The most interesting ride I have ever had

I have evolved my thoughts on the real value of college education for a lot of professions over the last 3 years. I have done extensive research, studied lots of professions and spoken with a lots of smart people on the topic. I do think we are moving towards a world where learning would get decoupled from going to college. While we already have the tools and resources to get A+ education in a lot of fields without going to college, there is still a lot of cultural and societal pressure to go to one nonetheless.
I recently took a ride with Via in NYC. The ride lasted 30 minutes. It was one of the best rides I have had with a driver I did not know. I started the conversation by asking him what he thinks about Via and how it is different from Uber & Lyft from a driver’s perspective.
He went on to talk about self driving cars and how he thinks about the landscape. He was well aware of the fact that he will soon be out of business as a driver. He not only knew about the emerging trend but also about the key players in self driving tech, major investors, pilot markets, emerging business models, and the global landscape. We went on to talk about how jobs are changing and what kind of jobs won’t and will exist in next decade. He said he was from Israel and was proud of all the research and development efforts in the startup nation.
He asked me questions about how I am thinking about the future, how I am training myself, how I have these conversations with my friends and how so many people are ignorant about how the world is changing. He also talked about how intentional he is about what information he consumes and what platforms he uses.
He went on to explain his small car leasing business. He was very clear about how his business will likely be wiped out in the context of emerging trends in automated driving, fleet management and electric cars. He said he has a narraowing timeframe to make as much money as he can from the leasing business in next 5 years and later invest the proceeds in real estate.
Towards the end of the ride, he told me he never went to college due to financial reasons and how he puts aside one hour a day to read and learn as much as he can so that he can best prepare for the future. He said he is glad he couldn’t go to college because he likely wouldn’t have discovered all the free online resources if he had.
He talked about the ever widening gap between value and price for the extremely well branded commodity that we refer to as college. I kept noding in agreement. I wish that ride lasted longer. It was a very interesting conversation that I didn’t want to end so soon.
