| My dad ran a local dental lab for 30+ years, making crowns and bridges for local dentists. Over the course of a few years, dentists began using 3D scanners to digitally scan patient impressions, which allowed them to email the scans to my dad's dental lab (previously he'd have to drive to each dentist and pick it up in person). Then, 1-2 years later, they started emailing the 3D scan to a company in China who would do the same work as my dad, and then mail back the finished product directly to the dentist from China. And of course the Chinese dental labs did this at half the price my dad was charging. He went out of business and ended up retiring early at 55. The "retiring early" explanation was a great one, but the real reason he retired was innovation hit his industry and made it easy for dentists to outsource crown/bridge manufacturing to China. He works for a property maintenance company now for $20/hr, mostly as a way to fill his time (he's doing fine financially). Most of the comments here are telling you that you'll be ok, and I hope you will be. But the reality is innovation causes disruption in many fields/industries. If you're in the path of disruption, you have to be willing to quickly adapt and learn to live alongside it rather than fight it. Also remember you're not alone. Technology has been displacing jobs for decades. Life is about learning and adapting. As long as you commit to adapting quickly, learning new skills as necessary and being open to different types of jobs, you should be fine. |
That seems to be a contradiction of your story. Your dad was lucky to be able to retire. He did not adapt. He had to quit and he got low end job.
Its easy to say adapt re-skill, innovate but to a lot of people it might not be an option.