What will the professions of the future be?
What will the professions of the future be?
The most in-demand jobs of tomorrow
Reading time: 11 min
We live in a time of changes, where technology has a great presence in our lives and facilitates many daily tasks for us. A time where training, continuous learning, and constantly evolving professional careers are necessary to achieve a more sustainable and efficient world. In the next few years, new business opportunities will be presented and technological improvements will be progressively implemented in all businesses. To respond to market demands, the most important focus will be having the appropriate talent and professionals. Below we will see in detail what the most in-demand professions of the future will be, many of which involved technologies related to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
New energy engineer
New energy engineer
An energy engineer works on the design and implementation of different types of renewable energy. It is a very broad field that studies the energy sources that we currently use or researches to develop new renewable sources to reduce emissions.
The main purpose of the engineer is to develop more efficient and sustainable energy sources for greater energy efficiency, thus minimizing their environmental impact as much as possible. It's a profession that will be fundamental for the global energy transition.
Smart Cities and smart homes architect and engineer
Smart Cities and smart homes architect and engineer
Another of the most in-demand professions in the future will be related to so-called Smart Cities. These cities are born from the integration of Information and Communication Technologies into our current spaces. And they represent a change in mentality, design, urban planning, and mobility, with the aim of being more efficient.
The aim is to create smart cities and homes that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. This would translate into an energy savings, an improvement in infrastructures and transportation services, and a reduction in our carbon footprint, amongst other advantages. To make it possible, different professional profiles will be needed such as Smart City architects, data engineers, and cybersecurity experts.
Digital transformation specialist
Digital transformation specialist
The digital transformation specialist will be one of the most sought-after professions in the future. The purpose of this professional is to adjust and transform the business model and culture in order to convert it into an effective, profitable, and sustainable digital model. This profession addresses the design of new processes and digital products, leaving analogical processes and physical products on the back burner.
Amongst the functions of these specialists are the assessment and implementation of new technologies, automation of traditional processes, value chain improvement, system migration, and customer experience optimization.
Climate defender: carbon footprint controller
Climate defender: carbon footprint controller
Jobs related to decarbonization and environmental care, for example, carbon footprint control, will be some of the most in-demand in the future, as all companies will have to monitor their emissions on an annual basis to make our cities more sustainable.
Until now, many organizations didn’t have reliable measurement systems for their emissions. But soon, ‘climate defenders’ will become one of the essential professions needed to achieve the European Green Deal objectives.
Big Data analyst
Big Data analyst
Another career of the future is a Big Data analyst. A position that works to analyze and interpret data correctly with the aim of extracting information on patterns, behaviors, and consumption habits. From the information gathered, a strategy to achieve the objectives is defined.
Amongst the functions of an analyst we can find: information management, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and design of informative dashboards, all of that with the aim of extracting, processing, grouping, and analyzing data to generate reports with clear conclusions on the new ways of consumption.
Biotechnology engineer
Biotechnology engineer
Biotechnology is a type of technological innovation that combines different scientific branches and will be one of the professions of the future, given the many branches that study the association between biology and the science of living organisms and technology. These professionals will contribute to solving problems in the areas of health, pharmaceutics, chemicals, agriculture, food production, and environmental protection.
Through the use of molecular biology, microbiology, and biochemical techniques, new medicines, plants, and foods are produced by manipulating biomolecules and microorganisms.
IoT specialist
IoT specialist
Another of the professions of the future is an IoT (Internet of Things) specialist. This area focuses on network systems interconnected by different protocols. In this case, the professional applies the most appropriate strategy for each system, making the most of the potential of smart devices.
This role is fundamental in a hyperconnected world. The specialist is tasked with designing and managing the network of physical objects that connect and exchange data with other devices through the internet. Examples include smartphones, watches, televisions, or household appliances.
Encryption and cybersecurity expert
Encryption and cybersecurity expert
Cybersecurity specialists define the strategy for protecting information systems and network and data infrastructure, and will be fundamental in the future because they will also be in charge of designing cybersecurity protocols to respond to threats that may arise in information security.
Encryption professionals will convert readable data into an encrypted format so that only those people with passwords to decrypt the data will have access.
New materials engineer
New materials engineer
Engineers are currently working on the development of cutting-edge materials, such as nanorobots and graphene. This research will mark a before and after in our lives.
Progress on nanorobots could have great implications in the area of medicine, helping to combat diseases, and in the environment, in the clean-up and preservation of an ecosystem. Graphene has the scientific community fascinated, as this light material is almost 200 times more resistant than steel. It could be an authentic revolution for the aeorospace industry, medicine, and construction sectors.
Fintech engineer
Fintech engineer
Finance + technology = FinTech engineer. This is one of the careers of the future related to innovation, technology, and finance. Engineers, computer scientists, and financial experts unite to offer innovative financial products in an efficient, agile, and simple way, using advanced digital technologies.
To revolutionize this industry, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professionals, or STEM experts, are being sought. This emerging sector will require a wide range of analytical and problem-solving skills, with a touch of creativity and innovation.
Expert in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning
Expert in Artificial Intelligence and machine learning
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is expected to be one of the most revolutionary and in-demand professions of the future. The purpose of this professional is to develop processes, objects, and services that independently solve a problem. In other words, operational improvements are made based on machine learning.
The great value of this future profession is in carrying out data analysis processing using mathematic mechanisms in order to develop a technology that solves problems based on human behavior.
Smart transportation engineer
Smart transportation engineer
A profession that is perhaps currently less known and which will be commonplace in a few years is a smart transportation engineering. These specialists focus on low-emission transportation, supply chain 4.0, and sustainable mobility. To do so, they monitor traffic conditions, traffic speed, vehicle weight, and weather conditions, amongst other factors.
Engineers who choose this specialization work with different technologies. In this way, they improve the functioning of the whole transportation system. Furthermore, all players are considered and included with the aim of saving lives, looking after the environment, and saving energy.