The futurist: More of 162 future jobs
(Editor’s note: This is the second of three parts. Read Part 1.)
Here are the next 55 future jobs. See the first 47.
Our Trillion-Sensor Future
Industry experts are now projecting that we will reach 1 trillion sensors in the world by 2024, and 100 trillion by 2036.
48. Sensor Inventors, Designers, and Engineers
49. Data Stream Organizers
50. Failure Point Assessors
51. Data Transmission Optimizers
52. System Anthropologists
53. Data Actuaries
54. Last Milers – People who specialize in bridging the gap between where the data fields end and the user communities begin.
3D Printing
3D printing was recently named by Goldman Sachs as one of eight technologies destined to creatively destroy how we do business. As an industry making inroads in thousands of different businesses simultaneously, former Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson is famously quoted as saying, “3D printing will be bigger than the Internet.”
55. Automation Auditors – Assessing what parts, processes, and systems can be automated.
56. Material Experts
57. Design Engineers
58. Cost Estimators
59. 3Dimensionalists – Those with an innate ability to think three dimensionally.
60. 3D Printer “Ink” Developers
61. 3D Food Printer Chef
62. 3D Printed Clothing Fashion Designers, Material Specialists, and Stylists
63. Organ Agents – 3D printed organs are now being created and are in hot demand.
64. Manufacturing Process Consultants
65. Maintenance Guys
Internet of Things
Seventy-five billion is the number of devices that Morgan Stanley has calculated will be connected to the Internet of Things by 2020. That’s 9.4 devices for every one of the 8 billion people that will be on earth in only seven years. IBM even created a starter kit to help people get started.
66. Locationists – People who specialize in adding the relevance of “place” to our global online communities.
67. Lifestyle Auditors
68. Efficiency Consultants
69. Ownership Network Setup Specialists – Everything people own over a certain value can be tagged, tracked, and monitored.
70. Augmented Reality Architects – Much like the paint we put on houses and the flavorings we add to food, the future will seem boring if our reality hasn’t been augmented in some way.
71. Avatar Relationship Managers – As the foibles of humanity enter the realm of autonomous, freethinking avatars, people will find it necessary to both manage and limit the often-dangerous relationships avatars get themselves into.
Big Data
Social media, blogs, web browsing, and company’s security systems are all generating enormous quantities of data, and it all needs to be stored, managed, analyzed, and protected.
72. Data Interface Mavens
73. Opportunity Spotters
74. Waste Data Managers – To insure data integrity in today’s fast evolving information storage industry, multiple redundancies have been built into the system. Achieving more streamline data storage in the future will require de-duplication specialists who can rid our data centers of needless copies and frivolous clutter.
75. Computer Personality Designers – Talking back and forth to a computer that has a machine-like voice is boring. But being able to download specific “personality packages” will add an entirely new level of engagement for basement-dwellers everywhere.
76. Data Hostage Specialists – Holding people as hostages is very messy. But holding data hostage is a less-risky crime that can be done remotely, and has the potential for far greater rewards.
77. Smart Contact App Developers – Smart contact lenses superimpose information on the wearer’s field of view.
Crypto Currencies & Alternative Financial Systems
In 2008 the entire world was beginning to panic as our global financial systems teetered ever so close to total meltdown. Major banks were either failing or near failure, and the entire house of cards seemed to be one 10-of-Clubs away from becoming a meaningless flat stack in the middle of the table. Out of this growing distrust of banks, Wall Street, and our entire monetary system, the age of crypto currencies was born.
78. Crypto Currency Bankers, Regulators, and Lawyers
79. Currency Adoption Specialists
80. Anonymity Advocates
81. Theft Recovery Specialists
82. Crypto Currency Theorists, Philosophers, and Evangelists
83. Currency Strategists
84. Monetary Exchange Interface Experts
85. Standards Developers
86. Lending Tacticians
87. Seed Capitalists – In the startup business world there is a huge gulf between initial concept and fundable prototypes. This dearth of funding options will require an entirely new profession.
88. Privacy Managers – If you think you have lost most of your privacy already, we’ve only scratched the surface. We are all terminally human, and as such, we do not always make good decisions. Striking the perfect privacy-transparency balance will require far more than amateur insights. It will require privacy professionals.
89. Secondary Opportunity Maximizers
Micro Grid Conversion
Over the coming years, the national electric grid will be broken into a series of micro grids. Details here.
90. Micro Grid Strategists
91. Mass Energy Storage Developers – We are still terrible at storing energy from one day to the next. Once mass energy storage systems are developed, micro grids become infinitely more viable.
92. System Transitionists
93. Power Conversion Specialists
94. Efficiency Optimizers
95. Benefits Translators
96. Secondary Opportunity Expansionists
97. Backlash Minimizers
Contour Crafted Houses
Many people think of contour crafting as 3D printing for houses, but Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis from the University of Southern California sees it as much more. In addition to it’s ability to print an entire house in less than a day, it can be used to eliminate slums, help rebuild areas after a natural disasters, and even build large buildings and luxury homes with custom architectural features that can be changed with only a few clicks of a mouse. Details here.
98. Construction Material Designers
99. Structural Engineers
100. Site Planners
101. Setup Teams
102. Tear-Down Teams
103. Cleanup Teams