Skills to future-proof your job
Computers are getting smarter. Your mobile phone is getting smarter. Even light bulbs are getting smarter.
‘‘Smarter, faster, smaller, and cheaper’’ is the tech trend driving rapid change across all industries, creating new opportunities and jobs, and replacing old jobs.
This trend is predicted to get wilder, with greater and faster job destruction and construction - in a study last year, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research predicted that 46 per cent of jobs in New Zealand are at risk of automation over the next 20 years.
Advances in computer vision have enabled self-driving cars and better cancer detection; advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have enabled robots that can train themselves - these advancements not only improve safety and reduce repetitive work, but free us up to do more fulfilling work. Clearly, this is a good thing. However, jobs will change rapidly, new skills will be required, and more people will be ‘‘in-transition’’.
Survival will depend not only on experience and knowledge, but also on how fast you can adapt and learn - your Adaptive Quotient (AG) or Change Velocity (CV).
This means we need to keep learning, strengthening our traits of determination and curiosity, and our skills in teamwork and problem solving - these are the skill sets and mindsets top companies are looking for.
Fortunately, we have a fantastic Early Childhood Education curriculum that encourages these mindsets, and a national curriculum that builds on this.
It’s surprising then that investment in education and training in New Zealand is just average, compared with other OECD countries. Canada leads the way with investment in training and a comprehensive strategy to tackle the risks around job insecurity due to automation.
While several political parties in New Zealand have laid out strategies for mitigating periods of job transition, including a Universal Basic Income, as a community, and individually, we need to start thinking about how we might be affected, and what we can do about it.
We need to become life-long learners, develop those skills and mindsets that will enable us to adapt and survive, support investment in education and training, stay abreast of technological trends and discuss their implications, so we can reduce the risk and take advantage of the exponential opportunities.
-Geoff Bentley is an educator at TechLeap.nz, runs a Tech Club for teens and tweens in Cambridge. He presented at a Cambridge Chamber of Commerce After5 event this week.
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