In case you haven’t looked outside your window as yet,
things are changing fast, and rapidly so. While I believe that traditional
careers like medicine, commerce, law and engineering will continue to be in
demand in years to come, there are some new emerging careers that will dominate
in the near future. So, these are the top 5 careers which I believe will be in
demand in the near future.
1. Data miners/Data
Scientists.
The information being churned out is simply mind boggling.
We simply don’t know what to do with all this information. Professionals who
will make sense of the data, and unearth useful insights that we can digest and
use fast will be most in demand. And it’s really not hard to figure that out.
Apart from natural resources, companies that deal with information are the most
valued. Think of media companies, telecommunication companies like Safaricom,
Airtel, Orange,
and Yu, or internet giants like Google, Facebook and twitter. These companies
don’t produce the information itself, but they make useful insights, and
distribute the
information to a mass audience. The traditional route for data
miners would be Computer Science/IT, TV and radio presenters, journalists
amongst other related careers.
2. Entertainers/ Creative
Artists.
Are you feeling stressed, then you probably need to listen
to a sentimental song from a musician. While as a country we generally have an
apathy for the creative arts, this is starting to change. Who would have
believed that one could have sold a painting for 100,000 shillings? But
statistics do show that it is not Kenyans that are buying the creative works.
It’s mostly bought by foreigners. I can imagine a Kenyan bargaining for a piece
of art, ‘ati kuchora tu na unaitisha elfu mia moja?’ However, even if these
sums seem mind boggling to us, the Kenyan artists are getting the short end of
the stick. Foreigners buy the paintings for a few thousand shillings, and then
sell off the piece of art in foreign countries for millions. Worse still, there
is no single national art gallery in Kenya. If the industry gets its
house in order, then no doubt, creative artists and entertainers will have a
field day.
3. Renewable energy
experts.
Everyone is clamoring for a reduction in the emission of
green houses, and renewable energy is thought of as a viable option. Even
though the explosive growth in the sector seems to have floundered in recent
years, it is still a good minefield. In Kenya, wind energy exploration is
already underway in Turkana, and geothermal energy exploration is also
underway. Solar energy is expensive to install, but easy to run, so we could
expect to see many households generating their own power. The traditional route
is through engineering, although make sure that your course has been registered
by the Engineers Registration Board (ERB), so that you can practice safely
after graduation, and avoid going back to campus for additional semesters after
graduation, as some students of some public universities have had to do.
4. Biostatistics/
Bioinformatics
With research in the medical and biological fields getting
ever more complex, these professionals stand a good chance in future
employment. The good thing is that these professionals essentially perform jobs
that would have been done by three different people. They do the job of a
statistician, a computer programmer and a research scientist/biologist/chemist.
5. Farming.
I know it sounds creepy to tell a young person that they
should aspire to be a farmer. However, soon, food is going to be the new gold,
and who better to be richer than a farmer. However, the shift will have to be
from subsistence farming to agribusiness farming, meaning that your education
could still help you become a better farmer. With enough skills and experience,
you could turn farming into a successful business venture.
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