MAKEACAREER-SMARTMOVE
Here are some ways you can keep your job
relevant,valuableandalignedwith4IRThesector:Retail
4IRtechnology:Self-checkoutcounters
Your move: Learn how self-checkout works in
thee-commercespace.Thereisnotellerwhenyoubuy
online,yetcustomersareabletomakepurchasesof
thegoodstheyarelookingfor.Moste-commercesites
allowyoutoparkyourgoodsinacart,soexperiment
witha varietyofsitestoseehowthevariousprocesses
work.Youcanstopthepurchasebeforemakingactual
payment.Butyoucanalsostartseeingwhichofyour
regularpurchasescanbedigitised.Whenpossible,be
anonlineconsumersoyoucanlearnhowthesystem
works.Whenself-checkoutisdiscussedorintroduced
inyourcompany, you’llalreadyhavefunctional and
customerinsightsthatcouldbereallyuseful,andthat
maypositionyoutobemoreinvolvedwitha roll-out.Thesector:Education
4IRtechnology:Gamification
Your move: You may not have the resources to
introduce educational gamification resources such
asthegame,Minecraft,butyoucanfindotherways
tobringprinciplesofgamificationlikeparticipation,
engagement and competition into the classroom.
Whether you’re rewarding with virtual or digital
stickers, the value of the practice is that you’ll be
learninghow studentsrespond.Takenoteof things
likewhatsortsofincentivestheyfindinteresting,and
whetherthey’recompetingagainstthemselvesoreach
other.Theselearningswill bevaluableobservations
anddataforwhengamificationisformallyintroduced
inthecurriculumofSouthAfricanschools.Thesector:Healthcare
4IRtechnology:3Dsurgery
Yourmove:Technologyhasdrasticallychangedthe
waylife-savingsurgeriesarecurrentlybeingconducted.
InMarch2019,ProfessorMashuduTshifularofromthe
UniversityofPretoriaperformedtheworld’sfirst3D
inner-earsurgery.Hestarteddevelopingthetechnology
during his PhD studies. Building on his medical
foundation,ProfessorTshifularoresearchedwaysin
whichtechnologycouldhelphimbea betterdoctorand
improvetheservicesheofferedtohispatients.Like
Professor Tshifularo,you should identify areas that
needimprovementinyourfieldand upskillyourself
early.Youwillnotonlybeabletoperformbetterthan
yourpeers,butyouwillalsobeabletoprogressinto
newerrolesthatrequirethenewsetofskillsyouhave
learnt.INTRODUCTIONTO4IR
Getan understandingof some of the most
frequently used concepts in 4IR, and then
applythis basicknowledge toyourspecific
industry.TheInternetofThings(IoT):Thisreferstothe
conceptofinter-connectivity–that devicescan
beconnectedtoeachotherandtotheinternet.An
increasinglycommonexampleofIoTisbeingable
tocontrolhouseholdfunctions,suchasswitching
onacoffeemachineorbeingabletoseewhoisat
yourfrontgatewhenyou’renotathome!
BigData:Thebigisa referencetoboththesizeand
valueofinformationthatcanbecollectedabout
human behaviour and interactions. Companies
who retrieve this can process and then apply
whattheylearn.Insteadofsurveys,forexample,
businessescan usebig datato assesscustomer
preferences.
Augmented Reality: Unlike virtual reality
which creates make believe, augmented reality
superimposestechnologyonsomethingfromthe
realworld.Acommonlyusedexampleisthatwith
virtualreality,youcangoswimmingwithsharks,
butwithaugmentedreality,youcanwatcha shark
popoutyourbusinesscard.
ArtificialIntelligence(AI):Computersystems
thatperformtaskssuchaslanguagetranslationare
demonstratinghumanintelligence.AIisalsobeing
usedforfunctionssuchasdriving,teachingand
surgery.
DesignThinking:It’sa processofproblemsolving
thatinvolvesfivesteps. Whethertheproblemis
comingupwitha creativeideaorfiguringouthow
tosavemoney,thestepsarewidelyapplicable.
Technologyisnotyetabletofullyreplicatethis
humanprocess,sotheskillofdesignthinkingisa
valuedcommodityinthis4IRworld.professionalswhohavedeepinsightsofthesubjectmatters.
Sites such as Coursera,Datacamp, Udemy, Udacity and
KhanAcademyaresomeoftheleadinglearningportalsthat
areavailable.Thisdoesn’tmeanthatyouneedtogobackto
schoolandstartanotherdegree.Instead,thesecoursescan
augmentwhatyoualreadyhave,”Nkomosays.
Moviesandvideogamesthatshowa futurewhererobots
havetakenovertheworldpaintaninaccuratepictureofthe
influenceof4IR.Robotswillnottakeawayourjobs,Nkomo
says,butwewillneedtolearnhowtoco-habitwiththem.
“Robotswill do what they’regoodat,which isprecision
andrepetitiveness,andhumanswillfocuson awareness,
perceptionanddecisionmaking.”WWW.TRUELOVE.CO.ZA (^) |^2019 OCTOBER | 77
CAREERS
IMAGE
Getty Images/Gallo Images