Preparing For The Future Of Work: Sid Srivastava Of GoldBridge AI On The Top Five Trends To Watch In The Future Of Work
I could write an entire book about life lesson quotes. I know I’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of smart people with lots of great advice throughout my life and I wish I had listened to them earlier and more. But if I had to pick just one, however, it would be this: Life is short; don’t waste it. This is a philosophy that I try to live by as much as possible. Life is short and precious, and in the grand scheme of things our time here is so small compared to the grandness of space and time. Ultimately nothing we do really matters; all that matters is that we make the most of the time we have here. Life is too short to waste it doing things you don’t care about. Do what makes you happy, spend time with people you enjoy, and live your life however you want. Don’t worry about what other people think of you, appreciate the little things, and enjoy the current moment; it’s called the present because it’s a gift. We are lucky enough to be alive; make the most of it.
There have been major disruptions in recent years that promise to change the very nature of work. From the ongoing shifts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the impacts caused by automation, and other possible disruptions to the status quo, many wonder what the future holds in terms of employment. For example, a report by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that automation will eliminate 73 million jobs by 2030.
To address this open question, we reached out to successful leaders in business, government, and labor, as well as thought leaders about the future of work to glean their insights and predictions on the future of work and the workplace.
As a part of this interview series called “Preparing For The Future Of Work,” we had the pleasure of interviewing Sid Srivastava.
Sid Srivastava is the Technical Product Manager at GoldBridge.AI. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in data science. He was also part of Berkeley’s SkyDeck program and has an extensive work background in Business Intelligence from Amazon.
Can you tell us a bit about your background? Where do you come from? What are the life experiences that most shaped your current self?
I was born on the East Coast but moved to California when I was two and have been in the Bay Area ever since. I went to high school in Cupertino, college at UC Berkeley, and I live in San Francisco now. I think a theme of my life that has shaped my journey is constantly taking the road less traveled by.
I went to five different elementary schools as a kid, resulting in never really being stable and constantly getting dropped in new environments — which as a child was especially tough. I had more stability in middle school since I only went to one, but high school meant more change. I was at a very competitive high school and didn’t know many people. I tried my best, but it wasn’t the right fit, and ultimately, I wasn’t having a great time. So I took it upon myself to find a way out and managed to transfer. I had a much better time in my new school, surrounded by friends and a much more supportive academic environment.
When the time for college came around, I wasn’t ready yet. I didn’t know what I wanted to study or where I wanted to go and ended up getting rejected from almost every school I applied to. So I took the unconventional route — compared to most people at my school — and went to community college. One year later, I managed to figure some of these things out and got into UC Berkeley, a school I could have only ever dreamed of getting into just a year prior.
At Berkeley, I was initially intending to study economics, but I discovered they had just started their undergraduate program in data science and thought this could be a great opportunity. With very little math and computer science background, I took a leap and pursued it. It exposed me to lots of new people and opportunities that, once again, high school me could have only ever dreamed of.
During my time at Berkeley, I wanted to meet as many people as possible, so I pursued many clubs, including the Berkeley newspaper and Berkeley Media Club — often being the only data science major in the clubs. I also took multiple semester gaps and pursued internships and on-campus work to get more professional experience and have the opportunity to live in different cities and travel. I extended my stay at Berkeley by almost two years beyond my initial graduation date, making sure to make the most of what Berkeley had to offer. In the end, that extra time and constantly taking the road less traveled paid massive dividends to me and my personal and professional development.
What do you expect to be the major disruptions for employers in the next 10–15 years? How should employers pivot to adapt to these disruptions?
The transition from human-centered workflows to AI-agent-driven ecosystems will be a major disruption for employers. Many large companies have human-driven processes in place that allow them to scale their businesses. Oftentimes it is these processes — and the company culture built around them — that give companies a competitive edge. However, since the advent of AI, full corporate pivots are going to need to be made. With traditional systems becoming less effective and increasingly outdated, businesses will need to fundamentally rethink how work gets done. Those that adapt and take advantage of AI efficiencies will survive, and those that don’t will see their market share taken by more nimble competitors.
What advice would you give to young adults considering whether or not to go to college?
The choice as to whether or not a young person should pursue a college degree was once a “no-brainer.” But with the existence of many high-profile millionaires (and billionaires) who did not earn degrees, as well as the fact that many graduates are saddled with crushing student loan debt and unable to find jobs, it has become a much more complex question.
Personally, I think the real value of college is the connections you make from the people you meet and how much you grow as a person. Networking is net worth these days, and your biggest professional network will come from college. While it’s true that anyone can take an online course and learn the technical skills for various jobs, this path often overlooks the personal growth that comes from more human-driven and real-world experiences.
Being part of student organizations, accessing alumni networks, gaining professional development for internships and job recruiting, and just discovering yourself as a teen are priceless experiences that you won’t get anywhere else. Time is the one thing money cannot buy, and the years between 18 and 22 are in many ways the most formative years of people’s lives.
Of course, finances and affordability are major constraints for many. Going into excessive debt for a school and subject you aren’t passionate about isn’t the smartest idea. You need to access your college options and see what makes sense for you.
Perhaps community college for a couple of years to save money and then transferring is best, or perhaps you get a scholarship to make a private school more affordable. Alternatively, you could do 4 years at a nearby state school and commute. All of these options will still give you infinitely more exposure and experiences than not going to college at all. I honestly can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t gone to college, but I know I wouldn’t be here writing this article.
How do you see job seekers having to change their approaches to finding not only employment, but employment that fits their talents and interests?
Despite the doom and gloom predictions, there are, and likely always will be, jobs available.
Job seekers need to become masters of their domain. In this competitive market, the best candidates will stand out from the crowd more than ever. Whatever that domain is, excel at it and become irreplaceable.
Beyond upskilling, networking is the other main thing. If 10,000 people are applying to one job, it’s unlikely all 10,000 resumes are even reviewed. So, knowing someone at a company will always give you an upper hand and can help you at least get to an interview. Spend time meeting people and making connections; it will get you much farther than applying into the void.
How should people plan their careers such that they can hedge their bets against being replaced by automation or robots?
The statistics of AI and automation eliminating millions of jobs appear frightening to some. For instance, Walmart aims to eliminate cashiers altogether, and Domino’s is instituting pizza delivery via driverless vehicles.
It’s true that some current jobs will become obsolete, but new jobs will appear and take their place. Someone will need to make the driverless vehicles, monitor them, and maintain them, and someone will need to build the systems that will replace cashiers, monitor them, and maintain them.
Try to develop skills that are scalable with tech and can leverage them versus skills that can be replaced by them. Companies will always seek innovation — and as they turn to AI to handle certain tasks, new needs will emerge that only people can fulfill. Position yourself to be the one who can do what AI can’t.
Technological advances and pandemic restrictions hastened the move to working from home. Do you see this trend continuing? Why or why not?
For several years post-COVID, it seemed things would stay in the remote/WFH format. Most companies adopted a hybrid model, and many became fully remote. However, as of recently, a lot of companies have been moving back to a fully in-person model or at least a mandatory three-day in-office work week. In fact, some large corporations like Amazon and JP Morgan now have a mandatory five-day return-to-office rule. It will depend from company to company and industry to industry.
What societal changes do you foresee as necessary to support the fundamental changes to work?
The education system needs to change in order to keep up with the AI era. The foundations of our education systems have been in place for years and were intended to help students gain skills to join a workforce that likely won’t require many of the long-established skills. Many jobs will become automated and replaced with AI, and students need to think about learning skills that leverage and support AI. The ability to work effectively alongside advanced technology will require more effort and adaptability than ever before. To keep pace, our approach to education must evolve — emphasizing critical thinking, creativity, and lifelong learning.
What changes do you think will be the most difficult for employers to accept?
For employers, work is needed to redefine employee roles and workflows to ensure a tight integration with AI-enabled systems. Most companies that have been around a long time have spent many years defining their systems and processes, and it is often these processes that are their competitive advantage. However, holding onto these systems and processes will introduce a high level of risk from competitors who adopt AI fast or are building their companies from the ground up with an AI-first approach.
For employees, there will be a lot of job security anxiety and learning curve and reskilling challenges. Change is never easy, especially for people who have spent years mastering particular skills. Adapting to new processes can feel uncomfortable, but it’s a necessary shift as the nature of work evolves.
Despite all that we have said earlier, what is your greatest source of optimism about the future of work?
With the rise of AI, we’re on the brink of making powerful tools widely accessible, enabling people to work at unprecedented speed and efficiency. And if used correctly, AI can help people accelerate understanding, streamline tasks, and help people accomplish more.
We still have some ways to go, but menial tasks that used to take people hours can now be done in minutes, and if we keep scaling at this rate, we can exponentially increase our own knowledge and productivity. That is what AI should and hopefully will do.
Unfortunately, there has often been a gap between job losses and the growth of new jobs. What do you think we can do to reduce the length of this gap?
Historically, major disruptions to the employment status quo, particularly disruptions that result in fewer jobs, are temporary, with new jobs replacing the jobs lost.
However, to reduce the length of this transition, it’s important to embrace technology and the changes it brings. While widespread AI adoption will result in job losses, it will also create many more, and the faster we adapt to this technology, the shorter the gap will be.
What are your “Top 5 Trends To Watch In the Future of Work?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
- AI Everywhere. AI is moving beyond the basic chatbot and will be integrated into all facets of our lives, from autonomous vehicles to personalized AI assistants and copilots for legal and medical work. There will be an “AI for that” for just about anything you can think of. A great example of this is the work that I am doing at goldbridge.ai. We are using AI to help people find jobs using an intelligent copilot that assists in resume writing and job hunting. Our vision is that everyone has a copilot that knows their career aspirations to help with everything from upskilling to advising on how to deal with various work situations.
- Spatial computing and AR/VR/MR. The physical and digital worlds will ultimately merge once Apple, Meta, and others tech giants find the right medium for mass adoption. Pokémon Go was a great example of how merging the digital and physical worlds, turning parks, streets, and landmarks into interactive gaming arenas, creating excitement and intrigue, and encouraging millions of people to explore their surroundings in entirely new ways.
- AI accelerated biotech and health. AI will be used to enable faster drug discovery, personalized medicine, and predictive diagnosis. Imagine a world where pandemics like COVID-19 are a thing of the past because AI is able to develop medicines faster than viruses can mutate. Or a world where cancer is detected early and a personalized treatment is made available, effectively curing all cancer. AI-enhanced biotech has the potential to make a significant impact on improving the quality and longevity of human life.
- Climate tech and sustainable innovation. The climate crisis is real, and if we don’t use technology to help us solve it, then everything else is for nothing because we won’t have a habitable planet to live on. A good friend of mine in the environmental sciences field once told me that it’s not about saving the earth; it is about saving ourselves! The earth doesn’t care if we decide to make it uninhabitable for humans because it will still be here long after we are gone.
For example, there are already various AI-enabled companies focused on fighting climate change. For instance, Space Intelligence is working in over 30 countries and has mapped more than 1 million hectares of land from space using satellite data, allowing them to remotely measure metrics like deforestation rates and how much carbon is stored in a forest. - Robotics in everyday life. Very soon our homes, offices, and entertainment spaces will be getting huge upgrades in the form of robotics. Disney recently announced their plans to work with Nvidia to bring intelligent robotic characters to their theme parks. There is an enormous amount of investment and interest in this field right now, attracting some of the world’s greatest minds.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how this quote has shaped your perspective?
I could write an entire book about life lesson quotes. I know I’ve been lucky enough to meet a lot of smart people with lots of great advice throughout my life and I wish I had listened to them earlier and more. But if I had to pick just one, however, it would be this: Life is short; don’t waste it.
This is a philosophy that I try to live by as much as possible. Life is short and precious, and in the grand scheme of things our time here is so small compared to the grandness of space and time. Ultimately nothing we do really matters; all that matters is that we make the most of the time we have here. Life is too short to waste it doing things you don’t care about. Do what makes you happy, spend time with people you enjoy, and live your life however you want. Don’t worry about what other people think of you, appreciate the little things, and enjoy the current moment; it’s called the present because it’s a gift. We are lucky enough to be alive; make the most of it.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I don’t follow many sports, but I follow football extensively, and my favorite player is Patrick Mahomes. He is the best football player I’ve ever seen and seems to be a great guy who does a lot for his community and has changed the landscape of Kansas City and the broader NFL. Just to get an hour to sit with him and eat some sandwiches and hear his life story and what drives him to be the best — that is something that I would love to get to do.
Our readers often like to follow our interview subjects’ careers. How can they further follow your work online?
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sid-srivastava-4488721b2/
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this. We wish you continued success and good health.