Are You a Knowledge Architect? Why Modern Careers Are Hard to Explain

The Rise of Niche Professions

The world is filled with a variety of professions that are often misunderstood. From sharks and bats to people in unique careers, the concept of what we do for a living can be quite perplexing. According to LinkedIn, one in five Americans has a job that didn’t exist in 2000. These new titles don't always make sense at first glance. For example, knowledge architects don't draw blueprints, conversation designers don't foster dialogue between people, and orchestration engineers don't work with musical instruments.

What these professionals actually do is work with artificial-intelligence models. However, they often find themselves frustrated when trying to explain their roles, especially during family gatherings around the holiday dinner table.

Generational Gaps and Changing Job Roles

Some of this confusion stems from generational differences. However, the struggle to articulate what we do for a living highlights a broader trend: jobs are becoming more niche, and the outcomes of our work are increasingly abstract. There are individuals with familiar titles whose duties are far from what we might expect. For instance, a certified public accountant might never have prepared a tax return.

Well-known fields have evolved so much that certain roles within them are almost unrecognizable. Some jobs are highly visible, yet many of us still struggle to understand how they qualify as actual jobs. Consider social-media influencers, whose friends and family may not grasp the connection between having a large online following and earning a living.

Dan Roth, LinkedIn’s editor in chief, notes that roles may become more specialized as companies continue to invest in AI. He mentions that new specialized leadership roles, like workforce development manager and chief growth officer, are already emerging.

What's in a Name?

When someone asks Brad Peebles what he does for work, he often debates whether to be specific or keep it simple. His technical title is AI toxicology analyst, a term that can easily confuse even the most attentive listeners at cocktail parties. In reality, his job involves using artificial intelligence to assess threat levels after chemical spills and advising on cleanup efforts.

Peebles usually tells people he's a principal consultant at an environmental engineering firm. He finds that discussing the science behind a job requiring a Ph.D. in biology tends to lose his audience quickly. Mentioning AI can also be polarizing, as some people are afraid of it and shut down upon hearing the term.

The Evolving Role of Accountants

John Jeanson isn't an AI such-and-such or a crypto so-and-so. He's an accountant, one of the oldest and seemingly most straightforward professions. Yet many of the people in his life don’t understand what he does. When he tells his family he needs to work over the weekend, they tell their friends he's in the middle of busy tax season. In reality, he doesn't have anything to do with taxes.

His firm handles tax returns, mostly for companies backed by private equity. However, Jeanson, whose title is chief financial officer and director of business development, says he has never prepared returns, even early in his career. This is partly because millennial CPAs like him came up as technology automated basic tasks and created more specialties.

Traditional accounting is widely seen as vulnerable to artificial intelligence. Some companies already use AI to co-write financial reports, and the Education Department recently reclassified accounting degrees as nonprofessional. Despite this, Jeanson's company still relies on human tax preparers. However, AI's ability to reduce scutwork has made his role more like sales and marketing than traditional accounting. He estimates that he spends three-quarters of his time meeting with prospects and much of the rest talking to existing clients.

The Confusion of Online Content Creation

A different sort of confusion dogs the millions of people trying to make a living as online content creators. The mystery isn't so much what they do all day—often chronicled on social media—but how posting on TikTok or Instagram constitutes a viable career.

Natalija Ugrina, a travel blogger, says that being at family holiday dinners is always a challenge. She repeatedly gets asked, "Natalija, when will you get a job?" She tries to explain how she actually has a job and probably makes more than she would with her economics degree.

Ugrina's original plan was to learn Italian, go to graduate school in Rome, then work on Wall Street. She finished her studies but changed course when social-media posts about her travels took off, and she realized she could use her education to negotiate contracts for branded content.

The New Era of Influencers

Jaeda Skye graduated from college last year and paused her plan to go on to physical-therapy school. She had built an online following, initially by filming herself trying various coffee drinks, and had a budding business advising people and companies on social-media strategy.

Her family is supportive, though not always sure how sampling espresso martini lattes enables her to make rent in New York. She has tried likening herself to a real-estate agent who earns commissions. And she's compared herself to a billboard, explaining that companies promote products in her reel much as they advertise along the highway.

To illustrate the point, Skye brings freebies to family gatherings: drinks and snacks for her cousins, lotion and hair products for her grandmothers. “Then they’re like, ‘Someone just sent this to you for free? Why would anyone do that?’” she says.

Sometimes the explanation of your job raises more questions than it answers.