With machine
learning, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other high-tech
advances, most of us have wondered if our jobs will be taken over by
technology. The bad news is, this is already happening for some professions
doing rote work, such as telemarketers.
The good news is, studies
show that some jobs are less at risk than others, because they are complex
rather than predictable, or require the kind of creativity or emotional
intelligence that machines don’t yet possess. So here are jobs that will not
disappear anytime soon.
Choreographers
A choreographer is an artist who designs and directs
dance routines and performances that will entertain, inspire and sometimes
challenge audiences. A quintessentially creative profession—combining music and
movement—choreography is beyond the capability of machines right now and for
the foreseeable future.
Teachers
Teachers not only need to know a lot, they
must shape the development of their students, with keen insights into
their character, their abilities and what motivates them. Empathy and a
nurturing nature are important characteristics. While teachers increasingly
must know how to use new technology to do their jobs, they are unlikely to be
replaced by it.
First-line supervisors of police and
detectives
These law enforcement professionals—including police sergeants
and captains—are tasked with coordinating criminal investigations, providing
their expertise and guidance to investigators. Their work requires leadership
and problem-solving skills, a thorough knowledge of police procedures, grace
under pressure and other qualities.
Clergy
In different religious traditions, a clergy person is
an ordained member who conducts religious worship, carries out official rites
and provides spiritual assistance, moral guidance and support to congregation
members. Dealing with personal, emotional, spiritual, societal and other issues
makes the clergy’s job hard to replicate by machines.
Marketing, communications and design
professionals
According to The Independent: “Machines aren't
great at critical thinking, or coming up with new and exciting ideas. . . .
People who design for a living, or who work with ideas, words, and images will
probably survive the increase in automation, because
machines don't function like humans. Not yet, at least.”
Psychiatrists
One of the things that are hard for machines to replicate is emotional
intelligence. A fair bit of this is required by psychiatrists as they
diagnose, treat and try to prevent a variety of mental, emotional and
behavioural disorders in their patients.
Human resources managers
While computers may search resumes for the right keywords,
narrowing down the field for job candidates, human resources managers also
have insights into what makes people tick personally and professionally that
they rely on as they recruit, interview and hire new staff. Mediating disputes,
handling disciplinary actions, planning strategically to make the best uses of
the workforce’s talents also require serious people skills.
Athletic trainers
As much as fitness devices like Fitbit are all the rage, it
still takes the personal touch of a fitness trainer to keep people motivated
and on track for their exercise goals. And with an aging population,
and all the associated maladies, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts
that from 2016 to 2026 the profession should grow by 23%, much faster than
average.
Data scientists
While machines are great at amassing data, sometimes it takes a
human to understand the story it is telling in its algorithms and code.
According to the book Doing Data Science: “A
data scientist is someone who knows how to extract meaning from and interpret
data, which requires both tools and methods from statistics and machine
learning, as well as being human.”
Marriage and family therapists
These therapists also need emotional intelligence and human
insight to do their jobs, as they “treat a wide range of serious clinical
problems including:
depression, marital problems, anxiety, individual psychological problems, and
child-parent problems.” With a 23% predicted employment growth from 2016 to
2026, their job prospects outstrip many other professions.
Gig workers
In today’s growing gig economy, temporary, flexible jobs
are becoming more common, with numbers of freelance workers and contract
employees growing compared to full-time staff. Often their work is related to
technology, such as Uber and Lyft drivers, and food bicycle delivery people.
The work requires flexibility and independence—something machines isn’t known
for.
Dentists
People aren’t crazy about other people poking around their
mouths; they’re even less eager to have machines take over the role. With nice
salaries to boot, (human) dentists will continue to find a growing demand
for their services, diagnosing and treating problems of the teeth, gums and
other mouth
parts.
Music directors and composers
Creativity is the hallmark of the composers who write and
arrange original music and the directors, or conductors, who lead musical
groups during performances and recording sessions. With the number of people
attending musical and theatrical performances expected to stay steady in the
years ahead, the profession will still be needed, although with increased
competition for jobs.
Registered nurses
An aging baby
boomer population will ensure that demand stays high for registered nurses, who
work in hospitals, clinics, assisted-living facilities, homes, schools and
more. They also provide specialized care in “areas such as cardiac
care, midwifery, family practice, geriatrics, labor and
delivery and emergency nursing.”
Conservation scientists and
foresters
The continuing need to prevent and deal with forest fires, as
well as consumer demand for wood pellets, will ensure that conservation
scientists and foresters are around to plan, maintain and preserve public and
private woodlands. In the future, the best job prospects will be for
the professionals who well know geographic information system (GIS) technology,
remote sensing and other software tools.
Cyber security experts
With the growing number of cyber attacks threatening our
increasingly connected workplaces, cyber security is a profession that will continue
to command good wages and grow—conservative estimates predict that job growth
in the sector will be 37% a year through 2022. Good for those in the field;
alarming for the rest of us. And a case of how technology is creating new jobs.
Multimedia artists and animators
With the high demand for animation and visual effects in videogames,
television, movies and online, employment prospects for this profession
will remain steady. While multimedia artists and animators must use the latest
technology in their work, the creativity they bring to projects keeps the
machines as tools, instead of masters.
Chief executives
Whether an organization is large or small, its chief
executive has their hand at the helm, devising strategies and policies to
ensure that it stays on track and meets set targets. Long hours, high stress,
and plump salaries and bonuses are part of the job for both public and private
sector chief executives. As long as there are organizations, there’ll be a
demand for leadership.
Dietitians and nutritionists
An aging and
increasingly obese population, and the rise of diseases such as diabetes and
heart disease, will help keep demand for dietitians and nutritionists high,
with employment projected to grow by 14% over the next decade. These
professionals are experts in using food and nutrition to promote healthy
lifestyles and manage disease.
Mechanical engineers
While machines are on the rise, you still need people to create
and care for them. Mechanical engineers help design, make prototypes,
test, refine and produce just about any kind of machine you can think of. These
include ones for the automotive industry, aerospace and transport industries,
power generation, refineries, insurance industries, building services, railway
systems design and other sectors.
Coaches and scouts
Coaches and scouts find and refine athletic talent. Coaches
give amateur and professional athletes the training and skills they need to
become contenders in their sports. And scouts track down new players, assessing
their skills and how likely they are to be successful. With high interest in
college and professional sports, the demand for this profession will grow at a
rate faster than most other jobs.
Physicians
“Some say technology will replace 80% of doctors in the future”. “Instead,
technology will finally allow doctors to focus on what makes them good
physicians: treating patients and innovating, while automation does the
repetitive part of the work.” A growing and aging
population will help ensure the demand for physicians grows.
Recreation workers
Recreation workers keep people active and healthy with
fitness and recreational activities in sports centres, camps, nursing homes,
community centres, parks and elsewhere. With an increasing societal focus on
lifelong health and well being, these professionals will continue to be in
demand to work with people of all ages in a variety of settings.
Executive chefs
While automation will take over some food production jobs (and
already has), people will always want a good meal out. Combining manual skills
with great creativity, an executive chef knows how to mix flavours
and create innovative menus in ways that will future-proof their profession.
Fast-food chefs, however, are susceptible to automation and AI burger-flipping
assistants.
The Indian Institute of
Technology-Delhi tops the list of best engineering colleges in India, according
to India Today's
rankings of best colleges of 2018.
The
IIT-Kharagpur and Mumbai feature on number two and three positions
respectively.
'One
in four students at IIT Delhi is keen to start a company after graduation,' the
education magazine noted in its June issue.
IIT
Delhi has one of the finest humanities and social sciences departments in the
country, it further pointed.
Top
20 of 100 engineering colleges (government) as per India Today's findings.
Top 20 government engineering colleges of 2018
The Top 20 of 100 engineering colleges (private) as
per India Today's
findings
In the US, Trump’s policy of ‘America for Americans
first’ is making the environment less welcoming for international students.
After a student and her
family have spent a fortune on overseas education, most expect the former to
get a high-paying job in that country and gain permanent residency, if not
citizenship.
But
with most popular destinations, barring Canada, imposing tougher work visa
norms, Indian students are now exploring newer destinations.
Two
categories of Indian students go abroad for studies. The first hopes to use a
foreign degree as a means to emigrate. In the second category, there are
students from affluent families who want quality education and international
exposure, but plan to come back once their course ends.
For
the first category, the UK is no longer attractive as job opportunities have
become scarce after Brexit.
Tighter
visa norms mean students cannot stay back to hunt for a job once the course
gets over.
In
the US, Trump’s policy of ‘America for Americans first’ is making the
environment less welcoming for international students.
For students who plan to study
abroad and then return to India, the UK is still fine as a destination. But
most students are now becoming wary of going to the US owing to Trump’s
aggressive rhetoric.
Indian
students are hence exploring newer destinations now. Let us now look at a few emerging destinations
for Indian students.
Hong
Kong
It has globally renowned universities like the University of
Hong Kong (HKU) and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
It
is one of the few countries where international and local students are charged
the same fee. Hong Kong is also quite liberal in offering scholarships based on
marks.
Studying
there can be cheaper than studying in some of the private colleges in India.
Engineering
is a much sought after course. Universities also let students do a semester in
another country, thereby enhancing global exposure.
France and Spain
France
is emerging as a magnet for students who wish to pursue business studies,
humanities, and fashion design.
French
is one of the most commonly taught international languages in Indian schools;
so many students are familiar with it.
Campus
France, a French government initiative, has done a good job of spreading
awareness in India about French educational institutions. Bachelor courses at
public universities in France have low tuition fees.
Two
of the world’s top management schools -- HEC Paris and INSEAD Business School
-- are located there. Other globally reputed institutions include The Paris
University of Political Studies (popularly known as Sciences Po), ESSEC
International Business School and The American Business School.
However,
scholarships are not common, and job opportunities scarce. It is suited for
students who wish to return to India when their course ends.
Most
students go to Spain for degrees in business management, economics, and other
liberal arts courses.
Colleges
also allow students to complete a couple of semesters in another country.
Both
France and Spain now have universities that offer four-year undergraduate
degrees, which allow students to apply for Masters Degrees in US and Canada.
Singapore and China
Both
are cost-effective destinations, and they also offer scholarships.
Singapore
is popular among students who wish to pursue a Management or MS degree, while
China is attracting students who wish to study medicine.
China
is setting up joint venture universities in its effort to reach its target of
attracting 5,00,000 international students annually by 2020.
Lithuania
The
Kaunas University of Technology and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University are
among the popular universities.
Lithuania
is known for courses in laser technology, agricultural and medical sciences,
engineering and arts. It’s also much cheaper to study in Lithuania compared to
other popular destinations.
The
country offers plenty of work opportunities.
Countries
like Germany continue to be popular for engineering, Italy for design and
Russia for medicine.
These companies are offering their employees more
flexibility than ever
A growing number of
millennials want to work remotely, and fortunately for them, 170 companies in the U.S.
operate 100 percent virtually these days. That number is up from 26 in 2014
according to FlexJobs, an online platform specializing in remote and flexible employment.
FlexJobs
reports that the ability to work
remotely, even part time, helps employees
achieve a better work-life balance, and it therefore improves their overall
health and wellness. It can also help workers save up to $4,000 a year with
reduced spending on gas, parking, public transportation and dry-cleaning.
Perhaps that's why, according to Gallup's
State of the American Workplace survey,
more than one-third of the respondents said they would change jobs in order to be
able to work remotely some of the time.
And telecommuting
doesn't only benefit the workers; companies can reap rewards from it too.
Offering remote opportunities allows companies to work with top talent,
regardless of location. And because those employees are likely to be happier in
their jobs, it also leads to greater productivity, better performance and higher employee-retention
rates. Likewise, it of course saves companies money in office expenses like
equipment, amenities and more — plus rent and utilities if they choose to forgo
an office altogether.
Technology is fueling the growth of fully
virtual companies — tools such as Slack, Zoom, Dropbox and Quip, a document-sharing and editing
platform, make it easier than ever to communicate with employees based anywhere
and track their performance and workflow more accurately. Plus, according to Forbes, millennials, who are already very used to being
connected online, are projected to be the majority of the U.S. workforce by
2020.
So, what
companies are already fully remote?
1. Toptal
Toptal scouts the best freelance
engineers and designers from anywhere in the world and vets their qualifications
using a mix of proprietary software and online interviews. The company has
grown to more than 400 core employees working in 60 different countries.
2. Automattic
Automattic is the team behind
WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, Simplenote, Longreads, VaultPress,
Akismet, Gravatar, Polldaddy, Cloudup and more. It's a totally distributed
company with 704 automatticians in 62 countries speaking 80 different languages.
It makes sense that they're so expansive, given how necessary these sites are
globally.
3. AnswerConnect
AnswerConnect is a live call-answering
service. Whether companies need call-handling services after hours or all the
time, AnswerConnect has a plan to fit any situation because it doesn't
have a call center; rather, its employees all do their work from the comfort of
their own homes.
4. InVision
InVision is a digital product design
platform powering the world’s best user experiences. The company works with
everything from Twitter to Vice to Netflix, so its
success from work-from-home employees is obvious.
5. 10up
This web design and development
consulting service describes its 120-plus-person team as "one big
happy family" that just so happens to be distributed worldwide and stays
connected with Slack, Google Hangout, and text.
6. Buffer
Buffer is a fully distributed team of
more than 80 employees working in several different countries (see this employee
time zones map!). The company's social media management tools are
used by over 60,000 paying customers around the world.
7. Ghost
Ghost is a blogging platform behind
the publishing efforts of organizations like NASA, Square and Graze. It's
open source, free and customizable — and created almost entirely by volunteers
from the nonprofit Ghost Foundation, which runs and organizes Ghost. The team
of developers and other staff work online from all corners of the internet.
8. Hubstaff
This time-tracking tool is used
by over 8,000 remote teams to track time and help with automatic payroll
processing and attendance scheduling. The company was founded in 2012 by two
entrepreneurs who wanted a better way to manage remote freelancers, so it makes
sense that it's built by a totally remote team too.
9. Doist
Doist is the team behind Todoist, a
popular productivity app that helps millions of people manage their tasks and
projects. The company has been around since 2007, and its team members are
spread across 20 different countries.
10. Knack
Knack is a cloud-based database tool
with over 3,000 customers (like Harvard University and Tesla)
that makes it easy for anyone to manage, share and utilize their data. Most use
Knack for creating things like inventory managers and customer portals. The
team behind it calls the internet its headquarters, but they still get together
twice a year at retreats.
Online education is changing the way
we learn in these times as jobs demand people who have the required skills
needed for the job role even though schools and colleges often fail to teach
them. In such situations, MOOC (massive open online course) websites and other
education websites offering online courses come to the rescue. And if the
courses offer online degrees, there can be nothing better!
Through these, students and
professionals can read course materials, watch lectures including live video
session with professors, communicate with peers and mentors, and download
additional study materials to learn at the level of Ivy League colleges such as
Yale, Harvard and Oxford. Remotely proctored exams are carried out to help you
earn that certificate or degree.
Globalization
and emerging technologies are deeply impacting the nature of jobs and the
learning requirements, further emphasizing on the need for access to high
quality education. Online learning platforms provide the required flexibility,
allowing access to more applied, and industry relevant quality content at
affordable costs.
Here are the six degree courses:
1. Master
of Computer Science from Arizona State University
Cost: USD 15,000
This MCS programme is designed for
students with undergraduate degrees in computing or related areas who seek a
deeper understanding of computing fundamentals in machine learning, cyber security, and big data as well as gaining experience through real-world,
industry projects.
2. Master
of Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Cost: USD 22,000
This can be considered as one of the
top five computer science Master's programmes in the world alongside schools
like MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon. Students will learn from the same
faculty that taught many of today's technology leaders including founders and
leaders at YouTube, PayPal, Microsoft, Netscape, and Yelp.
3.
Bachelor of Computer Science from University of London
Cost: 9,600-17,000 Pounds (depending upon student's geographic
location)
As
an online degree with tuition adjusted based on whether the student is in a
developed or developing country, this degree will open opportunities for people
of all backgrounds and geographies. This programme will help develop core
programming skills through creative, design-based projects featuring
cutting-edge topics like machine learning, virtual reality, and game
development.
4.
Global Master of Public Health from Imperial College London
Imperial
College London is one of the top ten universities in the world according to QS
World University Rankings 2018. Their research-driven, evidence-based approach
gives students a comprehensive grounding in skills like epidemiology, the
impact of environmental change on health, and the role of innovation in health
improvement. By earning this degree, students will develop the skills required
to influence health policies around the world.
5.
Master of Public Health from University of Michigan
This
is one of the world's most respected public health programmes, ranked the #4
school of public health in the nation by US News and World Report. This degree
will be designed to provide internationally relevant and accredited training in
a variety of public health disciplines, along with specializations ranging from
population health to precision nutrition.
6.
Master of Applied Data Science from University of Michigan
The
job title of 'data scientist' is "sexiest job of the 21st century"
according to Harvard Business Review, though it didn't even exist 10 years
earlier. Offered by the School of Information, which is ranked #1 in
Information Systems, this degree will help students develop a broad set of
skills in everything from programming and statistics to machine learning and
ethics.
Main
reasons behind rising popularity of online courses
1. Millennials want to learn and
upskill
The
millennials and young professionals today realize the importance of upskilling
and staying relevant. For a majority of them, the desire for professional
development sometimes outweighs the compensation. With this backdrop, several
companies are already taking steps to address the learning aspirations of this
demographic.
2. Lack of good infrastructure in
education
With
many government schools in India running with just one or two teachers, don't
have proper infrastructure, trained teachers or amenities to seamlessly impart
education to all. In fact, in the future, we will see online classrooms surpass
the physical classroom experience, as the mode of delivery of education will
evolve.
3. Importance of degrees
Degrees
still remain an important factor to secure a job or make a jump from one
industry to another.
With
the cost of degrees hitting the roof and technology making post secondary education more important than ever for career success.
