10 Jobs Created by Technology That Might Confuse You

It’s pretty safe to say that technology has completely upended our lives. From having to pretend to understand artificial intelligence to dealing with this whole cryptocurrency thing, we’re definitely not in the 1990s anymore. To make matters worse, now there’s a whole set of jobs that we don’t even understand. Whatever happened to plain old doctor, nurse, teacher, firefighter, and things like that? Now we have to deal with DevOps engineer, full stack developer, and IoT solutions architect?! But rather than fight it, you might as well learn the vocabulary, because you or your kids could end up being one of these things, whatever they are. With that in mind, here are 10 random (and occasionally overlapping) jobs created by technology that might confuse you but don’t necessarily have to.

 

Digital Marketing Specialist

Digital marketing is a broad term, and a digital marketing specialist creates a strategy that increases engagement (and ultimately sales) via all digital channels. Such channels might include search engines (which bring traffic to websites), email, and various social media networks. Intertwined in this type of marketing is decision making regarding when and where to place ads in the digital space.

 

SEO Specialist

In an era with somewhere around 2 billion websites, getting discovered is no joke. You need search engines like Google to give your site a little love. In other words, when someone searches for a given topic, you want your site to pop up on the first page of search results. How do you do that? A search engine optimization (SEO) specialist can help. By providing advice that ranges from things like content topics to more technical aspects of a website, your rankings in Google could eventually improve.

 

Social Media Manager

Social media has come a long way since you connected with that random dude from high school who you barely remember. In current times, brands need to be present and active on a variety of social media platforms, maintaining customer engagement and promoting products and services. That’s where a social media manager steps in.

 

Content Marketing Manager

Content marketing is a bit of a perplexing term. Essentially, it refers to the creation of content that is meant to capture, educate, and engage an audience that can eventually become a set of paying customers. The content can be in written format (blog posts), audio format, video format, etc. A content marketing manager oversees this process, working closely with other team members like a digital marketing specialist, SEO specialist, and social media manager.

 

Blogger

Blogging, just like social media, has evolved well beyond its infancy. While many may still envision an online diary, blogging is now defined by using content to provide value to an audience (much in the way a content marketer does for a larger company). Once an audience has been grown, various monetization strategies exist. Examples include selling ebooks, selling online courses, participating in affiliate marketing, offering paid memberships, selling advertising space, and many others.

 

Podcast Producer

As is the case with blogging and social media, podcasting has made the move from intriguing amateur novelty to big business. Producing a professional podcast can be a significant undertaking, and a podcast producer can be involved in content selection, guest scheduling, recording, and editing. The result should be a polished finished product.

 

App Developer

App developers are software engineers who create apps designed to serve specific needs. Given the widespread use of such applications, the demand for this type of work is rather impressive. Programming expertise and a comprehensive understanding of mobile platforms are obviously key.

 

User Experience Designer

A user experience (UX) designer serves as an important link between the technical side of a digital product (like an app) and the actual experience of the user. By understanding user problems and goals, a UX designer can help ensure that the application designed to address those problems and goals does so in a simple, effective, and easy-to-use manner. A good UX designer should help avoid the creation of clunky and confusing applications. User interface (UI) design is part of this process and can be performed by the same person or a dedicated UI designer.

 

Data Scientist

In an era of data overload, experts are needed to sift through all the numbers to gain insights, solve problems, and recommend future action. Serious coding skills and high-level math are essential for success in this domain.

 

Cloud Computing Specialist

If you don’t have a deep understanding of the cloud, join the club. The bottom line is that there is a massive amount of data, and on-site data storage has been replaced by an expansive global network of remote servers. Specialized computing talent is required to select appropriate cloud technology, migrate data to the cloud, and provide timely and secure access to that data.

 

This list of jobs created by technology is an arbitrary and not even remotely comprehensive collection of occupations that were born long after you were. Feel free to add others in the comments below.