There’s one key reason why we’re seeing the number of jobs for automation engineers and programmers go up lately – the fourth industrial revolution is a fact. The omnipresent process optimization, or simply speaking automation, and the use of robots are fueling tangible changes in the job market and these changes will continue to move in a specific direction. The World Economic Forum report claims, that 75 million jobs may end up being eliminated over the next years due to automation and use of robots. Depending on how quickly specific technologies are adopted, it is estimated that by 2030 even up to 1/3 of man-hours may end up being automated.

 

 

There’s one key reason why we’re seeing the number of jobs for automation engineers and programmers go up lately – the fourth industrial revolution is a fact. The omnipresent process optimization, or simply speaking automation, and the use of robots are fueling tangible changes in the job market and these changes will continue to move in a specific direction. The World Economic Forum report claims, that 75 million jobs may end up being eliminated over the next years due to automation and use of robots. Depending on how quickly specific technologies are adopted, it is estimated that by 2030 even up to 1/3 of man-hours may end up being automated.

 

Now, this trend of course doesn’t apply to all occupations and industries. Professions most at risk of being automated are of course those that involve physical labor, such as operation of simple machines, stocking, packing, and production line jobs where robots are being introduced increasingly more. The bulk of the tasks performed in those jobs are repetitive and may be easily automated. One may be mistaken to think that this process applies solely to manufacturing. Nothing could be further from the truth. For example, in an American fast-food chain, Flipps or robots have been preparing meals for over a year now. The Polish mobile telecom Orange has gone a step further and has developed a bot named Max in 2018 to handle straightforward hotline queries. It is estimated that in the future, the work of professionals from a variety of industries could be automated, e.g. jobs related to collecting and processing of back office data. Still not all professions will succumb to this trend. While it’s true that advances in technology, the use of robots and automation may cause the elimination of millions of jobs in the coming years, they will also help generate new jobs, where new competencies will be required. The cited report also states that around 50% of people with jobs will need to learn new technical skills, such as designing, coding, machine start-up, because each machine will require specific oversight or maintenance.

 

It’s going to be difficult to use robots to handle tasks that require specialist know-how, management skills or social interaction. The same applies to the service or healthcare industries. Operations in these industries are quite difficult to automate mainly due to unpredictability, the need for fast decision making or out-of-the-box, creative thinking. Also, let’s not forget about jobs that require the use of soft skills such as empathy, emotional intelligence or creativity, or the kinds of skills that machines can’t replace us in. Jobs that require these skills aren’t at risk.

 

The technology revolution that we are witnessing is bringing about many changes. However, we shouldn’t look upon it as a threat, and instead we should let it fuel continued growth, the acquisition of new professional skills and competencies.