A Brownian Career
Those of us who paid attention during the physics stream of our education will recall the phenomenon of Brownian motion, whereby the path of a large particle is strongly influenced by the surrounding smaller particles (gas molecules). The large particle is influenced to the extent that the path it takes appears to be random.
Digital life is such that it is now very difficult to set a course and to stick to it, given the forces that are bearing down on us. Such forces will include attention-grabbing content, market volatility and the 24-7 influence of our social networks.
The industrial era was a high point where mankind was at his most defiant. I will build cars and they will be purchased. I will train to be a lawyer, doctor or architect, hop on the appropriate career conveyor belt, and, without doubt, I will be led on a journey that is both well-defined and progressively well-rewarded.
These assumptions implied we had some control over market conditions, or that at least the market would remain in something of a steady state. Even though we know this to be no longer true, schools continue to adhere to the industrial assumptions, aided and abetted by society.
In the industrial era, once Nancy’s family knew she was planning to be a doctor, her life options narrowed down to one conveyor belt. Nancy would either have to fail her exams, commit an act of gross misconduct or overcome the formidable social blockade that, if crossed, would mark her as something of a failure.
But even if Nancy wants to be a doctor and trains to be a doctor, she may graduate into a market where GPs are algorithms and surgeons are robots. So does she start again, or does she hop into an adjacent market, eg. B2C painkiller marketing?
My point is that none of us can predict where our ‘career’ is heading. So the notion of a career for life is increasingly being replaced by a life of careers. But even a serial approach to the latter is not enough. Parallel career advancement: author before breakfast, robotics engineer during the day and Irish dancing teacher in the evening, is becoming the norm. Though I should point out that these are just examples of career elements rather than my personal recommendations.
Think of your work life as a portfolio of bets. Maybe being an author will provide income in your ‘retirement’ years? Or possibly humans will be out of the writing loop, with the best books being personalised and software generated?
Redundancy, if you should be one of the growing few in a ‘permanent’ role, will be an opportunity to acquire some new skills that when complemented with your existing skillset might substantially increase your market value.
We cannot plan where our careers are going to head, but we can makes a guess at how technology and the world economy, coupled with anthropological trends, will shape the world, and in turn the world of work.
Who knows maybe your fortune will come from being the first dance teacher to provide remote dancing services using haptics, exoskeletons and immersed virtual reality? Expect such hi-tech randomness to be the norm. And thus more predictable for those who pay attention to both tech trends and their environments.
Which trends might you ‘tap’ into?