(Part 1 of 2)
Don’t be fooled, tech skills are overvalued
The value of ‘tech skills’ is shifting.
How secure is a job at Twitter, Meta, or Amazon these days?
Due to recent, massive layoffs at these industry giants, more than 25,000 ‘tech professionals’ are fresh out of a job.
Twitter’s 2014 annual report said, “Competition for highly skilled personnel is intense. Our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to retain our existing personnel and add additional highly skilled employees.”
I’m guessing more than a few of those ‘additional highly skilled’ hires are now scrambling to pay the mortgage and scrape by with unemployment checks.
“Highly skilled.”
It’s easy to assume highly skilled = technically skilled.
This is a mistake.
This is outdated math.
To be sure, technical skills have value. But they don’t secure your future.
As access to acquiring tech skills gets easier and cheaper (a good thing!), competition becomes increasingly fierce.
We see this trend playing out with diminishing ROIs in college degrees as well.
In sub-saharan Africa where degrees are relatively rare, a degree will boost earnings by over 20%.
But in Scandinavia where 40% of adults have degrees, earnings only get a 9% bump.
But the most important skills that will help you build a secure future in a fast changing, highly competitive world of 8 billion people are rarely prioritized at schools and universities.
In a recent Manpower survey of 2,000 employers, over 50% of organizations listed problem-solving, collaboration, customer service, and communication as the most valued skills.
“Employers today are as likely to select candidates for their adaptability, culture fit, and growth potential as for in-demand technical skills (e.g. python, analytics, cloud computing).” ~ Josh Bersin
Here’s the new math:
Highly skilled = Flexible/Adaptable, Adept problem solver, effective collaborator, meaningful customer service mindset (empathy, self-awareness, global perspective), sophisticated communicator…
Those are skills that will help you create a secure future in an unpredictable world because they are:
1.Highly valued
2. Rare
3. Essential to human progress and well-being, forever
But these highly sought after, uniquely human skills, are not always intuitive or easily acquired/credentialed, yet.
More options in educaton are starting to emerge.
Synthesis, an online enrichment program, is offering some interesting opportunities for elementary/middle school students.
My company, Smart Studio Publishing, helps fill a gap — that many college students and upwardly mobile professionals often face. For example, how to manage work in a world of constant distractions.
The most competitive and relevant schools and universities, positioned to help students build a secure future will be programs that embrace explicit training of highly valued human skills — such as the ability to deeply focus and effectively collaborate — alongside rigorous academics/technical training.
Up next…
Part 2: What It Means to be Well-Educated in the Modern World
You don’t have to go to an elite school to get an elite education anymore
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