Jobs --> Future: Tech skills plus ? - sm Posted: Jun 19th, 2017 - 4:12 am In Reply to: New career option for smart savvy MTs - Web design
Here's an indisputable fact about work in the 21st century: Organizations in EVERY FIELD OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR seek to gain competitive advantage, managerial insights and/or operational efficiencies through the use of various forms of information and communication technologies.
TRANSLATION: Most jobs going forward, and especially those that pay well, WILL INVOLVE SOME DEGREE OF GEEK.
"GEEK" ranges from the relatively simple skills, such as creating engaging PowerPoint presentations or marketing infographics, to more specialized skills such as data interpretation by an Excel specialist, to even more geeky skills such as Python or Java programming, digital forensics, information security, etc.
Not a geek? That's okay, too, because you can flip this around to see it in a different way, namely this:
No matter what, humans will always be humans. The human being in 2500 AD will have the same needs, desires and aspirations of the human being in 2500 BC - regardless of what technology might invent. Think of technology as a means of fulfillment and delivery, or as an aid to fulfillment and delivery of these needs, wants and desires. In other words, you can be driven by purely human and altruistic interests and simply view technology as tools that you will use to achieve your social objectives.
To be "GEEK" does not mean detachment from the world. It does not require you to surrender your humanity, your interest in people or your ultimate purpose to benefit mankind. Gaining "GEEK" skills only means putting modern tools in your kit, not shifting your course. There are lots of "geeks" who don't come anywhere close to the stereotype of the socially awkward introvert who only thinks of the world in terms of math formulas and computer code and whose only social connections are with others like himself.
"Geek" only means someone who is able to leverage technology in order to accomplish her objectives, which are purely non-technical. It does NOT mean turning yourself into a weird misanthrope, or even that your primary interest is the technology itself, because it is not. Your interest and relationship with technology can be purely pragmatic and detached, as it would be with any other tool that you use to accomplish your purpose.
There's no "geek gene", and anyone can be a geek in the sense that they learn how to use technology to their advantage.
ANYONE.
Employers want geek skills - not "geeks" per se. In fact, many have no interest in the "geek" whatsoever. They want people who can connect the organizational purpose WITH the technology that they use to achieve that purpose.
Grok that, and you've groked the future of work.
Here's an example: CompTIA has a Healthcare Information Technology certification aimed at the people who maintain healthcare information systems. Superficially, it's about the tech who responds to the nursing station on 4-East and gets the computer back online. But on another level, it's about more than that. It's all about why you've prepared yourself to work in healthcare IT in the first place. It's about why those nurses on 4-East need the computer. It's about every single one of the patients on 4-East, the healthcare professionals who are caring for them, and about ensuring that those patients receive the benefits of timely, secure information.
It's not about "geek" at all, except in a very subservient role to those patients and their caregivers.
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