Haven’t Found Your Dream Career? Don’t Worry, Maybe It Hasn’t Been Invented Yet
If you’re currently feeling disheartened by your resume or job offers, with neither aligning with your “inner calling,” don’t lose hope. It’s possible that your dream job doesn’t exist yet.
AI, our new “technological companion,” has swiftly moved into professions that once seemed untouchable by machines — graphic design, painting, music composition, filmmaking, even writing novels. From generating logos and artwork in minutes to crafting scripts and soundtracks, AI is redefining what it means to be creative in the 21st century. The job market is no longer what it once was.
For many, AI is no longer just an optional tool but an essential part of daily work. Tools like ChatGPT (GPT3.5 free, GPT4o $20/month), Jasper (7 days free, then $39/month), and Gemini (free) have become staples for those needing to churn out reports, plans, or even creative content like ad copy. But it doesn’t stop there. AI is quietly embedding itself into the tools we already use. Platforms like Adobe now feature AI-driven enhancements that suggest edits, refine images, and even automate tasks like background removal, allowing designers to focus on more complex work. Similarly, Microsoft’s suite of products is increasingly infused with AI features that help streamline tasks like email sorting, document drafting, and even data analysis.
Even if you aren’t directly engaging with AI, it’s already working behind the scenes — making processes faster, smarter, and more efficient. From Hollywood studios using AI to create entire scenes to musicians employing it for mastering tracks, we are witnessing a profound transformation in how work, both creative and technical, gets done. AI is no longer just a tool — it’s a co-worker.
AI is no longer just large language models like ChatGPT. Today, AI has infiltrated practically every area that once required human input via a screen and keyboard. Our new technological wonder has learned within a “few months” how to paint, animate generated images, create videos from text, documents, or web addresses, code, communicate with your customers, design logos and websites, create business and marketing plans, and even detect diseases in X-rays with greater accuracy than average doctor.
Gone are the days when you had to attend university to gain knowledge and tools. With the rapidly evolving job market, companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Meta have launched their own educational programs and certifications that provide enough expertise to break into new fields. If you’re not yet familiar with Coursera.com and edX.org, it’s time to get acquainted.
Worried it’s all in English, a language you don’t speak well perhaps? Don’t worry. Your AI friend, Google Translate, can help translate websites, texts, images, and documents to 243 languages! Can’t understand the video? No problem — set AI subtitles or you can always translate the transcript using the aforementioned Google. Don’t have time to take notes? No worries. ChatGPT or Gemini can summarize and explain the new information for you.
Below is a brief overview of emerging positions that you might overlook on job portals because of their unfamiliar titles, but behind those unique names could be the perfect job opportunity for you.
Prompt Engineer
Remember the time when writing an engaging text for a marketing campaign or website felt like an art? Forget about it. Welcome to the new reality where copywriters are being replaced by prompt engineers — masters at crafting instructions (prompts) for AI. If you feel like the work is slipping out of your hands because AI writes faster than you, don’t despair — prompt engineering presents an entirely different challenge. Now you must come up with the right questions and commands for your new “AI colleague” to produce content that at least makes sense. And yes, if you mess up, the result might resemble a letter from your aunt after a glass of wine. But, if you’re used to explaining things clearly and repeatedly to your kids or partner, this could be the ideal job for you.
Coursera: IBM: Generative AI Prompt Engineering Basics — Learn how to create content and strategies for social media with a focus on engagement and efficiency.
edX: Prompt Engineering and Advanced ChatGPT — This course teaches you advanced techniques for using ChatGPT from OpenAI, including prompt crafting, various practical applications, and integration with other tools.
AI Trainer
In the past, you might have trained new hires, explained how to fill out an Excel spreadsheet, or showed them how to use the coffee machine without causing a fire. Today, you’re training AI. An AI trainer is like a corporate mentor for robots. Instead of overconfident new hires, you’re teaching machines how to better understand the world. You take a massive dataset, throw it into AI for training, and hope it doesn’t end up with plans for global domination.
Coursera: IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate — This course teaches you the basics of machine learning and deep learning and how to use them to train AI models.
edX: HarvardX: Data Science: Machine Learning — In this course, you’ll learn machine learning algorithms, focusing on working with training data and techniques to prevent overtraining models.
AI Ethicist
With the rapid rise of AI, questions like, “Do we really want AI to decide our future?” are becoming more relevant. Enter the AI ethicist — the unsung heroes of the tech world, armed not with capes but with moral compasses. These folks are tasked with ensuring that AI doesn’t go rogue, like prioritizing one candidate for a job over another based on biased data or, worse, deciding who gets life-saving medical treatment based on a glitchy algorithm. Sure, it’s great when AI suggests your next binge-worthy show, but when it starts playing judge, jury, and doctor, that’s when we need someone asking the tough questions!
Coursera: AI for Everyone by IBM — This course from IBM focuses on the basics of AI and ethical issues associated with its implementation in businesses and organizations.
edX: EdinburghX: Data Ethics, AI, and Responsible Innovation — You’ll explore ethical and legal challenges that come with implementing AI technologies.
AI Experience Designer
Remember when your boss said it was important for clients to be satisfied? Well, now you need to explain that to AI. AI. An AI experience designer’s job is to create a system where the interaction between humans and AI is smooth, intuitive, and at least less frustrating than when AI keeps recommending “pineapple pizza” even though you’ve made it clear a hundred times that it’s not your thing. If you’re a UX designer, congratulations! You’ll now be designing user interfaces for machines too.
Coursera: Google UX Design Professional Certificate — This course from Google teaches you the basics of UX design and its connection to AI tools.
Coursera: Meta Principles of UX/UI Design — Learn the same with Meta.
Data Curator
Are you tidy, and is “organization” practically your middle name? Then you could be something like a data janitor. Data curators collect, clean, and organize datasets so that AI has something to process. If bad or biased data falls into your hands, your AI will end up with results as useful as your old VHS tape. So, if you love order and Excel, this is the perfect job for you — the digital Marie Kondo.
Coursera: IBM Data Science Professional Certificate — This program from IBM covers courses on data manipulation and cleaning using Python and other tools.
Microsoft Training for Data Scientists — Microsoft will teach you the basics of working with data and how to prepare it for AI systems.
Synthetic Data Scientist
Did you think data had to be real? Wrong. Synthetic data scientists create artificial data that AI uses for training, bypassing the issue of sensitive or unavailable information. It’s like cooking from a powder — it’s not entirely authentic, but it tastes almost as good (sometimes). Your job is to create a perfect illusion of reality so that AI has no idea that what it’s “eating” isn’t real.
Coursera: Python for Data Science, AI & Development by IBM — This course will teach you Python, essential for generating and manipulating synthetic data for AI projects.
edX: HarvardX: Machine Learning and AI with Python — Learn to use “decision trees,” a fundamental algorithm for understanding machine learning and AI.
Still don’t see yourself in any of the roles mentioned? That’s okay. The future is still wide open.
Here’s a list of “possible” jobs that ChatGPT “thinks” might emerge in the future:
- AI Personality Designer
- Virtual Space Architect
- Human-Machine Mediator
- AI Emotional Support Coach
- Hologram Stylist
- Quantum Data Analyst
- Robot Psychologist
- AI Ethics Enforcer
- Drone Traffic Controller
And if tech isn’t your thing, don’t throw in the towel just yet.
AI still can’t replace plumbers, chefs, or hairdressers. Similarly, professions like electricians, gardeners, mechanic, and caregivers remain safe for now. And AI may plan your meals, shopping lists, and delivery to your door, but it won’t cook your grandmother’s famous stew anytime soon.
Good luck with your career!
