Thursday, October 31, 2013

Robots, Economy, Connecting With Others

Economic news came out a few weeks ago with a drop in the unemployment rate by .1%.  It is now 7.2% unemployment for the entire U.S. while California is still 8.9%-9% and holding.  One of the issues that have been popping up more and more lately is the use of robots, software and automation to replace workers.  As software and robots get better and cheaper, many jobs will simply get replaced.  So much so that a recent report stated that half the jobs in the U.S. would get replaced by software eventually.  Many people on various forums stated that people will adapt and have compared the current automation we face now with the mechanization of farming a century ago.  But I have to disagree, people back then had the choice of jumping from one manual labor job to another, from working on a farm to working in a factory.  Now we are switching to an intellect and service based economy, and not everyone can adapt as fast.  Many people will be left behind.  Even worst off are the third world countries that have yet to industrialize.  As robotics get cheaper, there is simply no reason for developed countries to outsource their work to poorer, cheaper countries.  The days of paying some guy in the third world $5 a day working 16 hours a day seven days a week will be over in the coming years.

I already saw this coming a while ago, which is why I'm so hell bent on applying for a computer science masters program.  Whether I can actually finish it is another matter, and even if I do, the software development/IT field will be flooded 4-5 years from now.  Would I be able to find a job if I do finish it?  The future is so unclear.

Meanwhile, back in the present, I finished up the last required workshop for my accounting program.  This time, it was about interviews and relating to people.  Apparently the presenter was doing a telephone interview earlier with a potential hire and once they didn't have a connection, she simply lost interest about hiring the person.  Dear God, I hope not all interviewers are like this.  Hiring a person simply based on their ability to connect with you is such bullshit.  I hope I will be social enough to connect with others by the time I graduate with my masters otherwise I'm screwed.  I have to get rid of my INTJ vibe/bitchy resting face because I sense some of the folks in my class are spooked by me.

On another economic note, apparently there's too many pharmacy school graduates:


Not sure if I should be happy that I didn't continue my pre-pharm route from UCSD or kick myself for wasting all that time going insane completing the organic chemistry classes.

Note to self:  Soften up body language, connect with others.
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2 comments:

  1. Sweetest AmbrosiaJanuary 20, 2014 at 11:47 AM

    Hahaha. I don't know if it's possible to get rid of your natural neutral resting face. People were intimidated by me in high school because of it, so I went from -_- to ^_^ constantly in my freshman year of college, and you know what? It became rather tiring and draining.

    "Softening" up your body language will help with first impressions, but the end of the day, it doesn't matter what the others think (so stop beating yourself up). They barely know you, and if they're making assumptions based on your face, then well, screw them - they don't know or understand where you are coming from, and do you really want to associate with people who make snap judgments like that? That said, if you want to improve your social skills, I think the best way is to learn communication/active listening skills via a workshop, or practice with a friend - I'm here to help if you need it (add me through Google+).

    Did you ever visit CAPS during your time at UCSD?

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    1. AnonymousJanuary 25, 2014 at 1:01 AM

      I visited CAPS when I was at UCSD and it helped quite a bit, but time and time again, my body language and facial expression would revert back to the way they were before. It takes a lot of concentration for me to remember how to act and such.

      I actually took one of those communications/body language workshop as one of the required workshops for my graduate school orientation. I don't know if other workshops are like the one I went to, but it wasn't very helpful. The presenter basically taught us things I already taught myself when I was still at UCSD.

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