Once upon a time I was working for an engineering company and I was trying to model a certain water treatment installation, meaning I was trying to explain how it works by using mathematics. Like the second photo, not the first. If I were to succeed the model could be used to design future installations and improve current ones.
The previous owner of the company, who had already retired, had already made a model and I could use this as a starting point. The problem was, it was on a very old computer, the type I had seen my father work on but had never had the “pleasure” of doing that myself. With full confidence I started the computer, went on my lunch break and when I came back it was almost ready to do some work ;-) . A couple hours of frustration and coffee later I was still trying to “hack” into the computer, and I decided it would be easier to just start all over with the model. I felt a lot like the kids in this video.
I am trying to imagine how it will be in 20 years from now when I will be working with these kids. If they are asked to analyze data from 2010 until 2035, will it be possible to do this? Will the data be stored in a form that is still accessable and readable? If they have a question about a certain installation, will I refer them to a project I worked on 2017, “there must be a report somewhere”, and will they spend hours searching for the correct information like is sometimes required now?
The other way around, the people who are in their fourties now will be retiring near 2035. Between now and then information technology will probably change a whole lot, will they be able to keep up or will companies slow down the implementation of new technologies? To be honest, I feel I am already having trouble keeping up. I can’t make my own computer from scratch using Raspberry Pi, I haven’t learned how to code (which is freely available online these days). Am I falling behind? Are these skills required in a couple of years? I am starting to understand these people testing google glasses.
Whatever the future will bring, I am sure it will be awesome gadgets. Information technology is changing rapidly, what can we do today to make sure the rest of the world can keep up?
Hope to hear from you, Natasja