Which Jobs are Safest When It Comes to IT Automation?
Posted April 28th, 2016
The impact of machines on employment has been a source of anxiety and uncertainty since the start of the industrial age. And even though machines have not displaced human workers to the extent that some pessimists predicted, the impact is undeniable. By some estimates, 30 percent-50 percent of the global workforce is currently in a vulnerable position. So, what jobs are safest in the years ahead? Here are a few good bets:
- Investor Liaisons – Finance is increasingly becoming wholly dependent on technology, but when it comes to something as sensitive as people’s money, they always will want to interface with a real person, rather than just a machine.
- Marketing Experts – As marketing has embraced analytics and automation, the field has discovered that human tastes and trends are still highly unpredictable. Making sense of past, present, and future consumer behaviors will require a keen human intelligence.
- Project Managers – As anyone occupying this role knows, the role of a project manager is largely to troubleshoot and respond to changing, unpredictable circumstances. That requires the kind of agile thinking that is best applied by a real person.
- Safety Protocol Inspectors – A world with less actual human workers will be safer in some ways, but more dangerous in others because machines may not be able to see or anticipate safety risks and hazards. Making the machine world safe for humans will require professionals who understand how easy it is for things to go wrong.
- Process Architects – Not unexpectedly, as we rely more and more on machines to handle routine processes, it will take people who understand how those processes work both discreetly and in concert to ensure efficiency and safeguard outcomes. Machines can help in this process, but human input and oversight will always be necessary.
- Mid-Level Managers – Somewhat ironically, the rise of machines might introduce advancement potential for a certain class of worker. The more basic processes are handled by machines, the more mid-level managers it will take to ensure that those processes are running smoothly.
- Data Security Experts – Large-scale, high-profile data breaches have revealed how much our dependence on technology puts all of us at risk. As increasing amounts of sensitive information and critical processes are routed through automation, it will take human security experts to spot potential risks and to thwart a highly motivated hacker class.
- Automation Experts – We are quickly approaching a threshold of automation that few would have foreseen a few decades ago and likely no one can fully forecast even now. The only thing that is certain is that much remains unknown, and the unexpected in inevitable. Dealing with the unforeseen consequences of widespread, deep-impact automation will always require human inputs.
Is your job on this list? The better question is probably, is your job not on this list? Either way, automation is sure to affect everyone’s careers to some extent. Make provisions for the future by forming a relationship with Bayside Solutions.
