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Lessons from the Past 138: The Times Are Changing!
Walter Vieira 03 October 2025
Personal Finance
We always become aware of the new professions that are emerging in the new environment.  There are opportunities in the IT sector; in the ITES sector; in BPO; in the tourism and hospitality industry; in the financial sector; in infrastructure; in biotechnology; in solar energy and many others.
 
However, we also need to sit back and think about the many careers that have disappeared in the new economy.  New technology and the pressure for new ways of doing things have made many professions redundant. Therefore, young people today must be constantly aware of what professionals will disappear; and what are the new areas; or existing, but growth areas.
 
There was a time when my cousin earned a lot of money as a ‘navigator’ for an international airline for close to 15 years.  And then, the airplanes were designed to do without a navigator and the job no longer existed!  He had to go away and take up farming in Nashik. Fortunately, he had a positive attitude. He did not sit at home and mope, cursing his bad luck.
 
We always used travel agents to book our airline tickets and do our hotel bookings. No longer.  Now we go on the net and log on to makemytrip.com or cleartrip.com or the airline itself and book our tickets at the best price available from among competitive airlines. It is the same with hotels. One can specify the area in the city where your hotel should be, learn the prices of competitive hotels and book on the net, using your credit card.  On the net, you can see the hotel, the hotel room, the facilities offered and every other detail.  Often, the travel agent cannot give you so much information.  So, goodbye travel agent!
 
We also needed a stockbroker to buy and sell stock at regular intervals. We do not need to do this anymore. Many banks like ICICI and HDFC offer facilities for stock trading on the net. You can buy and sell, whenever you like – in the comfort of your home or office – which means goodbye to stockbrokers!
 
A job as a bank clerk was much sought after. The job was well-paid and offered lifetime employment, security guaranteed by trade unions and promotions at regular intervals in public sector banks. The introduction of computers has changed all this. That is why bank worker unions resisted computerisation for a long time. One computer can do the job of many, perhaps 10 clerks. No longer will there be crowds waiting for the selection interview at banks for this once-valued assignment.
 
The road-sweeper’s job with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was a valued job—because of the free quarters provided, security in service; and preference to children of municipal workers for the job.  When I see the new road-sweeping machines operating in some areas of the city, I know that times are changing!
 
Stenographers from Davar’s or Burnley’s? A qualification which guaranteed jobs 30 years ago. Many were recruited from these institutions as soon as they had finished their programme.  There are no stenos anymore. They have metamorphosed into personal assistants who use computers.  And the boss handles much of the correspondence on his own laptop anyway!
 
In my young days, there were eight laundries in my neighbourhood.  Today, there are two. People use wash-and-dry fabrics, they use wrinkle-proof fabric, they have washing machines at home and they need only to get their silks and woollen suits dry cleaned some of the time. The laundry business has contracted, though perhaps it will never shut down.
 
We have now come to the era of artificial intelligence (AI). Everyone is talking about AI. Some friends suggested that I now write my articles using ChatGPT. I did try. I gave the subject and the number of words. It was a nice article that came off in just a few minutes. Nice, but not really acceptable. It was not quite my style of writing. But, perhaps with time, I may come to a situation where I will have an acceptable model which has my trademark on it! Who knows? And that would be obsolescence for me!
 
Young people must see the signs of the times and the beacons of the future.  Those who do, will succeed. Those who don’t, will be left behind on the banks of a fast-flowing river!
 
You may also want to read other articles written by the author. Here is the link https://moneylife.in/author/walter-vieira.html
 
(Walter Vieira is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of India - FIMC. He was a successful corporate executive for 14 years, capping his career as Head of marketing for a Pharma multinational, for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka- and then pioneered marketing consulting in India in 1975. As a consultant, he has worked across four continents. He was the first Asian elected Chairman of ICMCI, the world apex body of consultants in 45 countries, in 1997. He is the author of 16 books, a business columnist, international conference speaker and has been visiting professor in Marketing in the US, Europe, and Asia for over 40 years. He was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award for Consulting in 2005, and for Marketing in 2009. He now spends much of his time in NGO work - Consumer Education and Research Centre, IDOBRO, and some others.)
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