Future of work for IT professionals

I recently read an interesting article written by Minda Zetlin from CIO.com that outlined the future of work in the IT industry.  This article discussed 5 important workplace trends emerging from the current technological revolution taking place.  I found these insightful as a student looking to become an IT consultant after graduation.

The 5 trends discussed are:
1. Skills will matter less than the ability to learn new ones: the half-life of usefulness of a job skill has dropped to 5 years (Oxford University).  Those who are willing and able to develop in-demand skills instead of remaining fixated on what they can already do will thrive in the changing workplace.  It is up to companies to provide the resources and flexibility to allow their employees to develop new abilities.

2. Artificial intelligence and automation will change most jobs: it is estimated, per Kim Smith of IBM, that 45 percent of work activities today could be automated.  AI and machine learning will remake the workplace, with 2018 potentially being the first year we see a wide-spread implementation of its capabilities.  Some experts believe AI will transform jobs by eliminating their most boring activities, thus making them more enjoyable and employees more productive.  AI and machine learning will help cut through the clutter of attempting to confront massive amounts of data and give IT workers an easier starting point.

3. Your future workforce will be very different from today’s: companies looking to hire the best talent need to change their conceptions of what the workforce is.  Deloitte predicts the future workforce will involve contractors working alongside employees.  Crowdsourcing will become more prevalent because many large companies have found great success using it.  For example, Netflix offered a $1 million to the team that could improve its movie recommendation software by at least 10% (the winning team improved the software by 10.6%).  Crowdsourcing in this manner gives you access to talent you otherwise wouldn’t have working for you.

4. Quantum computing will redefine productivity: the power of quantum computing is very attractive because it allows calculations to be done must faster, and it also creates safer networks.  Also, quantum computing requires less electricity, which solves the predicted problem of not being able to power the world’s computers by 2040, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.  Quantum computing currently isn’t widely-adopted because it is quite costly, but expect it to be the next big thing in the digital transformation era.

5. You can never stop studying: IT leader need to continually focus on the future in order to recognize the technologies that can benefit their organizations the most.  According to David Burns, a CIO at GE, “It’s far better to spend 5 percent of your time looking to the future than 100 percent of your time dealing with what’s in your inbox.”

The point that most resonated with me is #1: Skills will matter less than the ability to learn new ones.  This is important for me to recognize and accept because in order to increase my attractiveness in the job market, I need to continually learn new skills that will set me apart from my peers.  If I want long-term success in my career, I must have a future-oriented mindset and constantly analyze the horizon to determine which skills I should adopt.  I also like #5: You can never stop studying.  Part of the reason I started this blog is to stay up to date with what is going on in the IT/Analytics world.  This point makes me feel confident in my decision because it has allowed me to stay up to date with trends that will affect the future of Information Technology.  Learning about these trends and being able to discuss them will allow me to form connections with IT professionals.

The role of social media companies in American democracy

The 2016 election was unique to say the least.  Both major party candidates were controversial in their own respects.  Most of the the rhetoric used by these candidates and their supporters hinged on insulting the other party, not on making convincing policy arguments.  As a results, sharp, divisive lines were forged between people who supported the major two candidates.  One reason for the proliferation of such rhetoric is social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  These sites allow unprecedented access to candidates, as well as to supporters of the opposite side.  While these sites are sometimes used productively during election seasons for the constructive exchange of ideas, this is often not the case.  It is easy to berate someone online for not agreeing with you when you don’t have to confront that person face to face.  These kinds of actions online only intensify the divides between political parties.  Couple these kinds of online interactions with the proliferation of Fake News and the rise of spam bots, it can be hard to find any meaningful content on these massive social media sites.

This brings me to the question of what Twitter, Facebook, and the like can do to self-regulate to ensure more meaningful online interactions and to limit/prevent Fake News.  Where must the line be drawn between unregulated flow of content and sorting through every post to ensure it meets community guidelines?  Facebook and Twitter claim to have algorithms which serve the purpose of identifying and removing content which violate their online rules.  But it is clear these algorithms failed to detect thousands of Russian bots programmed to post and spread divisive content during the election.  They must do more to ensure this problem doesn’t continue.  These sites enjoy the benefits of democracy, so I believe they have a duty to protect the same system that has allowed them to become wildly successful corporations.  It will be interesting to see the new approaches these companies take as the pressure from the federal government is growing to limit the spread of misinformation on the sites.

Uber classified as transportation service in EU

The European Court of Justice handed Uber a tough blow today.  The ECJ, which operates as the high court in the EU, has declared Uber a transportation service, against Uber’s desire to be classified as a digital marketplace.  This clarification was proposed because transportation companies in the EU are subject to stricter legal controls.  This distinction is important because it strengthens Uber’s regulatory load and forces the company to deal more directly with local and national governments.  Uber’s argument that it is simply a marketplace to connect drivers and riders was denied, in part because Uber has some control over drivers and riders, especially in price setting.

This decision has important global consequences because regulatory bodies of other countries often take the EU’s ruling as precedent.  Therefore, this decision has the potential to impact Uber’s classification and regulation worldwide.  It will be interesting to see which countries choose to follow this precedent when dealing with companies that claim to only create digital marketplaces, such as AirBnB, and which choose to adopt more lenient policies.  I heard this ruling described as “a victory for taxi drivers over Goliath,” so I wonder if a succession of rulings in favor of taxi drivers will follow in the EU, in which case Uber will be forced to discontinue its operations continent-wide.  There are already regions throughout the world that have instituted partial or outright bans on the ride sharing service, so it is not out of the picture to think the EU will follow.

This ruling completes a difficult year for Uber, including executive step-downs because of investor pressure, paying hackers $100,000 to conceal a data breach, and a removal of its operating license in London.

Why I started this blog

My name is Nicholas Steinlage, sophomore at the University of Minnesota studying Management Information Systems.  I chose this path because I am interested in how technology shapes society.  I started this blog to stay current with general technology trends as well as to develop opinions on the important technological issues of today.  I know very little, so I see this as a way to expand my knowledge in areas like IT, cybersecurity, Big Data, and data management.  I hope you enjoy my thoughts.