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Learn a trade? Yeah right, that's so 20th century.
I've noticed something strange within the past ten years or so. Often, when I meet someone and we discuss our careers, I am left with no clear idea what that person does for a living. Sometimes it's even difficult for him to describe. My brother, for instance, has worked for the same company for years and I really haven't the vaguest notion exactly what he does. It used to be something with computers, now it's something to do with business. I think.
There was a time when a man could sum up his job in a few words. A coal miner. A plumber. An electrician. A cabinet maker. A chef. A lumberjack. A baker. A blacksmith. A cooper. Until recently, a guy could even call himself a computer programmer and most of us knew what that meant.
Make money. No skills necessary.
Today, people get MBAs and find jobs working for companies that only insiders can understand truly what they do. A lot of data is exchanged with other companies who, in turn, sell that data to other companies who outsource their end of that data to middlemen in India who then somehow manage to massage it and most likely get someone from the original company to buy it. At least that's how I think it works. Is anything really produced? Does it matter?
On the plus side, most of these companies have really cool logos and techie-sounding portmanteau names.
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I've noticed something strange within the past ten years or so. Often, when I meet someone and we discuss our careers, I am left with no clear idea what that person does for a living. Sometimes it's even difficult for him to describe. My brother, for instance, has worked for the same company for years and I really haven't the vaguest notion exactly what he does. It used to be something with computers, now it's something to do with business. I think.
There was a time when a man could sum up his job in a few words. A coal miner. A plumber. An electrician. A cabinet maker. A chef. A lumberjack. A baker. A blacksmith. A cooper. Until recently, a guy could even call himself a computer programmer and most of us knew what that meant.
Make money. No skills necessary.
Today, people get MBAs and find jobs working for companies that only insiders can understand truly what they do. A lot of data is exchanged with other companies who, in turn, sell that data to other companies who outsource their end of that data to middlemen in India who then somehow manage to massage it and most likely get someone from the original company to buy it. At least that's how I think it works. Is anything really produced? Does it matter?
On the plus side, most of these companies have really cool logos and techie-sounding portmanteau names.
...