Reading more and more about big companies replacing their workforce with robots. Bill Gates estimating that in 20 years many low-end jobs will be automated. I’m lucky enough to have a quality job that won’t be at risk for takeover by our robot overlords (at least not in my lifetime) but the fact that this is a possibility for others got me thinking.
What would you recommend as a field of study to make yourself valuable if all these jobs do get automated?
Are there any courses/certifications one could get to get a head start in the field that don’t involve a 2-year degree or higher?
Any books that you could recommend to someone interested in a career in robotics?
Basically I’m just at the infant stage in this whole process and am wondering where to go to learn more, and where to go to get ahead so that in the future I might find myself in a high-paying job if I ever decide to switch fields. At this point it seems like almost a certainty that robotics are going to play a huge part in the future of big business and I just want to get ahead early. I have programming experience in a few languages but I’m not even sure what languages would be best for programming a robot. Ultimately looking for as much info as you can throw at me even if I haven’t posed a question about it. Thanks.
Very philosophical question indeed.
The term “low end” jobs may be a bit of a misnomer; as expected, if a company can do something (a task, a product, a service) for less money, the tendency is they will opt for that new option so they have a better chance of survival.
Tasks which can be automated most likely will be, so the positions which cannot be easily automated will be those which require creativity will likely endure.
If you always do the same repetitive task(s) as part of your job, then imagine if a robot could be programmed to do it.
Thanks for the reply. Maybe “low end” wasn’t a good term. The stories I had read mentioned fast food and shipping as two big industries likely to be automated in the future which gave me that idea. You are, however, correct.
^ This.
I work in health care; specifically Hospital Pharmacy. We now use robotic technology in the IV Room (where sterile injections are made) to more accurately & quickly reproduce say, 700 cefazolin 1000 mg USP 10 mL syringes than any human could.
The humans however, (i.e. Pharmacists and Techs) have migrated to better jobs: more direct patient care; techs doing Medication Reconciliation (far better than nursing, who hated doing it anyway) in the Emerg Dept.; and many other examples.
I think one needs to view robotics as a tool to free you up to expand your horizons. We did.
Geoff
Just want to give some opinions.The robots will carry out the messy, boring, and hazardous tasks people do not want to do. Workers need minimal instruction to understand how you can teach a robot a specific task and set it to operate.
I just read from the net, by 2021, robots may have wiped out 6% of all work in the US. Robots will definitely take some work, however it is up to us as well as our policies to ensure everyone is qualified, skilled, and prepared for the new jobs being created so as to tally with what the robots cannot do.
