Good pay, flexible schedules, cool perks.
Well, yeah, you say. Sounds good!
But wait: there´s more: MEANING!
Lockheed Martin, on its career website, promises all of the above through jobs in robotics and all things unmanned. Because I work with many of the amazing people committed to the unmanned and robotics industry I know that you don’t want to go into the office every day, check your email, and then head home.
You’re looking for work that matters, and you want to change the world around you. Who could argue?
In the world of autonomous technology, you have the opportunity to change the world every day, and certain jobs are in high demand for talent. Let’s take a look at five jobs that are currently hot.
- Autonomy Engineer also called Autonomous System Engineer: these are the guys that make robots autonomous. As technology keeps changing the way humans and machines interact, there is high demand in this field.
- Data Scientist: data is the blood running through the veins of the autonomous organism. No life can exist without it. The field is almost too limitless to describe, but it is truly fascinating. Lockheed gives the example of a data scientist exploring data from flight simulations with the intention to improve pilot performance by “looking at multiple data points, including heart rate, breathing rate, neural activity, and blink duration, to determine a pilot’s optimal workload.” Doesn´t sound like boring data collection, does it?
- Radio Frequency (RF) Engineers are working “with everything that transmits or receives a radio wave, including Wi-Fi, mobile phones—you name it.” RF engineering as part of electrical engineering basically deals with providing transmission systems like antennas and send and receive signals through these antennas. RF powers more things than you might imagine, “from weather forecasting to connecting warfighters across the globe.”
- Advanced Analytic Analysts: Gartner defines this field as the autonomous or semi-autonomous examination of data or content using sophisticated techniques and tools. Fundamentally, the triple A folks “transform big data into insights that can drive action and open whole new worlds.” Artificial Intelligence, neural networks, and machine learning are some of the buzzwords in this area that is more exciting than it sounds.
- Sensor Engineer: if data are the blood of the autonomous organism, sensors are its eyes, ears, nose, and touch. Today, sensors are everywhere, “enabling everything from smart homes, to health monitoring devices to applications on the military side, and robotics, drones, and agricultural tracking.” Consequently, demand for sensor engineers is high and growing.
So, there you have it. Five amazing jobs with high demand today (and not only at Lockheed Martin).
What does this mean for you? Well, I think what the list illustrates well is that jobs in the unmanned industry are not just about being a drone operator. And it also highlights critical skill sets that might be difficult (and expensive) to recruit to your organization.
The real excitement lies behind the scenes, providing blood and senses to systems. That is what turns a collection of steel, screws, and plastic into machines that act and react increasingly autonomously.
And, as everyone agrees, this will change all of our lives in the not-too-distant future. Big time.
Sounds pretty meaningful, if you ask me.
Are We Connected?
