The Future of Work

[Brian d marge]

In my day we had ceefax until 4 then I could change channels

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[geoffm]

The problem with IT as a career is that you need to be a mathmatical wizard to get to the top in it and not everyone is that way inclined. Skills learnt can date very quickly in that industry too.

And more to the point, it will be done in Vietnam, Phillipines or India. Since there is no physical product, it can and is being offshored to a cheaper location. What makes you think it will be done here, and if it is, then a skilled immigrant visa and an Indian to go... already happens in the US with the H1b visas, that exploit immigrants who can't complain as they are booted out.
Still need a physical body to fix your toilet though, 3D printed or not.

[jonbuoy]

Or mother Russia. But if you come up with an idea and make it happen yourself more power to you. Good tradesmen will always do well, still a niche market out there for very good fitters, cabinet makers, welders, mechanics, electricians but you need to ambitious and be at the top of your game to make good money. I took a pay drop from working in a supermarket to start my apprentiship and my wages were outstripped by most of my friends and siblings for a long time. Now I've overtaken all of them.

[shrub]

have never had a problem getting work. I can turn my hand to most things, I'm confident, intelligent, well educated and don't have any physical limitations, but right now I'm unemployed, and have been for all of this year. The last job I had was as a motorcycle postie for NZ Post, working 6 days a week for $17.00 an hour and I deeply regret leaving that last year, but it was only supposed to be a stop-gap measure.

Since then I've applied for 40 jobs, and every time I've spent a lot of time finding out about the company, tailoring my CV and cover letter plus doing stuff like phoning to ask a couple of questions so they're more likely to remember me. I'm only applying for jobs that I'm qualified and have appropriate skills and experience, yet after all those applications I'm still looking.

It's not that I'm unqualified either, I have 3 university degrees, including a Masters in Commerce and Management, as well as 30+ years work experience, ranging from being a CEO to a sales rep and even a bouncer. The problem is, I'm 57. I've been doing some research, and my experiences are pretty common, because some employers aren't interested in old farts like me because they think I'm too old and out of touch with current trends etc., and that I won't "fit" their company culture because I'm bald with a goatee, not a hipster beard. Or they see me as a threat because I'm older, know more, more experienced and (usually) better qualified than they are.

I'll get a job, but the odds are good that it will be lower paid and of a lower status than what I used to do, yet I'm way more qualified than I used to be. And that's the future of work.

[Ocean1]

I'll get a job, but the odds are good that it will be lower paid and of a lower status than what I used to do, yet I'm way more qualified than I used to be. And that's the future of work.

For years I've hired part timers, as required, mostly specialists either retired or close to it. It got to the point where we have a reputation for it, old bastards that dress funny but get the job done, often when others have already failed to get it quite right.

As a business model I love the idea, partly because of exactly the trouble you find yourself in, but also because I see a hard connect between the advanced experience these guys bring to their specialties and the flexibility they want in easing into retirement or funding the stuff their pensions won't stretch to.

But here's the thing: Pretty much all of the business regulatory set makes such an unusual arrangement very difficult. So they're all subcontractors, legally so, I won't hire them as employees.

If someone gets all heavy handed about that then I'll simply close the door, it's hard enough dealing with compliance issues surrounding employees already.

In your copious spare time why don't you think about starting up something of a similar, more formal, more southerly enterprise?

[shrub]

I hadn't thought of that. I'm currently waiting to find out about 2 interviews I've had in the last week, but if there's no go I'll investigate further.

[seattle smitty]

A friend of mine is a high school teacher, and I have suggested that he assign his students to read and report on the excellent recent book, "Rise of the Robots" by Martin Ford, c. 2015, a survey of all of the latest human-substitute technologies as they are appearing in a great many professions and trades. Ford refers to the common assertion that technical revolutions end up producing more jobs than they eliminate, but makes a detailed case why this time its different. Anyone interested in the subject should read it. Then (as I also advised my teacher friend) read the June 4, 2015 review in Forbes magazine by a contributor, Steve Demming, who disagrees completely with Ford's conclusions. I found Demming's arguments cogent but not fully persuasive. I'm an old man so none of this is critical for me, but any young person should think hard about this stuff, because the changes are coming faster than even experts in the field were predicting only a few years ago.

[mada]

Can see big problems for our economy when lab's start busting out cheap meat and primary produce alternatives....

GE food research is something we should be doing here to future proof ourselves... regardless of what Greens say

[TheDemonLord]

The problem with IT as a career is that you need to be a mathmatical wizard to get to the top in it and not everyone is that way inclined. Skills learnt can date very quickly in that industry too.

I like Maths (I really do)

But to say you need to be a Mathematical Wizard?

Is there no end to your ignorant stupidity?

[Voltaire]

Can see big problems for our economy when lab's start busting out cheap meat and primary produce alternatives....

GE food research is something we should be doing here to future proof ourselves... regardless of what Greens say

Yep, let Monsanto sell Terminator Seeds to the farmers so that each year they have to buy from Monsanto, and the latest idea

they have of putting a chip in seeds that tell the farmer its needs for water and so on.

Roundup may have long term issues.

I was told by a guy who lived in Nelson that Agent Orange was made there.

http://www.newshub.co.nz/environment...ins-2011092815

[Akzle]

?

Is there no end to your ignorant stupidity?

on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being "no there isn't" and 10 being "42",

that nigger turns it up to 11.

[TheDemonLord]

on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being "no there isn't" and 10 being "42",

that nigger turns it up to 11.

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#Err: IndexOutOfRangeException

[jonbuoy]

have never had a problem getting work. I can turn my hand to most things, I'm confident, intelligent, well educated and don't have any physical limitations, but right now I'm unemployed, and have been for all of this year. The last job I had was as a motorcycle postie for NZ Post, working 6 days a week for $17.00 an hour and I deeply regret leaving that last year, but it was only supposed to be a stop-gap measure.

Since then I've applied for 40 jobs, and every time I've spent a lot of time finding out about the company, tailoring my CV and cover letter plus doing stuff like phoning to ask a couple of questions so they're more likely to remember me. I'm only applying for jobs that I'm qualified and have appropriate skills and experience, yet after all those applications I'm still looking.

It's not that I'm unqualified either, I have 3 university degrees, including a Masters in Commerce and Management, as well as 30+ years work experience, ranging from being a CEO to a sales rep and even a bouncer. The problem is, I'm 57. I've been doing some research, and my experiences are pretty common, because some employers aren't interested in old farts like me because they think I'm too old and out of touch with current trends etc., and that I won't "fit" their company culture because I'm bald with a goatee, not a hipster beard. Or they see me as a threat because I'm older, know more, more experienced and (usually) better qualified than they are.

I'll get a job, but the odds are good that it will be lower paid and of a lower status than what I used to do, yet I'm way more qualified than I used to be. And that's the future of work.

That's one of my worries too, the industry I'm in your "old" at 50, I'm still taking courses and trying to upskill, keep fit and not turn into a grumpy old man set in their ways and not open to change in the hope that will keep me "employable".

[Voltaire]

That's one of my worries too, the industry I'm in your "old" at 50, I'm still taking courses and trying to upskill, keep fit and not turn into a grumpy old man set in their ways and not open to change in the hope that will keep me "employable".

If your job can be done on a laptop from home it can be done from india.

People skills cannot be done ether remotely or by a robot.

I'm 56 and R2D2 and C3Pio are not nipping at my heals just yet.

A suit and good haircut help....its selling out but pays better than the dole of pension.

[Motu]

When I got to my mid 50's I found it difficult to get a job, they wanted young faces, not old faces. However, since I turned really old a few years ago, I've walked in and out of 4 jobs. I find I'm working with older people these days, the young ones just don't seem cut out for working for a living. Old dogs learning new tricks, that's the way you do it.

Had someone in for work experience yesterday...she's got 3 kids. She'll do it, a teenager we'd never see again.