In the age of the fourth transformation, where technology is quickly evolving and data is ubiquitous, people will find themselves either employed or unemployed.
During the recently concluded adobo Festival of Ideas, renowned director and KindMind Co-Founder and Experience Strategy Director Mark Meily and The Just League Chief Connector and Mission Controller Peachy Pacquing spoke about the types of individuals who will find themselves either fired or hired in this day and age.
In addition to calling the fourth transformation the era of virtual reality, Pacquing also shared that it is the age where computers have evolved from being carried to being worn. “Indeed, we have prepared for the eventuality that the phones you are typing on now will become spectacles or glasses.”
The first one who will be fired is someone who is uni-dimensional because, in the fourth transformation, a person must adapt and be multi-dimensional. “Are you familiar with all the media channels? Not the ‘what’ but the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. Why did this media channels exist? What are these media channels for?” Pacquing remarked.
“You must be multi-dimensional as a professional not just as a creative because in the fourth transformation we are looking for UX (user-experience) ‘unicorns’. We are looking for a square-shaped talent and a multi-conversant creative,” she added.
The next one to be fired is someone who is data indifferent because understanding data is significant in creative work during the fourth transformation. Understanding data is crucial because it feeds artificial intelligence (AI), which is the blood of the fourth transformation.
People who are thinkers but not builders also have a high risk of getting sacked. Pacquing asserted, “You have to develop the ability to build, not just think because we Do and Not Say. We also experiment and we encourage you to fail. They say failure is the first attempt in learning. So go ahead and experiment because today, it’s about building things, measuring things, and learning.”
And lastly, the award-thopomorphic or those people who are focused on just getting an award yet forget that empathy is king. Pacquing said that getting awards should not be the end-all and be-all because users are the center of the creation universe. “Before you can start creating, you have to understand people first because you are designing for people. You are not designing for yourselves.”
On the other hand, Mark Meily reveals who will be hired in this era of experience design – those who strive to create experiences and build new realities.
The first one who will be hired is the empathist. “From an experience design standpoint, it is about gathering data. Empathy is a mindset. Data is nothing. The most important thing is how you tell stories and create experiences with those data. Designing experience is the first intention to empathize.”
Data translators or linguists also have a great chance of getting hired. These conversant individuals not just translate data, but also interpret and codify them. Echoing Pacquing’s statement, Meily also opined that a linguist must be a great conversant. Ideally, a linguist must also know at least two languages – these languages can be verbal, design, or program language.
Moreover, the experiencers or the experience designers will find themselves hired as they tell stories and make it an experience to its audience. The experience designer makes sure that the experience is social and interactive “The experiencer is the storyteller. He is the actual designer of the experience, whether it’s augmented reality or virtual reality, or mixed reality.” Meily professed.
The last person to be hired is the valuator. These are the people who test, process, iterate and look for values in the experiences of others. Furthermore, they are the ones who can make people share and spread the experience.
