( Post 23 of 25 )
This is a post by Holly, who sometimes writes for us at Computer Recruiter.
If you think that your IT job is future-proof, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at our earlier post showing five IT roles that have already gone the way of the dodo…
Technology may be the future, but as technology develops, humans often find themselves inched out by increasingly clever software and big industry changes.
The irony is that the very thing which attracted you to an IT role in the first place could be the thing which forces you to “adapt or die” (professionally speaking). Technology can be an alluringly fast-paced world, which means that the roles it creates are incredibly susceptible to change. If you want to thrive in tech over the long term, you need to be ready to adapt, spot trends in your industry and keep pace with changing roles and requirements.
While you’re at it, you should probably avoid becoming pigeon-holed in the following professions, too…
1) SEO specialists
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in its purest form is on its way out as we speak. Today, digital marketing may use elements of SEO as part of an overall strategy, but this role is no longer a standalone profession. Former SEOs have had to rethink their role, retraining and rebranding as digital marketers.
It’s impossible to predict how we will be accessing and using the web in 2025, and while many people have cried “SEO is dead” over the years, SEO won’t truly die unless search engines cease to exist. However it’s a fairly safe bet that climbing the search engines solely relying on techniques such as keyword optimisation and link building could be well and truly a thing of the past.
2) Data Entry Roles
If you’re working in data entry, it may be time to update your skill set.
Pretty soon, technology is going to turn your role into a wholly-automated process, which means no more spreadsheets or databases for you, we’re afraid.
3) IT Managers
If you’re working in an in-house IT role, you may find that your days are numbered before too long. Speaking at an Ignite conference in May 2014, ex-BT CTO Peter Cochrane claimed that in-house IT departments are becoming more of a hindrance than a help to growing businesses.
According to Cochrane, IT departments simply cannot compete with the technology and expertise available from industry front-runners like Google, Cisco and IBM. They’re unable to adapt to new technology quickly, preventing their company from keeping pace with their competitors. Before too long it could be a case of “bye bye CTO, hello outsourced, IT services.”
4) Social Media Specialists
While turning a social media presence into a powerful marketing tool is a huge boon for any business, some experts predict that social media skills will soon be considered a core competency instead of forming a specialist role. With a glut of young people entering the jobs market with increasingly advanced social media skills (they grew up with it, after all), the day of the social media specialist could come to a close within the next 10 years.
5) Typists & Transcribers
You may not believe that typists exist outside of the 1960s, but they’re still out there, believe us. But not for much longer… As voice-to-text applications get better seemingly by the minute, soon there will be simply no need for speedy human fingers.
…That said, it ultimately depends on accents of the speakers in the video/audio. YouTube attemps to automatically transcribe its videos, and while it seems to do ok with clearly-spoken American accents, it’s laughibly bad with some UK dialects. So there may still be some hope for typists and transcribers yet – unless the technology really comes on in the coming years.
[Image credits – Google Analytics dashboard: Colin Zhu; IT binary man: geralt; typist: Wikimedia Commons]
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