There is a general perspective among people that automation is taking over low-skilled, repetitive jobs especially in IT industry. I believe jobs are becoming more complex and require quick execution and that’s why I do not fully agree that automation is taking over jobs. In fact, it is creating more new-age jobs. New career opportunities for IT employees will open up in some emerging digital domains like BigData, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber Security and Cloud Computing.
“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man”
– Elbert Hubbard (Author)
Techies need to remember that technology is evolving at a rapid pace, therefore It is extremely important for them to keep their skills up to date by undergoing various learning programs, attending webinars etc.;
The overall cultural shift one can expect. Things would be different; you can anticipate you need to keep learning something new at regular intervals. This will help you to cope up with this shift and grow big.
Programmers, coders will always be in demand. Remember, all the automation requires some hardcore coding and automation will not only be needed in IT companies, all the growing industries will have to have dedicated IT department to keep the pace up. So the fact remains that software people will be required almost everywhere.
This is what Mr. Cameron Briggs (Founder, Selectjobs) has to say on this,
Although AI, Robotics and Automation have been around for a while in certain sectors, it seems as if only recently, it’s true potential has been shown in the media. Whether it’s a new robot development to aid a manufacturing process, or an AI bot to speed up customer service enquiries, questions have been raised: ‘what will happen to the jobs that they’re taking?’
In short, and although it’s hard to estimate a scale, not a lot. What we’re seeing is a future shift in demand for certain types of candidates. For each company that replaces a customer service team with an army of AI Bots, another company will be hiring developers and engineers to both create, support and maintain said bots. For every manufacturing firm that replaces a team of staff with state of the art assembly robots, another company will be sending out employees to create, support, maintain and install said bots.
“By 2030, 25% of travel through Dubai will be automated.”
“1.3 Million Industrial robots to enter service by 2018”
Changes and innovations within any sector will cause changes and shifts in the markets in their supply chain. Adaptation within these markets will mean the demand for certain types of candidates shifts.
“Real connections require human involvement”
I personally feel humans will need to work alongside computers in order to be more productive. Mckinsey also released a study which suggested 90 percent of jobs are not fully automatable, you will require human intervention. So this can be read as your future is you with a computer, not you replaced by a computer.
“AI and automation will render some professions obsolete, but, in the long run, create jobs.”
– Ginni Rometty, IBM CEO
Automation will also make your existing workforce more efficient. You need to learn to cope up with the machines if you want to be relevant all the time.
Somewhere recently I heard a very catchy term “digital labor”. Yes, you can use all these automation for your betterment and can invest your saved time performing much more creative or value-add jobs. With the assistance of digital labor that is constantly improving with each subsequent customer interaction, customer-focused employees such as those in call centers will be freed up to proactively reach out to clients when problems occur or to prevent them in the first place.
I feel that majority of the companies are not focused on automating jobs. Instead, they are focused on automating tasks and improving productivity.
Thank You!
Please share your views and suggestion
I hope you enjoyed this article. Don’t forget to share your views. You can also tweet your comments to @Rezoomex and @Dinesh_Gokhale with #TechHiringBlog
Dinesh Gokhale is a seasoned professional with more than a decade of diversified experience into IT recruitment along with B2B sales, marketing, artificial intelligence and lean hiring technology. He is admired for his soft-skills.
Dinesh also is an enthusiastic sportsperson, reader, traveller and a die hard foodie. In his selfless desire of giving something back to mother nature & society, he has been involved in many social initiatives. Currently, he is working in the capacity of Intrapreneur with Rezoomex.