Most bureaucrats have university degrees. Red tape is how we in America associate government waste. But, unless one has paid attention to graduate education, they have missed how universities decide which courses to offer. They use statistics to determine which parts of the economy will be in most need a generation down the road. From there, jobs and the necessary education curriculum is planned.
This is not a perfect system. Universities make mistakes, just much less so than the risky ventures of large corporations and their associated training programs. The Internet has changed how we are educated. The speed it adds to innovation makes a lot of traditional statistical methods outdated. Computer programming has developed a inner-circle that has a strong distaste for the way universities teach computer science. It was found that the suppliers of hardware determined much of a curriculum. This lead to narrow skilled programmers with degrees.
But college is not all about acquiring skills. Technical schools, and certainly certificates, are. Higher education teaches one how to learn. It ensures an individual's success in completing professional curriculum. At least that is what a well rounded education is supposed to be for a workforce that spends most of their life specializing in a narrow skilled profession.
So finally, my opinions about the rise of the pointless job. Are we overwhelmed by the computer that we respond to what we believe most threatens us? For instance, if the IRS needs to put out a statement about cryptocurrencies, do go out and hire an army of lawyers if we are IBM working on our own blockchain. Or do we move our operations outside of the US and hire a team of translators? Before the blockchain: can we honestly say that English and Math are still fundamental skills, or should we be teach social engineering (note: see the American President)?
OK, so yes some fo the articles and social media influencers out there are pretty bad. Some are rushing to churn out material and others just never valued education beyond it making them a quick buck. And mathematics are an asset for computer programming. But, artificial intelligence plans further advances into automating both. In fact, Disney is working on AI that can recognize and score short stories. DARPA is working on Explainable AI that can answer questions about the decisions it has made.
There is just so much change coming to a close-minded world with internal biases that pointless jobs are inevitable as administrations hope to press their agenda to be the first.
Thanks for bringing up a topic that festered under my conscious for some time. I have a Masters in Aeronautics and have learned to land an aircraft. I never had the money to obtain the certificates to get paid as a pilot (costs about a new car), but did get to spend a couple of years critically examining all the world's agencies, departments, and corporations that came/come together to implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (basically, transitioning to satellite technology). Ever notice how "a pilot shortage" makes news once in a while (especially during the holidays)? It is worse for ATC, though its outsourcing has been predicted while pilot shortages were warned for about a decade now. I suppose drone airliners are not yet capable of demonstrating to insurance carriers a lower incidence potential than pilot flown.
Thanks again. Hope it did not seem like I was rambling on or that these words were pointless:)
from pixabay
https://pixabay.com/en/brainstorming-business-businessman-3382789/