The Distortion (cont'd)

This is the conclusion of the first part of a series of insightful post on challenges our current education system faces, the untoward effects and possible remedial measures we can take as individuals to escape the quagmire. Kindly drop your comments, like and share this post.

Please take some time out to go visit your old school and see that the only thing that might have changed are your old teachers and probably some new buildings but the syllabuses remains the same and the processes and expected outcomes are geared towards the same things. Learn, serve, look for a job and earn salaries. But that equation has lost its constant. Things have change. Automation has set in. Systems are being developed to take over human activities with only highly technically professional people left in work places, basically, only to monitor those system, and perhaps, proffer ways to improve those systems, which will eventually also lead to someone one losing their job because making a system better in modern terms more or less implies relieving a human of their job for an artificially intelligent machine or program to perform.

However, these jobs, so taken away from humans, still need get done, but by people with superior knowledge that match the complexities of the modern work place. Actually, it’s going to be like this now and going forward:

1. Mobile hardware, software and services will continue to rapidly evolve, creating many new careers, as all phones become smartphones, and our primary computer and tablets continue to evolve as our laptop replacement. This new level of mobility will allow any size business to transform how they market, sell, communicate, collaborate, educate, train and innovate.

2. Remote visual communications will become a primary relationship-building tool for businesses of all sizes as employees use smartphones, tablets and laptops, in combination with current video conferencing systems, to communicate at new levels with customers, partners and employees.

3. Social business enterprise management will grow rapidly as organizations shift from an Information Age "informing" model to a Communication Age "communicating and engaging" model. New careers will emerge as social software rapidly grows -- with applications to enhance business relationships, collaboration, networking, social validation and more. Social search will increasingly shape careers as marketers, researchers and those on Wall Street create applications and services to tap into millions of daily tweets and Facebook conversations, providing real-time analysis of many key consumer metrics.

4. Cyber security and forensics careers will grow rapidly as we become increasingly connected and dependent on computer systems and machines using intelligent sensors connected to just about everything. Careers in data and information forensics will grow rapidly as the need to solve cyber crimes increases.

5. Additive manufacturing (3-D printing) will create many new careers in manufacturing as this revolutionary technology allows any size company to manufacture quickly, locally and with far fewer costs. Additive manufacturing builds things by depositing material (typically plastic or metal) layer by layer until the final product is finished. Examples of final products today include jewelry, iPhone cases, shoes, car dashboards, parts for jet engines, prosthetic limbs and much more.

6. Gamification of education will create many new careers as corporations and educational institutions at all levels accelerate learning by using advanced simulations and skill-based learning systems that are self-diagnostic, interactive, game-like, and competitive, all focused on giving the user an immersive experience thanks to a photo-realistic 3-D interface.

7. Cloud services and virtualization will be increasingly embraced by businesses of all sizes, as this represents a major shift in how organizations obtain and maintain software, hardware, and computing capacity. IT is rapidly becoming an on-demand service that is rapidly transforming all business processes resulting in a rapid evolution of current careers as well as creating new careers in every functional area.

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8. Big data and real-time analytics describe the technologies and techniques used to capture and utilize the exponentially increasing streams of data with the goal of bringing enterprise-wide visibility and insights to make rapid critical decisions. This new level of data integration and analytics will require many new skills and cross-functional training in order to take advantage of new opportunities as well as break down the many data and organizational silos that still exist.

9. Intelligent e-personal assistants using natural language voice commands was launched with Apple's Siri, which was rapidly followed by Google, Microsoft, and others all offering what will become a mobile electronic concierge on your phone, tablet and television. The technology will rapidly evolve and soon every profession from retailers to maintenance workers will have a Siri-like assistant. Adding an e-personal assistant to support an existing product and/or service will create many new careers.

10. 3-D web will transform today's Internet experience (which is like looking at a flat piece of paper with a few photos, embedded video, and a few hyperlinks) to a true 3-D experience, similar to today's video games, where you can virtually walk into a showroom, look around and both listen to and see the new car you are interested in, or whatever the website is trying to show you. This will employ many new graphic artists, designers and programmers.

11. Connected intelligent objects using chips, microsensors and both wired and wireless networks will create a rapidly growing "Internet of things" sharing real-time data, performing diagnostics and making remote repairs. Many jobs will be created as we add intelligent connected sensors to bridges, roads, buildings, homes and much more. By 2020, there will be well over a billion machines talking to each other, and people will install them.

12. Advanced robotics and automation will take a giant leap forward, thanks to networked sensors, artificial intelligence, and Siri-like voice communications, taking the next level of repetitive jobs from humans. This will create many new career opportunities from design, programming and installation to service and maintenance, to name just a few.

You don't have to know the physics of a telephone in order to use it. You do have to know it exists and how to creatively use it to accomplish your goal. Don't wait until next year, or the year after, or until you're laid off. Invest the time to identify what you need to learn right away so that you will thrive both now and in the future, either in your current career or a new one. However, if you think this whole idea is too metaphysically way up for you, well, you wouldn’t want your kids to waste their childhood and youthful days learning only junks in schools without also having them to learn about how the real world now works, would you?