What do the years 2000, 2008, and 2020 have in common? 

The world economy was in recession. Thrice in two decades. An executive in their mid-forties today has seen three economic downturns since college. If they survived, they had to bring something more to the table.

Recession means companies layoff their staff by the thousands. The resulting unemployment may last for years and bring terrible financial pain.

To stay ahead, make improvement a habit, from day one. Sounds cliched? You’d rather choose the cliche, than the grind of mediocrity.

Retrain yourself & learn in-demand skills

Tech is in perpetual motion. A trading floor that used to employ 100 traders now seats 20, because trading runs on an algorithm and humans only supervise the process. Value is not in reacting quickly to share price changes, value is in improving the algorithm that defines the response and in having the skills to interpret the collected data.

Survival is contingent on reskilling. Thankfully most of it can be done through shorter executive programs that last a year and remote and online learning has helped many more students worldwide to access education and learn digital skills. 

Digital skills will help establish an expansive network online, which is the biggest asset one can have these days. Your network is a trampoline you can bounce off when you’re jobless. With social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, networking is a breeze. 

It is therefore almost inevitable to learn internet skills too such as online marketing, SEO or building a website and you can learn such skills with the digital marketing training provider SeekaHost University for free. 

How to Change a Career & which Path to Choose?

Ellen Degeneres was a paralegal before she became the highest-paid comedian and talk show host, and Walt Disney used to be an editor of a small newspaper.

If you feel stuck, underutilized, and dissatisfied, it is time for a change.

Easier said than done, though. When you’re young and with no dependents, it is not that hard to reeducate and pick up a new career compared to when you’re older. 

That doesn’t mean it is impossible. Millions do it every year. Jack Ma went from being an English teacher to the founder of Alibaba at 40. Where there is a will, there is a way.

Which Career is Right for you? 

It is relatively easy to jump from being a systems engineer to an app or software developer, far harder to become a fashion designer when you are a copywriter.

Passion is not all. You need to ensure that your future career path is a lucrative & fulfilling one that will lead to the income and position you are most interested in. 

Top Careers in Demand Right now

Cyber Security

The coming of 5G would see the IoT or internet of things become a reality. The devices around the home would “talk” to each other over a network. Where there is a network, the threat of hacking looms large. Cybersecurity is set to become one of the biggest employment generators. Experts in this field are trained to find flaws in databases, networks, and hardware that can be exploited by others.

Data Analytics & SEO

In case you didn’t know, data is the new oil. From shopping sites to social media, everything you do online is tracked, and information is aggregated. The data is then analyzed to find trends that could predict future consumption. A data analyst is a statistician with access to advanced software that allows him to accumulate, arrange and use the data to predict possible shifts in demand. SEO tools are usually used by many companies to analyse their website traffic and marketing campaigns online and you can learn more about SEO at the SeekaHost University or the top SEO blog seo.clickdo.co.uk. 

Robotics

It is not about humanoids running spaceships but rather shop floor robots. These machines have been in use for three decades but have now begun to become “smart,” that is, they can learn from the task and upgrade themselves. If you specialize in robotics, you can be part of several industries, from automobile production to space research.

Software Developers

There is no end to the adaptability of this pursuit. From mining bitcoins to creating e-commerce sites, a software developer would never be out of a job. What do we mean by software development? Anyone who knows how to code (expertly) and is up to date with new developments. It is possible to branch into fields as varied as app development and blockchain as a software developer. The number of jobs in this field would be almost 29 million by 2024, according to Statista.

Hardware Developers

The smart device revolution over the past decade has been possible due to the development of ARM CPUs. With everything set to become smart – from cars to refrigerators – better CPU development would be at the forefront of technological advancement. Most hardware developers are electrical and electronic engineers with good knowledge of physics and semiconductors. Not only CPUs but new types of USB ports, NAND (solid-state drive), LED screens, scanning devices – the list of possible employers are endless.

Future Outlook 

The first industrial revolution circa 1800 used steam for power.

The second industrial revolution circa 1920 used electricity to replace steam.

The third industrial revolution circa 1970 brought in digitization.

The fourth industrial revolution, whose mainstream adoption is just around the corner, is based on a dreaded word – artificial intelligence.

If you want your job to be future proof, you have to be prepared to help and contribute in a way that no machine can while working with machines.

All that you can do is keep your eyes open and constantly reskill yourself.

Manuela Willbold

I am an Online Media & PR Strategist at ClickDo Ltd. & SeekaHost Ltd. and an SEO Copywriter and Educator by Passion. I am also an editor of many News and Business blogs and manage blogs for business marketing. I have completed a journalism summer course at the London School of Journalism and manage various blogs.