Please excuse this post... · 5:07am Apr 14th, 2014
...because I just wrote something I thought I needed to get out. I wrote it on Facebook, and I don't foresee it getting any interest here either, but I don't want it lost entirely. Also, some of you might be interested in what I have to say (not likely) but here it is:
I've been thinking, both using my own deduction prowess and others', about careers, and I truly believe they no longer exist. The old 9-to-5 till you're 65, then retire on the company's books, is a thing of the past. As much as I wish it weren't true, we can no longer think about finding a job and staying with it for the foreseeable future.
Take a look at this article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201307/the-end-careers-we-know-them
Part of what is slowing me down is the constant pressure to find a "career", yet the chances of retiring are slim-to-none in this day. Thinking I need to apply myself to a company, then tell them I plan on staying with them forever, just doesn't cut it anymore.
We need to learn to market ourselves, to make labels we can sell, to even hope to survive anymore. We need to think of ourselves as entrepreneurs, not a cog in the machine of a company that will do the same thing every day. To do this, we need to constantly learn new skills, even ones that don't apply to the job we have, because we may not have it a week from now.
With this in mind, I think I can finally answer the old question, "What do you do for a living?" Before, I was embarrassed to say I didn't have a career, that I didn't do anything that resembled the traditional 9-5 everyone expects. Now, when someone asked me that repetitive question from any introduction, I'll be sure to say, "Whatever needs to be done."
It is unfortunate to say that there is quite a bit of truth in the linked article. For instance, my dad has lost the ability to retire when he wanted to because the newspaper business is going out of business. They have layed off more than 100 employees that work in the press room since the economic downfall of 2008, dropped my dad's pay and others' pay by $5, and are forcing those who are still working to run the entire press room on a skeleton crew.
And this is the same story for any other job not based in the advancement of technology. The technological revolution is most definitely here. The only real problem I find is that this might be the case of Recession Thinking, where people caught up in the stigma of hopelessness talk about it just as much. This kind of thinking was not seen during times of economic prosperity, but it is always seen during economic turmoil.
Whatever the reason may be, things will be hard for people trying to have a career in conventional, hands-on jobs, but there will always be a market for technology jobs.
I feel that this is relevant:
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It's interesting just how many people have thought I referenced feelings at all. The video helps for people who can't find out if they belong or something, but it's only a sidetrack of the actual issue involved with jobs.
Talk to anyone and ask them if they think they'll be retiring at 65, maybe 75. It just doesn't happen anymore. People in IT don't have security, just as the rest of the big fields. When your purpose has passed, or the company changes, your job will be in jeopardy. There isn't a single person in my family that has a job they know for certain they will have in 10 years, and I don't think anyone can say that.
So yes, we do need to have goals and feel like we matter, but we need to finally recognize that the old model is dead. Technology improves all the time, and with that so do we.