LBCC students and staff gathered in the student lounge of LAC on March 20 for a town hall to discuss how students can be prepared for the future job market in a world integrated with technology.
This event was hosted by student trustee Donell Jones, who invited a panel of computer science experts and education advocates Kimberly Davis, Uduak-Joe Ntuk, and Gene Carbonaro to help drive the discussion.
Technology in the workplace is often accompanied by an inert fear of being replaced by robots in which Ntuk termed as “automatization anxiety.”
He went on to explain that although technology has never impacted the overall number of employment opportunities at once, it has had a profound influence in our society and economy.
Automatization often results in the widening of the gap between the wealthy and poor, which is only intensified by the continued development of technology.
But the fact of the matter as it was presented by Ntuk, is that many future jobs are going to subsist on these developing technologies
“Technology is developing faster that we’ve ever seen in human history,” said Ntuk.
Most of the change in the job market is seen in the independent workforce, where people are contracted or subcontracted to work without the offer of healthcare or other benefits.
Which is why it is crucial that students be aware of their personal skills and abilities as it is what sets you aside from other potential employees, and at LBCC students have a variety of industry certifications to help students understand the fundamentals of computer science and classes on topics like web development, cyber security, and server administration.
LBCC student Brae-Lynn Harris asked the panel if focusing on creative writing would be detrimental to a person despite having industry certifications, to which Davis replied with a resounding no and went on to explain that a wide variety if skills can be transferred to the digital space.
Many companies want employees capable of doing 2-3 other jobs and these skills can be derived from hobbies such as creative writing or drawing, which can be reflected online in the form of content writing or graphic design.
Carbonaro emphasized that the personal skills that students develop are what will give them an edge in the future job market.
“Brag about yourself, you’re in there fighting for a job,”said Carbonaro.
The future of work relies heavily on computers, a person’s adaptability to their industry, and the development of personal skills as that is what gives a person their value, and you can’t fake skill.