Challenging the changing rules of a career in technology

How can young people build a career in a world that keeps changing the rules? It’s a fair question, and one that’s being asked by matriculants and students across the country. It’s also the right question: not what should I study, but how do I find a way of studying that ensures I am keeping up with the pace of the world? 

With every second headline claiming that AI is coming for the entry-level jobs and the current unemployment rate sitting at an almost record high, this is a reasonable concern. The Statistics South Africa Quarterly Labour Force Survey puts unemployment for people aged 15-34 at 45.8%, and behind these figures are young South Africans who have invested in education and skills while remaining locked out of meaningful work opportunities. 

Part of the reason for this disconnect is the gap between what you’re taught and what companies want. There has always been some distance between the classroom and the office, but now AI has stretched it beyond what a fixed syllabus can keep up with. Tools are rebuilt while they’re being taught. 

Students newly joining the workforce often experience this gap first-hand: they might have been taught the basics and theoretical concepts in the classroom, but they lack the practical knowledge and experience of what actually happens at the workplace on a day-to-day basis.

It’s an experience a lot of people share – doing everything right within a system that prepared them for a workplace that doesn’t exist anymore. 

However, the headlines and the fearmongering are drawing the wrong conclusions. AI isn’t deleting entry-level jobs because companies still need young talent. They always will. What’s changing is how you are expected to contribute to the business – you need to understand faster and learn faster to keep up with demand. And you come with a unique advantage – you have grown up with tech, you don’t have ingrained habits, and you are quick to learn new tools without resistance. Having no old habits to unlearn makes you an invaluable asset.

What you really need is a bridge from ‘how do I get a job?’ into actually getting one, and this answer can be found in different training programmes that prioritise hands-on, lived learning instead of classroom learning. Phophi Muravha, who would still be sitting in a lecture hall if she had taken the conventional career route, is now an intermediate software developer delivering real work. Charity Banda, Junior Software Engineer, is only three months into her first developer role and has already taken ownership of her work and resolved problems that more experienced developers have not. 

What sets these journeys apart isn’t luck but the way in which their training was structured. These talented sprinters were embedded inside the business from their very first day within a programme that covers six months of learning and then six months delivering real client work under mentorship, moving into a permanent role once they’ve proven they can do the work. This translates into real income and a genuine career far sooner than traditional pathways allow. 

Building a career in the age of AI means not waiting until you feel ready or assuming a degree is the only door. Start close to the real work on the tools the industry is using in a place that supports you as you learn. Then, the gap between what you know and what the job needs is at its narrowest, and you’re already three years ahead of everyone else.

//By Jessica Hawkey, MD of redAcademy