I recently read a Wall Street Journal article entitled, “To Keep Your Job, Learn Something New.” The reported referenced a recent article from Oxford University which suggested up to half of the jobs in the US may be done by machines in just a “few decades.” My own experience tells me this is a real concern for the workers of the future. I entered the workforce in 1978, going to work for a large bank in the Southeast. At that time there were no personal computers, tablets, or smartphones. Executives would dictate memos and correspondence to be typed by folks in the steno pool. Email did not exist and I don’t recall having voicemail, either. Now I “type” my own memos and correspondence and reply to e and voice mail from almost anywhere, at anytime. This does not always feel like progress.
My point is, I have had to make the effort to stay current – from floppy discs to smartphones, from Lotus 1,2,3 to Microsoft Office and IOS. But I have done the work to keep up, or at least not fall too far behind, and it has served me well. I am even doing this blog, have a Facebook and LinkedIn presence, and Tweet every once in a while. I cannot begin to imagine what today’s young workers will have to learn to stay current, but I know that if they don’t their careers will suffer.