For those who don't know, I am leaving EarthLink as part of its corporate restructuring announced in August. My last "official" day is at the end of the month. I'm entering a new phase I'm calling - Career 2.0 - to reflect my focus on social media. Whether I finally wind up working at another corporation, with an agency, or for myself, I know social media will be an integral part of my job.
As a sign of the times, I have created a new Facebook group called "Career 2.0". I invite others to share their career 2.0 observations with others in this group. From the ridiculous to the sublime, I hope this forum will be a collective diary on a micro level of how we are adjusting or radically altering our career paths to embrace web 2.0. For another perspective, check out the career path of Jeremy Owyang who just started a new job with Forrester. Feel free to post questions, provide answers or offer comments and suggestions.
I began my the next phase of my career 2.0 journey speaking to a classroom of undergraduate economic students at Georgia Tech here in Atlanta. A professor there generously set aside some time for me to address the topic of career reinvention.
One thing I quickly realized, 40-something may be the new 30, but standing before a bunch of college kids, I am still very much on the plus side of 40.
Undaunted, I started with two stats from a terrific video Shift Happens from Karl Fisch.
1. Former Secretary of Education Richard Riley has said that the top 10 ten jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn't exist in 2004. That means that students are preparing for jobs that don't exist using technologies that haven't been invented in order to solve problems that no one yet knows are even problems.
2. It is believed that the amount of technical information doubles every 2 years. Half of the technical skills students start learning as a freshman will be outdated by their junior year.
Depending on your perspective, the video is either sobering or exciting, describing a world that is both threatening and promising.
Now career reinvention may be an odd topic for classroom of students who are still working out the invention part. Selfishly, I wanted to learn from a generation more wired into MySpace than "Lost in Space," who barely know what dial-up access is and who prefer texting to talking.
I handed out a survey to get a sense of how they use they web -- from what sites they visit to how often they are online. The answers aren't that surprising, but I did discover one thing. To them, technology just is. They don't think about how their Internet habits are fundamentally transforming the way we market, advertise, and communicate. We talk about their expectations and assumptions; they don't. We post blogs, write thoughtful white papers, conduct and speak on panels about the the power they are wielding; they just want to stay connected to friends and share their experiences online.
Now the Fish Story
To illustrate this point, I turn to a passage from David Foster Wallace's monumental novel Infinite Jest.
A hoary old fish, hooks and leaders trailing like battle ribbons from his jaw, approaches a collection of loitering youngsters taking their ease by a coral reef. "Hey," says the grandpa, "how's the water?" The young fish smile, bob and sway their fins deferentially. "Fine, fine, fine," they all say. When the relic has swum off and away, they turn to each other and, almost simultaneously, say, "What's that all about? What's water?"
Most of us are not yet grandpas, but we all know what water is. Swimming about in career 2.0, I invite you all to jump in -- the water is great.
Let me get back to you.
Technorati Tags: Career 2.0; Georgia Tech; Shift Happens; Karl Fisch; Richard Riley; Social Media;
link to original post