The jobs you describe will go to Asia, mainly to India.
The only jobs that makes sense for ordinary people are some form of hospice nurse to wip the arse of some older Americans who still have the money to pay for it.
If you are more like a macho guy, you can enter some private security to guard the rich people and their properties or go into the armed services where I see plenty of work ahead.
Beyound that it is mainly "Do you want fries with that?"
Get smart about skills today for tomorrow's jobs
Summary
Our future will require today's high school and college students to develop a unique skill-set never seen before. We must develop 21st century skills to prepare for tomorrow, says IBM's Kevin Faughnan.
Topics
Commentary - Over the next five years, the United States is expected to help lead the way in the development of smart systems that will address some of the world's most pressing issues. For example, we can expect to see new systems that will control carbon emissions and optimize automobile traffic in major cities; track food moving through the global supply chain; capture and deliver solar and wind energy; and better monitor and improve the quality of health care.
While this future sounds exciting, getting there will require today's high school and college students to develop a unique skill-set never seen before. This is why governments, industry and academia are now collaborating to develop 21st century skills for the workforce – an area that literally combines critical thinking, creativity, and innovation with leadership, global awareness, and technology literacy - to help students get prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.
If you’re a student or a parent of a student looking at a career in practically any industry, or even a professional just starting off, here are some key trends you need to know about skills to help you chart a course toward the coming job market.
First, it’s not all about IT: The most highly sought-after U.S. workers will not be comprised of programmers, coders or operations workers. Instead, they’ll be project leaders, enterprise architects, systems analysts and business process engineers – jobs that embody the notion of 21st century skills.
Those who understand business principles and add value through IT are going to be essential in this new professional landscape. For example, Jason Freedman, a student entrepreneur who designed a Facebook application called Open Vote that enables peers to poll each other, was successful in launching the company only because he understood both the business model and the technology behind the application.
Using input from his peers, he envisions ways in which he can help enterprises or policymakers make important decisions such as the roll-out of an affordable electric car or new ways to tackle energy demands.
No matter if you or your student are in an MBA program, learning graphic design or pursuing an engineering degree, choose courses designed to help you forecast trends, understand business concepts, think creatively and communicate well with others. Seek out internships with companies that offer exposure to these skills. These skills might come in handy when you’re asked to model a scenario in which solar technology has to be scaled to power 5th Avenue’s fashion industry.
Get acquainted with the area of project management and process design. With multiple parties, vendors and teams involved in the projects of the future, tomorrow’s workers will have to know how to manage projects involving a variety of sources and locations.
Using your skills, you might then assemble a global team of engineers to design your prototype that would be used as a proof of technology to obtain additional research and matching funds to bring the project to fruition.
For example, in implementing a new service for the retail industry using RFID tags to help shoppers find, say, a clutch that exactly matches a wedding dress, you could be designing a process that brings together RFID technology suppliers, mobile phone vendors and a chain’s outlets.
Finally, there are technology skills that will remain in demand, especially when paired with the aforementioned skills. These skill areas include: mainframe systems analysis, design and auditing; IT security planning and management; data and storage administration; Web application development and business intelligence operations, such as data warehousing and data mining.
Even if you’re not going for an IT degree, there are plenty of other ways to get these skills. Students can now tap into internet resources available through IBM and others that provide tools, tips and tutorials on all of these topics, as well as collaborative learning communities that help share and build knowledge.
Getting smart about your skills today, which must include a balance of deep technical skill and an interdisciplinary approach to business, will help you find that dream job tomorrow.
biography
Kevin Faughnan directs IBM’s Academic Initiative from Westchester County, New York.
Talkback Most Recent of 7 Talkback(s)
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Linux Geek8th Jan 2009 -
If only we could improve their expectations by -not- outsourcing
to other countries. As Linux Geek points out.
Some of the western enterprises have stabbed skilled workers in the back. The outsourcing of labour to regions outside of national borders cannot simply be reversed, because they would now be competing against the very people they skilled-up abroad.
How stupid can you get?
V@...9th Jan 2009 -
RE: Get smart about skills today for tomorrow's jobs
I agree whole-heartedly with Mr. Faughnan's article. However, I believe he is overlooking the fact that he is a party to the undermining of his own ideas and advice.
IBM, like most other organizations investing in offshore resources, is saving money now but undermining their very own foundation of future resources. There is no point in encouraging students to pursue technical careers when you are working to eliminate the opportunities that could be there for them in the future. Offshoring does just that. Instead of those opportunities being given to US citizens--where the opportunities could be used by the future IT worker for on the job training and knowledge acquisition--they are instead being shipped overseas where the benefits of that experience are lost on the upcoming generations here at home.
IBM isn't the only US corporation guilty of this; in fact, many, many organizations in many, many industry sectors are probably shipping a larger percentage of their jobs overseas than IBM. The problem is that as long as companies put the profits of today ahead of the possibilities of tomorrow, suggestions like those of Mr. Faughnan will matter little.
-Mike D
http://www.daileymuse.com
daileyml9th Jan 2009 -
A database about outsourcing US companies?
I think we need to create a database of companies who outsource (or not) and what the percentage is. These are public companies, this information should be furnished to us.
Then, informed citizens and customers can decide whether or not they wish to do business with these traitors.
VoiceOfLogic13th Jan 2009 -
RE: Get smart about skills today for tomorrow's jobs
I almost hate to add to the chorus of negative responses, but as an IT veteran of 26 years, I see no reason why any of the IT specialization categories that the article mentions, can't be offshored (and therefore WILL be by shortsighted American companies). The sad truth is that almost ANY knowledge occupation can be offshored in this age of high-speed communications, with the possible exception of business analysts who really do need to be onsite most of the time.
Why did I use the term "shortsighted" above? Because even though it may cost American companies less for labor for IT personnel today, if 90+ percent of the technical jobs get farmed out to foreign workers, then the middle class in America disappears and we ALL go down the tubes (which is essentially what has been slowly, inexorably happening over the last 30 years).
I wish I could be more optimistic (as optimistic as the author of the article), but reality tends to refute the article, in my humble and disappointed opinion.
Still_Rockin11th Jan 2009 -
No matter what courses the kids take, ...
... the competition is still going to be global. Outsourcing will continue, and Americans will not be employed in IT as they were in the past. There will _not_ be well-paying jobs on American soil. Only the service-sector jobs that require a human presence will remain, unless corporations get the message that they are part of the long-term problem.
Ernest_CT12th Jan 2009 -
THANK GOD
Someone else with a sense of reality out there. The US' economic problems are rooted in the OUTSOURCING of well-paying jobs. Not the 'housing' problem. Thats a by-product of jobs going away. Perot was correct. That "sucking sound" has finally turned into an implosion of the entire system. There are only so many jobs available in Borders or Starbucks...
Everyone who has has their job outsourced and has been forced into a lower paying job (or no job) is paying that much LESS taxes into the system. They're buying that much LESS locally. They're contributing that much LESS to their savings accounts and their retirement.
The answer to difficult questions is nothing more than a series of simple actions:
1) Outlaw outsourcing.
2) Bring back ALL jobs (IT, medical, financial, cust svc/call center, manufacturing, textile and so on)
3) Watch tax revenues rise again, along with the ability to pay for those mortgages, savings rates go up and retirement accounts get funded again.
Until then, this nation is doomed. Hell if I am going to work for Borders or Home Depot when I am a highly skilled professional.
If this doesnt happen then maybe what this nation needs is another revolution. Read up on the 1st American Revolution, in case any of you EINSTEIN CEO's and politicians forgot what the people are capable of. YOU work for US.VoiceOfLogic13th Jan 2009
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