In the future we’ll be ‘data trash engineers’ and ‘purpose planners,’ says new report
The report from digital services firm Cognizant says that new tech-focused jobs will emerge to replace the jobs lost to automation
THE next decade will see the emergence of strange new jobs like "data trash engineer" and "chief purpose planner," according to a new report released this week.
These jobs will arrive to replace those made obsolete by robots and automation, but the report's authors warn that they'll require society to handle a big shift in education and training.
There has been plenty of fear in recent years about the rise of artificial intelligence, with forecasts suggesting that anything from 33 per cent to 50 per cent of certain jobs at risk of being taken over by machines.
Fortunately, digital services firm Cognizant has released a new report called , a follow up to its study from last year.
In the report, it outlines the professions that will appear in the future as society adapts to a more automated and highly digitised world, with many of them reading like something from a sci-fi film or dystopian novel.
With names like "head of machine personality design" and "flying car developer," some of them are fairly self-explanatory and already semi-familiar, yet others suggest that the future will be a very strange place indeed.
Perhaps the strangest job featured in the report is that of "joy adjutant," which Cognizant describes as a kind of personal consultant trained to help people organise their possessions in a way that maximises wellbeing.
"At a time when people are saddled with an abundance of more things and “stuff” in their lives, why does it seem like there’s less joy?," the report reads, before explaining that joy adjutants help "clients visualize life with a clutter-free space" and help them "identify how their physical objects make them feel".
Another eye-catching future role is that of "chief purpose planner," which sees its occupiers work with large businesses to "shape and promote a defined corporate purpose that aligns with both clients’ customers and employees".
Other titles include "algorithm bias auditor," "virtual reality arcade manager" and "juvenile cybercrime rehabilitation councillor," and they almost all highlight the possibility that the future of employment will be alien to anyone who grew up working in the 20th Century.
Yet as strange and even ridiculous as some of the roles sound, Cognizant notes that its previous report from last year succeeded in making accurate predictions.
For example, it predicted the appearance of "financial wellness coaches", and in May of this year the insurance company MetLife the launch of its PlanSmart Financial Wellness service.
It also forecast the emergence of the "man machine teaming manager," which became the Robot Manager role introduced by Cobalt Robotics earlier this year.
There is, then, reason to believe that at least some of the jobs in Cognizant's latest report will be realised sooner or later, and the company says that these will be more than enough to replace the more traditional jobs lost to robots.
The director of its Center for the Future of Work, Ben Pring, tells the Sun: "By 2025, 12 per cent of current jobs will be lost to automation and new technologies, but 13 per cent will be created. The net-balance will be incremental job growth."
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However, while enough new roles will be created, this creation will result in social upheaval, with people being forced to switch professions and learn entirely new skills.
"Within the overall labour market there will be a massive job transition, creating significant skills mismatches," explains Pring. "The new jobs we have outlined will require new skillsets, which will need to be addressed through re-training, upskilling, and the modernisation of the education syllabus for students from five to 21 and for adults of all ages."
What kinds of job do you hope to see emerge in the future? Let us know in the comments.
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