life expectancy is increasing by about 1.5 days a
week at the moment, and more than half of all the people who have ever turned
80 are still alive.
In countries with
socialized health care, the government provides personal care for these people,
and is going to need more and more carers in the next few decades. By 2025,
what is today mainly physical care will have extended to psychological care as
well."
Unsurprisingly, not
only will the world need more carers in 2025, but there will be a need for
people who can be remote health care specialists to offload some of the work of
local or regional health care specialists who need to commit their time to
caring for patients with more urgent diseases.
"This is a fairly
new hot job in 2015, but will continue to grow and develop," says
Codrington. "It encompasses a range of health care professionals who
either design devices and systems that can proactively track health issues
and/or are involved in remote or virtual health care relationships with
patients."
Interestingly,
Codrington believes that by 2025, the highest-paying jobs in this field will
all be held by Apple employees. "There is no doubt that with their iOS 8
released Health app and their integration of myriad health apps with the Apple
Watch, Apple are making a play in this space, and by 2025 are likely to be the
world’s leading remote and proactive health care company."
It may sound like
science fiction, but advances in neurotechnologyare set to explode in the next
decade. Luke Skywalker’s robotic hand, digital telepathy, and even downloading your mind
to a computer, could soon come to
be. All this means neuro-implant technology will be a hot growing career field.
"Our knowledge of
the brain is developing faster than almost any scientific field at the moment,
and by 2025 our ability to understand the brain will be exponentially improved
from today," says Codrington. "We will need a vast range of
disciplines to be focused on neurosciences, including brain surgeons,
neuro-augmentation and implant technicians and developers, brain backup
engineers, real-time MRI scanners and interpreters, and neuro-robotic engineers
to build mind-controlled robots and machines."
Moving away from the
health sector, Codrington says the burgeoning Internet of Things industry,
which is expected to be a $19
trillion market by 2020,
will create a number of new jobs not just for engineers, but for technically
adept handymen and women. Specifically, Codrington believes there will be a
huge market for smart-home installers.
"Aluminum siding
salesmen were followed by the double glazers, the air conditioners, the gasmen,
and a whole host of others, going door to door over the past half century
helping ordinary people improve their homes," he says. "It might not
be door to door anymore, but there is going to be plenty of work for those who
can bring various aspects of the Internet of Things into our homes in the next
few decades."
Part of the expansion
of the Internet of Things into our homes will involve the increasing use of
virtual reality for both work and play. Offices could become obsolete if you
can just log in virtually from your home office and interact with your
colleagues as if you were in the same room. And when it comes to virtual
reality for home entertainment, well, that 72-inch television and PS4 are going
to look positively archaic in 2025. Virtual reality will be as much a part of
our lives as the Internet and our iPhones are today—and that means people who
can design the best VR experiences will be in huge demand.
VIRTUAL REALITY WILL
BE AS MUCH A PART OF OUR LIVES AS THE INTERNET AND OUR IPHONES ARE TODAY.
"In every part of
our lives, virtual reality—using much more advanced systems than Oculus Rift or
MS HoloLens—will have become everyday by 2025," says Codrington. "We
will need VR experience designers in every part of our lives to design and
implement virtual reality experiences for us. From training and conference
experiences in the workplace, to global tourism and fantasy running trails for
our leisure, to even virtual relationships like the OS in the movie Her,
virtual reality will need directors, actors, developers, and designers to make
virtual reality very real for us."
John Danaher, a
lecturer at NUI Galway’s School of Law and an expert in the philosophy of law
and emerging technologies, agrees. "With the growth of virtual reality
software and hardware, I think there will be a niche for people who can design
special experiences for people in virtual reality environments," says
Danaher. Why virtual reality experiences in particular and not real-world ones?
Well, because "virtual reality will provide more opportunities for
creative thinkers."
Danaher also believes
that an increasingly hot job in the future may actually be one of the oldest
professions on the planet: sex work.
"Erotic labor may
be a niche area for humans in the future," says Danaher, who has written
at length about technological
unemployment and sex work.
Danaher is one of the many futurists who believe that robots and software will increasingly put the
population out of work as
the century progresses. After all, robots don’t need breaks, don’t get sick,
and can generally do things better and faster than humans already. Yet one area
where humans currently excel over robots is sex—which is a good thing,
considering many people may be turning to sex work to support themselves since
a lot of today’s jobs might be redundant by then.
ONE AREA WHERE HUMANS
CURRENTLY EXCEL OVER ROBOTS IS SEX—WHICH IS A GOOD THING, CONSIDERING MANY
PEOPLE MAY BE TURNING TO SEX WORK TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES.
"I think, given
the choice, most humans will prefer to have sex with another human rather than
a machine. This could have interesting consequences for the sex work industry,
which has always existed, be it legal or otherwise," says Danaher.
"Increased automation in other industries will drive humans toward niche
areas in which they have an advantage over machines. Sex work could be one of
those areas."
But Danaher says even
in sex work, there will be robots and virtual reality devices that offer some
possibility for sexual gratification too. That’s why he feels there will be a
need for sex worker coaches to train sex workers to compete with their digital
counterparts. "This will increase the market for people who can train
humans to be effective sex workers," he says, and also notes that he
believes the threat of technological unemployment will lead to further legalization
of sex work around the world.
3-D printers have
been a boon to the
manufacturing and prototyping industries for years, yet the large majority of the consumer
population seem to have little interest in learning to use them. Danaher
doesn’t believe this apathy from the general public will dissipate by 2025, but
he does believe an increasing number of people will come to appreciate the
advantages of 3-D printing, which means they’ll hire people to design and print
their objects for them.
"I’m not sure
that these people will make much money, given that the designs will be easily
copied and shared, but there may be a premium at the high end of the
market," says Danaher. "The rich will pay their own designers to
create bespoke products for them. Just as companies already hire specialist
designers, imagine having your own personal Jony Ive to design your 3-D-printed
furniture."
BY MICHAEL
GROTHAUS
http://www.fastcompany.com/3046277/the-new-rules-of-work/the-top-jobs-in-10-years-might-not-be-what-you-expect?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-weekly-newsletter&position=1&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=05222015
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