Technology is now
evolving at such a rapid pace that annual predictions of trends can seem
out-of-date before they even go live as a published blog post or article. As
technology evolves, it enables even faster change and progress, causing an
acceleration of the rate of change, until eventually, it will become
exponential.
Technology-based careers don’t change at the same speed,
but they do evolve, and the savvy IT professional recognizes that his or her
role will not stay the same. And an IT worker of the 21st century will
constantly be learning (out of necessity if not desire).
What does this mean for you? It means staying current
with technology trends. And it means keeping your eyes on the future, to know
which skills you’ll need to know and what types of jobs you want to be
qualified to do. Here are eight technology trends you should watch for in 2020,
and some of the jobs that will be created by these trends.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has
already received a lot of buzz in recent years, but it continues to be a trend
to watch because its effects on how we live, work, and play are only in the
early stages. In addition, other branches of AI have developed, including
Machine Learning, which we will go into below. AI refers to computer systems
built to mimic human intelligence and perform tasks such as recognition of
images, speech or patterns, and decision making. AI can do these tasks faster
and more accurately than humans.
Five out of six Americans use
AI services in one form or another every day, including navigation apps,
streaming services, smartphone personal assistants, ride-sharing apps, home
personal assistants, and smart home devices. In addition to consumer use, AI is
used to schedule trains, assess business risk, predict maintenance, and improve
energy efficiency, among many other money-saving tasks.
AI is one part of what we refer to
broadly as automation, and automation is a hot topic because of potential job
loss. Experts say automation will eliminate 73 million more jobs by
2030. However, automation is creating jobs as well as eliminating them,
especially in the field of AI: Pundits predict that jobs in AI will number 23
million by 2020. Jobs will be created in development, programming, testing,
support, and maintenance, to name a few. Artificial Intelligence architect is
one such job. Some say it will soon rival data scientists in need of
skilled professionals. To learn more about potential jobs in AI, read
about building a career in AI, or why you should earn an AI certification.
Machine
Learning
Machine Learning is a subset of AI. With Machine
Learning, computers are programmed to learn to do something they are not
programmed to do: they learn by discovering patterns and insights from data. In
general, we have two types of learning, supervised and unsupervised.
While Machine Learning is a subset of AI, we also have
subsets within the domain of Machine Learning, including neural networks,
natural language processing (NLP), and deep learning. Each of these subsets
offers an opportunity for specializing in a career field that will only grow.
Machine Learning is rapidly being deployed in all kinds
of industries, creating a huge demand for skilled professionals. The Machine
Learning market is expected to grow to $8.81 billion by 2022. Machine
Learning applications are used for data analytics, data mining, and
pattern recognition. On the consumer end, Machine Learning powers web search
results, real-time ads, and network intrusion detection, to name only a few of
the many tasks it can do.
Robotic
Process Automation or RPA
Like AI and Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation,
or RPA, is another technology that is automating jobs. RPA is the use of
software to automate business processes such as interpreting applications,
processing transactions, dealing with data, and even replying to emails. RPA
automates repetitive tasks that people used to do. These are not just the
menial tasks of a low-paid worker: up to 45 percent of the activities we
do can be automated, including the work of financial managers, doctors, and
CEOs.
Although Forrester Research estimates RPA automation will threaten
the livelihood of 230 million or more knowledge workers or approximately 9
percent of the global workforce, RPA is also creating new jobs while altering
existing jobs. McKinsey finds that less than 5 percent of occupations can
be totally automated, but about 60 percent can be partially automated.
For you as an IT professional looking to the future and
trying to understand technology trends, RPA offers plenty of career
opportunities, including developer, project manager, business analyst, solution
architect, and consultant. And these jobs pay well. SimplyHired.com says the
average RPA salary is $73,861, but that is the average compiled from salaries
for junior-level developers up to senior solution architects, with the top 10
percent earning over $141,000 annually. So, if you’re keen on learning and
pursuing a career in RPA, the Introduction to Robotic Process Automation
(RPA) course should be the next step you take to kickstart an RPA
career.
Edge
Computing
Formerly a technology trend to watch, cloud computing has
become mainstream, with major players AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft
Azure and Google Cloud dominating the market. The adoption of cloud computing
is still growing, as more and more businesses migrate to a cloud solution. But
it’s no longer the emerging technology.
As the quantity of data we’re dealing with continues to
increase, we’ve realized the shortcomings of cloud computing in some
situations. Edge computing is designed to help solve some of those problems as
a way to bypass the latency caused by cloud computing and getting data to a
data center for processing. It can exist “on the edge,” if you will, closer to
where computing needs to happen. For this reason, edge computing can be used to
process time-sensitive data in remote locations with limited or no connectivity
to a centralized location. In those situations, edge computing can act like
mini datacenters. Edge computing will increase as the use of the Internet of
Things (IoT) devices increases. By 2022, the global edge computing market is
expected to reach $6.72 billion. As with any growing market, this will create
various jobs, primarily for software engineers.
Virtual
Reality and Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) immerses the user in an environment
while Augment Reality (AR) enhances their environment. Although VR has
primarily been used for gaming thus far, it has also been used for training, as
with VirtualShip, a simulation software used to train U.S. Navy, Army, and
Coast Guard ship captains. The popular Pokemon Go is an example of
AR.
Both VR and AR have enormous potential in training,
entertainment, education, marketing, and even rehabilitation after an injury.
Either could be used to train doctors to do surgery, offer museum-goers a
deeper experience, enhance theme parks, or even enhance marketing, as with this Pepsi
Max bus shelter.
There are major players in the VR market, like Google,
Samsung, and Oculus, but plenty of startups are forming and they will be
hiring, and the demand for professionals with VR and AR skills will only
increase. Getting started in VR doesn’t require a lot of specialized knowledge.
Basic programming skills and a forward-thinking mindset can land a job, although
other employers will be looking for optics as a skill-set and hardware
engineers as well.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity might not seem like emerging
technology, given that it has been around for a while, but it is evolving just
as other technologies are. That’s in part because threats are constantly new.
The malevolent hackers who are trying to illegally access data are not going to
give up any time soon, and they will continue to find ways to get through even
the toughest security measures. It’s also in part because new technology is
being adapted to enhance security. As long as we have hackers, we will have cyber
security as an emerging technology because it will constantly evolve to
defend against those hackers.
As proof of the strong need for cybersecurity
professionals, the number of cybersecurity jobs is growing three times
faster than other tech jobs. However, we’re falling short when it comes to
filling those jobs. As a result, it’s predicted that we will have 3.5
million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2021.
Many cybersecurity jobs pay six-figure incomes, and
roles can range from the ethical hacker to security engineer to Chief Security
Officer, offering a promising career path for someone who wants to get
into and stick with this domain.
Blockchain
Although most people think of blockchain technology in
relation to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, blockchain offers security that
is useful in many other ways. In the simplest of terms, blockchain can be
described as data you can only add to, not take away from or change. Hence the
term “chain” because you’re making a chain of data. Not being able to change
the previous blocks is what makes it so secure. In addition, blockchains are
consensus-driven, so no one entity can take control of the data. With
blockchain, you don’t need a trusted third-party to oversee or validate
transactions. You can refer to our Blockchain tutorial for a detailed
and thorough understanding of the technology.
Several industries are involving and implementing
blockchain, and as the use of blockchain technology increases, so too does the
demand for skilled professionals. In that regard, we are already behind.
According to Techcrunch.com, blockchain-related jobs are the second-fastest
growing category of jobs, with 14 job openings for every one blockchain
developer. A blockchain developer specializes in developing and implementing
architecture and solutions using blockchain technology. The average yearly
salary of a blockchain developer is $130,000. If you are intrigued by
Blockchain and its applications and want to make your career in this
fast-growing industry, then this is the right time to learn Blockchain and
gear up for an exciting future.
Internet
of Things (IoT)
Many “things” are now being built with WiFi connectivity,
meaning they can be connected to the Internet—and to each other. Hence, the
Internet of Things, or IoT. The Internet of Things is the future and
has already enabled devices, home appliances, cars, and much more to be
connected to and exchange data over the Internet. And we’re only in the
beginning stages of IoT: the number of IoT devices reached 8.4 billion in 2017
is expected to reach 30 billion devices by 2020.
As consumers, we’re already using and benefitting from
IoT. We can lock our doors remotely if we forget to when we leave for work and
preheat our ovens on our way home from work, all while tracking our fitness on
our Fitbits and hailing a ride with Lyft. But businesses also have
much to gain now and in the near future. The IoT can enable better safety,
efficiency, and decision making for businesses as data is collected and
analyzed. It can enable predictive maintenance, speed up medical care, improve
customer service, and offer benefits we haven’t even imagined yet.
However, despite this boon in the development and
adoption of IoT, experts say not enough IT professionals are getting trained
for IoT jobs. An article at ITProToday says we’ll need 200,000 more
IT workers that aren’t yet in the pipeline, and that a survey of engineers
found 25.7 percent believe inadequate skill levels to be the industry’s biggest
obstacle to growth. For someone interested in a career in IoT, that means easy
entry into the field if you’re motivated, with a range of options for
getting started. Skills needed include IoT security, cloud computing knowledge,
data analytics, automation, understanding of embedded systems, device
knowledge, to name only a few. After all, it’s the Internet of Things, and
those things are many and varied, meaning the skills needed are as well.
