... that as they prepare to enter adult life, they really, really need to adjust their thinking on what they're going to do for a career, let alone a short-term job. From a post at X.com:
Mike Rowe: “We’ve been telling kids for 15 years to learn to code.”
“Well, AI is coming for the coders.”
“It’s not coming for the welders, the plumbers, the steamfitters, the pipefitters, the HVAC, or the electricians.”
“In Aspen, I sat and listened to Larry Fink say we need 500,000 electricians in the next couple of years—not hyperbole.”
“The BlueForge Alliance, who oversees our maritime industrial base—that’s 15,000 individual companies who are collectively charged with building and delivering nuclear-powered subs to the Navy … calls and says, we’re having a hell of a time finding tradespeople. Can you help?”
“I said, I don’t know, man … how many do you need? He says, 140,000.”
“These are our submarines. Things go hypersonic, a little sideways with China, Taiwan, our aircraft carriers are no longer the point of the spear. They’re vulnerable.”
“Our submarines matter, and these guys have a pinch point because they can’t find welders and electricians to get them built.”
“The automotive industry needs 80,000 collision repair and technicians.”
“Energy, I don’t even know what the number is, I hear 300,000, I hear 500,000.”
“There is a clear and present freakout going on right now. I’ve heard from six governors in the last six months. I’ve heard from the heads of major companies.”
There's more at the link, specifically an extended video clip addressing these issues.
The business and technical world has changed so much since I entered it more than half a century ago. First off, I had to go to work right away, because my parents couldn't afford to pay for full-time studies. No problem: I did four years in the military, then trained on-the-job as a computer operator (IBM System/370, for those of you who go back that far). I transitioned into programming and systems analysis (again using on-the-job training). All that time, I was tackling a B.A. degree by correspondence. Due to work, military call-ups, etc. I could only average one course a year (ten were required for graduation - much longer, more intensive courses than US universities). However, in the end I made it. I moved into more senior jobs while tackling a post-graduate diploma in Management, then went on to a Masters degree in the field. All were white-collar jobs.
Nowadays, if I tried to follow a similar career path, I wouldn't get past "Go", much less collect $200! A university degree is a basic prerequisite for white-collar work at most big companies, even though it's essentially unrelated to the work employees actually do every day. Masters degrees are pretty common, particularly at middle-to-senior-management level. The competition for white-collar jobs is intense, with vacancies attracting hundreds (sometimes thousands) of applications, but very few succeeding. The game is no longer worth the candle.
Tech jobs, on the other hand . . . almost every tech-oriented business I know or have used in the past few years complains non-stop that they can't hire enough people to cater for the customers they have, or want to have. The vehicle dealer whose service department I use for our cars is operating at about half capacity, not because they want to, but they can't hire enough qualified people who are willing to work hard and earn their pay (which is pretty high these days).
I advise every young person with whom I speak (about life, the universe and everything) to look into such jobs. They'll be earning a lot more money, much faster than most of their white-collar peers. I know one man who left high school with a 3.9 GPA. He turned down scholarship offers to university, and instead took a two-year associates degree in welding, which included certification to weld dissimilar metals. He did the degree part-time while working full-time as an apprentice welder, gaining valuable experience. The day he finished the degree, he was offered a six-figure salary on the oil fields here in Texas, plus free accommodation, with his own work truck equipped for the job, and generous time off. He's a happy man these days, while his high school friends mutter under their breath about "I want his luck!" They fail to realize that he made his own luck out of very hard work and application. I can only hope others follow his example.
Tell your children, and your friends' children, that they need to reconsider their career options. The demand out there is huge, if you have the right qualifications and experience.
Peter
1 comment:
I have been telling people for over a decade now to not go into computer programming. It isn't AI that is replacing their jobs, it is the cheap H1B and over-seas contractors that have been replacing computer programmers for over a decade now.
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