The U.S. Department of Labor tells us that 75 percent of the jobs today will not exist in their current form five to ten years from now. In fact, technology is advancing at such a rapid pace that we don't even know many of the skills that will be required in the next few years. Take the example of a systems technician in the telecommunications industry. This is a worker who basically repairs and installs telecommunications equipment. But the skills that a systems technician had ten or even five years ago are so far outdated compared to what is required today that it is almost not even the same job.
Systems technicians work on equipment that is very complex and changing all of the time.
They are required to think more for themselves, use their own judgement on the job and make decisions quickly and independent of their immediate supervisors. We used to think of a systems technician as someone who did his work with very little contact with the customer. Today's systems technicians are expected to directly interact more and more with the customers and to perform more customer service responsibilities. The technician has become the company to the customers. Dealing with customers demands a whole new set of skills, particularly written and oral communications.