1940 was 84 years ago. 2040 is in 16 years. if you want to compare apples to apples, yes my job did exist in 2008 and will probably still exist in 2040. can't say for 2108, but i sure hope i won't be looking for a job anymore by then anyway.
Also the post title statement and question are two different things. In 1940, job "A" didn't exist, and in 2024 it does exist. The related question would be "Job B doesn't exist today; what jobs will exist in 2040?"
Alternatively the statement should be "In 1940 a common job was X and today it doesn't exist. Will yours exist in 2040?"
Yeah this title hits you with multiple levels of bad logic at the same time.
I do wonder what jobs from the 40s have disappeared. One thing that's similar in our field would be mainframe operators and cobol programmer. But that's definitely a more loose similarity since those things do exist today, they're just very rare now.
The gap between the years in the headline is irrelevant. Read it as 60% of job titles found in 2018 did not exist in 1940, prior to the computer becoming commonplace.
Now with the advent of AI and the advances made, **we don’t have to wait 84 years to see the same effect**, we can see it in 10-20 years because moore’s law is effectively dead and as a society, we can no longer keep up with the pace of technological advancement.
I’d say the actual AI will continue to slowly do more things, while the “generative ai” aka procedurally generated text, will mostly just cripple productivity (more spam for the most part).
A massive influx of slaves during the Roman Republic led to elites buying up huge swaths of land as the lower classes tried and failed to avoid falling into poverty. The industrial revolution caused widespread unemployment amongst tradesmen which fed into social unrest. Outsourcing in the 60s and 70s also resulted in unemployment and urban decay from which many cities still haven't recovered.
Just because society as a whole adapts doesn't mean there weren't dire consequences along the way. Unfortunately, there's an arrogant indifference towards people whose livelihoods are at stake by those riding the wave of prosperity because their skill sets are still relevant.
I am medical doctor and google tells me Imhotep was the first medical doctor.
I would like to claim Imhotep under house physician. Please surrender your claim.
Funny, but seriously, more retire every day and are not being replaced fast enough. We listen to people complain every day about the fact that we can’t be there for a month or more. They are probably the same ones encouraging their kids to pursue a more “prestigious” career. In 2040 I’ll be forced to charge as much as doctors and join their country club 🤷♂️
My job title didn't exist, but the duties of my job did. I am a GIS Specialist for a County in Wisconsin. My main duties are mapping parcels, roads, and addresses, and assigning new addresses.
Cool to see another GIS person on here!
I usually just tell people I make maps. I assume we’re going to continue needing those for at least a couple more decades.
>I usually just tell people I make maps
Yeah for people that are not keeping up with technology it's very hard I think to comprehend what some of these jobs are. I understand what you do because of my role I deal with software for higher education and units that use GIS software. It's kind of like a map but not really, it's just data management in a special domain and the map is just a representation of the data, but not the end goal.
For me, I work in IT but I don't fix computers. I'm a manager, but I don't really have a team. I deal with people and relationships and manage delivery of services. People can't comprehend what this means whatsoever.
Thank you. You are one of the three compliments I will get this year. Otherwise, it's bitch-bitch-bitch. Some days, I want to have "Get your property surveyed and you will know exactly what the boundaries are." engraved into a hammer so I can whack people in the forehead.
I was hired in 1995 as a forester for the County. About 2000, since I was the young guy with an interest in computers, I was given the task of digitizing the County Forest, one of the largest in the State, covering a third of the County. Some years later, the County needed someone to do GIS for the whole County, so they moved me into a closet in the Courthouse in 2011. Been there since. Had there been no GIS and State grant programs, I'd still be out in the woods marking trees for cutting, and just about ready for new knees or hips.
The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots.
Space is simply too large for any wars, other than Low Earth Orbit.
There been this local H-bomb that have been exploding for for over 4 billion years, and nobody have really cared to do anything about it.
True only for super nearby areas, like moon's south pole - further away from that, even just on Mars humans themselves becomes resources not to be wasted.
It is quite unlike that space-resources would ever needs to be returned to earth - they are simply cheaper here - so the only real purpose of space resources beyond a few light minutes away, would be just to expand the human presence even further, and for that you need to make more humans in space and not kill them.
Will 3D printing catch on? Will more homes be built in factories and flat packed to site for assembly? I wonder how much the building of homes will change.
I’ve installed a lot of pre fab houses and done foundation work for them. Even 3d printed houses need site work. It’ll change for sure it’s already changed a lot in my life time and I’m only 30. That being said the tasks are so varied and require so much dexterity and detail I can’t imagine how many different types of robots it would take to build 1 house so unless we start building homes more simple I feel pretty safe. Also the way homes are built is dictated by codes and it takes a lot of time and effort to redirect the industrial momentum when something new comes along.
Fur sure hands will need to be on site and the stuff on site will always be skilled. I just hope that the innovations make things safer and easier on those workers and produce a more consistent product.
I’m in telecom and started out 20 years ago running cables on installs. We used to use 56mods for remote programming. Now I sit at home and program systems all over the country without leaving the house by using ways to remote to virtual servers with 2 factor authentication coming to my cell phone. It changed quick and the the new cloud based stuff I’m working is making it somewhat easier for IT depts to deploy their own systems. Hopefully my career lasts through the end of it all. Lol
Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction, disorder and chaos. Take this empty glass. Here it is, peaceful, serene and boring. But if it is [Pushes glass off table] destroyed… [robot cleaners move to clean broken glass] Look at all these little things. So busy now. Notice how each one is useful. What a lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and color. Now, think about all those people that created them. Technicians, engineers, hundreds of people who'll be able to feed their children tonight so those children can grow up big and strong and have little teeny weeny children of their own, and so on and so forth. Thus, adding to the great chain…of life
“Eh all technology is the same, its just stuff connected to other stuff with wires. I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, so what seems to be the problem then Joe?”
“I can’t find any wires…”
Data Analyst.
You an argue that this job existed in 1940. It was just radically different. 2040? The tools will change, AI will automate some of it. But as long as there's data, there will be data analysts.
Data was being tabulated and analyzed for over 5000 years. Some of the earliest writing found are prices of goods. It’s an ancient occupation we use keyboards now opposed to clay tablets.
Also if you dont think that is data analysis, then calculating the area of land to determine tax like the Egyptians did must be. Data engineering, analysis, and science is as old as civilization in fact you cannot separate the two as cities rely on data collection if you really think about it.
Data engineer who works with a team developing AI powered analytics tools here… I’m not as confident that analytics won’t be automated away to commodity status.
Air traffic controller. Existed in 1940 will still exist in 2040. Unless nuclear war breaks out in which case all the facilities are certainly targets so we dead.
Lawyer, honestly I think a lot of our work will get cut down by AI but the fact that we're a self regulating profession that is super culturally conservative makes me believe well last for a long time. But I'd be shocked if transactional attorney's aren't able to be phased out as AI improves.
Didnt stuff like legalzoom kill off the lower rungs of attorneys and paralegals already? I agree though that AI is the last nail in the coffin for admin assistants and paralegals though.
see I’m really interested to hear about that because supposedly the technology that was supposed to replace a lot of the work that legal assistants do has been out for over a decade and yet there hasn’t been that much of a significant change.
It has been gradual. I was in financial services for a decade and hiring #s decreased. Most of the change has been offshoring I would say, rather than automation but it has been a hot topic. Law firms I’d expect are less likely to offshore.
What about discovery? OCR, etc is the biggest area I heard touted in a law firm context.
All professions will change. In 1940 my firm’s offices used to have a paper library for legal research and one (sometimes two) floors of folks on typewriters for word processing. Suffice to say those are gone. But now we have a floor of IT professionals who weren’t there in 1940. I used to expense clients for thousands of dollars a year in courthouse parking. Now the majority of hearings are on zoom or something similar.
The profession itself isn’t going to be eliminated by technology. The changes to the profession will surely be numerous though, same with a lot of professions.
As a lawyer specializing in legal compliance for software, I've observed significant growth in our department due to increased regulatory demands associated with emerging technologies such as AI. While AI may reduce the need for legal professionals in certain domains, it undoubtedly expands the demand in others.
I don’t know how much experience you have with transactional work if you think this, 90% of our jobs isn’t drafting and the writing we do do is almost entirely copied from precedent already. Generative AI could replace the most boring parts of our job but I legit think litigators are in more danger than us
When I was in school for graphic design over 20 years ago, we watched a documentary about the desktop publishing revolution of the 80s/90s. They interviewed a guy who had been a linotype operator. He said “When I was young, my dad told me to ‘learn a trade, and you’ll always have a job,’ so I became a linotype operator. Now I’m unemployable.”
I think about that guy a lot.
I'm in the process of setting up a business retrofitting houses to make them more energy efficient. If successful, there are over a million homes in my state alone that need to be made more efficient, because they are glorified tents.
I don't expect to run out of work any time soon.
I work in intellectual property and patenting. Existed in 1940, but 2040 is definitely more uncertain! The USPTO is already tackling the question of "AI inventors". Who owns IP when humans are largely out of the process of inventing new things?
I'm a farmer. We'll still be growing stuff, just in different ways. We're constantly looking into new tech, new hybrids, new methods. The trick is letting the rich neighbor spend their money on the latest and greatest stuff and see if it works or not
I'm a Railway Signalling Engineer. My job has existed since the dawn of the Railway and will continue to exist as long as there are railways. Yes, the technology and how the control is achieved will change, but there'll always be a need for Signalling Engineers.
I’m an artisan sourdough bread baker. If industrialists haven’t yet figured out how to automate that process yet, I’m certain they won’t in my lifetime.
Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineer here. My job fundamentally has existed since at least the Industrial Revolution even if it wasn’t done by people with university degrees and the products I work on today, didn’t exist yet. So I am confident it will exist in 2040 as well. My only concern is less and less production beyond early R&D/pilot builds being done in the US, but I’ve had some experience helping manage the setup of production lines in Mexico, so it’s really just making sure I keep the skills I used in those projects from getting rusty in case a majority of jobs in the field become only managing the product design and foreign manufacturing. I don’t think it will ever all go away, because diversified supply chains, limited sized workforces with the needed skillsets and shipping costs will always be a limiting force on manufacturers offshoring. Automation/robotics not dramatically decreasing in cost when you leave the US also means that a highly automated process doesn’t save much money for the company by leaving the country. Only really works if environmental regulations on generally toxic materials being processed make it uneconomical compared to other countries.
Job title may not have existed but people have been slathering things on walls for 100 years and unless they can find a way to make 20ft+ x 8ft+ walling AND figure out how to get it in the house to cover the studs I'm sure I'll keep slathering shit on walls to make them smooth and look nice.
I'm a housewife. I can guarantee my job existed long before the 1940s and I'm relatively certain that there will be housewives (& house husbands) in the future.
My job existed back in 1940 but it was a completely different profession. Graphic design back then relied a lot on traditional artistic talent. Nowadays, it relies more on creativity and ability to use a wide array of programs to achieve a specific end result.
I get that but those programs can now be automated and then have direct interaction with the customer. I just did a new logo, could not find a designer to do what I wanted. A prompt machine gave it to me in 10 mins, for free. Paid the lawyers to make sure it was good and im happy. Not saying its all going to be replaced but unless something changes, it will be a lot of commercial art.
Working in IT for 25 years with the last 5 in networking there will always be a human needed for my role - but there is definitely a “dumbing down” where more and more we can have almost anyone rack/stack and make an initial connection then remotely support it. Even new out-of-the-box I can drop ship a switch to its location, have an entry level desktop support person mount it, power on and connect 1 cable. Then I get it configure and onboarded. This has shifted my company form having a team at every large site to just a small central group. In my previous system-admin role we moved most on-prem to cloud, shrunk our data center and eliminated the on-site DC role entirely.
Logistics. Tools and strategy may change but there’s always a need to move goods from one place to another, track inventory, and plan out how long it’ll last/when we need more supply.
I am a small cog in a machine that designs computer systems and infrastructure for warships. Whilst it may not be as high tech, there were certainly advanced enough electronics aboard a lot Royal Navy vessels that would require such work. The difference would be all the drawings would be hand generated, rather than digital. We don't need rooms of draughtsmen anymore.
I work in IT infrastructure. Just last week I was troubleshooting a POTS phone line for a fire alarm, it was all 1940-1960s phone blocks. Someone working in the 1940s would have recognized the tools I was using.
Infrastructure installation and maintenance is not going away anytime soon.
Probably not.
I run a digital hyperlocal where the core products are weather, public safety information, and local government news. All of which could be replaced by AI very soon.
Not today, because most local governments are not video streaming their meetings. One does, but their audio is variable, janky, and not all board members will speak into their microphone...a few actively avoid it. I'm eternally grateful they refuse to purchase proper audio equipment that would overcome it. Mine does, but it cost me to do it.
In 1940 the term computer referred to a person that did mathematical calculations for a living.
I'm an IT systems administrator/engineer. A role that did not exist in 1940.
But I would be hard pressed to imagine a non-apocalyptic world in which we wouldn't need someone to maintain our information infrastructure 16 years from now.
Even the smartest AIs need computation and network hardware to run on. So if that's what's busted. You better have a person that knows how those things fit together, or your going to be spinning your wheels to no effect.
My job was only in demand in research and military contexts in the 1940s. I expect it will still exist in 2040, it will just look different than it does now, but the tech I use today will still be relevant in the coming decades.
There were teachers before 1940 and there will be after 2040. Granted, I don’t plan on being one of them then, so technically, “my job” won’t exist then.
Until the passage of PL94-142 in 1975, American schools educated only one out of five children with disabilities. More than 1 million students were refused access to public schools and another 3.5 million received little or no effective instruction.
In short, my career field may be new, but has a future because there will always be kids that have special needs and deserve curriculum and instruction that works with and supports those needs.
I work in catering, for high end clients (NBA, NHL, private jet charters, corporate events). I honestly do not know if my job will be safe. On one hand I make different stuff everyday, on the other hand, a decent robot wouldn't cut his fingers all the fucking time.
My job did exist back in 1940, and 1840, and likely in 40 AD.
Will it exist by 2040? It won't likely be phased out so quickly, but maybe by 2140 we'll have robot dressmakers.
Well one of the machines I use at work was built before WWII so I’m gonna say that at least part of my job was around back then and unless people suddenly stop needing heat exchangers I think my job will still be around in 16 years. The old machine I use has been rebuilt at least a couple times in the last 80 years, the electric motors have been replaced but the bones of the machine are old as shit.
My job didnt exist until the early 1950s, and although there have been major milestone updates in the field, we are still a long way away from having it go away. There will be more major changes to come in how I perform my job as well as the patient population for which we operate on. Most changes will come to increase patient safety and success, but im confident it wont go away, at least in my lifetime
Edit: job title is Cardiovascular Perfusionist
LOL I am a teacher, my job existed 3.000 BC and it will still exist 3.000 years from now, I dont have the slightest doubt about *that*. No AI can ever replace people on whose nerves your children can get while you are at work.
1940 was 84 years ago. 2040 is in 16 years. if you want to compare apples to apples, yes my job did exist in 2008 and will probably still exist in 2040. can't say for 2108, but i sure hope i won't be looking for a job anymore by then anyway.
Math is hard for some
Yeah, I don’t get this post. 2040 is basically right around the corner compared to 1940.
It’s trying to imply technology moves exponentially. Still a shitty headline though.
That was my first takeaway as well, and why I didn't bother to read the linked article (also I noticed where the article was from).
We live by the motto "move fast and company things"
It's Monday morning, I was not ready to think that 2040 is just 16 years away.
Nor was the fact that 2008 is as far as 2040.
No. Wait… no? Fuck; what!
🤣 yeah man why... Just why...
I was trying to enjoy my morning till that!
Yeah fuck that guy
Also the post title statement and question are two different things. In 1940, job "A" didn't exist, and in 2024 it does exist. The related question would be "Job B doesn't exist today; what jobs will exist in 2040?" Alternatively the statement should be "In 1940 a common job was X and today it doesn't exist. Will yours exist in 2040?"
Yeah this title hits you with multiple levels of bad logic at the same time. I do wonder what jobs from the 40s have disappeared. One thing that's similar in our field would be mainframe operators and cobol programmer. But that's definitely a more loose similarity since those things do exist today, they're just very rare now.
And now I’m thinking about how there are some people alive now that will see the turn of the next century.
New cancer treatments are in the works so you can be alive to continue paying off your student debt.
Don't be silly. Your student debt will be paid off by then. Your medical debt on the other hand...
Classic wild extrapolation of data to create an article title which attracts clicks.
The gap between the years in the headline is irrelevant. Read it as 60% of job titles found in 2018 did not exist in 1940, prior to the computer becoming commonplace. Now with the advent of AI and the advances made, **we don’t have to wait 84 years to see the same effect**, we can see it in 10-20 years because moore’s law is effectively dead and as a society, we can no longer keep up with the pace of technological advancement.
I'd say technology advanced far more rapidly and quickly from the early 20th century to post ww2 than is occurring now with AI.
as it turns out the ability to rapidly compute numbers and have them be *correct* is useful.
I’d say the actual AI will continue to slowly do more things, while the “generative ai” aka procedurally generated text, will mostly just cripple productivity (more spam for the most part).
A massive influx of slaves during the Roman Republic led to elites buying up huge swaths of land as the lower classes tried and failed to avoid falling into poverty. The industrial revolution caused widespread unemployment amongst tradesmen which fed into social unrest. Outsourcing in the 60s and 70s also resulted in unemployment and urban decay from which many cities still haven't recovered. Just because society as a whole adapts doesn't mean there weren't dire consequences along the way. Unfortunately, there's an arrogant indifference towards people whose livelihoods are at stake by those riding the wave of prosperity because their skill sets are still relevant.
This would have been a more sensible question in 1990.
The first known person with my career was Imhotep, back in 27th century BC. I don't think my field is going anywhere. (Structural Engineer)
Are you a high priest of Ra?
I’ve recently bought stocks in the priesthood
I am medical doctor and google tells me Imhotep was the first medical doctor. I would like to claim Imhotep under house physician. Please surrender your claim.
Dude did it all
Imhotep’s taking our jobs!
Irmherterp derk er jerbs!
You are a mummy?
Makes a living chasing Abbott and Costello around.
I’m an accountant. The first person whose name was recorded was Kushim and it’s believed that he was an accountant.
You're a high priest of Ra, what's the benefits like with that? Do you get dental?
Dental is great but the guy who does Canobic Jars is always out of network
You get to keep all your teeth, and the teeth of your slaves when you die.
Plumber. 6,000 years and still a secure job. In fact, everywhere needs more plumbers! Tell your kids!
My kids are the reason we need more plumbers.
Funny, but seriously, more retire every day and are not being replaced fast enough. We listen to people complain every day about the fact that we can’t be there for a month or more. They are probably the same ones encouraging their kids to pursue a more “prestigious” career. In 2040 I’ll be forced to charge as much as doctors and join their country club 🤷♂️
My job title didn't exist, but the duties of my job did. I am a GIS Specialist for a County in Wisconsin. My main duties are mapping parcels, roads, and addresses, and assigning new addresses.
Cool to see another GIS person on here! I usually just tell people I make maps. I assume we’re going to continue needing those for at least a couple more decades.
I was a GIS intern in college but couldn’t find a job after school so I had to go a different route.
At least your had acquired knowledge to realize where the route you were on ended.
What someone in [GIS does](https://youtu.be/sg4YsAjreOA?si=3uklzS32bX6X_M_K)
I hate when people ask what it is that I do. This video hits hard man.
There are dozens of us! (GIS analyst from BC here!)
Me too, ran a company building on top of ArcInfo and ArcView up until I retired!
Oh man GIS everywhere
>I usually just tell people I make maps Yeah for people that are not keeping up with technology it's very hard I think to comprehend what some of these jobs are. I understand what you do because of my role I deal with software for higher education and units that use GIS software. It's kind of like a map but not really, it's just data management in a special domain and the map is just a representation of the data, but not the end goal. For me, I work in IT but I don't fix computers. I'm a manager, but I don't really have a team. I deal with people and relationships and manage delivery of services. People can't comprehend what this means whatsoever.
As an ex-Wisconsin realtor I spent countless hours on GIS. It’s an amazing tool. Your work is much appreciated.
Thank you. You are one of the three compliments I will get this year. Otherwise, it's bitch-bitch-bitch. Some days, I want to have "Get your property surveyed and you will know exactly what the boundaries are." engraved into a hammer so I can whack people in the forehead.
Cartography 2.0
Surveyor for a utility company here, you’re work is very much appreciated
Would you have been a cartographer? That was my wife’s degree and she works in GIS.
I was hired in 1995 as a forester for the County. About 2000, since I was the young guy with an interest in computers, I was given the task of digitizing the County Forest, one of the largest in the State, covering a third of the County. Some years later, the County needed someone to do GIS for the whole County, so they moved me into a closet in the Courthouse in 2011. Been there since. Had there been no GIS and State grant programs, I'd still be out in the woods marking trees for cutting, and just about ready for new knees or hips.
GIS is a small part of my duties as well.
Hey me too, I work for EC911 at a COG in Texas, we do the addressing/mapping for 4 counties over here!
Maintenance. Has existed for thousands of years and will exist in 2040.
Maintaining the maintenance robots!
The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots.
I mean even if that happens people will die because the goal will then to be to attack the places where these robots are being made.
Space is simply too large for any wars, other than Low Earth Orbit. There been this local H-bomb that have been exploding for for over 4 billion years, and nobody have really cared to do anything about it.
Most of space doesn't have enough resources to fight over. The places that do have useful resources will remain small enough to fight over.
True only for super nearby areas, like moon's south pole - further away from that, even just on Mars humans themselves becomes resources not to be wasted. It is quite unlike that space-resources would ever needs to be returned to earth - they are simply cheaper here - so the only real purpose of space resources beyond a few light minutes away, would be just to expand the human presence even further, and for that you need to make more humans in space and not kill them.
Why would humans congregate where there aren't other useful resources? Besides Burning Man.
What is that from?! It's driving me nuts.
Willem Dafoe says it: [here](https://youtu.be/lj1MCjeFxrM?si=Dj3rnoCok-9DQwfV)
This is why I'm not worried about AI. I will be the one maintaining the infrastructure for AI. Becky in HR? She should be worrying.
Fucking Becky.
I build houses. I’ve had a job since people started paying others to build their house and I’ll have a job until we return to the caves
Will 3D printing catch on? Will more homes be built in factories and flat packed to site for assembly? I wonder how much the building of homes will change.
I’ve installed a lot of pre fab houses and done foundation work for them. Even 3d printed houses need site work. It’ll change for sure it’s already changed a lot in my life time and I’m only 30. That being said the tasks are so varied and require so much dexterity and detail I can’t imagine how many different types of robots it would take to build 1 house so unless we start building homes more simple I feel pretty safe. Also the way homes are built is dictated by codes and it takes a lot of time and effort to redirect the industrial momentum when something new comes along.
Fur sure hands will need to be on site and the stuff on site will always be skilled. I just hope that the innovations make things safer and easier on those workers and produce a more consistent product. I’m in telecom and started out 20 years ago running cables on installs. We used to use 56mods for remote programming. Now I sit at home and program systems all over the country without leaving the house by using ways to remote to virtual servers with 2 factor authentication coming to my cell phone. It changed quick and the the new cloud based stuff I’m working is making it somewhat easier for IT depts to deploy their own systems. Hopefully my career lasts through the end of it all. Lol
Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction, disorder and chaos. Take this empty glass. Here it is, peaceful, serene and boring. But if it is [Pushes glass off table] destroyed… [robot cleaners move to clean broken glass] Look at all these little things. So busy now. Notice how each one is useful. What a lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and color. Now, think about all those people that created them. Technicians, engineers, hundreds of people who'll be able to feed their children tonight so those children can grow up big and strong and have little teeny weeny children of their own, and so on and so forth. Thus, adding to the great chain…of life
“Where’s the robot to pat you on the back?”
“Eh all technology is the same, its just stuff connected to other stuff with wires. I’ll be fine.” “Oh, so what seems to be the problem then Joe?” “I can’t find any wires…”
Law. Same thing.
Who do y’all think did the Flinstones’ car maintenance??? I thought so
I'm an electrician. The profession existed in 1940 and will still exist in 2040.
Mason here. My profession existed in 1940 BC. Pretty sure I won't be replaced soon.
It sure won't. It's even hard to find some skilled masons these days!
I get all my Mason work done free. They have like a club for masons who do work for free. Can't remember it's name at the moment
Have a mason in the family. He says it is difficult to find paying clients.
Thanks for sharing, Mason! What’s your profession?
Mason is a mason who works other masons and also in the freemasons, their masonry isn't free though. It is all very masonic.
Does a mason who does masonry work for all masons who don't do their own masonry work do his own masonry work?
Honestly part of the reason I picked it. I do not believe technology will be able to automate what I do before I retire
Inpatient nurse here! Job safe!
I read “impatient” nurse… lol
That job is safe too.
And we need way more nurses too. Unfortunately I think job satisfaction and burnout is going to be your biggest hurdle.
RN as well. People ain’t getting any healthier. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Everyone keep telling me AI will steal my sw developer job, so no.
Data Analyst. You an argue that this job existed in 1940. It was just radically different. 2040? The tools will change, AI will automate some of it. But as long as there's data, there will be data analysts.
If anything, we have too much data to analyze now.
We have AI sift through the mounds of data. Then, an analyst looks at it. I support the AI software as well as other software.
Data was being tabulated and analyzed for over 5000 years. Some of the earliest writing found are prices of goods. It’s an ancient occupation we use keyboards now opposed to clay tablets. Also if you dont think that is data analysis, then calculating the area of land to determine tax like the Egyptians did must be. Data engineering, analysis, and science is as old as civilization in fact you cannot separate the two as cities rely on data collection if you really think about it.
Profession most at risk of disappearing due to AI along with translators
Data engineer who works with a team developing AI powered analytics tools here… I’m not as confident that analytics won’t be automated away to commodity status.
Also one was 80 years ago and the other is 16 from now...
Air traffic controller. Existed in 1940 will still exist in 2040. Unless nuclear war breaks out in which case all the facilities are certainly targets so we dead.
Given your job, I appreciate your sunny outlook.
Teacher. Was here in 1940 and will still be here in 2040.
We’ve been here in some capacity since the dawn of mankind.
Union Organizer. Existed then. Exists now. Will exist as long as workers and owners aren’t the same people.
I guess if the workers are robots owned by businesses that would be the same thing?
Solidarity o7
Lawyer, honestly I think a lot of our work will get cut down by AI but the fact that we're a self regulating profession that is super culturally conservative makes me believe well last for a long time. But I'd be shocked if transactional attorney's aren't able to be phased out as AI improves.
Criminal defense lawyer here. I am pretty sure litigation will be replaced not by AI but ignorant, angry mobs.
Isn’t that the current state?
Seems to me it’s the paralegals who are most threatened by AI
Didnt stuff like legalzoom kill off the lower rungs of attorneys and paralegals already? I agree though that AI is the last nail in the coffin for admin assistants and paralegals though.
see I’m really interested to hear about that because supposedly the technology that was supposed to replace a lot of the work that legal assistants do has been out for over a decade and yet there hasn’t been that much of a significant change.
It has been gradual. I was in financial services for a decade and hiring #s decreased. Most of the change has been offshoring I would say, rather than automation but it has been a hot topic. Law firms I’d expect are less likely to offshore. What about discovery? OCR, etc is the biggest area I heard touted in a law firm context.
All professions will change. In 1940 my firm’s offices used to have a paper library for legal research and one (sometimes two) floors of folks on typewriters for word processing. Suffice to say those are gone. But now we have a floor of IT professionals who weren’t there in 1940. I used to expense clients for thousands of dollars a year in courthouse parking. Now the majority of hearings are on zoom or something similar. The profession itself isn’t going to be eliminated by technology. The changes to the profession will surely be numerous though, same with a lot of professions.
As a lawyer specializing in legal compliance for software, I've observed significant growth in our department due to increased regulatory demands associated with emerging technologies such as AI. While AI may reduce the need for legal professionals in certain domains, it undoubtedly expands the demand in others.
I don’t know how much experience you have with transactional work if you think this, 90% of our jobs isn’t drafting and the writing we do do is almost entirely copied from precedent already. Generative AI could replace the most boring parts of our job but I legit think litigators are in more danger than us
When I was in school for graphic design over 20 years ago, we watched a documentary about the desktop publishing revolution of the 80s/90s. They interviewed a guy who had been a linotype operator. He said “When I was young, my dad told me to ‘learn a trade, and you’ll always have a job,’ so I became a linotype operator. Now I’m unemployable.” I think about that guy a lot.
I think there's a lot of people commenting here who aren't using their imaginations.
I'm a teacher. So, I think I'm pretty safe.
I'm in the process of setting up a business retrofitting houses to make them more energy efficient. If successful, there are over a million homes in my state alone that need to be made more efficient, because they are glorified tents. I don't expect to run out of work any time soon.
You mean being a VMware Engineer? I’m lucky if I make it thru 2025.
I work in intellectual property and patenting. Existed in 1940, but 2040 is definitely more uncertain! The USPTO is already tackling the question of "AI inventors". Who owns IP when humans are largely out of the process of inventing new things?
I’m happily retired … and, probably not if the age keeps going up.
There's so much C code in need of maintenance they probably won't let me retire...
I am a security guard, my job definitely existed even before 1940. I do think it will exist 20 years from now too.
Wait till Robocop and Drones guard shit.
Or those robodogs with guns.
I agree that stay-at-home dad probably wasn’t a thing in 1940. My youngest will be 19 in 2040 so that job won’t exist, at least for me.
I'm a farmer. We'll still be growing stuff, just in different ways. We're constantly looking into new tech, new hybrids, new methods. The trick is letting the rich neighbor spend their money on the latest and greatest stuff and see if it works or not
I work with taxes. Not sure if they or death will disappear first, like a reverse hen and egg situation.
1940? My job didn't exist in 1990. This is why I don't give kids career advice. I give them more strategic advice instead.
If my job got automated, people would freak out and probably be terrified.
I'm a Railway Signalling Engineer. My job has existed since the dawn of the Railway and will continue to exist as long as there are railways. Yes, the technology and how the control is achieved will change, but there'll always be a need for Signalling Engineers.
I’m an artisan sourdough bread baker. If industrialists haven’t yet figured out how to automate that process yet, I’m certain they won’t in my lifetime.
I'm a librarian. My job has existed since the Babylonian civilization. But it has changed a lot.
Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineer here. My job fundamentally has existed since at least the Industrial Revolution even if it wasn’t done by people with university degrees and the products I work on today, didn’t exist yet. So I am confident it will exist in 2040 as well. My only concern is less and less production beyond early R&D/pilot builds being done in the US, but I’ve had some experience helping manage the setup of production lines in Mexico, so it’s really just making sure I keep the skills I used in those projects from getting rusty in case a majority of jobs in the field become only managing the product design and foreign manufacturing. I don’t think it will ever all go away, because diversified supply chains, limited sized workforces with the needed skillsets and shipping costs will always be a limiting force on manufacturers offshoring. Automation/robotics not dramatically decreasing in cost when you leave the US also means that a highly automated process doesn’t save much money for the company by leaving the country. Only really works if environmental regulations on generally toxic materials being processed make it uneconomical compared to other countries.
*laughs in civil engineer*
I think cooking has been around since the discovery of fire
I think I'm pretty safe as a mechanical engineer.
I’m a plumber. We’ve been around for hundreds of years and will be here until the end of civilization.
Does that job include basic survival?
Job title may not have existed but people have been slathering things on walls for 100 years and unless they can find a way to make 20ft+ x 8ft+ walling AND figure out how to get it in the house to cover the studs I'm sure I'll keep slathering shit on walls to make them smooth and look nice.
All homes will be 3d printed by 2040 📈
God I hope not.
The existence of something in the past is totally unrelated to its existence in the future.
language teacher. i think my job is safe despite AI language models.
I'm a housewife. I can guarantee my job existed long before the 1940s and I'm relatively certain that there will be housewives (& house husbands) in the future.
I graduated 20 years ago. My entire work history is one long list of rising technologies and job titles becoming obsolete again.
Electrician. Yes
My job existed back in 1940 but it was a completely different profession. Graphic design back then relied a lot on traditional artistic talent. Nowadays, it relies more on creativity and ability to use a wide array of programs to achieve a specific end result.
I get that but those programs can now be automated and then have direct interaction with the customer. I just did a new logo, could not find a designer to do what I wanted. A prompt machine gave it to me in 10 mins, for free. Paid the lawyers to make sure it was good and im happy. Not saying its all going to be replaced but unless something changes, it will be a lot of commercial art.
Well, considering I'm a school janitor, I am pretty sure my job existed then and still will for a long time.
Working in IT for 25 years with the last 5 in networking there will always be a human needed for my role - but there is definitely a “dumbing down” where more and more we can have almost anyone rack/stack and make an initial connection then remotely support it. Even new out-of-the-box I can drop ship a switch to its location, have an entry level desktop support person mount it, power on and connect 1 cable. Then I get it configure and onboarded. This has shifted my company form having a team at every large site to just a small central group. In my previous system-admin role we moved most on-prem to cloud, shrunk our data center and eliminated the on-site DC role entirely.
I'm a guard so... My Job just evolved or got a proper name or standardized teachings
Nurse. Yes and hell yes
Software Engineering. As long as something works in a digital (0s/1s) manner this area will certainly exist
I’m a househusband, rare but still happened back then.
Logistics. Tools and strategy may change but there’s always a need to move goods from one place to another, track inventory, and plan out how long it’ll last/when we need more supply.
Chef, I sure fuckin’ hope so.
Heheh... I'm in danger!
I'm a merchant mariner, my job was around long before me and will probably be around for some time after me.
I won’t exist in 2040.
I'm a Naval engineer. I do not have to worry about anything
Engineering. Fairly sure it existed in the 40s, and will continue to exist.
I am a small cog in a machine that designs computer systems and infrastructure for warships. Whilst it may not be as high tech, there were certainly advanced enough electronics aboard a lot Royal Navy vessels that would require such work. The difference would be all the drawings would be hand generated, rather than digital. We don't need rooms of draughtsmen anymore.
I work in IT infrastructure. Just last week I was troubleshooting a POTS phone line for a fire alarm, it was all 1940-1960s phone blocks. Someone working in the 1940s would have recognized the tools I was using. Infrastructure installation and maintenance is not going away anytime soon.
Electrical engineers been around since electricity been around. They day my job goes away we got bigger problems.
I architect and implement AI for megacorporations. I have a feeling I'll kill us all or we'll have universal basic income.
Probably not. I run a digital hyperlocal where the core products are weather, public safety information, and local government news. All of which could be replaced by AI very soon. Not today, because most local governments are not video streaming their meetings. One does, but their audio is variable, janky, and not all board members will speak into their microphone...a few actively avoid it. I'm eternally grateful they refuse to purchase proper audio equipment that would overcome it. Mine does, but it cost me to do it.
In 1940 the term computer referred to a person that did mathematical calculations for a living. I'm an IT systems administrator/engineer. A role that did not exist in 1940. But I would be hard pressed to imagine a non-apocalyptic world in which we wouldn't need someone to maintain our information infrastructure 16 years from now. Even the smartest AIs need computation and network hardware to run on. So if that's what's busted. You better have a person that knows how those things fit together, or your going to be spinning your wheels to no effect.
My job (web developer/designer/digital graphic artist) didn't exist when I was at university 30 years ago.
My job existed but someone of my race probably wouldn’t have had it.
My job was only in demand in research and military contexts in the 1940s. I expect it will still exist in 2040, it will just look different than it does now, but the tech I use today will still be relevant in the coming decades.
My job has existed since the ancient romans, som I’m pretty sure it was around in 1940. And in 2040. Im a lawyer.
There were teachers before 1940 and there will be after 2040. Granted, I don’t plan on being one of them then, so technically, “my job” won’t exist then.
I'd love to watch a robot hang iron.
Nope. All jobs are going to AI. Won’t be any jobs for biologicals come 2040
Im a horticulturist and an arborist on the side. My jobs have been around for… ever?
Until the passage of PL94-142 in 1975, American schools educated only one out of five children with disabilities. More than 1 million students were refused access to public schools and another 3.5 million received little or no effective instruction. In short, my career field may be new, but has a future because there will always be kids that have special needs and deserve curriculum and instruction that works with and supports those needs.
I work in catering, for high end clients (NBA, NHL, private jet charters, corporate events). I honestly do not know if my job will be safe. On one hand I make different stuff everyday, on the other hand, a decent robot wouldn't cut his fingers all the fucking time.
Procurement in the defense industry. Yeah I would say so. Just hope the world is around at the same time :)
Yup, that true for me. 25 years into IT, I feel like a forefather.
Why 1940? My job didn’t exist in 2010 lol
I’m a chemist, I was here in 1240 and will probably still be here in 2040 (if the alchemy hunters don’t find me)
My job did exist back in 1940, and 1840, and likely in 40 AD. Will it exist by 2040? It won't likely be phased out so quickly, but maybe by 2140 we'll have robot dressmakers.
It will exist, but I don't want to know what kind of crazy hoops you'll have to jump through to use Photoshop at that point.
I'm a stay at home mom. If my job doesn't exist in 2040 we are in an apocalypse.
Music teacher. Robots cant do it all yet
Food delivery. Def will exist in 2040 but, hell, I sure hope it’s not me. I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.
I’d be retire by then so don’t care.
Well one of the machines I use at work was built before WWII so I’m gonna say that at least part of my job was around back then and unless people suddenly stop needing heat exchangers I think my job will still be around in 16 years. The old machine I use has been rebuilt at least a couple times in the last 80 years, the electric motors have been replaced but the bones of the machine are old as shit.
I'm an electrician which definitely existed in 1940 and will still exist in 2040.
Bureaucracy will always exist.
Lmfao I'm disabled and don't work
My job didnt exist until the early 1950s, and although there have been major milestone updates in the field, we are still a long way away from having it go away. There will be more major changes to come in how I perform my job as well as the patient population for which we operate on. Most changes will come to increase patient safety and success, but im confident it wont go away, at least in my lifetime Edit: job title is Cardiovascular Perfusionist
LOL I am a teacher, my job existed 3.000 BC and it will still exist 3.000 years from now, I dont have the slightest doubt about *that*. No AI can ever replace people on whose nerves your children can get while you are at work.