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How has your industry changed over the last 20 years

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Okay, so 20 years is arbitrary, it just happens to match up to my time in my current industry. Main thing is, I'm not looking for discussion around COVID changes, unless you happen to think they'll create permanent differences moving forwards.

What I'm interested in are personal perspectives. You don't especially need to justify your experience against world trends, or anything. Just how has your industry changed over the long term, in terms of being a working environment.

Is it better or worse?
Is the pay and conditions better or worse?
Where is it headed?

Just stick to the big ticket items, I guess.
I'll give my take on my industry to kick things off

INDUSTRY - ERP Software Consulting
LOCATION - Australia

So, the key differences from when I commenced in the industry are;
1) Increased specialisation
2) Increased remote work
3) Cost cutting around service delivery
4) Movement of software products to the cloud

There is some interplay between all these things, since the technology now supports more remote work and support.
There has been cost pressure around implementations and support which has encouraged off-shore work. For a relatively expensive, on shore resource like me that hasn't been too dramatic in terms of impact, since I have a lot of experience and holistic knowledge to differentiate myself from remote resources who are cheap. Basically, there is a place for both.

My concern is that I got into the industry via a support position...something which is increasingly now not available to young people in Australia. And support has become very 'colour by numbers' compared to the remote consulting type structure it used to have. It really has to be that way when you have people unfamiliar with businesses offering advice on system usage.
Until now, I haven't seen that model as particularly sustainable, but....(leading to my next point)...

Moving software to the cloud has clear advantages. In terms of my role, though, it is severely limiting in terms of value-add consulting. Integrations become trickier (without using cloud based iPaaS services), custom scripting, db triggers and the like become borderline impossible, and the client is effectively limited to the configuration options in software, out of the box.

Whilst great in a general sense, being limited in this way is a MAJOR change to my industry, in the complex whole-of-business systems space. All of a sudden my ability to look at a process, and determine ways to improve it may simply be unsupportable by the tools, even given a level of technical and database knowledge, due to access and upgradability.

This whole area is still playing out in Australia, very much as we speak. On many different ERP platforms, clients are trying to transition to the cloud, and hitting these points of pain and adjustment.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Okay, so 20 years is arbitrary, it just happens to match up to my time in my current industry. Main thing is, I'm not looking for discussion around COVID changes, unless you happen to think they'll create permanent differences moving forwards.

What I'm interested in are personal perspectives. You don't especially need to justify your experience against world trends, or anything. Just how has your industry changed over the long term, in terms of being a working environment.

Is it better or worse?
Is the pay and conditions better or worse?
Where is it headed?

Just stick to the big ticket items, I guess.
I'll give my take on my industry to kick things off

INDUSTRY - ERP Software Consulting
LOCATION - Australia

So, the key differences from when I commenced in the industry are;
1) Increased specialisation
2) Increased remote work
3) Cost cutting around service delivery
4) Movement of software products to the cloud

There is some interplay between all these things, since the technology now supports more remote work and support.
There has been cost pressure around implementations and support which has encouraged off-shore work. For a relatively expensive, on shore resource like me that hasn't been too dramatic in terms of impact, since I have a lot of experience and holistic knowledge to differentiate myself from remote resources who are cheap. Basically, there is a place for both.

My concern is that I got into the industry via a support position...something which is increasingly now not available to young people in Australia. And support has become very 'colour by numbers' compared to the remote consulting type structure it used to have. It really has to be that way when you have people unfamiliar with businesses offering advice on system usage.
Until now, I haven't seen that model as particularly sustainable, but....(leading to my next point)...

Moving software to the cloud has clear advantages. In terms of my role, though, it is severely limiting in terms of value-add consulting. Integrations become trickier (without using cloud based iPaaS services), custom scripting, db triggers and the like become borderline impossible, and the client is effectively limited to the configuration options in software, out of the box.

Whilst great in a general sense, being limited in this way is a MAJOR change to my industry, in the complex whole-of-business systems space. All of a sudden my ability to look at a process, and determine ways to improve it may simply be unsupportable by the tools, even given a level of technical and database knowledge, due to access and upgradability.

This whole area is still playing out in Australia, very much as we speak. On many different ERP platforms, clients are trying to transition to the cloud, and hitting these points of pain and adjustment.
The transportation industry has gotten far worse to the point of almost unfeasibility.

The regulatory climate is downright oppressive and truckers are treated more often than not as second-class citizens in almost every way.

Pay is absolutely abysmal in comparison to other skilled labor jobs and corporation's take advantage of the low pay to the point of criminality although the latter has improved somewhat but not enough.

The only good thing about it is if you meet the requirements, jobs are plentiful and easily acquired whether there is a recession or not. That's about the only good thing there is to say about it.
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
The transportation industry has gotten far worse to the point of almost unfeasibility.

The regulatory climate is downright oppressive and truckers are treated more often than not as second-class citizens in almost every way.

Pay is absolutely abysmal in comparison to other skilled labor jobs and corporation's take advantage of the low pay to the point of criminality although the latter has improved somewhat but not enough.

The only good thing about it is if you meet the requirements, jobs are plentiful and easily acquired whether there is a recession or not. That's about the only good thing there is to say about it.

Do you find the regulations are at all helpful?
We have issues here with truckers being 'encouraged' to drive all night, due to the way their pays and bonuses are structured, even whilst regulations are quite strictly against this.
The assumption was that drivers would be somewhat protected by these regulations (as well as protecting other drivers on the road) but there doesn't seem clear improvement in that to me. Drivers seem like meat in the sandwich between the company and the regulations to me (as an outsider).
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
I've only been in PT for a short period of time but I was a licensed massage therapist for a decade and it has changed considerably, and is still changing through covid. Massage is becoming incorporated into medical treatment more, more insurances are covering it, lmt network on individual pips and claims, and more people associate massage with basic healthcare regimens and not some shady parlor with "happy endings," a ghost which lmt hate seeing invoked.

In the years leading up to covid, places like massage envy were beginning to suffer as more lmt started demanding higher pay for a very physical job.

But now most massage places are still closed unless working directly under a doctor because there is no social distancing. Those that are open look the part of nursing staff atm.
 

epronovost

Well-Known Member
The transportation industry has gotten far worse to the point of almost unfeasibility.

The regulatory climate is downright oppressive and truckers are treated more often than not as second-class citizens in almost every way.

Pay is absolutely abysmal in comparison to other skilled labor jobs and corporation's take advantage of the low pay to the point of criminality although the latter has improved somewhat but not enough.

The only good thing about it is if you meet the requirements, jobs are plentiful and easily acquired whether there is a recession or not. That's about the only good thing there is to say about it.

Add to that driverless technology and the future doesn't look so bright for truckers from an outsider point of view.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Add to that driverless technology and the future doesn't look so bright for truckers from an outsider point of view.
That won't happen for a while yet but I do see automation occurring for the entire scope of transportation including private transportation as well.

Of course that means a person will not be able to know how to drive anymore after they give the wheel over to artificial intelligence.

You should see after the restrictions are lifted for most people in my area. After not driving for a few months they are crashing into just about everything off and on the road.
 

bobhikes

Nondetermined
Premium Member

Computer's and Electronics repair industry (worked in the industry Since 1988)

Everything is Smaller
Everything is more efficient
Companies have downsized because of it.
Focus much more on parts and labor costs (think this is universal through all industries)
Employees treated as a commodity no as people

Computers and Networking repair software industry(Worked as a side job 85 to 95 and as support to main technical job since 1988)

Software programming more complex (much more lines, much more updates)
Software interface more friendly to average user's.
Software repair is non-existent as an independent job(handled by overseas phone calls)
Basically is an install and upgrade industry now with call centers to handle anything else.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
In public mass transit revenue security, along with revenue and ridership data acquisition and reporting, has grown from virtually nonexistent in the 80's to extremely sophisticated today. In the last 20 years the U.S. has seen the progressive elimination of cash and tokens on the bus and at the the turnstile in favor of, first, magnetics (sometimes on material that permits thermal printing), and later, RFID and bank cards.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
Higher education isn't typically described as an "industry" though perhaps those in the private sector describe it that way. As far as trends, I can only speak for the universities within my own state, though I doubt the situation is much different elsewhere in the United States.

For instance, state and federal support has decreased substantially over the past couple decades for higher education to the point that students and their tuition dollars support the majority of university operations. This has a few major implications, among which is the rising cost of college education in this country that has no end in sight. While universities try to combat this with scholarship programs to provide opportunities for students, in the long run this is compromising the ability of education to act as a socioeconomic mobilizer. It is also burdening an entire generation with debt loads that cripple their options as young adults and their ability to participate in the economy.

At the same time college enrollment has increased over the same period, with this present academic year likely to represent a notable exception. More people are earning college degrees, many of whom begin their journeys at a 2-year school then transfer into 4-year schools. Something like a third of our students are transfer students, something that was not nearly as common a few decades ago. If you guessed this was related to the cost of education, you'd be right - doing community college is often viewed as a cost-saver, but for students who fail to plan this well, it doesn't end up being as effective in this as they might have hoped.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic is dramatically impacting university operations and will transform the college experience across the country. This continues to unfold, and presents challenges for faculty, staff, and students alike.
 
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