Jobs of the future
Human-centred Designers and Ethicists
Salary: £100k+ (Estimated 2040 salary, taking inflation into consideration)
Today they would be: Systems designers, software engineers, professors of ethics, psychologists, philosophers
Education needed: Anything from computer science, philosophy, psychology and design and ethics. “There are a lot of people doing master’s degrees and PhDs in this field today,” Badminton observes.
When we use technology such as Facebook or Twitter today, we do so by agreeing to their terms and conditions. In exchange for us being able to communicate and access information, we hand over lots of our data. If we post pictures of our children, Facebook owns those picture. If we share details of our health, it owns that information, too. In the future, that will change, according to Badminton.
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Technology will be designed so that the human using it will be the priority, not the company. “A human-centred design turns the tables on everything. It says, ‘Let’s put the rights of the person using the system ahead of the company’s rights; let’s work out ethically how we can work with them,’” says Badminton. “It asks, ‘What’s going to be right and fair for the human individual?’ ”
Twitter is already operating this way, but many more qualified individuals will be required to roll out the approach across other tech-based businesses.
Data Scientists and Brokers
Salary: £75k+
Today they would be: Software developers, data and business analysts, database administrators, AI trainers and engineers
Education needed: Computer science, data analytics, psychology, statistics, economics, data science
“By 2040, data will be created at a rate of more than 200 petabytes per year [a petabyte is 1,000 trillion units of text or information], with more than 8,000 digital data interactions per person every day – one every 10 seconds or so,” says Badminton.
Data Scientists and Brokers future of work
People who sell your data for you will be members of a new profession: data brokers
“Every company will need teams of highly-trained data scientists to help them explore opportunities in the data they have and empower their employees and customers. There is an idea called ‘data dignity’, which means that you have the right to own the data you produce. So every time you go on Facebook, for example, you will own the data you produce. You have the right to keep that private or to sell it to people that can use it – so you have your own personal data economy that can earn you money.” People who sell your data for you will be members of a new profession: data brokers.
Robot therapists
Salary: £250k+
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Today they would be: Psychologists
Education needed: Psychology with other disciplines, such as computing, neurolinguistics, social work and ethicstics
You may have heard of the phrase “the internet of things”, which refers to the idea that objects can be connected over the web, letting them talk to us and each other. The popular example is the smart fridge, which would be able to text you and let you know that there was no milk left, or that that it past its use-by date.
Or it might be that your alarm clock will talk to your toaster, so that your toast is done when you get into the kitchen. It might also be connected to other toasters to get information about how much other toasters are being used and when.
Robot therapists jobs of the future
Problem-solvers: tech-savvy teens will work on robotics projects
But what if you don’t use your toaster any more? How will your toaster feel about that? And yes, your toaster will have feelings.
“Machine learning, smart devices and robotics will be so prevalent in society that these will become sentient and start to feel like we do,” says Badminton.
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“Professional psychologists will upskill to understand the nuances of artificial intelligence and how machines learn. Our toasters may need help – and we will be there for them.”
Robot translators
Salary: £50k
Today they would be: Human linguists and translators
Education needed: Languages, linguistics
“I spoke to a Year 13 student this week and he wants to be a linguist,” says futurist Matthew Griffin, founder of global futures think tank the 311 Institute. “But while once upon a time he might translate Chinese or Italian, now he could translate AI.”
Some believe that we should teach artificial-intelligence programming in schools the same way we teach French: just as French is the language of French people, programming is the language of computers.
According to Griffin, Google and Facebook recently discovered that AI bots, originally designed to talk to each other in English, had actually invented their own languages. “Artificial-intelligence translators will be people who are skilled in trying to understand the different languages that AI has created for itself and by itself.”
Food Engineers
Salary: £75k
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Today they would be: Farmers
Education needed: Biochemistry and engineering
“Today, we have the ability to 3D print food,” says Matthew Griffin. “We also have the ability to grow different kinds of food in bioreactors – which is where you take a cell from an animal, put it into a bioreactor and literally end up with a pound of that meat. So a food engineer is a person who is able to engineer different foods at the molecular level.”
Metaverse Architects and world builders
Salary: £100k+
Today they would be: Architects, video-game designers, FX artists, visual artists, musicians and sound engineers, fashion designers, retail experts
Education needed: Computer design visual effects, computer programming, hardware design
Put on a virtual-reality (VR) headset now and it feels like you’re in another world. The “metaverse” is the idea that VR will become a normal part of our lives, like the internet or computer games.
future jobs work 2040
Tech-savvy teens will work on robotics projects
“We will live in a mixed-reality world, so I could wear normal-looking glasses and look around my world and it will be augmented with information about objects,” says Badminton. Facebook has spent billions on the concept, with Microsoft and Google investing, too.
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Instead of having business meetings via a Zoom call, by 2040 we may meet in VR spaces. “Virtual versions of ourselves will meet in virtual conference rooms, with virtual art and furniture,” says Badminton. “This virtual world will be built by huge teams.”
Activist Artists and Creators
Salary: £75k+
Today they would be: Artists, writers, TV programme-makers
Education needed: Art, music, choreography
Badminton predicts that by 2040, television as we know it will have ceased to exist. The current world, where people make entertainment and we watch it, will be replaced with more collaborative and interactive forms of TV, music, videos and art.
He also believes there will be a resurgence of live theatre and street performance. This will be about more than just entertainment: “It will bind together society, create purpose behind life and take on governments and big business alike.”
Local entrepreneurs
Salary: £50k+ to millions
Today they would be: Entrepreneurs
Education needed: Any
We are already seeing entrepreneurs selling services and products online from the UK with worldwide reach, using local and international freelancers to help build their businesses. In the future, millions more people will start their own business. “Some of it’s going to be online, some offline, some will be artisanal services that people want because they don’t want a robot to make them a sandwich,” says Badminton. “I could start a business in Somerset creating T-shirts and I could sell to a group in Bhutan.”
future of work
Going forward, more and more of us will choose to start their own businesses CREDIT: Getty
Cybersecurity and Misinformation experts
Salary: £100k+
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Today they would be: Software developers, data and business analysts, database administrators, AI trainers and engineers, cybersecurity experts
Education needed: Computer science, information theory
We will need online policemen to respond to cyberattacks and ensure privacy, security and safety for all. We will also need people who will guard against misinformation. “There are currently troll farms that pump misinformation on to social-media platforms and we will need trained people to understand what is fake and how to stop it,” says Badminton. “These will be among the best-paid jobs in organisations in the late 2030s and throughout the 2040s.”
Healthcare Professionals and Biohackers
Salary: £75k to £1m+
Today they would be: Doctors, nurses, surgeons, physiotherapists, nutritionists
Education needed: Traditional medicine and an array of specialities, including nutrition and technology
Longevity seems likely to become a key goal for the ultra-wealthy, as the average age of those with more than £10 million in earnings may advance to about 130 years old. “There will be specialist hospitals with enthusiastic doctors, nurses, surgeons, and research and development looking at how everything from implantable tech to psychedelics and diet ensure a longer life for those who can afford it,” says Badminton.
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Biohacking is the practice of using implantable technologies, diet, supplements, medical procedures and stem-cell injections to extend human life decades beyond the current normal range. “In the future, if you are ultra-wealthy and want to live forever, we can make that happen,” says Badminton. “Biohackers will have qualifications that allow them to advise on diet, implants, technology, sleep, psychedelic therapy and so on. An ageing population also means there will be a big demand for carers and nurses.”
Will we still do traditional degrees?
Career coach Mark Anderson predicts the rise of apprenticeship degrees, where students undertake paid work alongside their studies, with their education paid for by their employers. Students may earn “micro-credentials” on shorter courses that contribute to their degree and many courses will mix online and face-to-face learning – a process widely adopted during the pandemic.
The jobs market of the future will continue to evolve, meaning that people will need to be reskilling and continuing to learn throughout their life.
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Anderson advises young people to look at the list of 17 world development goals published by the United Nations. “These are world problems that need to be solved – hunger, clean water, pollution, education,” he explains. “This will help you find an area you care about.”
Nikolas Badminton believes that in the future work will be purpose-driven and there will be no straightforward jobs for life – instead, people will work on different projects simultaneously. “We’ll be a society of generalists and people with multiple projects on the go,” he says. “Jobs might be seen as a ‘constellation of projects’.”
Which is why Badminton is hopeful for his own child. “In 2040, he will be 19. I am glad that he will be able to take advantage of all the automated services around him and not have to spend weekends flipping burgers.
“The fact that kids today can build a business on a phone, it’s incredible... If you have got the skills and work hard enough, you can achieve something pretty incredible.