At the moment, getting a job in tech is a surefire way to make money. Learning coding, programming or other computer skills all but guarantees well-paid work. Many top tech jobs pay well into six figures. But that may not be the case in the future. It sounds contradictory, but as the general public becomes increasingly computer literate, the payment for tech jobs might get lower. Here’s why.
People are more computer literate than ever
At the moment, most tech experts are self-taught, learning coding and development because they are completely dedicated to the craft. As a result, it is estimated that only around 0.3% of the global workforce have any coding knowledge.
However, this statistic will change when the next generation goes to work. At countries all over the world, the school curriculum is being changed to reflect the importance of tech skills to the modern world. In the UK, for example, all pupils take classes in coding up until the age of fourteen, after which they can continue to learn if they wish. In a few years time, every young British jobseeker will possess at least a basic understanding of computer programming, completely altering the status quo.
Other countries with a tech-heavy new curriculum include Estonia, where students will learn how to build websites and apps as part of their daily studies. Worldwide campaigns like Hour of Code are spreading tech knowledge to countries without coding on the curriculum, making this rise in computer literacy an international phenomenon.
With the most technologically knowledgeable workforce yet, jobs working with computers will be more more oversubscribed than ever before.
The job market is becoming more crowded
Knowledge of coding or programming is in high demand from employers. The same is true of obscure tech-based skills for handling software systems, such as SAP, which is growing in desirability. But as the SAP recruitment experts Eursap show in their guide on becoming more employable for SAP careers, professionals are already going to great lengths to find a role.
Clearly, there is already a lot of competition for jobs even in a field where the required expertise is so rare. The reason for this is that, due to increased interest in development, there are more candidates for tech jobs than ever before. Combine this with the previously discussed changes in the education system, and tech jobs will be even more difficult to find.
It is true that a tech savvy generation may manage to grow the tech sector through invention and innovation, but this may end up making things even worse for those searching for tech-based work.
Robots might take all the jobs
Perhaps as a direct result of these increasing tech skills, scientists and engineers are developing artificial intelligence (AI) so sophisticated that many jobs will soon not even require humans. Guggenheim fellow Moshe Vardi has spent years warning people to plan ahead for the post-work future.
AI employees will soon be just as capable as humans in tech matters. With what’s known as deep learning, AI can learn new things. Experiments have shown that future AI will be able to code programs itself, without the need for human input, meaning programmers may soon be replaced by the very programs they created.
