"Life-logging" will be a way of life, affecting how we record and rememberwhat we do. Terry Young, CEO of trend-spotting firm Sparks and Honey, sees a role for someone who can take the mass of life-logged material, and make stories out of it.

The concept of education as a four-year box-ticking exercise will be over. The future will be more diverse. People will plug in a year of education here and there, a month now and again, and un-schooling counselors will guide them the whole way. "We're seeing the evolution of the traditional counselor to someone who can hack your life together so it's unique," he says.

Machines will be connected, producing tons of data about their performance and surroundings. Communications technology that has been expensive in the past (like satellites) will be widely accessible. This will create opportunities for "armchair explorers" who will travel the world, checking on systems, buildings, and hard-to-reach places. We'll need people to break through the fog, and give us a clear picture.

Today when your handyman fixes something, he usually has to order a spare part from China. One day, he might print it right in your yard. Say you need to replace the pipe under your sink. Why wait for the whole thing to come in from out of the country, when it can be done there and then?

From the gut to your mouth, the microbial world is a big focus of current research. Young sees a job for a "microbial balancer" who can keep you aligned with your bacteria: "They will understand how to read your genome, your gut, and your mouth bacteria and get you better balanced at a house, school, or individual level. They're the equivalent of the Feng Shui person who sets up your apartment."

Big companies want to be more like startups, seeing innovation as vital to future profits. Young says they'll want "corporate disorganizers" who can introduce a little "organized chaos." Young says: "The disruptor will be tapping into the new systems of the collaborative economy, creating greater fragmentation and a more distributed ecosystem."

The digital "overload" will become even more overwhelming. That will open the way for people who can help lead less data-centric lives, or at least find a better balance. In some cases, they will even organize digital rehabs. It's going to get that bad (actually, it already is).

With cities getting greener, we'll need "urban shepherds" to look after the new infrastructure. "You need someone who is going to take care of the urban beehives, who's going to make sure your composting is set up correctly, and who is going to know how to curate all the vertical gardens," Young says.

2013-08-15

8 New Jobs People Will Have In 2025

New technologies will change the kinds of jobs people have in the coming years. Don't be surprised if one day you've taken on the position of microbial balancer, corporate disorganizer, or urban shepherd.

New technology will eradicate some jobs, change others, and create whole new categories of employment. Innovation causes a churn in the job market, and this time around the churn is particularly large--from cheap sensors (creating "an Internet of things") to 3-D printing (enabling more distributed manufacturing).

Sparks & Honey, a New York trend-spotting firm, has a wall in its office where staff can post imaginative next-generation jobs. Below are eight of them, with narration from CEO Terry Young (who previously appeared here talking about health care).

1: DIGITAL DEATH MANAGER

"Life-logging" will be a way of life, affecting how we record and remember what we do. Young sees a role for someone who can take the mass of life-logged material, and make stories out of it. That could be useful during our lives (for personal-brand purposes) but also in death. "Today, it happens only with important people. Andy Warhol has a foundation, and so on. We're imagining this is going to ladder down to other people who want to shape what their legacy means," Young says.

2: UN-SCHOOLING COUNSELOR

The concept of education as a four-year box-ticking exercise will be over. The future will be more diverse. People will plug in a year of education here and there, a month now and again, and un-schooling counselors will guide them the whole way. "We're seeing the evolution of the traditional counselor to someone who can hack your life together so it's unique," he says.

3: ARMCHAIR EXPLORER

Machines will be connected, producing tons of data about their performance and surroundings. Communications technology that has been expensive in the past (like satellites) will be widely accessible. This will create opportunities for "armchair explorers" who will travel the world, checking on systems, buildings, and hard-to-reach places. We'll need people to break through the fog, and give us a clear picture.

4: 3-D PRINTING HANDYMAN

Today when your handyman fixes something, he usually has to order a spare part from China. One day, he might print it right in your yard. Say you need to replace the pipe under your sink. Why wait for the whole thing to come in from out of the country, when it can be done there and then? We already have 3-D printed shower heads, after all.

5: MICROBIAL BALANCER

From the gut to your mouth, the microbial world is a big focus of current research. Young sees a job for a "microbial balancer" who can keep you aligned with your bacteria: "They will understand how to read your genome, your gut, and your mouth bacteria and get you better balanced at a house, school, or individual level. They're the equivalent of the Feng Shui person who sets up your apartment."

6: CORPORATE DISORGANIZER

Big companies want to be more like startups, seeing innovation as vital to future profits. Young says they'll want "corporate disorganizers" who can introduce a little "organized chaos." Young says: "The disruptor will be tapping into the new systems of the collaborative economy, creating greater fragmentation and a more distributed ecosystem."

7: DIGITAL DETOX SPECIALIST

The digital "overload" will become even more overwhelming. That will open the way for people who can help lead less data-centric lives, or at least find a better balance. In some cases, they will even organize digital rehabs. It's going to get that bad (actually, it already is).

8: THE URBAN SHEPHERD

With cities getting greener, we'll need "urban shepherds" to look after the new infrastructure. "You need someone who is going to take care of the urban beehives, who's going to make sure your composting is set up correctly, and who is going to know how to curate all the vertical gardens," Young says.

Image: Work via Shutterstock

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17 Comments

  • Stephen Hauer

    MICROBIAL BALANCER

    . Antibiotic Take Home Message:

    YES .. Antibiotics Kill their Targeted Bad Bugs .. But also Your GUT’s Beneficial “Good” Bugs ..

    That… UnLess You aggressively ReSeed your GUT with Beneficial GOOD Bugs ala Probiotics and “Feed Them” i.e. Prebiotics ..

    Your GUT will become Pathogenically Dominated by Bad Bugs ..

    Not only compromising daily Food BreakDown / Absorption, but over time eroding the Integrity of the GUT itself ..

    And… will remain in this Pathogenic State UnTil … ??

    To address this suffering Population in our DOGs ..

    DVM Dermatologist Dr. Kristin has Formulated > GOO Gut Rescue .com

    Before / During / After > Antibiotic / NSAID / Heavy Pharma Regimes…

    And especially during / following Cancer Treatment

    Now your DOGs GUT Mediated Immunity & Health will be in GOO GUT Rescue Balance !
  • Damien Denis

    1. Will be done by app
    2. Will be done by app or crowdsourcing
    3. Will be done by autonomous drones
    4. Will be done by app and crowdsourcing
    5. Will be done by app
    6. I agree!
    7. I agree! But only for older generations
    8. I think I agree..
  • Peter Erikson

    I'm a bit skeptical about the "un-schooling" concept. Having a block of training makes perfect sense, but it should be balanced so that a person can get real-world insight and training as well. But you're still going to need certifications and diplomas and the like. We may figure out a better idea in the future, but I haven't seen any that sound remotely plausible. It will take a paradigm shift in our thinking about education as well. For example, the whole concept of a university journalism department makes less and less sense, unless it can be tied to employment opportunities. The last time I checked, the only career that shows any growth and requires a journalist's skills is PR.
  • Amy Howell

    I totally agree! I teach for a living and these fields, not to mention many others are requiring more degrees in formal education rather than less. Also, if no one specializes an anything anymore, they won't be very good at anything!
  • Kurtis Hagen

    What is this about nobody specializing? Having a piece of paper and having a specialized skill are two separate things. People who unschool can ultra-specialize, if they want. And my sense is that a fair number do. For the record, I also teach for a living, and I unschool my 6 year-old son. He already miles ahead of his age group in several important areas. It's rediculous. At least part of his achievement is due to not being in school. He is also very comfortable with his way of life. Most people who criticize unschooling haven't done it themselves, and haven't even studied it carefully. So, they quite literally don't know what they are talking about.

  • Christina Araneta-Tan

     #1 LIFE LOGGING - this has already begun.
    Catch Stories is a business that uses your photos and journals to create 'heirbooks', effectively professional looking photo-books designed to capture one's life and cherished memories.

  • Christina Araneta-Tan

     #1 - LIFE LOGGING - this is already in existence,
    Catch Stories is a business that uses your photographs and journals to create
  • Joy Lin

    The fact that #3 and #7 will both exist in 2025 is an example of how we often create our own problems just to solve them.
  • DrDean

    Given the direction of the nation, the number one job of the future is:

    Sheeple Herder.

  • Benjamin Farahmand

    I think Nature Paths already perform much of the same tasks as the Microbial Balancer. Nature Paths may have to add a few tools to their kit in the coming years.
  • Peter Hanssen

    You forgot the common organ grower and his mobile transplantation unit.
  • Jonathan Anthony

    Excellent food for thought, thank you. I have been playing around with job descriptions / titles recently (preparing for 'the future of work' changes you describe.) 

    Recently, I updated my LinkedIn profile to be "Creative Intrapreneur."

    And today, I have added "Corporate Disorganizer" to it! ca.linkedin.com/in/thismuchwek...

    Thanks for the challenge.
  • Howard Ecker + Co.

    I agree completely, nothing can or will ever take the place of "face to face."  what I am directing my comments to is the issue of reuse of the existing stock of commercial buildings.  we will employ new ways of adapting them to "the new economy."  this will cause, and is already causing, a fundamental shift in the world of commercial real estate, something needed and a long time in coming. 

  • Devta Kidd

    @ Howard Ecker + Co.: As someone working virtually for 13+ years, you should never never never discount the camaraderie or idea sharing and jumping that happens when people are co-located. You can't establish relationships like that at the coffee shop. Maybe there will be office pods and on any given day a person may choose to work in isolation from home or connect with others in a pod, but face-to-face interaction is critical.
     
  • Howard Ecker + Co.

    being in commercial real estate this article begs the question, why will we need office space?  repurposing of the existing stock will easily supply the space needed to accomplish these type of jobs which is GREAT. that said what will people involved in new construction and development do?  only time will tell.  h