Developments in technology entail changes on the labour market. Some professions, albeit once desirable and offering high salaries, are now no longer as attractive and popular as they used to be. The market has become saturated, and in the meantime, demand has emerged for staff who can do different things. This is particularly apparent in the IT industry – for example, Go features among the most popular programming languages in 2023, although only 15 years ago the first version of this technology was not even made public. Python, which has been present for more than three decades, has become one of the most important players on the market over the past five years, although as recently as 2014 it was landing at the bottom of the top ten. [1] The reported changes were not slow, they appeared to be rather rapid increases. Based on the study of developments in the IT industry, it may be concluded that you should not focus solely on trends spanning the previous two decades when you are deciding on your career – it is more advisable to examine the current situation and experts’ predictions in combination with a view of the market situation in the recent years. This is where the question arises:
Which professions are the most future-oriented ones?
In which direction should you get training so that you can build up a good position on the labour market and enjoy the security of not having to switch jobs abruptly? Below you can find 3 positions that we have selected.
1. AI Developer. Over the last few years, the popularity of artificial intelligence and its level of sophistication have grown tremendously. From the perspective of an end customer, AI has progressed from a simple algorithm recognising a few-syllable voice commands to a technology capable of creating images based on queries, recognising faces and being able to converse in an almost human-like manner. Today’s artificial intelligence not only adds alerts to our calendars, but also supports graphic designers, sound engineers and even programmers in their work. The list of applications for AI in its current form is almost endless, and the demand for specialists capable of creating machine learning algorithms and models will only grow from now on.
AI Developer is a position that requires extensive knowledge, not necessarily directly related to writing code. Knowledge of object-oriented programming languages (such as C++ or the already mentioned Python) is essential here. In addition, an AI Developer must understand the idea of machine learning and deep learning, as they will be creating neural network models.
2. Cyber Security Engineer I believe this one is hardly a surprise. Indeed, since the possibility of exchanging data between computing machines has emerged, there have been privacy risks as well. The difference is that in the past, a cyber-security specialist could be any man standing at the door and checking that a person leaving a room with computer parts is not carrying punch cards or magnetic tapes. Today, we voluntarily give our smartphones, computers or cars more information than we can imagine. It would be very unfortunate if an unauthorised person learned our payment card details, address, staircase access code or even faked the signal transmitted between our new car’s key and the on-board computer when opening the door.
A cyber security engineer is in fact a hacker who acts for a good cause. A person with a great understanding not only of technology but also of social engineering. After all, more often than not, confidential data is not stolen forcefully – people simply share it, for example by entering their identity card number on a fraudulent website. A dedicated cyber security professional must not only be familiar with the current threats, but also be on the lookout for new ones at all times, for example through penetration testing. They should also not focus solely on the latest technologies, as sometimes a significant security gap is discovered many years later, as happened with the Checkm8 vulnerability in Apple devices or the memory leaks in Intel processors, discovered six years after their release. A cyber security engineer is a position that is becoming more and more relevant to the IT industry with each passing month, with no signs that anything is going to change in the foreseeable future. This is particularly true now that artificial intelligence that processes vast amounts of data in the cloud has become our everyday reality, so obvious that we don’t even pay attention to it.
3. Drone pilot. As we live in a country with an extensive road and rail infrastructure, unmarred by any armed conflict, we believe by default that if we need to transport some goods or document an event, it is always best to do it in person. You drive to your destination in a van and carry the parcel to the door, take a camera out of your bag press the shutter button. Sadly, in a large part of the world, these solutions are not available, either for infrastructural reasons or due to a very real threat to life. On the other side of the Gauss curve comes the need to use drones for a different reason – the extensive road network is in a perpetual traffic jam, and every additional car is another building brick that adds to the problem. For this reason, both organisations providing medical aid in deprived African countries, Amazon’s logistics network and war correspondents in Ukraine are using the small flying machines to an increasing extent.
Drone operator is a profession that will become increasingly popular – with skilled workers it will be possible to achieve greater efficiency at a lower cost, generating less air pollution than standard wheeled transport, at least in the last part of the logistics chain.
Which profession should I choose?
We cannot guarantee that changes occurring globally will not stir up the labour market over the next two decades. Nevertheless, the changes will not be as drastic as when the steam engine arrived and manual workers had to start their professional development almost from scratch. As you acquire knowledge and experience in the professions mentioned in the text or any of the other fast-growing ones, you can be sure that even major changes on the global market will not be a threat to you.
1] https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
