The professions of the future are related to technology and create value for society

“How to help our child choose a profession of the future?” was the topic of a discussion we hosted at ARC Academy. The parents were curious to hear the points of view of the professionals we invited – Evgeniy Tenev – teacher at ARC Academy and Lead Game Producer at Creative Assembly Sofia, Boryana Radeva – senior teacher of Informatics and Information Technologies at 51 SU “Elisaveta Bagryana”, Lyubomira Vutkova – professional coach and co-founder at Minty co-growing space, Zornitsa Mitkova – manager at Teenovator, Alexander Petrov – student at ARC Academy. The host and moderator of the meeting was the co-founder of the Academy, Milin Djalaliev.

We started with the logical question:

What will be the professions of the future?

In 2030, one-fifth of people will work the same as they do now, and the rest will not. These are the predictions of a site that helps parents talk to children about the professions of 2030.

The professions of the future include an engineer who develops autonomous robots, an eSports coach, a person who creates organs, an engineer who predicts the risk of floods and earthquakes, a spaceship pilot, and so on.

“Technology will be present in each of the professions of the future. Our basic goal is for students to understand technology, to be able to handle it, and not just be consumers,” said Mrs. Radeva.

“The professions of the future will respond to the problems of the future – climate change, the mental and psychological development of a person, food production,” believes Zornitsa Mitkova.

According to her, the professions of the future are professions that artificial intelligence (AI) will not be able to replace.

Lubomira Vutkova added that these will be the professions that create value for society.

Among the jobs that we will meet in the future are also those related to video game development. Evgeniy listed some of the many and varied roles in a game studio – Concept artist, Technical artist, 2D & 3D Modeler, Game Designer, Narrative Designer, Creative Designer, Gameplay Programmer, Build Engineer, Audio Programmer, etc.

The path to the professions of the future passes through technology, whatever it is. “It is very important for the people who will handle the technologies to develop their emotional intelligence and empathy”, believes Zornitsa Mitkova.

What skills will be needed for the professions of the future?

While we cannot predict exactly what the world will be like in 10 or 20 years, there is a certain set of skills that young people should develop in order to be happy and successful in their professional lives. The participants in the discussion united around the opinion that the so-called “soft skills” are among them.

“It is very important to teach children to work in a team and to receive feedback”, believes Evgeniy Tenev.

Zornitsa Mitova highlighted the ability to deal with failure, which is absolutely inevitable.

“It’s a failure if you don’t know how to learn from your mistakes,” added Alexander Petrov.

According to Boryana Radeva, persistence is very important for a person’s success. She encourages students to get involved in extra activities according to their interests as this leads to many benefits in all other activities. Mrs. Radeva pointed out that the ability to present oneself to others is important. Motivation and curiosity are also among the main “ingredients” for success.

Lubomira Vutkova added critical thinking and the ability to communicate. She cites Harvard research, according to which, to be happy and successful, a combination of the four bits of intelligence is important: mental (setting goals, achieving successes), physical (taking care of the body), emotional (creating and maintaining good relationships) and social (what you contribute to the world).

How to help our children in choosing a career path?

Today’s teenagers have a lot of information at their disposal, and they need someone to guide them through it. This is where the role of parents and mentors comes in. While parents tend to consciously or unconsciously project their wishes onto children, mentors are the people who can neutrally help students understand their strengths and make their choices for the future based on that.

Between 6th and 12th grade, the part of the brain that is responsible for the ability to plan ahead develops. That is why it is very important to be with our children during this period.

“We want you to choose something that will make you happy to work” – that’s what Alexander’s parents said when he was wondering between medicine and concept art. This is the “secret” – to support children in their wishes.

To listen to their children, to communicate with them, and to be on the same page was Evgeniy Tenev’s advice to parents.

“Be with your child on the path of his desires”.