Want to be a billionaire? Easy. Just create an app (application) that everyone wants or needs. On the other hand, if you don’t know how to turn a computer on, it will be much more difficult. Somewhere between these two points is a rational way to move up the job ladder.
Here’s some information that may help to understand the impact of technology:
- From 1900 until now, those working on farms dropped to 2% from 42%
- In her lifetime, my mother saw the first automobile, then saw men land on the moon
- Almost 50% of all American jobs will be affected by automation over the next 20 years
- 35% of most Americans believe they have been displaced by technology
So, what does this tell us? The answer: Technology has created winners and losers. The question is, which side of the equation will you be as time moves on? Technology has been a net job creator, but only if you learn to use it for your own benefit.
Who will be the losers?
- Those who don’t have a up to date computer or access to one
- Those who don’t know how to use a computer in their functional area
- Those who haven’t kept up to date in their filed of expertise
Who will be the winners?
- Those who at a minimum can navigate the web and applications in their function
- Those who take on-line courses or programs that sharpen the skill sets in their field
- Those who can continually apply new technology to their functional expertise
Until and unless there is an educational upgrade that teaches courses and studies using computers, a large segment of the population will be unprepared for the future. Other countries are much more advanced than we. It’s embarrassing to learn that multiple U.S. government agencies are using a 20-year-old technology.
So what can we do about it? I have three solutions. Please add your own:
- Find out what the for-profit, non-profit and government sectors need, not what the schools want to teach
- Increase workforce training, from the bottom up rather from the top down
- Involve companies to help train students at the elementary and high school levels
- Emphasize efficiency, performance improvement and reward innovation, especially in the government sector
Since we know where the future is headed, we should prepare ourselves to meet it. And technology is one of the answers.
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