This time last year, our Eduporium Weekly blog series was just getting started. Now, it’s been going strong for a year and (hopefully) has helped teachers, parents and students attain that elusive 21st century education or at least improve it. It’s time, this week, to dive a bit deeper into the STEAM careers of tomorrow—the most profitable tracks, the skills students will need and the jobs robots will not be able to steal.
Jobs Robots Will Never Be Able to Take
One of the biggest fears facing the world today is the fact that robots seem poised to soon take over a great deal of jobs throughout the next few decades, leaving graduates hung out to dry or working in meaningless, low-salary positions. Just how viable is this claim? A recent report predicts that as many as 47 percent of jobs are at risk of being replaced by free robotic workers in the next 20 years. Developing technology will probably lead to an inevitable decline in employability among graduates as robots continue to become a much greater force, more advanced and much more efficient. Workers can try to delay it, but the reality is that many of them will soon be out of work. That’s where STEAM education comes in.
While robots can be programmed to be speedy, powerful, smart and efficient, there is at least one skill they cannot (at least yet) possess: creativity. Those with exceptional creative skills can take solace in their job security since many of today’s top STEAM jobs reward creative thinking. While they may not pay as much as some STEAM careers, there are some specific jobs that reward creative skills and that the world will never be able to be without. The No. 1 irreplaceable job in today’s economy is that of a teacher. Sure, there have been those who say that robots can teach students just like they can do other jobs, but that is far from true. Robots could display information, administer tests and grade them too (probably in just a few seconds). They would not, however, be able to relate to the hundreds of unique personalities that teachers interact with each and every year. Kids need specialized instruction, thoughtful feedback and constant challenges in order to prepare for the modern world. The only way they’ll get that is from a passionate teacher.
Those who work in law enforcement, specifically those who develop top programs to keep cities and towns safe are relatively secure as well. Human judgment and the ability to make quick, well-informed decisions are two things that robots will never be able to learn. Similarly, protecting the streets and solving problems demands a high level of creativity, something that will always continue to be an employable skill. Another in-demand, 21st century skill is leadership. You guessed it, robots will probably never make good leaders. Leadership roles like politicians and management employees should be safe since, again, their success depends on human-specific skills. It’s more about getting to know the conditions and adapting to find success, something that robots have not yet perfected. In any case, whatever job today’s students end up pursuing, they will need to be certain they bring with them the skills that robots cannot replicate.
Future Careers for Young Coders
When we think of skills that will reward those who possess them and set back those who do not, one of the most important that instantly comes to mind is coding. If you can code, you will probably be able to secure a job—and a good one—as the economy shifts even more so to a STEM-based one over the next few decades. The best news of all is that parents and teachers can start developing coding apprentices right now. No matter what grade level students are in, there is an age-appropriate way to introduce them to coding and build these invaluable skills in the process. Whether they have an interest in coding or not, possess programming proficiencies or need some work, anyone can learn to code in school. A background in computer science will go a tremendously long way as students of today look to become successful later in their lives.
The recent surge in STEAM education has been brought on by observant educators who have recognized the importance of teaching children the skills they really need. Digital literacy is becoming extremely important and will likely have a huge amount to do with a child’s future success, especially if they choose to pursue one of the best career paths that the future has in store. So, what are some of those career options that will put students’ STEAM skills to use? Some of the top-tier projected careers over the next few years include software developers, support agents and game developers. Software developers are constantly needed to create mobile, desktop and Web applications, which, as we all know, are constantly being revamped and optimized, essentially ensuring that this career path stays in demand.
As much of the Internet, sales and marketing (not to mention the social media craze) continues to bolster its presence on mobile devices, the need for mobile developers will probably remain high. While we are well into this transformation, the need for people who can write the backend code and create the design to optimize user experience does not seem to be going away. Web developers will also be a profitable career in the coming years. In developing Web applications, these workers will need to know several programming languages, making it a viable career for students interested in organizing ideas and finding solutions. Finally, the world will always need marketers—and tech-savvy ones. Many marketers today need adequate programming skills in order to be proficient at their jobs. There are plenty of applications for coding in the world of marketing—many more than you might have guessed—and these are just a few of the top careers to take over during the next few years.
80% of Top Jobs Require STEM Skills
Everywhere we turn, the numbers and the facts continue to remind us of the ever-growing presence of STEM and the increasing importance of mastering the skills the industry demands. There is no one letter in ‘STEM’ that is less important than the other three as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math are all vital areas to master in the race for securing 21st century employment. Just how important are STEM skills to today’s students? Well, according to a recent study, eight of the top 10 jobs in today’s economy require applicants possess STEM skills. That’s 80 percent of all available ways to earn a living.
By the time they reach high school and, in many cases, even before then, students tend to indicate whether or not they have what it takes to land one of these ‘jobs of the future.’ Their aptitude and interest in the STEM subjects at this point in their lives, believe it or not, is largely indicative of their likelihood of attaining future success. Science, as you might have guessed, is another huge component of the modern job market and one area in which today’s children cannot afford to be deficient. From everything to environmental sustainability to designing increasingly efficient architecture, the economy is filled with science-minded jobs that not enough applicants have the skills to fill. More strikingly, the report indicates that nearly half of America’s current architectural workforce will soon be ready to retire, opening up a wealth of opportunities for graduates—so long as they have the necessary design, communication and problem solving skills to excel.
As for technology and engineering, just poke your nose into the Want Ads (if they still have those). Actually, skip that and just do a quick online search for job openings in your area and you’re more than likely going to see companies looking for developers, engineers and programmers. Click on one of these job postings and the minimal requirements might blow you away. Programing and coding are becoming essential skills for attaining employment in today’s world and that is only going to be reinforced over the next few decades. By exposing kids to coding, programming, and computer science throughout the course of their education, they stand a much better chance at excelling in the real world. Just check back with us in five or 10 years.
Too Many STEM Jobs, Not Enough STEM Grads
The problem with steering today’s students toward pursuing STEM careers is that there are currently way more STEM job openings than there are STEM graduates. Plus, the number of openings is growing much, much faster than students can complete four years of college. The good news is that every year, the number of graduates with STEM degrees continues to grow. The bad news, as you may have guessed, is that the numbers are not growing nearly fast enough to fill the job demand. What’s worse is that a percentage of STEM degrees earned in the United States are awarded to international students who only have student visas and cannot enter the workforce to help fill STEM jobs. So, what to do?
U.S. News and World Report released a finding that stated that there were an additional 30,835 STEM graduates during the 2014-15 year. Wow, that’s pretty high, right? The same report indicated, however, that there were an additional 230,246 STEM jobs created in that same time period. Back to that ‘what to do?’ question. Clearly, STEM is going to be the key to attaining sustainable success in the near future. Schools and school systems now need to start focusing a great deal more on getting kids interested in pursuing STEM subjects from a young age. Schools need properly planned and actionably applicable curricula in place now to ensure that their students are adequately prepared to enter the world we are describing.
All too often, employers are depending on foreign workers to fill their job openings—a practice they would rather not do. Since STEM jobs have increased by 22 percent since 2000, however, it’s clear that they need to do something in order to keep their companies afloat. The demand will not fizzle out either. Students need to become interested in STEM subjects early on in their lives so that they can start building the necessary skills to pursue a STEM major and land a STEM job. This is a very real situation that these young kids are facing. In order to be considered for some of the best (and widely available) careers, start learning STEM skills NOW! Eduporium partners directly with K-12 schools to create customized curricula, educate administrators on the ins and outs of EdTech and offer discounted prices on technology bundles to ensure kids become future ready.
Preparing Kids for Jobs that Don’t Exist Yet
You may be wondering just what types of careers will be available for today’s students when they enter the workforce in 10 or 15 years. You wouldn’t be alone. One of the greatest challenges that educators face today is finding ways to prepare kids for the unknown. We know there will be technology involved in future employment and there will probably be lots of coding and programming, too. We are not, however, able to predict exactly what jobs will need human employees, what robots will be able to do or even the new roles that technology will help create. The best way to prepare is to develop students with a variety of technological skills and the ability to creatively adapt on the fly.
Since we don’t know for sure what future jobs will be like, parents and teachers should encourage kids to explore different hobbies while they’re young. In many cases, this leads to kids developing skills that they never knew would become so valuable in the future. Take a kid who discovered he likes and is good at building websites, for instance. It starts as just a hobby to cure summer boredom, but before you know it, it could result in employment on a project-to-project basis, then part-time and maybe even full-time. When kids discover an infatuation with STEM-related tasks or activities, it’s up to the adults in their lives to push them to explore it further in the hopes that it could lead to a profitable future.
Of course, it’s difficult to predict exactly which skills will be valuable in the future and perhaps even more difficult to get children interested in developing them. There are tools, however, that incorporate valuable skill development into play-based building and gaming. Two of the best tools for this are the Kano Computer Kit and the Piper Raspberry Pi Kit. Both are do-it-yourself computers that kids build themselves and then use to surf the Web or play games that involve basic programming. While they are technically games, these kits truly help develop 21st century skills while children create 3D models using a computer that’s designed to appeal to their interests and skill level. Since 65 percent of children entering grade school this year will likely be working in careers that haven’t been invented yet, it’s crucial for kids’ success that they start developing future-facing skills as soon as possible.
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