Millenials, Be Afraid!
Be afraid, be very afraid! Maybe that was a bit overly dramatic…at least be concerned, be very aware!
The only constant in our universe is change and our universe is currently going through an extreme amount of change. We’re experiencing change in global politics, thoughts on global warming, gay marriage and corporate culture. In a lot of these scenarios like in the job sector we see the change but we do not know where the change is going. Some of these changes are so big iconic companies are disappearing overnight. When companies like Netflix wipe out an entire industry we see a shift from large scale infrastructure to technological efficiency. Over the next 20 years we have a big question mark on the idea of jobs and job security. Can an app do your job?
80 years ago you could work a job with a list of tasks, make a decent wage for 20 years and go on to live a good life. These days if you have a job with a list of tasks, the harsh truth is, your company will eventually find a cheaper solution. This is the elephant in the room that drives the millennials vs baby boomers saga. They don’t know it but this is one of the biggest issue facing the corporate world today. We have two groups of people who grew up in drastically different economic periods trying to understand each other. Baby boomers see a job as an opportunity because for them it was an opportunity. Millennials see a job as a boring dead end.
Millennials are the most well educated generation in history and some how our infrastructure was not prepared to employ them. Hiring is broken, companies do not know who to hire nor why they would hire them. That is why we have JD’s working as baristas at Starbucks. In today’s world, an opportunity is when a company or an industry is asking you to solve a particular problem. When millennials are asked to be creative that is when they’re best engaged not when they’re asked to work diligently at something that need not be done given today’s technological advancements.
With the rise of companies like Uber, Tesla, Netflix & Airbnb industries are changing. In the next 15 years Uber has a goal to release a purely autonomous fleet of vehicles. This advancement has the potential to eliminate 10 million jobs. Auto-manufacturers, bus drivers, the auto insurance industry, car rentals, parking and the entire used car industry will be affected by this change. At the same time it will save lives and reduce pollution at an alarming rate. The plus here is if you’re a data scientist you will have a tremendous amount of work cut out for you.
An area that is ripe for technological advancement is the 911 industry. In most cities 911 cannot accurately locate callers. When the system was created it was based on landline calls and now most calls are being made from cell phones. The enterprising millennials who create a solution for this will do very well for themselves (you’re welcome).
The disconnect between millennials being highly educated and their ability to fit into the workplace exploits the fact that our education system does not properly prepare students for the workplace. This is another opportunity for enterprising millennials to solve a problem. Who knows what our world will look like in 15 years. It could be a disastrous dystopian revamp of society or a utopian wonderland where we somehow have realized how to break free from the Federal Reserve Bank. Either way, I urge you to keep your eyes open for opportunities.
