Changing Times!

Changing Times: My dad's generation believed that working for the Government, or in a government run organization was "THE" ultimate pursuit in their lives, and so should it be for us, the subsequent generation! To reinforce this belief, private sector was in its infancy and the only profession known to them was to either be an engineer or be in the medical profession – the only two sectors having employment potential. Directly or in directly it was drilled into our minds that all other jobs or professions were menial and worthy of being ignored. So much so, not securing a seat in an engineering college was considered an insult, having to listen to the snide remarks by the members of the extended family and friends.

Like it or not, most of us in our generation ended up either in an engineering college or went on to hold a scalpel. But the desire to do something different remained and without the courage to think and do differently, it all remained a pipe dream. But, a few did show some courage two decades later and switched jobs to pursue something that was closer to their hearts. Such instances were however rare!

The next generation has been a lot more adventurous, we must accept. The reason could be manifold, but primarily it rests on the fact that their basic everyday necessities were adequately provided for, thanks to the conservative nature of their previous generation who believed that money saved is money earned and lived a simple life keeping aside money for a rainy day! According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the Gen-Y today, has jump started into level IV which talks about the need for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishments. In a way this could also be termed as evolution of the times. Since supporting the family is built into the ethos of an Indian mindset, the safety net and a fallback mechanism offers an insurance to the younger generation to explore and experiment into uncharted territories. Failure, is not considered evil anymore and the extended family has thankfully migrated itself to an advisory and sounding board rather than discouraging Gen-Y from pursuing a career of their choice.   

The process of moving away from being judgmental, although painfully slow, is certainly making some progress. Human psyche can indeed be strange: the love-hate relationship for the underdog will never go away and the mind tricks itself into taking sides depending on which side the bread is buttered.

We must also acknowledge that opportunities have multiplied manifold in the last decade and institutions have sprung up offering a myriad of learning and studying streams that has opened the minds to where the heart leads. Coupled with this is, learning to respect all professions and treating them at par with engineering or medicine of the yesteryear's. This has essentially been “THE” Game Changer!

The strange thing about two successive generations is that there is always a section between the two who are neither here nor there – they lie within the cusp! They aren't able to identify with either, and are torn between their existing belief system and the lost opportunities because they did not upskill themselves with the fast changing circumstances and environment. The "Why me?" thought process froze them on their tracks making them believe that they couldn't do anything other than what they had been doing mechanically for a decade and half. That they are capable of reinventing themselves is a thought they deliberately and forcefully drove out of their minds. Sadly, this tribe of people is on the increase and I say this because of the calls that I receive from old junior friends and colleagues who are desperately looking for an alternative job and a fresh identity.  By any standards this isn't a comfortable situation to be in and the sooner we address it, the better! Instead of allowing this situation to manifest itself into a serious medical condition and tearing their families apart, is there a way that people become open to learning or developing new skills?

I would certainly like to believe that there is...but, where do we start? To begin with here is a list of the most obvious (this list is doing its round in WhatsApp, presently):

Top 10 Sites for your career:

1. LinkedIN

2. Indeed

3. Careerealism

4. Job-Hunt

5. JobBait

6. Careercloud

7. GM4JH

8. Personalbrandingblog

9. Jibberjobber

10. Neighbors-helping-neighbors

 Top 10 Tech Skills in demand in 2019:

1. Machine Learning

2. Mobile Development

3. SEO/SEM Marketing

4. Data Visualization 

5. Data Engineeringj

6. UI/UX Design

7. Cyber-security 

8. Cloud Computing/AWS

9. Blockchain

10. IOT

 Top 10 Sites for Free Online Education:

1. Coursera

2. edX

3. Khan Academy

4. Udemy

5. iTunesU Free Courses

6. MIT OpenCourseWare

7. Stanford Online

8. Codecademy

9. Open Culture Online Courses

I am hopeful this short essay will help people open up their minds to think of a possibility. Half the battle is won when the mind decides that “I Can Do It” and the other half is won when thoughts are converted to action and executed with perfection!

So my suggestion would be: “Just Do It!”