What do you see when you think about working in science or engineering? Someone in a clean, white lab coat? Or someone wearing dirty overalls fixing machinery?
Although those important jobs exist, science is changing so rapidly that the most in-demand professions might be different from what you imagine.
Looking at current and future trends, here's our prediction of the most desirable science skills that could catapult you to a stellar career:
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Watch a movie, and you might think AI and machine learning is all about the tech sector. However, there’s an enormous crossover with fascinating science and engineering careers too.
AI refers to technologies used by machines and computers that can mirror elements of human intelligence - like seeing, understanding, and responding to language with helpful suggestions.
There’s a wave of awesome related jobs on the horizon, including:
- AI researchers,
- data scientists and analysts
- statisticians,
- machine/deep learning engineers,
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) experts,
- and AI programmers.
Many other jobs support the industry too, like ethics and compliance managers, and AI trainers, auditors, and communicators.
AI is already being used to predict animal migration patterns for conservation, improve weather forecasting to combat global warming, and help develop new cancer treatments.
It is estimated that 97 million jobs involving AI will be created by 2025. This is a cutting-edge scientific field that has stacks of career opportunities to boot!
2. Biotechnology & Life Sciences
Technology and biology are merging to create some exciting and futuristic careers. With advances in tailored drugs, medicine, and healthcare treatments, more people with particular science skills are needed.
Life sciences study living things. Some life sciences concentrate on types of living things like zoology (animals) or botany (plants). Other life sciences look at aspects common across living things, like anatomy (the structure of living things) or genetics (what information gets passed down through the generations).
In recent years, genetic advances have been extraordinary, and this is creating lots of job opportunities. Genetic engineering and gene editing are helping to diagnose and fight diseases, boost food crops, and develop new medicines, for example.
There are also jobs being created in areas called bioinformatics (the handling of large amounts of biological information or data that might be used in research) and health informatics(skills for managing and analysing health data) – vital for life-changing discoveries.
3. Cybersecurity
As science starts to rely more and more on digital data, advanced cybersecurity skills could also bag you a well-paid job.
The 2023 Government Cybersecurity Skills report showed that a whopping 50% of all UK businesses have gaps in basic cyber-security skills and that tens of thousands of jobs are not being filled.
Sadly, cybercriminals are using this to their advantage, targeting vulnerable businesses and public sector organisations like schools and hospitals. Many more experts are needed to prevent these disastrous online attacks.
The sector urgently needs more experts across IT and networking, threat intelligence, problem-solving, cyber-attack response planning, digital forensics (to recover, for example, deleted or corrupt data), and cloud computing.
As with other STEM areas, there are lots of non-technical jobs that need other talents too – from communication skills to present findings to understanding business operations. If you’re passionate about technology and care about stopping cybercrime, this could be for you.
4. Robotics
Sadly, this isn’t about working with WALL-E… yet! However, robots are already widely used to help in construction, retail, healthcare and much more.
For example, medical robots assist surgeons in complex procedures; industrial robots can weld and manufacture products at high speed; robotic lab machinery was vital in mass COVID-19 testing during the pandemic.
From classroom teaching aids to the Roomba vacuum cleaner, robotics are becoming part of everyday life – in schools and factory floors to the film and entertainment industry.
As future discoveries continue, we will need more experts to develop, design, build, and maintain robotic machinery for scientific research and laboratory automation.
What’s more, robotic engineers can command very high salaries to keep this vast industry ticking over. People with computer science, maths, mechanical, electrical, and industrial engineering can all find their way into this career. So, what’s stopping you?
5. Renewable Energy and Sustainability
It’s impossible to turn on the news and not hear stories about climate change. Scientists know that most people won’t change their car-buying habits or stop flying on holiday, so innovations in green energy and biofuels might be the next best option.
The Global Green Skills Report 2023 found a 15% increase in green jobs advertised last year compared to the year before, which is only set to grow with global carbon-emission targets.
There will be a massive demand in the future for specialists in:
- nuclear and renewable energy,
- fitting energy-efficient systems in buildings,
- new technologies to reduce carbon emissions,
- climate change,
- environmental laws and legislation,
- financial accounting,
- and risk, business, and project management.
This is an exciting time to be at the forefront of scientific discovery and make a real difference in a sector jam-packed with possibilities. Explore a variety of career roles here!
