Careers in Post-Capitalism (a gross generalization)

My parents taught me many things when I was younger. One of the messages they found most important was that I get a good education and a good job with a good salary. They taught me this because that's what they wanted to do but were never able to. My father dropped out of college early on and never went back claiming school just wasn't for him. My mother started out as a journalist, but soon gave that up to focus on starting a family and eventually she went to nursing school, a career that has little opportunity for growth and little opportunity for wealthy success. They are reaching retirement age now and they feel more than ever how if certain decisions were made, if they had the money to go to good schools, if they managed to find  jobs with real earning potential, retirement might not be such a scary prospect.

Their perception is based on the reality in which they grew up. My grandparents were extremely hard-working. On one side there was a modest factory worker, on the other there was a doctor. These were careers, single jobs that kept their families afloat. That is what was demanded in their environment. The job market in the United States was simpler to wrap ones head around. If you worked diligently for a given company, they would reward you with a long career and benefits for your family, benefits for your retirement. Of course this is an example of a good story. I fully realize every generation has had to struggle for success. My point is simply that the idea of a career was one long-term job, with one company, with the opportunity for growth and eventual retirement.

And this is the perception that I was taught when I was younger. It's the reason I went into the field of computer science and it's the reason I signed on with Bank of America. I've been with them for 5 years and seeing the shift of this career model, not only at my own job, but in the behavior of my parents workplaces as well, has been profound.

Here is what's going on: Large companies no longer respect their employees. They look at a dollar value of your worth to the company and from that decide to keep you on or let you go. If oversees workers are cheaper, the company will not hesitate to replace you no matter how good your work is. Pensions and other retirement benefits are quickly become a thing of the past. My pension was recently dissolved. The conclusion of this is that there is no job security at large corporations anymore and it won't be returning with any turn-around of the economy. The small companies never had job security to begin with. They are the upstarts, the entrepreneurs who took a substantial risk and hoped for the best. With both of those options of job security unavailable one has to take a different approach. And that different approach is to focus on individual growth

The current environment of fly-by night start-ups and companies based on intellectual property rather than goods is extremely volatile, but it's driven by a unique sort of person who is resilient to this volatility. That person is one with many skills who can find small jobs to fill the time and keep him afloat. The modern worker is a web designer/programmer/consultant. The modern worker is a yoga instructor/hair dresser/stripper. The modern worker who succeeds in this rapidly changing world is multi-faceted, but one new requirement is necessary for these types of people to survive as they deal with so many responsibilities and so much pressure. They need to be absolutely passionate about their work.

During older generations most work was a passionless chore. Jobs were dangerous and generally unrewarding, and this taught the people of this country that their career was not something to feel passionately excited about. It was the only means to start a successful family. One can imagine the toll that takes on a human being. Some themes of the hard working man of previous generations reflected this enormous weight: domestic abuse, alcoholism, and abandonment.

That previous environment based on pumping out tangible goods is what is shifting, what is giving us a ripe opportunity. When the job market is no longer based on industry, but based on ideas, people can literally dream up any original idea and market it. That is what I'll refer to as post-capitalism. As stated before the shift has implications. Goods are a constant need which is why older generations had greater job security. Ideas are short lived and perpetually expanded upon, which is why our environment is so volatile.

But, overall this is a change for the better. People just have to find something they want to do and work at it every minute they can, and then find something else and work at that, and then find something else and so on. There is a lot of reward in capitalizing on your own personal passions.

This new perception of mine leaves me in a pickle, however. I have one skill working at one company who is waiting with hot anticipation to replace me with an oversees worker. I need to find other marketable skills. I need to identify a handful of passions and get to work... I know I want to keep writing, I know I like to help people (the possibility of massage therapy has crossed my mind), I'm knowledgeable of music in a way that most people are not, and I know if I don't start working on these things in a real marketable way, my future is at stake.