For Young People, The Future Is Technology

– Contributed content –

12 July 2017. There’s been no greater, more widespread impact on human history than technology’s influence on society over the past several decades, and specifically the last two. Now, we stand on the edge between two worlds. The past, with the remnants of the pre-tech age still seen in virtually all industries; and the future, which will be tech. If people think that technology has permeated all aspects of society already, then just wait: we’ve only just got started. This will come as no shock to the younger generation, who have grown up with the marvels of technology in the palm of their hand, quite literally. For thousands of universities graduates, and many more younger than them, the future is technology. For a large portion of them, it’ll be their source of income.

(hzv.westfalen.de/Pixabay)

Desirable field

Anybody who had been paying attention over the past decade would have seen this coming. Younger people are no longer interested in working in the high-flying, high-paying, high-stress world of finance. Only 10% of graduates have an interest in working in that sector, which used to sweep all the best graduates as a matter of routine. Today, they want to work in tech, for a number of reasons. First, it can be just as high-paying as a finance job. It also breeds and encourages creativity, offers a lot more flexibility as to where and when they can work. On a simple level, tech jobs are much ‘cooler’ than finance jobs.

Skills shortages

And if you’re a young person reading this, then there’s another reason why should look at obtaining an IT qualification: these jobs are everywhere. In fact, there’s something of a crisis going on: on both sides of the Atlantic, there aren’t enough people to fill these jobs. Naturally, this makes sense. The boom of tech happened so fast that there wasn’t enough time for workers to catch up. While it can be difficult to walk into a high-paying job straight away, those with the desired in demand skills might have a pick of jobs once they have their qualification.

Transferring education

Some people lament that they didn’t pursue an IT related degree while at college, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter. If you’ve learned the basics of how to learn during your education, then you have everything you need to enter the world of IT. There’s been a glut of boot camp courses, some in person, some online, that teach the fundamentals of entering the industry. Of course, the high-end positions, the real “tech” side of things, do require some sort of STEM background. In fact, one piece of advice Bill Gates gave to younger people was to study STEM: it will be invaluable in the future.

Blending skills

As we might expect, a job in IT is no longer just a job in IT. The image of the lone computer nerd, sitting alone in a corner bashing out code has long disappeared. Today, IT workers are a little bit of everything. They’re ideas people, they talk with customers and other workers, they need to give presentations and also have one eye on the budget. As such, the graduates who can obtain the best positions will be those with in demand IT skills and who can also navigate “the business world.”

Finding a job

The nature of finding a job within the tech industry differs from other fields. This is in part because it’s not a case of just saying: ‘I can do that.’ If you can say you do something, then you need to be able to back it up – sometimes right there and then, in an interview. And as mentioned earlier, a job in IT is about more than knowing computers: you need to have the other side of business locked down too, and this begins with applying for jobs. Potential employees will need to know the essential resume tips for IT career, especially as certain positions can be highly competitive. It’s about everything you can do, have done, and are working towards to the page.

New horizons

The tech industry used to be pretty local to a few key areas. Not so anymore. If a young person can get their foot in the door by getting a job, it’s feasible that they could end up working just about anywhere through the course of their career. Right now, certain cities in the Midwest are becoming hotspots for tech startups, noting a huge rise in jobs over the past couple of years. London, too, once all about finance, has begun making the shift to be a world tech leader.

(Engin Akyurt, Pixabay)

Switching gears

Technology is forever changing, and this makes a career highly malleable to a worker in the field. If they know the language of technology, then they’re able to shape their future, moving in different directions as and when it suits. The tech industry is different to what it was ten years; it’s different from where it was five years ago, even. Nobody can say where it’ll be in a decade or more from now.

Future-proof

The key argument that parents should be making to their sons and daughters is this: technology is a future-proof career. That there is going to be a massive amount of jobs lost to AI in the coming decades is one of the best kept secrets: nobody seems to be talking about it. But it will happen, and a lot of old staple industries will suddenly have a lot of unemployed people. The tech industry is safe: indeed, it’s the tech industry that is bringing the change!

Creating change

There’s another reason that draws young people to a career in tech. It’s one of the best ways to make a positive impact on the world. The young are more conscious of social issues than any generation before them, and they want to make a difference. They know that a career in finance won’t give them the satisfaction they want because they want more than just a paycheck: they want the world to be a better place, and they believe they can do it.

*     *     *