The 5 a.m. alarm went off. Brown briefcase. Suit and tie all ready. Papers were spread out everywhere. This was the image that characterized the work routine of people from 20 years back. Fast forward to today and you’ll notice more illuminating small words on monitor screens and less messed up stacks of papers spread across the desk.
The work force has advanced since the 1990s and statistics show that the advancements in jobs in the technology field will continue reshaping the job market. However, as more technology related careers are entering the workforce, traditional jobs are being replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to Zippia, 260,000 jobs have been eliminated from the workforce over the course of 20 years.
In today’s digitalized world, technology has become a factor that most people depend on. Jamie Oli, a junior who’s taking Cybersecurity and has taken Computer Science in the past, believes that technology will need more protection in the future.
“In our world today, so much stuff is digitalized and put online and as a result, cybercrime is really high,” Oli said. “And there’s a greater risk of having stuff leaked, as you can see in recent events. Jobs in the future will switch to more security..”
Current jobs are at risk of being extinct in the near future because of the increase of new opportunities that AI is bringing into the job market. However, Oli believes that her chosen field, cybersecurity, isn’t at risk of replacement.
“Cybersecurity is a problem set by humans and only a human’s creativity can counter that since no formula can ever even process a human’s creativity,” Oli said. “I feel like cybersecurity is a field that’s always going to need people and in the future because it’s driven by human power and creativity.”
Students that are currently deciding what career they want to pursue in the future have been influenced by technology. Sparsh Tiwari, a freshman, has decided that he wants to pursue a career in technology.
“I feel like with automation and with the new need for technology, it’d be a really sustainable career option to invest into”, Tiwari said.
Some career fields that may seem completely unrelated to technology might just require a closer examination. Sophomore, Nabeel Siddique, who aspires to become an architect, recognizes these connections.
“A form of technology is in architecture because there are some systems that you work with that are related,” Siddique said. “For example, [designing] involves computer science.”
Career-oriented courses at Heritage like AP Computer Science, Digital Animation, and Computer Science play a part in helping students, like sophomore Zeeshan Ahmed, determine their future career pathways. In addition, Ahmed has a genuine interest in technology and these classes have deepened his perspective.
“Taking Computer Science definitely helped me make sure that doing a technology related job in the future is something I want to do,” Ahmed said. “I found it tough but it was still fun to do.”
Despite the significant impact of technology on jobs, a sophomore Zainab Jabeen who’s pursuing healthcare, firmly believes that technology won’t be a threat to careers in healthcare.
“Technology will in every way impact healthcare but technology could never match up to the intellectual ability of the human mind because the computer is an empty file that we’re putting in information for it to process for it to do things,” Jabeen said. “I feel like it would never truly take over the human intellect.”
