Brave New Road

Brave New Road Brave New Road Brave New RoadAutonomous cars used to exist only in culture, elend in technology. You could find self-driving cars springing from the imagination of science fiction writers and filmmakers or in the musings of Silicon Valley visionaries. But they were tropes, not technologies. A self-driving car just wasnt the kind of thing one could expect to see on the road in a lifetime.No more. Vehicles that can drive themselves without a menschenfreundlich hand on the wheel or foot on the brake pedal are a technological reality today and soon will be cruising through yur neighborhood, if they arent already there.Indeed, according to one estimate, 10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020.For many, this now-inevitable triumph of technology is neither needed nor wanted. People love their cars. They enjoy the freedom a vehicle gives them to commute to work, run personal errands, and escape on family vacations. Car culture is so embedded in ur societyand o ur emotionsthat one in four people name their car and many more talk to them on a daily basis. If you have the physical, mental, and financial strength to drive a car you love, then the driverless future seems like an unnecessary, even frightening, prospect.This delivery droid operated by Just Eat autonomously delivers takeout orders to hungry Londoners.As a futurist, I look at technological, economic, and cultural changes to understand what it will feel like to live a decade or more in the future. That sounds like an abstract and ethereal thing to do for a living, but the future is local and is built every day by the actions of people. Im trained to look for change where it happens firstat the margins, on the fringes, in places where the present state of technology isnt really working out for people the way it ought to. Those are the people and places that need change and see disruptive new technologies not as a burden, but as an opportunity.By thinking about what people on the fri nges could do with that opportunity, you can begin to map out some potentially surprising ways a new technology like self-driving cars could reshape our society.The engineering community is building this future, and is focused on making autonomous vehicles safe and efficient and attractive to use. That is incredibly important. But its also important not to lose track of the social implications of this new technologyand every new technologywhen it reaches the market and comes into wide use.If many people think they arent ready for autonomous vehicles, which have been foreseen for decades, wait until they grapple with the changes they didnt anticipate.REGAINING INDEPENDENT MOBILITYWhen I talk about people on the fringes, that makes it sound like leather-clad youths with spiky green hair. But Im thinking more of people with gray hair I believe the group that will experience the most unexpected impact from self-driving cars is the elderly.For one thing, the Baby Boom generation that is now aging into retirement is used to having things its own way. Their entire lives, popular culture and Madison Avenue have sold Boomers on the idea that they could have it all, and that they had a birthright to the freedom of the open road. Think American Graffiti, Jan and Dean, or Thelma and Louise. Even when the so-called Me Generation starts to lose its eyesight, it will insist on keeping that independence, no matter the cost.AARP, for one, recognizes the size of the potential market. About 36 million current older drivers still hold valid licenses. About 80 percent of them live in car-dependent suburbs or rural areas, not cities with public transit. And nearly 90 percent say they intend to age in place, wrote David Dudley in AARP Magazine in 2015. For those whose independent living is closely tied to their ability to drive safely, self-driving tech is a future that cant come soon enough.By 2030, the number of Americans over 65 is expected to reach 72 million.AARPs interest is i mportant for another reason The elderly vote, and if they want self-driving cars, lawmakers will quickly tackle some of the thorniest policy hurdlessuch as regulation, local traffic laws, and insurance.But an elderly-led adoption of autonomous vehicles will look different from what the technologys biggest backers have been touting. For one thing, the epicenter for the self-driving future would not be Silicon Valley with its tech millionaires and billionaires, or Las Vegas with autonomous tourist minibuses, or Pittsburgh, where Uber is now testing driverless taxis. Instead, the first place to incorporate autonomous vehicles into its mainstream may well be The Villages, a 70,000-resident retirement community in Florida.If so, that would change the type of vehicle to be rolled out. Instead of some sleek sedan, think of a self-driving meerbusen cartThe Villages already has around 100 miles of golf-cart trails, and for residents it is the preferred mode of transportation in the community . From an infrastructure standpoint, kitting out a retirement community with the sensors, lane markers, and other technology needed to have a meaningful fleet of autonomous vehicles is far simpler than doing the same for a city like Boston, with narrow and windy streets that follow precolonial deer trails. Whats more, since they arent intended for the open road, golf carts can be lighter and slower than street-legal cars, and that translates into a dramatically lower barrier to entryand reduced stakes in case of mishap.This delivery droid operated by Just Eat autonomously delivers takeout orders to hungry Londoners.However, the really interesting changes are what happens after people on the fringe adopt the new technology. An elderly population freed from (what is to them) the burden of driving would be given a new lease on independence. Forget about doctors appointments made on time or the absence of stress about faltering reflexes Think about the impact on social activity. Would n ew hobbies develop? Would volunteering or even paid work increase? Perhaps the over-65 platzset would find themselves attending night clubsor maybe afternoon clubs that would bring together a wider variety of retirees in a time in life when company and companionship matters the most.We wont know until the technology reaches them. But I suspect the impact of autonomous vehicles on the lives of elderly people will be profound.REIMAGINING THE SUPPLY CHAINVehicles carry more than peoplethe other passengers are the things in the international supply chain that can stretch from a factory in Vietnam or a farm in Chile to your front door. But increasingly, semitrailer trucks do more than simply carry goods from point A to point B.I learned that lesson while I was in the back of a minivan on the A6 bab racing from Stuttgart and Frankfurt. I didnt want to look at the speedometer as my driver, Anatoly, gunned and revved the minivan from lane to lane like something out of James Bond movie, so i nstead I focused on the seemingly endless stream of long-haul trucks that shared the road with us.In a rare moment of calm as we slowed down for some construction, I asked Anatoly why there were so many trucks on the highway.People dont warehouse anymore, Anatoly replied, taking his eyes o. the road to glance back at me. (Why do I ask my drivers so many questions?) Back a decade ago, all the big companies had warehouses where they stored goods. Then they would deliver them from storage when people placed an order. But today nobody does that. Everything is just-in-time delivery. Most of what is on this road is not peopleits things, its stuff. Stuff is going for a ride on the autobahn.He shook his head as we hit a bump. Its very hard on the roads and bridges.Highways are the new warehouses, but within the limits placed by human labor. After all, a giant warehouse can be staffed by a handful of workers, but each 40-foot container on the back of a tractor-trailer has a human driver.Or t o put it in the frame of a futurist, overland cargo is a fringe use of human-driven vehicles. And self-driving delivery is a disruption that could have all sorts of advantages.In an age of autonomous vehicles, smart cities and roads, intelligent logistics, and artificial intelligence, the human-imposed limit on the number of hours a day a shipment can stay on the road disappears. We can automate, iterate, and designate exactly where we want our stuff and how to get it there. Goods may never have to leave the roador sea lanes or air routesfrom the factory gate to the front porch.Autonomous transport of goods will allow us to completely reimagine the future of the global supply chain, Abe Ashkenazi, the CEO of APICS, a global supply chain trade association, told me recently. We think it could have as much impact as the PC revolution had on business. It wont be just about moving things from point A to point B. The whole system will change. In response, the vehicles will change, too.The necessity of putting a driver in the front with a view of the road has restricted the design of passenger cars and freight-carrying trucks. But autonomous delivery vehicles wont be subject to that constraint. A self-driving vehicle constructed to deliver a weeks groceries or an IKEA sofa wont have to look like the common delivery vanor each other, either.Theres evidence today for what our tomorrow might look like. Just Eat is a company in the United Kingdom that receives takeout orders via an app and sends the food to the customer using a delivery droid. Its essentially an autonomous vehicle, but it doesnt look or act anything like a car. The six-wheeled hauler is more like a large insulated picnic basket, with a hissing on-board air-conditioning unit. The machine is so unassuming that after a few days of rolling along the sidewalks of London, local residents stopped giving it a second thought.RECLAIMING THE INFRASTRUCTURELike the Just Eat droid, future autonomous cargo vehicles no t only will shed their human drivers, but even the form factor of being trucks. Acting as both transport and storage, they will be efficiently designed for the single-minded purpose of getting goods into the hands of consumers as directly as possible.But the roadssu.er the roads. It will be a brave new world for our roads, quite a dystopian future of wear and tear that was never imagined by the engineers who designed them half a century ago. The effect on our infrastructure as the rolling supply chain hammers the road hasnt even begun to be addressed.In another way, though, autonomous vehicles may also help extend the life of the built infrastructure.This truck didnt need a driver for its 120-mile beer delivery in October 2016Back in 2012, I was sitting on a Tempe, Ariz., bus bench with writer and futurist Bruce Sterling, who is best known for championing the cyberpunk movement of the 1980s and the ubiquitous device design trend that followedthat is, the world we are living in now. We had ducked out of the annual Emerge event at Arizona State University and were musing about autonomous cars and staring out across the desert spring landscape.I think the thing that Im really excited to see is what the cars will do at night, Sterling said in his scratchy Texas accent.I spend a lot of time staring out of bed and breakfast room windows at night, I replied. I travel constantly and I love watching cities at night.Sterlings flair for science fiction narrative got excited. You can imagine standing in your hotel room, watching all of the driverless cars moving themselves back into place for the next day. All of them empty. All of them getting ready for the next rush hour.Its like a front-row seat to the midnight ballet, I added, imagining the cars easing down the street, dodging each other with a dancers ease, in no hurry, but beautifully efficient.A midnight ballet may sound a bit strange, but if we dramatically shift the metaphor we use to think about our cars and roa ds, might we not begin to see new patterns and new ways to imagine these vehicles?Its not about cars at all, Shahar Waiser explained to me at a recent event. Waiser is the co-founder of GetTaxi, a ride-sharing service that allows customers to order a taxi via an app or website. What has set GetTaxi apart from its competition in the 70 cities where it operates across Israel, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States is how it works not only with travelers but businesses as well.We are changing how corporations think about moving people and goods, Waiser said. We are optimizing our system to have fewer cars on the road, but with increased utilization. We are trying to not only do business but also make the cities cleaner and less congested. Autonomous vehicles will only increase that.It wont just be cars deadheading home, as Sterling suggested. Delivery runs can be made at night. Self-driving cargo pods can take the most industrial and blighted routes, leaving the parkways and stateli est streets for cars with human passengers. And the roadsides themselves will be transformed, as preprogramed cars wont be swayed by flashing neon or large signs proclaiming deep, deep discounts.That sort of perspective shift has happened to other landscapes. Rivers and waterfronts were the industrial highways of previous centuries, but now we see them as pastoral. Perhaps, as we drive on them less, we will be more inclined to see our roads and city streets as works of architecture or public art.To the extent that self-driving cars will be perfect-driving cars, we may reclaim the streets for strolling on or playing hopscotch.The cultural effects of technological change are often the most surprising. Its not good or bad, it is just whats been happening as long as we have been humans.And so, the most interesting changes that will be brought by autonomous cars will be the cultural shifts. What will happen when we have an entire generation of children who have never known a time when ca rs did not drive themselves. What will their children think and their childrens children?Whole infrastructures that we take for granted today as critical will recede into the distance. Try explaining to a seven-year-old that at one point the entire worlds overland transportation was powered by horses. There will be a time when stop lights and road signs recede away like so many stables and barns.The future of autonomous cars will certainly change our lives in both dramatic and subtle ways, but the ways that will be most interesting are the things that are forgotten, the things that the next generation deem useless and frivolous. Its exactly the shedding of this baggage that will allow the next generation and their children to be unencumbered by the past.As I said at the beginning, its important for the engineering community to think through the scenarios of how new technology can affect the course of society. Engineers are the ones building this future, and the technology choices th ey make will determine the other choices the rest of us can make when using the technology. Its not enough to perfect the technology. Engineers have to be mindful of the way their technology impacts an all too imperfect world. MEBrian David Johnson is futurist in residence at the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University in Tempe and a futurist and fellow at the consultancy Frost Sullivan.

How to Write a Great Resume Even If You Have No Experience (Sample Included)

How to Write a Great Resume Even If You Have No Experience (Sample Included)How to Write a Great Resume Even If You Have No Experience (Sample Included)If youre a student or a fresh grad, its only natural you dont have much to show off on your resume. Having little to no experience yet doesnt mean you canbedrngnis get the job you want. You just need to know a couple of hacks how to present yourself.If youve already found yourself and know for sure what you want to do, youre half way through because a clear career goal is the most important aspect of an entry-level resume. When you know what job youre going for, you can clearly emphasize your skills and personal traits that relate to that job.It is also easier if youre applying for a job in the area you studied in college. Applying for a job thats far different than your college major might be a bit problematic without experience. Since you have no evidence youre skilled in the industry, you must find other ways to convince the employ er of your abilities.How to write an entry level resumeEven with little or no previous experience, you can grab the hiring managers attention. herbeies howTake advantage of your transferrable skillsWhen you have no experience, you basically cannot provide evidence you have certain skills. Thats why you should use the transferrable skills you gained in college or elsewhere and apply them to the job youre going for. You may have great organizational, communication, or leadership skills why not giving a concrete example of a time you demonstrated them? You can also mention how you think these would translate to the job you want.Write a catchy summaryWhen you identified your transferrable skills, your summary is the right place for showcasing them. Let the hiring manager know your skills and strong points make you a great candidate for the job. Use action verbs such as determined, focused, developed, achieved, etc. Express a deep interest in the job and emphasize your willingness to le arn new things.Make your resume more personalLet your personality shine through the paper. A personality of a candidate is a very important aspect the hiring managers take into account. From how you appear personally, they can tell what youd be like as an employee, how apt youd be for the job, how quick a learner you are, how diligent you are. Also, much can be guessed from your academic results.Add links to your resume Since your resume doesnt contain that much information, show the hiring manager more of yourself. Add links to your social media, LinkedIn profile, personal website, blog, or photography portfolio site. You can also hyperlink your email address so that contacting you is only one click away.Put emphasis on your extracurricular activitiesYou might be surprised but even what you did in your spare time during college and your hobbies tell a great deal about you to the hiring manager. It goes without saying, only list activities that in a way enriched you and made you ski lled at something worth mentioning.Also, you might have acquired most of of the skills you have by self-learning. This is also very favored with the recruiters If you learned how to code by yourself, if youve taken online courses and are now skilled in something that might help you in the job, or if youre jjust good at something you never studied in college, definitely mention it.Stand out from the crowdWhat youre missing out on experience, try to make an impression with the design of your resume. Dont be afraid to be creative. Obviously, suit your resume to the industry youre in. There are jobs that allow you to be more bold and creative and some that require more traditional resume. One way or another, if you send a generic, boring resume that looks like everyone elses, youll be just another ordinary fresh grad that doesnt know how to impress.Mention your volunteering and internshipsIf youve ever done an internship or volunteering, good for you Theres nothing hiring managers like to see more than a determined and enthusiastic person. Volunteering can teach you loads of valuable skills.You might be asking nowWhat if Ive never had internship, nor done any volunteering?Keep calm. You may have Be specific, Mention a time you professed leadership, team-spirit etc. If during your college years you focused only on your academic achievements, mention that. You have many possibilities on how to convince your future employer that youre competent enough to get the job or at least that theres potential in you they can use. Your academic or other achievements. Mention certificates.Be specific and tell them HOW you think your academic knowledge would benefit to the job. you can have skills that you learned by yourself.TIP Its better not to include any experience than including an experience thats irrelevant . Yeah, in college we all needed money so we did service jobs to pay for parties and other amusements. But your part-time job at Starbucksreally isnt relevant when you re now applying for a job in accounting.Heres a sample of what an entry level resume can look likeJane Vader has selected a simple, yet eye-catching resume template with clean layout and easily readable sans-serif font.She has included a link to her blog for the hiring manager to check her writing samples.In the summary at the top of her resume, she has determined a clear career goal and used action verbs to emphasize her commitment and interest in the job.She has listed her education info in a clear structured way. Normally, an entry-level resume should contain a more detailed education summary.Jane has listed only her strongest and the most relevant skills to the job shes applying for.She has volunteered for an NGO during the summer good for her Volunteering, no matter how irrelevant to the job, always looks good on a resume.Her hobbies reflect her career goals and reveal a bit about her personal traits from the four hobbies stated you can tell shes creative, energetic and open- minded person.She hasnt put References available upon request at the end.Want to have a resume just like Jane? Create a similar one with We hope you found our tips useful. Good luck in finding your dream jobShare Your Feedback or Ideas in the Comments

3 Signs Youre in a Dead-End Job

3 Signs Youre in a Dead-End Job3 Signs Youre in a Dead-End JobPicture yourself in five years. Are you sitting at the same desk, working for the same manager, doing the same work, and earning the same salary as you are right now?I didnt think so.Unless you already have your absolute dream job, youre probably working towards some sort of higher goal in your career- a mora senior stelle, additional responsibilities, or new skills. But to make sure you have the opportunity to reach those goals, its important to be aware of your qualifikation for growth- and to realize when youre in a job where that doesnt exist.Yes, unfortunately, even good jobs can be dead-end jobs- or positions with little to no room for advancement. So, to make sure youre on the right track to grow in your career, keep in mind these three surefire signs that your job is at a standstill.1. It Would Take a Big Event for You to Get PromotedFor a clear sign that your career might be stalled, look to your superiors and the ir tenure with the company. For example, say your boss has been in her position for five years, and her boss has been in his position for seven- and they both landseem very comfortable where they are. That means, in order for you to move up, something would have to entice one of those big wigs out of his or her position. And youve seen no indication that anyones planning on leaving anytime soon.While this isnt necessarily the mark of a dead-end job (you never know when someone could make a sudden exit from the company or a position), it can- and should- raise some concerns if youre hoping to move up the ladder sooner rather than later.Your Next StepsIf you work for a larger company thats open to horizontal shifts, you may be able to move into another division- one that has more opportunity for growth.If not, you still may not have to throw in the towel completely. Even if you cant move into your bosss position anytime soon, try asking for more responsibility (more on that later) or a title change. You may even be able to create a position for yourself by identifying some needs of the company and then tackling them- effectively working your way into a position that didnt even exist before.2. Even if an Opportunity Arose, You Wouldnt Want ItOK, so youre probably thinking, Why wouldnt I take a promotion that I was offered? But consider this Depending on your current level of satisfaction and your future careers goals, you may not actually want to move up the ladder in your own company.Say, for example, youre a manager at a great company and youre content with your job for now- but you cant imagine doing it for the rest of your life, and truth be told, youve always wanted to break into a different field. So, if you were offered a promotion to take on even more responsibility, more direct reports, and more high-maintenance clients as a senior manager, you wouldnt actually be that excited about it.Or, maybe youarent willing to commit to the extended hours or travel required of those roles, or yourenot passionate about the companys mission. Whatever your reason, if you have no desire to move up at your current company, consider it a red flag.Your Next StepsIts time to take a look at your career goals Why are you spending time in a career in which youre not excited about moving up to the next level? You may have solid reasons- finances, job security, or your current skill set- but unless youre willing to stay in that same position forever, you may want to look for a job that youll be excited to grow and progress in.So, consider some other options. Even if youre not ready to jump into the job hunt just yet, take some small steps Set up some informational interviews with contacts at other companies or in other roles, take a class in an area youre interested in, or browse through some career profiles online. You might be surprised at what you find- and it may just give you the spark you need to pursue something new.3. Your Work Hasnt EvolvedAs you gain more experience in your current position, you should be able to expect that youll be given more responsibility and increasingly challenging work. And as you successfully complete each new assignment and prove yourself time and time again, you should eventually start seeing opportunities to move up in a more official sense (i.e., promotions that include a shiny new title and a well-deserved raise).On the other hand, if youre still doing the exact same work today as you did two years ago when you first started with the company, thats a pretty straightforward sign that youre not going to be moving up very quickly- or at all. And without the chance to improve your skills and develop new ones, even if you did have the chance at a higher position, you may not have the marketable skills to fill it. In short Without new opportunities, your career is at a standstill.Your Next StepsDont ever be afraid to ask for more responsibility. For example, when you see a need for a better training program in your department, volunteer to develop it yourself- or if you notice that the companys social media presence is a little lacking, ask if you can take it on as a side project. By accepting new challenges and showing your managers that youre able to take on more than you do right now, youll prove how valuable you areAnd if your request is met with resistance and your work stays stagnant? Well, then it may be time to look for something with more potential for growth.Realizing that youre in a dead-end job can be scary- especially when you consider that your alternative is the not-so-enjoyable search for a new job. But staying put- for longer than youd like- isnt a great alternative. So if your job isnt progressing the way you want, take charge and go after your goals at full speed. Your future self (the one sitting in a corner office) will thank you.Photo of dead end sign courtesy of Shutterstock.