When we think about learning, we stop far short of the mark. Many degrees are studied where getting high grades on a paper, rapidly forgetting what was learned and studying for the next test has become normal. However, out in the real world, things are moving so fast now that to keep up, you have to be multi-disciplinary across a broad range of unrelated topics to avoid becoming obsolete.
What should you do if you’re worried about the future?
Days of the Specialist Are Coming to a Middle
Companies have tended to employ specialists. This made sense when building a car in a factory where training one person to perform all roles on the assembly line was hugely inefficient. However, training individuals to know and be responsible for one small section of a car model’s production made complete sense.
Looking ahead though, this model has some limitations. Companies lack employees who are multi-skilled and can easily step into other roles when required. For employees, getting laid off or seeing their chosen career no longer being needed in the medium-term presents an end of days scenario with the need to figure out a solution.
Latticework of Mental Models
The billionaire investor, Charlie Munger, has pushed the idea of a Latticework of Mental Models as a key concept for people who wish to expand beyond their current role and regimented thinking. The idea is that studying a number of different subjects over the years is informative because it allows you to consider a problem from multiple angles.
You’re no longer restricted by the thinking that you’re a graphics designer or a database manager and you cannot ever be anything else. This interesting concept has some overlap with the idea of continual learning for career development and longevity.
Continual Learning and Career Development
Given that career longevity is up for question these days with the majority of graduates not working in the field they qualified in, it’s fair to say that the job you started with isn’t going to be the one you retire from. Re-tasking into a different job and a new career every decade is likely to be the norm as demands change and automation along with outsourcing makes some careers unviable going forward.
The choice of career change might also be a surprising shift. Perhaps a graphics designer who is a real ‘people person’ decides that getting into psychology to directly help other people is where their passion lies. Along the way to studying the relevant courses, they may find precuring psychology homework answers useful to shortcut their study efforts and verify their own answers are correct. Doing so can ensure the successful completion of their studies and subsequent career switch.
Whether you see yourself working in the tech field for many years or would like to explore other possibilities either as a side hustle or a second career, continual education keeps the mind receptive to new ideas. Studying to enter a new field becomes much easier that way and feels natural too.
