درسنامه اصلی

Robots – Coaching Lesson

Hi, I’m AJ, welcome to this month’s coaching lesson. Robots, the conversation this month, robots, robotics and really, in general, technology. And specifically talking about the threat, really, the threat to our jobs coming from the tech industry, robotics, computers, I would include apps, all of these things but kind of high technology and the threat to our jobs because our jobs are under threat.

Millions and millions and millions of jobs are going to be destroyed by robotics and other high tech fields, for sure. It’s not just me saying this. I think if you look at anyone who follows technology, this is the prediction. In the next couple of decades, we’re going to see a lot of jobs, a lot of job categories destroyed.

One example, drivers. Think of all the people who drive trucks or do deliveries for a living, all around the world. Well, self-driving cars, we’re seeing it in the news more and more now, self-driving cars are getting closer and closer and closer and closer to being successful, to becoming more common. All of the taxi drivers, truck drivers, delivery people, limo drivers. Jobs gone, or most of them, many of them. We’re seeing this thing with drones, y’know, drones, those little helicopters that fly in the air? Amazon.com here in America, I think Europe, too, and other places, they’re looking at having drones deliver packages. Again, replacing delivery drivers. So that’s a kind of robotics. That’s millions of jobs right there, all around the world. Poof, gone, possible 10 to 20 years from now, maybe sooner, I don’t know. I would think somewhere between 10 to 20 years you’re going to see a lot of those jobs disappearing.

Even customer service type jobs, right, where you’re going to see fast food replacing their workers with automation, with robotics and other tech systems. So that you’ll walk up to order your food, you just press it on a button, y’know, a little screen, what you want. You’ll slide your card or you’ll put your money in. You’ll pay and it’ll go into their system and the machines and robots in the background will make your food and it’ll all get delivered to you by either robot or some other little machine, boom, boom, boom.

They might have one or two people just watching so you don’t steal the food without paying and to make sure the machines are running. But most of the people will be replaced. You’re going to see this in grocery stores, you’re going to see this in a lot of retail type places. And again, it’s going to happen faster and faster and faster, I would say next 10 to 20 years.

So what can we do? It’s a little scary, like oh my god, they’re going to be replacing us. What can you do? How can you make sure that you can still make enough money to take care of yourself and your family and to have a good quality life? Well, there are two areas that you should focus on so that you are still competitive, so that you can still get jobs and have a good career. High tech is one area, high touch is the other area.

Let’s talk about high tech first, it’s the most obvious one. High tech. There will still be a need for tech jobs. They will need programmers and coders. Someone has to program and code, they call it coding, programming. Someone needs to program all those computers. Someone needs to program those robots.

So computer programming is a very important skill for the future and for now. I mean here in the United States, computer programmers get paid a lot of money. It’s a very hot job. They’re in very high demand. There aren’t enough of them so they’re paid quite well. So computer programming skills, super, super, super useful. I think that will continue.

Engineering is another area. We need engineers. Engineers design the machines and buildings and many other things. So engineering is another tech type field, computer engineers, civil engineers, electronic engineers, electrical engineers, etc. That’s a good field. And the hard sciences, physics, biology and chemistry, also there will continue to be a high demand for those.

The other area which is less obvious I think to people, is called, I call it high touch. High touch means, y’know, it comes from touch obviously, touch, touch, touch, physical touch. It means very, very, very, very, very human, it’s the opposite of this trend. High tech, robotics, all of that, it’s getting more and more powerful, right? But here’s the thing and I think you’ll see this in your own life.

The more that technology and robotics and machines become popular, the more people want and crave real, human connection. People want it. People need it. It becomes more and more and more special. Think of a business, a big company. You call them up, you’ve got a problem. What do you get? You get recordings and computer programmed responses. It takes forever to talk to a person. Or if you email, again, you never get a response from a person. It’s so frustrating.

And so a business that actually will talk to you on the phone right away, they’re special, right? We feel a special kind of connection to them. So human, very, very, very, very human type skills are also going to be powerful and in demand. These are things that robots can’t do. These are things that people crave more and more, they want more and more and more because of all the technology.

Let me give you examples. Number one, a big one, persuasion, persuasion fields, persuasion skills, persuasion jobs. Persuasion is power. Persuasion is influence and companies will pay people that are good at persuasion. Persuasion means convincing people to do things. The most obvious is sales, sales, okay? Companies still need and they will in the future still need people to sell, right?

If a company makes robots, they’ve got to sell those robots to other companies. And they need people to do that because robots can’t sell, not yet, okay? And I think not for a long time. So anyone who’s good at selling, at persuading, you’re going to have a job and you’re going to get paid well. That is a powerful, powerful, powerful skill.

Marketing is another kind of persuasion. It’s a little less direct. It’s a little less face-to-face. But also, it’s powerful because it creates income. It creates sales for companies. There will always be jobs for great marketers and great sellers. Persuasion, powerful high touch skill.

Another kind of high touch skill or job is what I call handcrafted, handcrafted. It means you make it with your hands. It’s the opposite of machine made. So let’s say you make furniture, you’ve got a furniture company. Well, the big furniture companies, they’re just making it by machine, right? Robots are going to be making those pieces of furniture.

Robots are going to do it faster and cheaper and they’re going to make good, decent, high quality stuff. Average, normal furniture is going to be made by robots, probably already is mostly. So what if you’re a carpenter? Well, your future is not, you can’t compete with the machines. You’ve got to do handcrafted. You go the opposite extreme. You do everything by hand.

Everything’s a little different, a little special because you made it piece by piece. And because of that you can charge a lot more money. And there’s a market for this. There’s a demand for this. People want it. They feel that it’s special, it’s not just some machine thing that’s exactly the same. Instead it was made by a human that has high skill that really cares. So things that are handcrafted.

You see this in food also. So while fast food will become robotic, on the other hand, a very skilled chef who makes all the food by hand, his own special recipes where everything is very artistic and human, there will still always be demand for that. Because robots can’t quite get it because part of that artistry is that things are always a little different, right?

Because the chef, the great chef will play around and try new things and do things a little differently each time. And put in some of his or her personality and that all makes it special and human. It’s high touch. There will be a demand for that. So handcrafted in any particular area or business or career also has a good future, I think.

Customization also has a future. The thing about robots and machines, it’s a mentality of a factory mentality. Everything the same, same, same, same for everybody. Every customer gets treated exactly the same. Well, the opposite of that is customization where every customer gets something just for them. We can use the furniture example again, right?

So the big company is just going to create the same chair for everybody. But the individual furniture maker, he could handcraft it, first of all, but also he could just take orders from individual customers and make things especially for them. He can talk to them. What do you want? What color do you want? What do you want it to look like? Where’s it going to go?

And he can make things just specially for that one customer. It’s called customization where you’re doing something especially for one person, one customer. That also has a good future, I believe. It’s the opposite of high tech. It’s the opposite of mass production.

Design is another area high touch. Design, so while products and even service will more and more be made or done by robots and other tech systems, they need to be designed by people, right? Because design has a, it’s about feeling, too. It’s about what works the best for human beings. Continuing our furniture idea.

So while the machines might make the furniture, someone has to design that chair, right? They have to give the design, they have to program the design. So designers, again, it’s a kind of artistry. It’s high touch. Designers I think will always and continue to have a good future. And finally, in a more general way, just anything that has a very personal, human connection. The more human, the more open, the more honest, the more emotional, the better for your future career.

Me, as an English teacher, for example, right? If I just try to be like a robot and just do the same as everybody else, Hi, my name is AJ. I will teach the past tense today. It’s not me, right? There’s…it’s just the same as everybody else. Well, more and more, robots and programs can do that kind of work. But, I try to be the opposite where you get to see my personality.

I’m teaching you about ideas and methods and thoughts and beliefs that are very personal for me, right? So it’s, I try to give you a lot of my own personal emotion to be open about who I am, to share my beliefs and my ideas and my life with you. That’s all very personal, right? Human connection. There’s also a great future in that. High touch.

So finally, what can you do? The best thing of all, the greatest future, the most power for your job or career is to combine high tech and high touch. To have at least one high tech skill, even if it’s so-so, to have some high tech skills, even if they’re not great but just good. And then also high touch skills. When you combine them together, that’s power.

Using myself as an example again, I have very so-so computer internet skills. But probably more than the average person, right? I’ve learned at least a little bit about how websites work, how they’re designed, a little bit about how the programming works, a little bit about how the technology works. I’m at least comfortable using it.

I can’t program it myself but I can certainly use it and I can talk intelligently to designers and programmers about what I want and I understand what they’re saying mostly. Okay, so that’s good. I’ve got a little bit of at least tech knowledge, maybe not tech skill, but I do have some tech knowledge.

And in addition, I work very hard on my high touch skills, on persuasion. Learning persuasion skills probably changed my life forever. That’s the number one thing. Teaching, of course, is a big one and also I try to be very personal and high touch and emotional. And so by combining these together, by having some high tech ability, just knowledge and understanding, with these high touch skills, boom, I created something special and I’ve done very well.

You can do the same. So whatever you’re in. If you’re a tech person, I encourage you to learn some touch skills. So if you already have, if you have a tech job already and you’re, a lot of tech people kind of suck, they’re really bad at the touch skills. They’re not good with some social things. They’re not good at persuasion, for example, or charisma or connection. So if you learn those things, it will give you a huge advantage in your career.

And the opposite is also true. A lot of high touch people, they’re scared of technology. So if you just become decent, if you just learn about it enough where you’re comfortable with technology, where you understand the main ideas, that will also give you a big advantage in your career.

Right, so if you’re a tech person, I encourage you work on some touch skills, human persuasion, emotional skills. And if you’re a touch person more, then work on some tech skills because when you combine them together you will create the strongest possible career and job opportunities.

Alright, get out there and do it. I wish you success. Bye for now.