It’s the year 2048. Imagine if you will, a land where you never have to worry about your job. You have skills that are perpetually necessary. You are future proofed. This is … the Woz Zone. In this world, there are smiling friendly fuzzy robots–think Monsters Inc. and WALL-E combined. The robot. Not the rapper.

These ‘furbots ‘ have developed the skills that humans no longer need. They put widgets on widgets in perfect execution. With the progression of technology and digital transformation, do you need to future proof your career?

You and other Woz Zoners preside over the furbots because you each have something that they and other humans don ‘t: limitless ability to mentally upgrade your skill sets and expertise whenever you choose. Like in that movie Limitless–you are Bradley Cooper and just as great looking, might I add. You might also have a cyborg arm too, extra bonus badass points.

You are an IT Specialist on the job in the Woz Zone. As you ride your hover-segway around, it makes this awesome little swoooogie sound as it moves. An Autotron Account Director in distress waves you down and you pull in to investigate.

 

segway dude

 

“What seems to be the opportunity?”

The AADD, Todot, replies, “Oh, thank Universal Intelligence you ‘re here.” He explains his technical turmoil and you ask him if he tried rebooting his tablet computer. He has not. Some things never change. In the middle of the reboot, you hear a commotion spewing from the executive suite. The CEO, Hanah is flailing her arms. A flurry of security officials ‘ hover-segway SWEEEEGE SWEEEGE past you to the CEO ‘s glass office.

“Wow, cool, that was an easy fix! Thanks for … ” Todot ‘s voice trails as you have already mounted your hover-segway and are sweeging up the spiral ramp towards the C-suite. Hanah pauses her rant and looks over, her look of panic briefly shifts to one of pleasure at your arrival.

 

“Opportunity calls. What ‘s happening here, Hanah?”

“We have a major breach of security. Someone or SOMETHING just hacked into our infrastructure causing our pop-up terminals to be temporarily suspended. This could mean anyone has access … someone off the street, our competitors, or … worse.”

Immediately, you hop into Hanah ‘s giant deep ocean blue leather hoverchair. You easily target the access points that the hackers used to enter. That ‘s the first step, according to your Woz U Cyber Security program. Step zero is remaining calm. Done and done.

 

“Make room.”

The security soldiers shuffle awkwardly to the side as you pull forth the super-monitor. With a few hand motions, you run a few commands to fortify the entry-points. It ‘s all very Minority Report.

 

“Leak ‘s secured.”

A palpable collective sigh is released and Hanah steps forth.

“What next?” You pause. With a flick of your cyborg wrist, you X out of the giant interactive display screen and pull a new glowing portal forward. It ‘s your Woz U portal for education upgrade. It had been six months since completing Cyber Security and you are finally putting your skills to use in this role. You hoped your enthusiasm for accessing your cyber-sleuthing prowess was not showing on your face in this time of obvious corporate distress. A notification pops up. It ‘s the newest Woz U curriculum update and immediately you expand the window. You inhale deeply as your eyes scan the content.

 

“AHA, HANNAH!”

The chief startles. The security guards hover their hands by their pistols and brace.

“Book conference room Apple. This job is juicy and we ‘re going to need all the IT troopers on it STAT.” You ‘ve always wanted to yell, “STAT,” btw. Hanah touches her temple and barks some commands to her virtual assistant and in no time the team is assembled in the largest conference room on the lower mezzanine. “OK, IT Troopers, there ‘s been a security breach. We ‘ve secured it, but we will need to investigate this matter further. We will need some task force teams. One to identify the extent of the leak and another to understand how the hackers infiltrated so that we can prevent this from happening again. We will reconfigure our system if we have to.” Thirty sets of eager eyes blinked back at him. “But sir,” one of the IT troopers piped up from the back of the room, his hand half raised. “Technology updates at an exponential rate. This means, by the time we update our system, those hackers may have already attacked the mainframe again.” A murmur escapes with some nods.

“I hear you.” You acknowledge him. “Rapid digital advances are the biggest challenge for global business leaders today.

 

woz zone future proof woz u blog

 

“But we have something those cyber thieves don ‘t.”

With a wave of your hand, you bring forth a super-monitor and pull up your Woz U portal. You hear a flurry of “blip blip blips” as the Wozzers in the room queue up their portals too. “We were all hired because we have valuable job skills and experience. But just like technology, that learning doesn ‘t stop once we get the job. Each program ‘s curriculum is updated with the latest advancements and as students, we get access to it for life!”

“Check out the new Woz Update in Cyber Security CS109 – Threats and Vulnerabilities!” One of the IT Troopers, Calac, calls out. “It specifically mentions some new fortification plug-ins that would work with our mainframe.”

“Sounds like Calac just volunteered to be a Task Force Leader.” Calac high-fives another trooper. You press a button and a furbot appears.

“How may I serve you, sir?” You ask the furbot to divide the trooper team and set up the task force in another conference room and to take orders to get everyone fed and caffeinated. He whizzes off to comply with your requests.

“Sir,” one of the remaining troopers yells out to you, “this seems like a pretty big job. How will we hit this deadline?”

 

“Simple. We bring in reinforcements.”

With a hand wave, the super-monitor brings up the Woz U private community page. You create an announcement to fellow Wozzer alumni asking for the best and the brightest to work on a top-secret investigation. Within several minutes, you have 20 messages from eager Wozzers in the community that want to help. You enlist another furbot to get them scheduled for briefings and wrangle another to be the full-time Task Force Assistant. The first line of business, recording everything that happens for the duration of the project.

“It ‘s going to be a long night. But it will not be without its rewards. What we learn and build tonight will lead to new discoveries that will forever change the course of technology. Rome might not have been built in a day, but digital advancements are”.

And that ‘s how the next Woz Update came to be.

What ‘s this got to do with You and Woz U?

As technology advances, it is important that your education does too. Woz U offers free upgrades for your knowledge and skills for each program in which you enroll. It’s called Woz for Life. Graduates can return at any time to learn a new technology or refresh their expertise on an existing technology. Plus, you have a community of developers (aka online IT trooper) you can consult with about projects, tools and tips. And should you be ready to fly to that new glass office in the sky, graduates can always return for a lifetime of job placement assistance.

Woz for Life can help you maintain the highest level of professional performance and market value throughout your career lifespan. If you ‘re hovering between one program or another, land on one that makes you future proof.