The robots are coming

I have a job that has the potential to put other people out of work.  My job is introducing automation into the software testing industry.  It doesn't have to put people out of work. It could let people do more interesting work.  But I fear that many of the people in positions of power in the software industry see the automation of software testing as a way of reducing the head count. I think this is the same mistake that was made by companies who thought the introduction of office automation (copy machines, fax machines, copy machines that could send faxes, etc,) was going to make it possible for a single person to do the work of 2 or 3 people.  So instead of having that person type things in triplicate several times they could do it once then stand at the copy machine for a while.  What this should have done is allow that person to spend more time interacting with the customer or collaborating with team members on innovation.  Instead, they got over worked with pushing paper around from one machine to another.  Productivity became more important than the quality of what was being produced.

The robots are coming.  The manufacturing jobs of the past are not coming back.  Or, more precisely, they are not coming back to people.  The number of people required to produce a widget is getting lower and lower.  You still have to have people who can program the robot.  You still have to have people to come up with the design of the widget.  You still have to have people who can sell it.  But the number of people required to actually turn the knobs, spot weld the things together, run the drill press, or do any number of other blue collar jobs is dwindling.  Even the service industry is starting to see this happen with automated kiosks that can sell burgers, online fulfillment that has robotic pick packing via Amazon.  And someday soon, even the trucks that drive the products along our national highway system will be self-driving.  What will these people do?  No burger flipping jobs, not factory jobs, no truck driving jobs.  Uber will be autopiloted. 

We are going to need a solution to this problem.  I don't have one, but one thing is true: it isn't going to matter what political party you belong to.  The march of technology is going to impact you.