Working For the Future: Jobs That Didn’t Exist 20 Years Ago
It’s hard to believe, but the 90’s was actually 2 decades ago. I don’t know about you, but whenever someone says “20 years ago”, I still think of the 70’s!
But these past 20 years have been different in terms of technological improvements: from the 70’s to the 90’s, technology improved at a slower pace, largely because of geo-political factors but mostly because of a focus on improving then-current tech rather than pioneering new ones.
The 90’s –and especially the mid 90’s and onwards – saw an exponential boom in developing new kinds of tech, thanks to the internet. The internet became an extremely valuable and influential tool that pushed the entirety of humanity from the analog world into the digital one.
Photo credits from: Tom Parkes (https://unsplash.com/photos/Ns-BIiW_cNU)
This shift created an entirely new industry that required specializations in jobs that didn’t exist prior to the internet, precipitating an arms-race of sorts across all businesses to produce specialists in these brand-new fields. In fact, many of these digital specializations became applied to all forms of business, from banking and finance to manufacturing and even online gambling.
If our 1999 selves could see these jobs now, I wonder what they would think!
Jobs That Didn’t Exist 20 Years Ago
Data Protection/Recovery Specialist
Photo credits from: Arif Riyanto (https://unsplash.com/photos/1DRq1ZsE2N0)
Over the past 20 years, the entire world produced more media than the entire history of the world prior to the 2000’s. This massive influx of data also produced its own specialization: data management. Data management became a multi-billion dollar industry almost overnight, with various companies specializing in both data protection and data recovery. Data protection and cyber-security help companies and people keep their private information away from hackers, while data recovery specialists help people who have mismanaged their data.
Social Media Manager
Photo credits from: Tim Bennett (https://unsplash.com/photos/OwvRB-M3GwE)
It’s hard to believe, but social media has been around for more than a decade, growing from a niche market of sorts into the socio-cultural powerhouse that it is today. But with more platforms popping up everywhere, and with the integration of social media into all aspects of our daily lives, social media management became an important part of any industry. Social media managers ensure that your digital presence remains positive, and that your company is always able to engage with its core audience. Social media managers must combine PR skills with data analysis and timing, not to mention be fairly adept copywriters.
“Influencer”
Photo credits from: Maddi Bazzocco (https://unsplash.com/photos/Vbt1zTCsSNA)
Speaking of social media, the social media age also gave birth to this strange creature, the Influencer. Not really a job as it is a self-entitled, well, title, influencers are basically people with huge followings on social media that they can leverage to patronize certain products and/or services from brands. At least, in theory. There’s plenty of debate ranging about the efficacy of influencers when it comes to branding and actually advertising a company. But they must be effective somehow, I mean, how else do you explain the Kardashians?
SEO Specialist
Photo credits from: Web Hosting (https://unsplash.com/photos/shr_Xn8S8QU)
The internet is a strange and wonderful place, but for all the good it can do, it can also be a confusing and data-saturated place. Thankfully, out of the confusion was born SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO specialists study how search engines work, how customers behave, what they search for online, and apply it across a company’s digital presence so that they have a better chance of appearing at the top of search engine results. But SEO isn’t just about writing for algorithms; SEO also ensures that a company’s digital content is enjoyable for the readers as well.
User Experience/User Interface Designer
Photo credits from: Mimi Thian (https://unsplash.com/photos/tkFRFunRDbw)
The digital world is a bright, colorful, and visually-impressive lace; chock full of high def graphics, images, and videos. But to make it easier for people to access this media, app and website interfaces have to be suited for ease of access as well as smoothness of use. User Experience/User Interface, or UX/UI, designers need to merge various disciplines like visual design, computer graphics, coding, and more. In this way, UX/UI designers can create websites and apps that combine aesthetics with functionality.
Sustainability Consultant
Photo credits from: Nik MacMillan (https://unsplash.com/photos/YXemfQiPR_E)
The technological advancements we’ve acquired over the past 20 years have been impressive, but it came with a price; unchecked consumerism has led to the devastation of our natural world, and while the general public are doing their best to help halt climate change, it’s up to private companies to step up their game and help the environment. In recent years, customers from all industries have started preferring companies that have environmentally-sound business processes. As such, companies are now hiring sustainability experts to help them identify problem points in their business process so that they can adjust better to their clients. Sustainability experts have experience in Lean management, eco-friendly technology, ERP, and other management principles.
About the Author
Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.
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