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Less than a year ago, a degree in computer science seemed like the golden ticket to a successful career. However, after ChatGPT's public release in 2022, this may no longer be the case as generative AI (GenAI) democratizes coding to those who simply possess English proficiency.
In the age of artificial intelligence, successful careers will not be defined by a single hard skill but rather by how individuals use their soft skills to adapt and reinvent themselves.
As the global vice president at Databricks, a data and AI platform with a $43 billion valuation, I regularly meet with executives who are focused on how to lead their organizations in the age of AI. Increasingly, I get asked about how GenAI will impact their workforce and the employees they lead.
I believe for your career to thrive going forward, it is imperative that you adopt and implement these three mindset shifts. If you don't, your success today may not translate into tomorrow's success.
Today, GenAI can write poems or create art based on prompts. Tomorrow, AI will be capable of performing exponentially complex tasks and near-human workflows.
While productivity gains will be significant, innovation inevitably comes with disruption. In the near future, your time at the summit of any profession will be fleeting.
Frey and Oscbone's widely cited study found that 47% of jobs in the United States are at risk of being automated. Customer service agents are at risk from chat bots, and even highly specialized and well-compensated jobs like Wall Street traders are not immune to big change. In other words, even if you find yourself in the remaining 53%, the skills and experiences required in your job will change quickly, repeatedly and frequently.
Advice: Substantially increase time and distance away from your comfort-zone. For example, put together a slide deck with your point of view on how your current job will evolve over the next three years and present it to as many people that will listen. Be bold and seek feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders. Exchanging thoughts with new people and testing your ideas mentally prepares you to anticipate and adapt.
Ironically, as AI proliferates around us, the characteristics that make us human become more important, not less.
GenAI will undoubtedly boost your productivity, but it also makes everyone else better as well. If your competitors can quickly answer nuanced questions and author insightful reports as well as you can, how do you stand out?
To keep advancing your career, capitalize on the serendipity of human interaction that machines cannot emulate. Put a heavier emphasis on perfecting in-person human interaction and find ways to differentiate yourself in the real-world.
Advice: Practice public speaking and attend conferences. Build your network and your brand. Try solving novel problems and work on articulating your ideas to audiences big and small. For example, do something uncomfortable like attending in-person meet ups on a subject you know nothing about. Periodically, do it again on another subject where you have zero expertise. Socialize and make new friends at these events to expand your knowledge network. Put yourself out there and put in the effort to be different in the analog world.
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