As a wireless analyst, I follow the changing the changing world of products, services and innovation. As this industry continues to change, so do jobs. Dell Technologies Realize 2030 report said that 80 percent of jobs in the year 2030 are not even around yet. Just stop and think about that for a minute.
The jobs of the next decade don’t even exist today. That’s an incredible opportunity and a huge challenge for workers and for companies. So, how do you prepare for tomorrow as a worker and a company?
You must prepare for the new opportunities of tomorrow or you will face significant challenges. But how do you prepare yourself when the jobs of tomorrow don’t even exist today? How are you preparing for the workplace of tomorrow? This may be one of the most important questions you need to answer because things are changing very rapidly.
This is the challenge of every technology company and has been for decades. Think about the smartphone for example. Today, the iPhone and Android are the hottest smartphones on the market with the vast majority of market share. Preparing for the launch of this new and explosive segment started years before launch.
We must have the same long-term focus if we want to succeed tomorrow. If not, we face the same threat that Motorola, Nokia and Blackberry faced when the iPhone and Android hit the marketplace. We must learn the important lesson here so we can succeed going forward.
Preparing for jobs of tomorrow that don’t yet exist
This is not new. We have faced this same challenge at several points over the last century. One hundred years ago the horse and carriage industry was the place to be. Buggy whip makers and riding gear companies flourished.
Then radio and TV were born. Then computers and software. Same thing over the last decade or two with cellular and wireless, apps, smartphones like iPhone and Android, Google, Apple, Amazon, social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, self-driving cars and much more.
The next big change wave has to do with new technologies like AI, IoT, cloud, AR, VR and so much more. This is already putting pressure on companies to find the best workers in a relatively small workforce. Most of us are not yet ready for this next step.
Wake-up call for workers and companies
However, we must get ready because technology continues to move forward. What will be the next big growth opportunity going forward? We don’t even know yet. But it will be big and it will transform our world. It always does.
These new ideas of tomorrow, these companies of tomorrow, these technologies of tomorrow will require and demand new skill sets. And today’s workers and companies are simply not ready yet.
This is a huge wake up call to both workers and companies who will need them. Since most workers will not be on the cutting edge of this next growth curve, the ones who are will earn more than the average when it comes to salary and benefits.
Staying on cutting edge of next growth wave
Our world is going through a great transformation and we are still in the very early years. Technology changes. Politics changes. The way we live, work, communicate, do business, everything changes.
Tomorrow will look as different from today, as today is different from ten years ago. Think about all the change we have seen over the last decade or two with all the new companies and technologies we use every day.
These new technologies will continue to grow and be more important year after year. These technologies are what we need to learn and prepare for in order to be marketable as an individual worker tomorrow.
Technology of tomorrow
Some of us are jumping on this new opportunity, gaining new skills and preparing for the new workforce demands. Most of us are not yet doing so. What I fear is too many will wait too long to catch the growth wave and that wave will move on leaving us behind.
We must think ahead. We must look ahead. At where we are heading. And we must prepare in advance. If we do, then we will be in the smaller group of early adopters ready to help businesses transform.
We need to think about tomorrow, today. We need to think about the jobs of tomorrow and prepare for them today. In the early years, when few people are prepared, those who are will be in great demand and their earnings will be higher than normal.
Isn’t this where we want to be? Just something to noodle around and act on early if we want to be in demand tomorrow in our changing world.
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