Technology has made our lives so much easier. At the same time, it has taken away a few things that we always related to our growing up years. For example, alarm clocks are close to an extinct device in today’s world. And our children might never even get to see postcards! We didn’t know this might happen 20 years back. Similarly, it is hard to predict how the world would be like 20 years from now.

Technology has reached a new high now, when we are thinking of building an exclusive highway just for self-drive cars, because they obviously follow the rules to the T, unlike human beings. Have you ever thought, how technical advancement might affect the future of some professions? It seems like these professions might face extinction.

If you look at data and statistics, in the last 60 years the only job that has become extinct is that of an elevator operator. So what will happen when technology enables the business to be automated? Basically, the job doesn’t disappear completely, but the profile changes. Professionals need new skillset to be suitable for it and in most cases they do not have it.

So, which are the professions that are likely to be taken over by the robots? Experts agree that telemarketing is one sector that 99% businesses will automate. Pre-recorded robotic calls are something we are quite used to now. The tax consultant is another profession that is probably endangered right now. Since tax preparation would just need a few figures robots can easily do it. Similarly, other professions that involve highly structured and predictable processes can be automated. Legal assistants, for example, might face the heat as well.

However, there is one more aspect to automation. Each and every business will have to consider whether having a robot will be more feasible or not. Robots might be too expensive the and job outcome might not be as good. In those cases, it is far better to employ a human than automate the business. However jobs at factories that require a lot of manual labor and has rote tasks work better with robots and tend to be less cheap as well. Data collecting and processing is another field where automation might play a big role. Retail, finance, insurance – all three industries will be highly affected due to this. But, as mentioned before, it is best to remember that automation doesn’t mean the jobs will disappear completely. Just that the roles and responsibilities will change.

So what are the professions that will not be at risk? Of course, the ones that require creativity. Robots are perfect for rote tasks, but they will never be able to think independently and come up with new ideas for business, create an artwork or invent something new. Hence, be creative in whatever you do and you will always be valuable as an employee.