In 2014, the World Economic Forum in Davos formulated the main social problem for the coming years.
It's called the 20-80 problem. The bottom line is that in the next 20 years, 80 percent of professionals will lose their jobs. They will be replaced by robots, software, 3D printers and even bacteria. Only 20 percent of the existing jobs will remain occupied.
Global changes in the structure of the labor market for many years scare the most authoritative experts. And the faster technology advances, the bleaker the forecasts. What to do about it, and how not to lose in the career race robots and programs.
We will analyze the topic not from the point of view of experts and futurologists, but from the position of an ordinary average professional who is faced with the problem of “20-80”. Or a student choosing a future career.
We ask two important questions and answer them:
• Known to all from the school bench dilemma: who is better suited in life - excellent students or C? What skills do you think will be driven out of the labor market by high technology? Rare and "expensive" students - experts of the highest level? Or "cheap" and unskilled workers - two-players of the labor market? Or threes and goodies?
• This is the solution to the 20-80 problem. If you want to win the competition against machines and technology, become an extra-class specialist. Learn, develop, be an excellent student in the profession. Or prepare to move into the category of low-paid and unskilled workers.
We often ask this question to children in the framework of career guidance programs. And the answer to it is a great motivation to learn and develop in the chosen field. After all, under the blow of automation, first of all, specialists with an average level of qualification are. The same 80 percent of people come from different occupations that account for most of the jobs in many industries.
• The next question that we're going to answer is, what don't robots and machines do as well as humans yet? The clarification of “yet” is not accidental here. Technology is developing and improving too quickly. And if the machines don't do anything yet, it's probably just a matter of time. But it is safe to say that in the near future, machines will not be able to create like da Vinci and communicate like living people. It means that all creative professions and all specialties from the category “man-man” remain in the list of relevant ones.
Let’s take another example, although it is obvious. The more machines and technologies there are, the more specialists are needed to maintain, build and develop them. It is no coincidence that today, an industry that requires more and more employees is IT.
Even if you are not going to become a programmer and work in this field, it is highly recommended to learn at least one programming language. Make it easy to find a common language with future colleagues.