Upskilling for future jobs means working with tech and AI rather than fighting change

There’s a quote floating around the internet that doesn’t seem to be attributable to a single person – “AI won’t replace humans, but humans using AI will replace humans who don’t.”

ChatGPT says this has become “a popular saying among AI and technology enthusiasts, often used to highlight the importance of adapting to new technologies to stay relevant in an evolving job market”. Thought leaders National Treasury Director-General Duncan Pieterse and SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter agree.

SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter. (Photo: Dwayne Senior / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Speaking at a Public Economics Conference this week, the two said AI should be viewed as a tool to improve performance rather than a threat to job security.

“The problem is that (AI in) Africa is currently creating half a new job for every one job that is being destroyed; while in Asia, they are creating between two and three jobs for every job that’s been disintermediated. So we need to up our game. Our school delivery system doesn’t prepare people for the future world of work if you engage in rote learning rather than understanding, if you don’t develop curiosity, collaboration and communication as the future skills,” Kieswetter said.

Pieterse said one of the big issues he had identified was the shortage of data scientists. “Through our activities working with AI and the National Treasury data lab, we’ve discovered that there are simply not enough data scientists.”

He said he recently chatted to a Stellenbosch University professor and was told the university was introducing data science as a compulsory module for the economics graduate programmes.

“So increasingly, more and more – even in the social sciences – more and more faculties are seeing a reason to bring data science expertise into their curriculum. I think that’s quite important. The second issue around AI use becoming more widespread is cost,” he said.

Pieterse pointed out that while data scientists commanded high salaries, the infrastructure required was also quite expensive.

Kieswetter said that introducing the use of data and technology could be “actually fairly easy”, but preparing people for the digital future was often missed.

He cited an example where he had tasked senior executives 18 months ago to start redrafting every job in SARS on a five-ladder career progression with beginner, intermediate, general proficient, advanced and mastery phases.

“They were struggling with this. I got them all into a room and showed them how they can use AI to help them with the task. The AI I used was able to write up a job description for the general proficient tax auditor, redraft it customised for SARS, using SARS language.

“It then supplied me with a programme to prepare someone to become a general proficient tax auditor, including key performance indicators and a performance contract. I then asked for a machine learning code to help me manage the performance of a tax auditor, and when it gave me that, I asked the AI to rewrite it using deep learning and LLM (large language models).

“Then I asked for salary ranges in the South African market for all five levels – finally it wrote an advert for me,” he said.

The AI model was able to complete all the tasks Kieswetter requested within 30 minutes, quite possibly to the astonishment of his senior executives.

Salaries in the tech space

Promising jobs in the tech space include full-stack developers, data scientists, cybersecurity analysts and cloud solution architects. Mvelo Hlophe, chief executive of online learning platform Zaio says data science has emerged as one of the most promising and in-demand career paths, particularly in industries such as healthcare and finance, where data-driven decision-making is crucial

“Data scientists play a key role in analysing large datasets, uncovering trends and providing actionable insights that can drive the success of these businesses,” he says.

Hlophe says full-stack developers are highly versatile professionals capable of building both the front-end and back-end of web and mobile applications. Cybersecurity analysts are responsible for protecting an organisation’s systems and networks from digital threats and ensuring that sensitive information remains secure.

The Nclose State of Ransomware in South Africa study, which surveyed 500 respondents from local organisations at the beginning of August, found that 63.2% had experienced at least one ransomware attack in the past 24 months. Of these, 27,8% faced 1-2 attacks, 23,2% encountered 3-5 attacks, and 12,2% dealt with 6 or more incidents.

Stephen Osler, co-founder and business development director at Nclose, says the figures are not surprising. “Most organisations hesitate to disclose when attackers target them, so we don’t know the true extent of ransomware attacks in South Africa. However, we know that the incidence of cybercrime and ransomware is continually climbing,” he says.

Cloud solution architects, as implied by the name, design, implement and manage cloud-based systems for businesses.

Salary ranges commanded by these jobs

According to Salary Expert, this is what South African job-seekers in the tech industry can expect to earn once qualified:

• Full-stack developers: between R60,000 and R105,000 cost to company (CTC) a month, depending on experience.


• Data scientists: between R30,000 and R100,000 CTC a month, depending on experience.


• Cybersecurity analyst: A junior cybersecurity analyst can expect to earn around R50,000 and a senior analyst can earn up to R95,000 CTC a month.


• Cloud solutions architect: R70,000 a month for someone starting out and as much as R125,000 CTC a month for those with more experience under their belt. DM