It’s no secret — 2023 has been a bad year to be employed in tech. Most of the biggest employers in the field have laid off workers: Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta (again)… and the list keeps growing.
This might be a surprise to some people because these tech giants don’t seem to be hurting. While layoffs happen for a number of reasons, in many cases, tech companies hired too many people and they didn’t need to keep paying them. It’s no surprise that many people wanted to work for tech companies because they have some great perks, including high pay.
These benefits mean nothing if people can’t secure jobs in the tech industry, and it’s becoming clear that this field isn’t as stable as it was once believed to be. So, people looking for big salaries may need to look at other industries.
While it’s unlikely people are immediately going to abandon tech jobs, it’s also possible a shift is on the horizon. If we were to take tech off the table, and a big salary is the goal, these industries are the ones likely to attract employees who are more passionate about money than the job itself.
What Is a Tech Job?
Before we can look into tech replacements, we need to understand what tech really is. It would be very hard to find an industry in today’s society that doesn’t rely on computers or software at some level.
For the most part, these jobs develop software or the hardware that runs software, then sell the products. Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Adobe, and Netflix are key examples. There are also companies like Amazon that have many tech roles (and layoffs) because they make products like the Echo and software to operate it. Those developers are tech workers, but the guy delivering your package isn’t.
There’s now an idea that all companies are tech companies because of the equipment required for daily operations. While it’s true that McDonald’s couldn’t operate if their credit card system crashed, that doesn’t make McDonald’s a tech company. At the end of the day, it’s in the burger business — not selling McApps or McSmartphones.
Health care
If all of this chatter about job loss has you stressed out, you might find yourself heading to the doctor and supporting the healthcare industry. Its workforce is expected to grow by 29% from 2020 to 2030, about three times the rate of the global population, and there’s little risk that the industry will shrink.
The past few years have reminded us how necessary healthcare workers are — and how stressful jobs can be. So, this is not a field for people who want an easy paycheck, but there’s also an anticipated reform on the horizon. Workers who don’t have the certifications or guts to be a doctor may be able to find jobs dealing with analytics, insurance, or patient experience.
Energy
Employees looking to make a move may want to consider how they’re fueling up. The energy industry, specifically clean energy, will see a lot of growth throughout the 2020s. The US Department of Energy will work to diversify its energy systems, which is expected to generate nearly 300,000 jobs by 2030.
Worldwide, there could be over 10 million jobs in clean energy by the time the next decade rolls around. Of course, there will be some tech involved, but we’ll also see jobs that involve construction, research, monitoring, and maintenance. The US government is putting hundreds of billions of dollars into reducing greenhouse gases and shifting to clean energy. There’s money to be made in the industry, and as power supplies get cleaner, the thought of having a job in energy seems less dirty.
Supply chain operations
Before tech layoffs dominated the news, supply chain issues were a trending topic. And it shouldn’t be a surprise, because people have been stuck indoors this decade and relying on e-commerce more than ever before. So, at any given moment, there are billions of dollars of cargo being shipped, and millions of American people and businesses waiting for products to arrive.
From 2021 to 2031, the field is expected to grow by 28%. With all of the complications that have been occurring over the past three years, companies want to improve the experience and speed up transactions. This includes jobs in logistics, purchasing, operating, and lots of warehouse management. Analytical minds that thrived in tech jobs will likely have skills that transfer to these roles, and there’s little risk that people will stop needing shipments.
Entrepreneurship
Let’s be real. If you were to lay off all of the well-paid tech workers, a large number of them would have ingenious ideas that they’ve been waiting to launch themselves. If they can’t schmooze themselves into high-paying tech jobs, maybe they can talk their ways into owning successful businesses.
Sure, 20% of businesses fail in the first two years and only 25% last 15 years, but the allure of being the boss and having limitless earning potential is hard to resist. It certainly won’t be a 4-hour work week, because entrepreneurs need to wear a lot of hats and work an average of 47 hours per week. But, if workers are content owning a small business and can find an in-demand product, they might just be successful.
Data science
If there’s one thing technology has taught us: You’re only as valuable as your data. The field of data science is certainly tech adjacent, and while it encompasses some computer science elements, there are many aspects of the field that cannot be replicated by tech (yet). People need to be able to understand results, extract specific information, and apply the findings to future projects.
Jobs in data science are expected to surge by 36% from 2021 to 2031, but that won’t make them easy to land. Data scientists will need to have a deep understanding of statistics and other mathematical concepts. Someone who excels in the engineering or programming sides of the tech industry may feel comfortable working with data, but you can’t talk your way into a high-paying data science role.
Despite the rigor, this field will become increasingly important in the near future — that is, if machine learning and AI don’t take over the jobs.
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