The Metro East Web Academy provides a technology-rich 21st century learning model that ensures student success in a rapidly evolving learning, work, and community environment.
Dear Parents and Students:
162 Future Jobs: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Yet Exist by Futurist Speaker Thomas Frey
Last week I was speaking at an event in Istanbul. As usual, once I landed at the airport, I made my way to the customs area where I was greeted by no fewer than 1,000 people in line ahead of me.
Long lines in airport customs is not unusual. But as I waded through this 45-minute process I couldn’t help but do some mental calculations surrounding the massive waste of human capital throughout this whole process. Since there were two separate customs areas at the Istanbul airport, my rough calculations came out to well over 10 million man-hours a year wasted at this one single airport.
It’s not unusual for governments to waste people’s time over what they like to phrase as “the greater good.” However, this entire security process will eventually be automated down to a fraction of the time it takes today, eliminating the need for over 90% of all customs agents.
The same goes for TSA-like security agents on the front end of airports. Within the next decade, 90% of those jobs will be gone as well. All of them, automated out of existence.
A recent article in The Economist quotes Bill Gates as saying at least a dozen job types will be taken over by robots and automation in the next two decades, and these jobs cover both high-paying and low-skilled workers. Some of the positions he mentioned were commercial pilots, legal work, technical writing, telemarketers, accountants, retail workers, and real estate sales agents.
Indeed, as I’ve predicted before, by 2030 over 2 billion jobs will disappear. Again, this is not a doom and gloom prediction, rather a wakeup call for the world.
Will we run out of work for the world? Of course not. Nothing is more preposterous than to somehow proclaim the human race no longer has any work left to do. But having paid jobs to coincide with the work that needs to be done, and developing the skills necessary for future work is another matter.
Our goal needs to be focused on the catalytic innovations that create entirely new industries, and these new industries will serve as the engines of future job creation, unlike anything in all history.
I have written in the past about future industries. This time I’d like to focus on many of the future jobs within these industries that currently don’t exist.
Facing the Transition Ahead
Many people are scared of the future. With every science fiction movie that portrays technology as evil, and let’s be honest, that’s the theme of almost every science fiction movie that’s ever existed, it’s easy to develop some paranoia about the dangers ahead.
However, much of today’s technology is giving us super-human attributes. The same technology that gets blamed for eliminating our jobs, is also giving us capabilities beyond our wildest dreams. We have instant access to friends and family, instant access to answers for almost any question we ask, and instant entertainment if ever we get bored.
We can now think-faster, know-faster, and do-faster than ever before. We no longer end up being the “last to know.”
At the same time, every new technology also requires new skill sets for those working in those environments. Here are just a few of the skills that will be highly prized in the future.
14 Hot New Skills
1. Transitionists – Those who can help make a transition.
2. Expansionists – A talent for adapting along with a growing environment.
3. Maximizers – An ability to maximize processes, situations, and opportunities.
4. Optimizers – The skill and persistence to tweak variables until it produces better results.
5. Inflectionists – Finding critical inflection points in a system will become a much-prized skill.
6. Dismantlers – Every industry will eventually end, and this requires talented people who know how to scale things back in an orderly fashion.
7. Feedback Loopers – Those who can devise the best possible feedback loops.
8. Backlashers - Ever- new technology will have its detractors, and each backlash will require a response.
9. Last Milers – Technologies commonly reach a point of diminishing returns as they attempt to extend their full capacity to the end user. People with the ability to mastermind these solutions will be in hot demand.
10. Contexualists – In between the application and the big picture lays the operational context for every new technology.
11. Ethicists – There will be an ever-growing demand for people who can ask the tough question and standards to apply moral decency to some increasingly complex situations.
12. Philosophers – With companies in a constant battle over “my-brain-is-bigger-that-your-brain,” it becomes the overarching philosophy that wins the day.
13. Theorists – Every new product, service, and industry begins with a theory.
14. Legacists – Those who are passionate and skilled with leaving a legacy.
Announcements:
Last week I was speaking at an event in Istanbul. As usual, once I landed at the airport, I made my way to the customs area where I was greeted by no fewer than 1,000 people in line ahead of me.
Long lines in airport customs is not unusual. But as I waded through this 45-minute process I couldn’t help but do some mental calculations surrounding the massive waste of human capital throughout this whole process. Since there were two separate customs areas at the Istanbul airport, my rough calculations came out to well over 10 million man-hours a year wasted at this one single airport.
It’s not unusual for governments to waste people’s time over what they like to phrase as “the greater good.” However, this entire security process will eventually be automated down to a fraction of the time it takes today, eliminating the need for over 90% of all customs agents.
The same goes for TSA-like security agents on the front end of airports. Within the next decade, 90% of those jobs will be gone as well. All of them, automated out of existence.
A recent article in The Economist quotes Bill Gates as saying at least a dozen job types will be taken over by robots and automation in the next two decades, and these jobs cover both high-paying and low-skilled workers. Some of the positions he mentioned were commercial pilots, legal work, technical writing, telemarketers, accountants, retail workers, and real estate sales agents.
Indeed, as I’ve predicted before, by 2030 over 2 billion jobs will disappear. Again, this is not a doom and gloom prediction, rather a wakeup call for the world.
Will we run out of work for the world? Of course not. Nothing is more preposterous than to somehow proclaim the human race no longer has any work left to do. But having paid jobs to coincide with the work that needs to be done, and developing the skills necessary for future work is another matter.
Our goal needs to be focused on the catalytic innovations that create entirely new industries, and these new industries will serve as the engines of future job creation, unlike anything in all history.
I have written in the past about future industries. This time I’d like to focus on many of the future jobs within these industries that currently don’t exist.
Facing the Transition Ahead
Many people are scared of the future. With every science fiction movie that portrays technology as evil, and let’s be honest, that’s the theme of almost every science fiction movie that’s ever existed, it’s easy to develop some paranoia about the dangers ahead.
However, much of today’s technology is giving us super-human attributes. The same technology that gets blamed for eliminating our jobs, is also giving us capabilities beyond our wildest dreams. We have instant access to friends and family, instant access to answers for almost any question we ask, and instant entertainment if ever we get bored.
We can now think-faster, know-faster, and do-faster than ever before. We no longer end up being the “last to know.”
At the same time, every new technology also requires new skill sets for those working in those environments. Here are just a few of the skills that will be highly prized in the future.
14 Hot New Skills
1. Transitionists – Those who can help make a transition.
2. Expansionists – A talent for adapting along with a growing environment.
3. Maximizers – An ability to maximize processes, situations, and opportunities.
4. Optimizers – The skill and persistence to tweak variables until it produces better results.
5. Inflectionists – Finding critical inflection points in a system will become a much-prized skill.
6. Dismantlers – Every industry will eventually end, and this requires talented people who know how to scale things back in an orderly fashion.
7. Feedback Loopers – Those who can devise the best possible feedback loops.
8. Backlashers - Ever- new technology will have its detractors, and each backlash will require a response.
9. Last Milers – Technologies commonly reach a point of diminishing returns as they attempt to extend their full capacity to the end user. People with the ability to mastermind these solutions will be in hot demand.
10. Contexualists – In between the application and the big picture lays the operational context for every new technology.
11. Ethicists – There will be an ever-growing demand for people who can ask the tough question and standards to apply moral decency to some increasingly complex situations.
12. Philosophers – With companies in a constant battle over “my-brain-is-bigger-that-your-brain,” it becomes the overarching philosophy that wins the day.
13. Theorists – Every new product, service, and industry begins with a theory.
14. Legacists – Those who are passionate and skilled with leaving a legacy.
Announcements:
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Portland
National College Fair
Friday, October 23
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Saturday, October 24
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Oregon Convention Center Portland, OR
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Thank you to everyone that has signed up to participate in the BPA field trip - sign ups are now closed. If you've signed up for the field trip on 10/21, make sure you fill out your permission form and turn it into school by 10/19. Remember, all permission forms must have a parent's signature in order for students to participate. Follow this link if you need another copy: Permission Form. Questions? Please contact Ms. Norrander at norrander@mewebacademy.org.
- eAspire is a mentorship program for high school students who are interested in learning about educational and career opportunities. Students who sign up for the program are paired with a mentor who is trained in helping students with college applications, financial aid paperwork, vocational training opportunities and more. Student who apply must be in 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grade and be able to communicate using email. If you are interested in the program please contact Brian Baker at 503-258-4796 for more details.
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We can now accept payments via PayPal for fees or donations. If you would like to donate to our school, we use the money to pay for scholarships and activities such as field trips, incentives, and other extras that we provide our students and programs. As we are a 501 (c) (3), all donations are tax deductible and we will furnish you with a letter with our federal tax ID #.
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