Traditional bike shops like Blake's Renegade Cycles in Lane Cove have been transformed by the explosion of expensive and high-tech brands of bicycles like Trek with their own proprietary and highly technical online training.

"Nobody's sweeping ball bearings off the floor," said Mr Blake.

Since the last federal election, many old jobs have been lost because of technology or industry restructuring . Others, such as the cycle industry have changed. And many new jobs – such as drone pilots and remote vehicle drivers – have emerged.

According to the new Wellbeing index, the ability to use our professional knowledge, creativity, education and solve problems is a large contributor to our sense of well being.

The modern bike mechanic – now in high demand with 880 more needed across Australia – requires knowledge of the latest advances in carbon fibre and aerodynamics.

"I really enjoy it: you are constantly learning things, new skills as a mechanic, social media,  and the technology is a lot of fun," said Mr Blake. "One of the big issues is that we get so wrapped up in the technology that we have to remember to lose the jargon when we talk to customers ... because we get so technical."

Mr Blake expects all staff, including mechanics like Eliot van Brummelen who is also a qualified accountant and anthropologist, to cycle through various courses, including degree, master and then Phd level in Trek repairs, within three months of starting. It's paid off in increased job satisfaction, with many of his mechanics staying with him for decades.

At least bike mechanic is a job title that most people recognise. That's not the case with many of the newest jobs that combine technology, creativity and continual learning, which have only emerged in the past two years.

Take Ben Simons, for instance. The computer scientist and visual effects supervisor, who made Happy Feet and Amelia,  is now technical director of a data arena – a virtual reality cave – at the University of Technology Sydney. Instead of visualising data on a webpage, data is shown in 3D on the walls of a data cave where groups of people, each armed with a mouse, can talk and point, and zoom in and out.

"We've created a monster. It is very popular, and very social," said Mr Simons. His appointment two years ago coincided with improvements in graphic processing units that made this sort of data visualisation more affordable than in the past.

He describes this new field as a hybrid of computer science, the world of graphics and visual communication.

Sydney Water is one of the many organisations which has been testing the data arena to visualise parts of its pipes where technicians could never reach.

Dammika Vitanage, the water system's asset and infrastructure Research Coordinator at Sydney Water said this type of data visualisation in the future would allow Sydney Water to obtain 3D imagery of its infrastructure to improve its operations, planning and management.

These sorts of jobs are typical of those emerging, according to the Department of Employment. Its recent paper on jobs of the future lists big data analysts, complex decision support analysts, remote controlled vehicle operators, customer experience experts, personalised preventative health helpers and online chaperones (preventing online fraud or bullying, for instance.)

Mark McCrindle, a demographer and social researcher who runs McCrindle Research, says jobs like these are already being advertising, showing increasing demand. He identified 10 jobs that were already being advertised.

1.       Data visualisation expert, such as a job recently advertised by the NSW Government seeking someone with experience in dissecting and analysing large and multiple, complex sources of raw data and translating this data into engaging and informative presentations and documents.   Terms like infographics and data dashboards are now mainstream, said Mr McCrindle. As IBM in their big data study stated: "90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last 2 years alone".

2.       Virtual reality engineer, with many employers looking for knowledge of Oculus, a virtual reality headset. Augmented reality applications had quickly moved from gaming and entertainment to industries such as real estate, he said, citing the way prospective buyers view off the plan units before they are built.

3. Cognitive Computing Architect:  Mr McCrindle said these specialists bridged the technology and humanity divide. For example, some computer engineering roles require psychology degrees as prerequisites.

4. Cyber-security specialist / SIEM specialist (Security Information and Event Management). He said jobs like one recently advertised at a Sydney bank had grown in importance and urgency as cyber espionage, ransomware and denial of service had spread.

5. UAV technicians/ drone pilots. The world of unmanned flight had created many new jobs. "When Harvey Norman is selling as many brands of drones or UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) as egg beaters you know it's a thing," said McCrindle. A job ad for RAAF Air Combat Officers called for someone to "transition emerging capabilities such as Space, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Joint Terminal Attack Control".

6.       Classroom Avatar manager/teaching avatar designer:  Learning is increasingly taking place out of school premises and hours, and delivered by an avatar, or interactive platform, app or game.

7.    Operators of driverless vehicles – cars, buses, plains, etc. Train drivers will manage the trains remotely. Sydney Trains is hiring.

8.       Medical nanotechnologist and medical engineers: These jobs require expertise in fields such as "tissue engineering and biomaterials, nanotechnology, electromechanical devices, surgical robotics and simulation, computational fluid dynamics, 3D printing".

9.       Digital Services Officer:  Librarians are morphing into services officer, archivists into digital analyst. A recent ad highlights the future,  libraries with no books, he said.

10.   Aged and Disability Care Agent: As well as a huge demand for community nurses and support workers, new jobs had been created for staff who remotely coordinates these services.

And bike mechanics, who are prepared to learn.   Peter Bourke, the general manager of Bicycle Industries Australia, said the industry was about to launch its own training, Cytech. Increased training would  change attitudes, and make bike mechanic a career instead of the "meantime job" – as Blake's mechanic Eliot van Eliot van Brummelen called it.  He said the industry's 1000 shops needed another 880 mechanics.