1. Dominic Connor, Quant Headhunter

    What jobs in 2020 ?

    When I was 12 in 1973 it seemed blindingly obvious to me that there was money to be made in computers and ten years later there I was doing so, generally IT has worked out well for me.

    If you're very good at something then generally you can make a living at it, but what about the rest of us who are reasonably bright and prepared to put in some effort ?

    IT may be an option, but it has permanently lost its position as the "thing of the future" since it is already here and so growth is inevitably smaller in % terms. Some people genuinely believe that IT careers are not a good bet at all.

    So if you've got a kid of (say) 12, what direction would you gently direct them towards ?

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: What jobs in 2020 ?

      Farming & preserving food. We all gotta eat.

      It works for me & mine, anyway :-)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What jobs in 2020 ?

        Nice idea. Thanks

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What jobs in 2020 ?

      Nothing to do with cars or journalism.

      Not bitter about the latter choice btw - worked well for me. But the economics of the industry is collapsing.

      As for IT - developers and project managers still appear to be doing very well. Can't see the need for those skills disappearing in a hurry.

      1. Stumpy

        Re: What jobs in 2020 ?

        Senior developers, anyhow. I'd say the bottom has pretty much dropped out of the domestic development market since I was a lad - with much of it going offshore to far cheaper jurisdictions. Not saying that there still isn't demand there for local resources, but certainly won't command the sort of salaries that many of us started out on, or have worked our ways up to.

        PM, Architect, Analyst positions - especially in specific niches are definitely still up there in terms of career and salary expectations - if you can be prepared to put up with the immense levels of bull*hit that goes with the territory.

        Sadly though, with the ongoing evolution of no-code/low-code platforms, I suspect the days of even being a low-paid code-monkey are numbered...

    3. Efer Brick

      Re: What jobs in 2020 ?

      So here we are in 2020, who could have predicted that a career in the designer face mask biz would be a thing

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The old trinity - accountancy, law, medicine - ain't going away in a hurry.

    But hyper-competitive and horrible if you don't have the temperament or work ethic.

    I helped to steer my oldest daughter away from a law course and into performing, on the grounds that she would have been a crap lawyer, and was a superb singer. She is now making a reasonable living from singing and teaching singing.

    Will never make as much money has daughter no.2 (about to qualify as doctor and engaged to lawyer), or will have as much job security. But considering hierarchy of needs and all that, does this matter.

  3. jake Silver badge

    Oh, I dunno Drew.

    Auto restoration can be fairly lucrative, if you're careful and know what you are doing. I wouldn't bet the farm on it, though ...

    Journalism died with Herb Caen and Stanton Delaplane.

    Agree on IT. I just bought a new barn with the proceeds from making an insane "evolved" corporate IT "strategy" into something functional ... I was trying to be retired, and then the Crackberry & iFad generation came along. It's hard to turn down free money :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh, I dunno Drew.

      A fancy car restorer in my village just went bust after 20 years. I think he may have run out of rich clients.

      A neighbour of mine who worked there has set up shop and makes an OK living - but as far as I can work out - most of it is from looking after a couple of old cars used in classic racers.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    UK gov to create 500k green collar jobs by 2020

    Yeah, right ....

    But what is a green collar job.? Does erecting wind turbines count?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      See below

      Bugger! - for some reason I keep forgetting to hit the reply button on the user forums.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's a green collar job?

    That looks like what the last govt thought they were going to magic up to save the planet - 500K jobs purely in industries which are devoted to green energy. The article doesn't mention much in the way of money allocated to this idea - just a couple of million here and there.

    I think erecting wind turbines counts, as would things like digging canals for goods transport, building dams to drown more Welsh valleys etc.

    All very nice, but it would need billions allocated to it and a substantial change in people's attitudes.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Used to work...

    ... in a very small company where the rest were all titled physics engineers. One of them sighed that a cs degree meant you knew something practical. Hah.

    Now-a-days titles have much devaluated, but having one, any one, means you can be stuffed into middle management if nowhere else. In fact, empty titles are a hot commodity in, say, the higher echelons of government(!). With luck the course wasn't crap and you actually have some skills and know how to use your brain to pick up whatever's necessary to make a living.

    Me, I'm having great fun doing too many of those free online (stanford and others) courses, and maybe I'll figure out along the way to start my own company. Having burned out horribly and a protracted recovery the hard way means there's now a hole in my CV big enough to ensure no recruiter, heck no HR bod, will ever recruit or hire me. While the people that drove me into burn-out all but begged me back for my skills. Bitter? Of course. But while anecdotes do not data make, success has very little to do with raw skills, intelligence, or the 'right' industry. It's starting with some formal education paper, then steadily getting hired, building a long and impressive-looking CV, while substance takes a back seat. For that extra touch, regularly get a new, shiny, industry certification and make your employer pay for it before you hop to the next job.

    If a degree or middle management don't appeal, there's always the basic skills that everybody needs. We need to eat, we want our hair cut. Crops need tending, kids need teaching, and so on, and so forth. Or go in banking. All you need for that is apparently being an utter wanker.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Blue collar workers happier

      Especially florists and plumbers... this from 2004.

      Care assistants too. But not IT pros. Miserable bunch, downtrodden or both?

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: Blue collar workers happier

        I know I am far happier tending the ranch than I am in IT.

        That said, my last degree was an MBA, a couple decades ago ... Which helped advance my IT career enough to actually purchase the ranch. I'm not suggesting IT bods become manglement (face it, most of us aren't cut out for it) ... rather, I'm suggesting IT bods learn how manglement think, so they can actually talk to MoneyBags in a productive manor. An MBA is probably over-kill for most of us, but taking management courses is recommended. Note that if you already have a Masters, you can probably get an MBA in under two years, in your !copious free time.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Used to work...

      Wow, when you read a post and think - "did I write this?"

      Glad to hear you made it out the other side of the burn out, Sounds like it was bad.

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. SiempreTuna

    Never Mind the 12yo - Waddabout Me?

    I can't see there being a meaningful amount of techie jobs outside of India* (and other outsourcing localities) in 10 years time. With the retirement age going up and up, I have to wonder what I'll be doing?

    Tesco checkout assistant?

    * future superpower: tick 'em off and someone in Mumbai will flick a switch and turn off your entire country

    ** where's the EDIT button so I can fix me typos??

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      IT jobs can't all go to India, can they?

      But some orgs will have a bloody good try.

  9. Rob

    Jack of all, master of none

    I think past 2020, you'll have a real need to be flexible in the early days of your career leading to a specialisation later on in life. The toughest choice will be to decide which tools you like using the most (i.e. computers, ovens, mechanics tools, farmers tools etc) and go from there.

  10. Joeman
    Thumb Up

    UNDERTAKER... people are always gonna die, and as the population keeps growing, business will only get better!

  11. Mr Young
    Meh

    Hehe

    May'be a stupid human will screw that plan with 130 years old for anybody and less business for you? Lock the doors - watch out for zombies etc

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: Hehe

      Huh? I think you just b0rked my parser ...

  12. Brian W. Smith

    I don’t entirely agree with the fact that the IT sphere dies.

    Good IT specialists will never be in dry dock. Software and web development, administration of computer networks - all these fields of activity are popular and demanded. Practically each organization has computers which need to be serviced. Many firms promote goods and services using websites. It’s impossible without web developers, web designers, SEO specialists and copywriters etc. Computer engineers will be required for preventing of Internet fraud, computer safety.

  13. matthewhde774

    Demand will increase in Network and IT field. For many high salary would be expected

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