Job market is changing—should you change your decision?

After completing their higher secondary examinations, every student faces a major question: What subject should I study, and what path should I take to build my career?

It may seem that this one decision will determine the course of their entire life. Finding the answer to this question is now more complicated than ever before. That is because technology, particularly artificial intelligence or AI, is rapidly changing the way we work, learn and think.

There is one important point to keep in mind. Students enrolling in university today will graduate in about four years. During this period, AI-powered technologies will bring major changes to the workplace.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, 170 million new jobs will be created globally by 2030. At the same time, around 92 million jobs will disappear. This means there will be a net increase of approximately 78 million jobs.

The same report shows that, in percentage terms, the fastest-growing occupations will be led by big data specialists, with growth of 110 per cent, followed by fintech engineers at 90 per cent and AI and machine learning specialists at 82 per cent.

Next are software and application developers at 57 per cent, security management specialists at 53 per cent, and data analysts and scientists at 41 per cent, it added.

According to the report, this list makes it clear that demand will not rise only for one particular profession; rather, the need for skills related to technology, information security and data will all increase in the coming years. The pace of this transformation is so rapid that it is difficult to say with certainty what the job market of the future will look like.

Best seller historian Yuval Noah Harari has said, “For the first time in human history, nobody knows for certain what the job market will look like 20 or 30 years from now.”

Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the reality of the subject you want to study today may not be the same four years from now.

That is why the importance of fields such as computer science, data science, software engineering and information technology will increase further in the coming years. At the same time, demand for skilled professionals in areas such as machine learning, robotics, cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (IoT) will also grow rapidly. For those interested in mathematics, logic and statistics, these fields could be particularly promising.

However, one point needs to be made clear: AI is not merely a subject for computer science. The use of AI technology is growing in almost every field, including business, medicine, agriculture, law and journalism. AI-powered document analysis in law, data-driven crop-yield forecasting in agriculture and the use of AI in medical diagnosis are examples of this trend. Therefore, regardless of what someone studies, becoming familiar with technology and acquiring the ability to use it effectively is now almost essential.

In the future, technological proficiency will be considered a supporting skill in every profession. Alongside their core field of study, students should therefore acquire basic knowledge of data analysis, programming or other technology-related areas.

This raises the question: How can we prepare for an AI-driven future? First, instead of fearing AI-related technologies, we need to become familiar with them and learn how to use them effectively. Second, we need to develop skills that AI cannot easily replicate, such as leadership, effective communication, creative thinking, problem-solving and the ability to build relationships with people. Third, we need to move away from the idea that learning ends once formal education is completed and develop a mindset of lifelong learning.

Futurist Alvin Toffler said long ago, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

In this era of rapid technological change, we will need to learn something new four years from now, and we will need to do so again 10 years from now. Therefore, the ability to learn will be the greatest qualification for the future.

I would also make an appeal to parents. Instead of putting excessive pressure on children and pushing them toward a particular subject, help them develop the ability to adapt to change. In the long run, giving greater importance to a child’s genuine interests, abilities and willingness to learn than to examination results or social expectations will produce better outcomes.

In conclusion, when choosing a field of study, the wisest approach is not to be overwhelmed by uncertainty but to strike a balance among one’s interests, abilities and the realities of the future.

Technology will change, and the nature of professions will change as well. But the desire to learn, the willingness to acquire new skills and the ability to adapt to change—these three qualities will never become outdated. In the AI-driven world of tomorrow, the students who begin preparing for this today will be the ones who stay ahead.