Technology in the 21st century will bring new and exciting possibilities for your future. By learning about different career opportunities in technology fields and by gaining the skills you need, you will be on your way to finding a satisfying and financially rewarding job.

The following links will help you navigate through techQuest

Career Paths of the Future: High Technical Manufacturing & Services
What Skills Will Help Students Get Jobs?
How Employment Trends Will Affect YOU!
Growth Projections for Various Career Paths
Career & Technology Facts
What Do Different Jobs Really Pay?
How Are Computers Affecting the Workplace?
The Future of E-Mail?

Most jobs in the future will deal with high tech products and services which can be divided into two categories: High Technical Manufacturing and Services.

1. High Technical Manufacturing

Computer programming: software and hardware design, application and repair.

Computer application technology: phones, automobiles, smart homes and offices, space, air transportation.

Engineering: chemical, civil, electrical, manufacturing, robotics, aeronautics, environmental.

Telecommunication: networks, integration, broadcasting, cable, interactive entertainment and education.

Scientific research: biology, chemistry, environmental analysts, conservation, meteorology, gerontology.

Medicine: primary care, specializations of all types, home care.

2. Services

Sales / marketing / merchandising: retail, wholesale, home delivery.

Accounting and financial service: international finance, investment and retirement consulting, financial managers, financial planning.

Consulting: computer systems, training, organizational development, finance, employee assistance programs, family and personal counseling.

Correction and law enforcement: police, private security, for-profit prison operations, criminology, law.

Human resources / education: employment benefits and compensation, training and development, college and university teaching, guidance counseling.

Advertising and public relations: creative consulting, corporate imaging, public relations, creative writing.

Source: Stewart, Charles J. Cash, William B. Jr. Interviewing Principles and Practices. Eighth Edition. Copyright 1997, Times Mirror Higher Education Group, Inc.

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Since technology is changing rapidly, today's teachers cannot prepare students for the exact details of what they will be doing in their future careers. That's why educators must make sure graduates...

• are skilled and experienced in solving problems
• are flexible and willing to be lifelong learners
• can communicate effectively and work together in teams.
• have interpersonal skills
• have values that include being a responsible worker
• are not afraid to learn new skills (can cope with change)
• and have the ability to make critical decisions

Source: information excerpt from McREL (Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory)
"Making Connections" Conference. 19-21 Sep 96. Denver, Co.

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• 40-hour-a-week jobs are being replaced by temporary, contract or consultant positions - so working as a temporary employee is now the best route to a full-time job.
  
• Activities once done by employees or departments within a company are, more and more, being done by specialized outsiders, or by machines - creating lots of opportunities for businesses and services in specialty fields.
  
• Specialists are more in demand than generalists - so good technical skills are very valuable with or without a four-year college degree.
  
• By the year 2000, the labor force will have a larger share of young women than ever before.
  
• Fewer permanent full-time jobs now exist - but a new business is created in the U.S. every 8 seconds.

Source: Susan Quattrociocchi, PhD., 1996
Money, Jobs School: A Handbook about the Future World of Work for Parents and Teens
Public Television Outreach Alliance

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Projected Employment by Occupations Field 1990-2005.

Occupation / Percentage Growth

Source: Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, printed in the Rolling Stone Oct. 1994.
These fields will offer a combination of both traditional full-time and "new century" jobs.

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• Over 60% of college career choices are closed if you do not take advanced math in high school.
  
• If you choose to avoid advanced math and science classes, you will probably eliminate later career choices in technological careers.
  
• 3 out of 4 Americans stop taking math before they finish required career courses.
  
• There are fewer students entering the fields of Information Technology compared to ten years ago.
• Nebraska businesses will hire 2000 Information Technologists each year.
  
• The Computer Programming field is growing at a 90% rate each year.
  
• The field of Computer Systems Management is growing at a 92% rate each year

Source: AIM INSTITUTE OF OMAHA, 1996
Math Is Power Campaign, NACME
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Average Earnings per Month by Job Category (1992)

Source: Wall Street Journal, May 1995

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A new study prepared by Canadian Policy Research Networks concludes the spread of computers in the work place is wiping out job opportunities for unskilled workers. It points out that although computers have created more jobs than they have destroyed, employers have used computer-based technology to eliminate unskilled jobs, and have not given the displaced workers the training they would need to move into the new high-skill jobs.

Currently, there is a sharp dichotomy in the employee make-up of computer-oriented vs. non-computer-oriented firms. In low-tech companies, managers and professionals comprise about 15% of all workers, while 36% are unskilled. In high-tech firms, 31% are managers and professionals, and only 10% are unskilled. The biggest winners in the shift in job types are people who know their way around computers: about 15% of the new jobs created went to managers in engineering, architecture, science and information systems, while another 21% went to mathematicians, systems analysts and computer programmers.

Overall, managers and professionals accounted for 53% of the new jobs created buy only 9% of the jobs eliminated. The biggest losers were in "intermediate" jobs, mainly clerical jobs in corporate purchasing and accounting departments, and in banks and insurance companies. They accounted for 22.9% of the new jobs created by computers, but fully 60% of the job types eliminated.

Source: EDUCOM Edupage 16 January 1997 (Toronto Globe & Mail 15 Jan 97 B3)

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Forrester Researcher says 15% of the U.S. population now uses e-mail, up from 2% in 1992. And they predict that within five years, that number will rise to about 50%. "It's the most popular online activity," says a Forrester analyst. "Growth will be fueled by the increase in home PC penetration and the growth of Internet access in corporations. Furthermore, the emergence of personalized services and tools that let ordinary people combine graphics and attachments will help make e-mail a preferred means of communication."

Source: EDUCOM Edupage 16 January 1997 (Investor's Business Daily 15 Jan 97 A6)

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