The Purple Squirrels - Evolution of Careers - 1 


12 January, 2021 | | 0 Comments

The world is changing fast.  My mobile phone functions weirdly in every 3-4 years and I need to change it, I prefer a minimally invasive computer aided surgery to spend least recovery period at the hospital,  I am a fervent admirer of apps that fetch me food at wee hours, a cab to drop at any time anywhere, I can go on..and in this desperate pandemic induced milieu I am sure life-at-home would have been a distressed failure if there was no technology!. Yet future careers demand something more...something truly dynamic! 


‘Technology Disruption’ is the new buzz word confronting the industry and the current and future workforce. It is seemingly scary as AI/machines and devices are expected to replace humans which is a big concern for the gen-next, however, it also indicates that there is a pressing need to relook at and develop skills which would be required to remain relevant in the job market. Any change is always greeted with an alarm and more often with fear. Remember our parents’ generation was antagonistic to the introduction of computers and devastated at the removal of typewriters from the workplace..we laugh at it today! During this period of reconstruct, new skills are evolving so is the work force. Learning and being informed is crucial. The trend in today’s job market is a combination of technology and design, science and soft-skills - mutating jobs into new, unexpected hybrid ones like never before.

 

A whole lot of new jobs require the amalgam of left and right brain functioning; are based on AI, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality, in which art and design are an integral part. The new necessity is a mix of  compatible knowledge and skill sets such as psychology and neuroscience, or computation and linguistics, or marketing and statistical analysis, or design and programming. This trend has transformed pure STEM fields to blended STEAM streams (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics), given rise to new courses and interdisciplinary fields like  Bio-med Engineering, Biopsychology,  Engineering Management, Computational Linguistics, Data Analytics and so on. While this shift from tradition is great for the young students, it has a significant impact on the existing workforce who might be left out too soon. To remain productive and effective in the market up skilling is necessary. Several MOOCs and online platforms like Edex and Coursera have come up with short online courses,  providing opportunities to acquire new skills or upgrade them to remain competitive or even change the course of their career path. 

 

Upward moving learning curve is also necessary to fit in the new economy. Many large companies are shifting focus to their core competencies thereby leaving the non-core jobs to the freelancers and consultants. This has generated large scale demand for competent, independent, flexible workers or ‘gigs’. The gig economy is gaining popularity due to technological advancements and various benefits to the organisations, implying ‘survival of the (fittest or) skilled’.

 

The transformation has begun and is already visible in various quarters in the form of an integrated interdependent process generating new careers, new skills, new learning, new courses, new education system or rather  hybrid careers-interdisciplinary subjects-blended learning-evolution of the education system! We must be quick to fasten the seat belts of the future workforce and guide them to be the ‘purple squirrel’ of the ‘gig economy’.