Careers for the 21st Century
JR posted in Uncategorized on February 3rd, 2009
I will sometimes be asked for advice about what type of career someone going to college should be looking toward. Why this happens, I haven’t the slightest idea. My own career has not been terribly diverse, but I do have a wide-ranging set of interests and knowledge.
Regardless, Art Carden at Stepcase Lifehack has a very well-thought out article about 21st Century Opportunities.
With five broad areas of opportunity, I think he has correctly identified some of the broad themes for the economy of the next 20 years. Beyond 20 years, the outlook is not as clear. Because of the accelerating impact of technology, some immediate careers will change greatly. For instance, he states that Product Design will have a clear value as the cost of manufacturing goods declines. What he misses is that with the decline of production cost, there will become a corresponding rise in the era of mass customization. While Design will continue to be of value, there may not be the big “wins” of Design in the past. Instead, we may have a series of rapidly changing “fads” in design. While the classic Eames chair will still have value, someone could get their chair personalized to their own specific body and comfort. Later, they would want another.
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