Choosing A Career: A Lottery Of Sorts?

What advice do you give your kids...?

In my generation, and I know I am not a hip 20 something anymore...eh more like a happy 40 something, when you chose a career path to persue, you sort of knew that it would still be there in the future.

Yes, we all embraced the fact that we could deviate slightly from it and chop and change companies. Our parents generation knew that they would start at 18 in one shop / firm / company and stay there until retirement at 65. That was a certainty back then. Maybe most of us tended to jumped from branch to branch of the same career tree so often, so as to not repeat our parents work path.

Technology is advancing at such a pace, that it makes your head spin. Just this week, we saw the possible ' drone delivery ' of Amazon parcels ( I checked the date in case I slept through bits of the year, as this has all the hallmarks of an April 1st story! ). Let's take it at face value. Exciting to say the least. But, and for me it is a big but, what will that do to the DHL / Postal Services and Parcel Services of this world. All those workers might have to look for a different career path.

( There is a thought provoking article in the Financial Times about the relationship between Capital and Labour. Without workers having jobs that enable them to buy the goods produced by companies, the companies can't survive for ever! )

Remember that not everyone is adept enough to be a scientist / brain surgeon / rocket scientist or even university graduate. Society ( usually ) needs its members to take various and balanced career choices. If everyone was a scientist / banker / lawyer / doctor, who would fix your toilets / clean your homes / cut your hair / sew your clothes / cook your food or fix your car?

What career advice do you give your children now? What should they focus on and more importantley will it still be needed in 10 / 20 or 50 years? Navigating this work environment of the 21st century is very scary indeed. Making a good choice might even be harder.

Could it be that Trades are the way of the future?
Hair will always grow, plumbing will always need attention, computer hardware needs fixing, cars need servicing, farms need tending and so on...

What are your thoughts and what job / career do you think is time - proof?

Biggi