Automation: Streamlining Development Operations; STS 4600 Thesis: Impact of Automation and Machines on employment

During the Summer of 2021, I took part in an 8-week virtual internship opportunity at Deloitte within their Global Technology Services (GTS) business unit. I worked specifically in the Global Technology Infrastructure (GTI) business line alongside the Platforms Automation team whereas as an intern on this team, I became involved with three projects dealing with Application Programming Interface (API) Development, Server Compliance Automation, and Promoting Sustainability. The API development project involved delivering an API that retrieves data from a configuration management database. In the promoting sustainability project, I teamed up with other Deloitte GTS interns to develop a roadmap on ways organizations such as Deloitte could positively impact climate change and sustainability efforts by external stakeholders to address a significant problem that impacts the lives of all those on our planet. The specifics of these projects, such as the technologies used and the deployment efforts, are highlighted in the following technical report.

Automation is becoming highly proficient, and for this reason, people have started worrying more about their replacement. Although automation brings efficiency and effectiveness to an engineering environment, it is expected that automation will bring its share of harm to people and society. Because of of my internship experience, I chose to highlight the impact automation has had in society. It is no secret that robots or machines are coming to take the jobs of humans and it is vital to understand those impacts. The research problem I look to answer is what has been the impact of automation and machines on employment?