Imagine that your memory was only good for two years. Anything that you learned over two years ago was forgotten. The only education you had at your disposal was the things you had learned in the past 24 months.
This should be a pretty terrifying prospect for anyone. However, some people would find themselves unable to function at all, while others would find themselves merely handicapped. It all depends on how much effort each individual has put into learning new things in the last two years.
Some people graduate from college with the idea that they can stop learning. They pick up some additional education in the form of on-the job-training, but the amount they learn each year is very close to zero. Others assume that learning is something that is ongoing and that the rate of change in the world forces them to be constantly learning new things.
When you think about it, a good percentage of what you learned more than two years ago is irrelevant today. The rapid pace of technology and change in general are working together to make sure that much of what you learn today will be outdated or at least less relevant in two years.
If you aren’t constantly making an effort to learn new things, you’ll quickly find your education inadequate to cope with what the world has become. This doesn’t happen overnight and many people don’t even recognize the change. In fact, many people don’t realize what has happened until they lose their job and find themselves in need of work with few current skills.
The current economic situation really demonstrates this. There are many employers out there looking for employees to pay $60k per year. The jobs are going unfilled because they can’t find qualified employees.
We lived in Michigan for a while, and I was amazed at how many people were making a good living without any formal education, simply operating a particular piece of machinery at an automotive plant. I’m not saying that there was not skill involved in running the machines, but when they lost their jobs they didn’t have much of a skill set to transfer somewhere else.
The only way to stay current is to make a consistent investment in your informal (and formal) education. You can never get comfortable or feel like you have learned everything you need to know.
Originally published December 1, 2006.
Terrific post. Being in IT and dealing with users each day, I wonder about this constantly. Not to insult anyone, but the vast majority of the questions I hear are remedial at best. I often question how people intend to protect their future without learning the skills required to evolve in today’s world.
I’ve gone so far as to not give people the answers to their questions, but instead explain to them that a particular subject is so basic that the really need to learn it for themselves. Again, not trying to insult in any way, simply explaining that by now knowing how to Google or get pictures off of your camera are everyday-type of skills that people shouldn’t avoid learning.
I don’t know that I’d tell people to “figure it out for themself” but I understand what you are trying to do. Most of the people I see who have lots of trouble learning technology, never made the investment up front to have the necessary foundation for learning more and more advanced concepts. (While you and I don’t consider getting pictures off a camera “advanced” it is a pretty difficult jump for someone who never took the time to understand how a filesystem works.)
Maybe I was exaggerating. I’ve never actually told someone to “figure it out for themselves”, but I have explained to them that their specific question is probably one best answered on their own as that knowledge will stay with them longer. I follow that up with suggestions on search terms to plug into Google or other places to look.
I guess the point I was trying to make is that far too often I see people have a question, then simply throw up their hands and ask someone else for the answer. Never giving a second thought to finding the answer on their own.
I realize it may be a stretch, but I do think that concept is in line with the posts theme of learning to stay current.
With the wealth of information available at everyone’s fingertips, and the ever increasing number of gadgets that come with manuals a human can actually understand, I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all to expect someone is capable of learning new things without significant prior knowledge of given subject.
Thanks for that posting! is really great to know how to handle great amount of information in new times, with…. more and more information, quick and effective!
I think a good rule of thumb is follow the growth. This means follow your own growth and follow the growth in the market. It’s how you stay relevant and hedge your bets … and growth is a way to enjoy the process.
I have been a software trainer for the last 18 years for corporations such as BP, NASA, Kaiser Permanente and several law firms. It horrifies me that the people who we hold in such regard for their knowledge lack the basic skills to make a computer operate. To many of them, it’s akin to voodoo.
As long as people are afraid to press buttons, I will have a job.
But just think of how much you could teach them if they had a clue! I used to teach Excel and Outlook. People would get excited about very basic functionality and say that it would have them hours each month. I always wondered how they were doing things before.
I make it a goal of mine to constantly be intentional about learning, whether it’s business, personal, a new skill, or something I’ve never tried before. I love learning. I love knowing about and how to do something that previously I did not.
That being said, I would also comment that without some certificate, degree, or official statement that something has been taught (not necessarily learned) most employers do not recognize those new skills so easily. Even those with college degrees have a difficult time convincing a prospective employer that their skill set extends beyond the 4(-ish) years that their degree accounts for.
I agree with this article that we need to constantly be learning new things. I would say, though, for it to matter to an employer, that skill often needs to be accompanied by some official statement that the skill has been taught.
Great subject and something I’ve been asking for years. I was not able to attend college and I have a child that has a genetic defect and needs moderate supervision. As such, my income has stayed the same for over 20 years. In that time, I’ve learned many skills for a variety of jobs but have found that employers want certificates, degrees, etc.
About a decade ago, unemployment was ‘high’ in my area and I was able to take advantage of a couple of programs at my local unemployment office (even though I had a job). One of the first tests they gave was a aptitude test. Mine showed I would be good in transportation (driving a truck specifically which is funny as I was employed as a coach driver) and accounting.
I was able to formulate a plan to move into the accounting field while still working. I took a basic bookkeeping course, received my certification and was able to be hired by a temp agency. I’m currently working on becoming Quickbooks Pro certified which will afford me the opportunity to set my own hours and pay.
Having said all that I am consistently frustrated that employers won’t even acknowledge that I have learned many specialized programs (some to the point that I could teach them) simply because I don’t have that certificate. Yet, they will hire some one who ‘looks good/smells good’ because they have that ‘certificate’ , then wonder why the quality of work goes down.
Yes, a college degree can be a good thing but it is no guarantee that the person can learn. Practical knowledge is different then ‘book’ knowledge. I have often wondered why employers don’t offer a probation period to people like me to test what we know and how fast we learn. And then pay according to the skills that we have, not the pieces of paper that have be acquired.
Until that mindset changes, I don’t see any future for those currently in school that don’t have the opportunity or ability to attend college wanting to continue to learn. It’s a vicious cycle that will only continue until someone or something forces changes.
Without a doubt, investing in yourself and committing to life long learning is something that is valuable