A prevailing pattern of needs that pushes people to acquire new skills can be easily noticed. Necessity is the mother of invention and the latter requires a set of skills, which in turn attempt to meet urgent needs. In previous ages, rather than struggling daily with hunting, people had to acquire the skill of agriculture. When agriculture became popular, they learnt how to perform calculations and stock keeping until they were satisfied with their one-year crops. Every modern revolution requires entirely new skills in order to meet human needs. This article discusses the basic skills that will help those wishing to participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, i.e. the skills of the future.
Perhaps what most defines an industrial revolution is how quickly technology changes production and consumption. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is nothing like the previous three. The development of technology, with respect to time, in all previous revolutions was linear, while we are currently witnessing a non-linear change. This proves that technology developed swiftly. Therefore, it was called the "Fourth Industrial Revolution." In 1970, technology was not strong enough to produce large quantities of transistors, and factories only produced two thousand pieces. In 2020, however, around 50 billion transistors were manufactured as technology had evolved and kept pace with human needs. Accordingly, transistor production was boosted on a global level, along with the rapid change in production systems, management, and governance. (Klaus Schwab. 2016. The Fourth Industrial Revolution).
Since the industrial revolution revolves around the rapid change in production systems, more specifically in digital transformation, programming skills have become highly requested in the labor market. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for jobs related to computer programming are expected to increase by 22% above the expected rate by 2030. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. Software Developers). This proves that programming skills contribute greatly to forming the next industrial revolution that will boost production.
Moreover, in light of Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom established the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence, which is concerned with the governance of the Kingdom's artificial intelligence and data, in order to keep pace with the revolution. In addition, a large number of software engineers was employed, while spreading awareness among young people to develop their software skills.
Since introducing artificial intelligence in businesses and increasing their efficiency is part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and artificial intelligence requires programming skills, the latter are in high demand. Moreover, soft skills will be highly requested in the labor market. These include the ability to communicate and deliver information in the easiest way possible, such as by using slideshows and planning programs.
According to the Trvst World statistics, 93% of private sector companies rate soft skills as "very important" or "essential" for job applicants to be accepted. This means that most job applicants should have soft skills in order to land those jobs related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. (Soft Skills Facts & Stats. 2021).
Since one of the Fourth Industrial Revolution's fundamentals is the development of administration, planning, and performance efficiency, also considered as soft skills as part of good management, they play a role in establishing the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Governance essentially organizes workflow and increases its efficiency. Therefore, private sector companies seek to ensure that their employees acquire good governance skills. What proves that governance is an important part of the employee's skills is the Kingdom's decision to adopt a specific governance style for all administrative bodies and ministries, according to certain policies in order to improve the efficiency of ministries.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution relies on the development of data-related technologies, and requires a form of governance. Data governance skills include data management, information systems coordination, information assurance, relationship management, and strategic planning, and these skills fall under information governance.
There is no doubt that the recent COVID-19 pandemic has opened the doors to a bright future for entrepreneurs. We started to notice that business travels decreased significantly during the pandemic. Moreover, meetings and interviews were being held virtually, which facilitated access to meetings and raised the level of discipline among employees. Sharing content became a smooth process and employees who attend virtual meetings are now more driven to finish their tasks in order to demonstrate their good performance and improve their annual appraisal.
In conclusion, in every industrial revolution, there are specific basic skills required to meet said revolution's needs and the Fourth Industrial Revolution is like no other in the sense that it requires a new type of skill set. These skills include software and computer skills, soft skills, skills to build a kind of informational governance within the ecosystem, and virtual collaboration skills. All these skills were not required during previous revolutions, but they currently help meet our needs and much so.
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