Technology - Threat or Asset?

If you were to choose a new career to pursue, would you pick elevator operator, or travel agent, or typewriter repair person? I doubt it, because each of these occupations, and dozens of others, have fallen prey to the relentless advance of technology. And the pace of this replacement is only increasing, which is not a happy story for people who have lost their employment in jobs becoming obsolete, or in declining industries. In a word, technology is replacing the need for people.

This almost seismic shift is slamming the middle-class in a double whammy. First is the loss of jobs because computers and machinery are taking over the repetitive and computational tasks that were done manually a generation ago. The second insult is highlighted by the continual government reports for the past 3 years that a) the economy is improving and b) millions of new jobs have been created as a result of government intervention. Regardless of your political persuasion the reality of these newly created jobs is this: they are primarily in the service sectors and pay well below the middle-class jobs that were lost through the recession that seems unwilling to loose its hold on the U.S. and the Western world. A recent Associated Press article reports that half of the 7.5 million jobs lost during the "Great Recession" paid middle-class wages between $38,000 and $68,000. Yet only two percent of the 3.4 million jobs gained since then are in the same pay ranges.

For the job seeker this means at least three things:

• Learn technology. If you can learn to use technology you can turn a loss into a gain. If you job is replaced by a computer or machine, then someone is going to have to install, operate, service, and design that device. History is replete with job loss, and with complementary job gain. The printing press eliminated manual scribes, yet hundreds of new jobs and sub-industries were created to support this new machine, which enabled unthought-of volume of production.

• Learn what cannot be mechanized. The job category of office secretary was decimated by the advent of the word processor. But in the hands of one who is ignorant of grammar, vocabulary, and communication skill, a computer is simply a device for producing vast pages of indeciperable or misleading gibberish. Computers let us communicate faster; they do not make us communicators. Skill in writing and speaking are tipping points in the team-oriented work environments of today. If you possess these skills, you possess an attribute that will weigh strongly in your favor in a job competition.

• Examine the encroachment of technology into your job area. Just think about your own experience in your everyday life. How often today do you you call a business and hear a human answer? Less and less often. We all hate Voice Recognition systems that "know" what we are speaking but it is simply a fact that these are cheaper than a receptionist. Read the industry magazines for your current job area. Read the industry magazines for the job areas you think you might want to move into. Pay attention to success stories of new technology introductions. Do not skip over the technology advertisements: these are the forewarnings of the shift away from people. When I was studying for my engineering degree I worked nights and weekends as a mechanic in a local gasoline station. I loved reading "Service Station Owner" and other trade magazines because they taught me new diagnostic skills that helped me pay for my education, and every issue had at least one article about a new device or automobile advancement using technology.

None of this news is encouraging. The future is not hopeless, but the future is changing. A prudent person will continually and carefully scrutinize the economic landscape, weighing the discomfort of moving to a new and hopefully growing career area against the comfortable - but possibly dead-end - choice of remaining in a declining job area until that area just disappears. My recurring theme in my book, Hired!, and in this blog is that I hope you will choose these life-changes on your terms and on your schedule rather than being hostage to external events that always come at the worst possible time.