Author: Carrie Kirby / Source: Wise Bread
A decade ago, social media was young, mommy-blogging was a hot new trend, and — oh yes — the economy was falling apart. Millions of us lost our jobs. Now that the job market is strong again and unemployment is low, some of the hottest occupations are lines of work that either didn’t exist or were little known back in the first decade of the century.
If you’re looking for a new career, why not look at one of these new, fast-growing fields? (See also: 9 High-Paying Jobs That Didn’t Exist 10 Years Ago)
1. Drone operator
Opportunities include photography and film, inspecting tall buildings, and mapping difficult-to-reach areas. Amazon is experimenting with package delivery by drone, while Facebook is experimenting with using drones to bring internet access to remote areas. With the expected growth in drone use, today’s operators could also find work training and certifying tomorrow’s operators.
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Growth expected by 2021: 1,000 percent.
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Requirements: FAA certification, possibly short training programs.
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Median pay: $52,000.
2. Machine learning engineer
Machine learning is basically another way of saying artificial intelligence, a field where the overall job openings have grown 450 percent since 2013, according to the 2017 Artificial Intelligence Index. This kind of engineer is a ninja programmer who is probably also a math whiz.
But wait, you may say: Everyone knows that AI is going to destroy jobs, not create them. Not necessarily. Research and advisory company Gartner estimates that AI will create 2.3 million jobs by 2020, eclipsing the 1.8 million it’s expected to eliminate.
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Growth since 2012: 980 percent.
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Requirements: BS or MS in computer science.
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Median pay: $116,000.
3. Data scientist
This type of engineer analyzes data produced by websites, apps, computer sales systems, and more, answering business questions or finding trends. The word analytics is sometimes used interchangeably with data science to describe this work. Data scientists usually need to know a statistical programming language, such as Python, as well as a database querying language such as SQL.
The roles of machine learning engineer and data scientist are closely linked; machine learning engineers on LinkedIn are likely to list data scientist as their previous job title, and “machine learning” is one of the top skills listed by data scientists.
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Growth since 2012: 650 percent.
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Requirements: BS, MS, or Ph.D. in statistics, computer science, math, or data science.
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Median pay: $91,212.
4. Solar panel installer
Although jobs for college graduates have led the recovery since the recession, here’s one that requires little education. This is the person installing the solar panels on your roof. This job is growing because the solar industry is hot, producing 24.5 percent growth in all solar-related jobs in…
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