Skills Gap

[newdude]

Oh but you’re wrong there buddy! We will play Pac-Man and NES until the day we die!!!

My cell ringer is World 1-1 music, Emails ding like a 1up and texts are grow mushrooms.

Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

 

[Orion7319]

Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

Hahahah! That’s the truth!

 

[Orion7319]

This captures the spirit of what I was trying to convey far more eloquently than I was able to put into words. It was not at all my intent to deride a generation - I personally straddle X and Y. As an aside, I own an IT company full of Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y folks, each as crazy resourceful, hardworking and passionate about what they do as the next. The theme among them is that they are well-rounded problem solvers - not one-hit wonders. Most have hobbies about which they are super passionate - and which are completely unrelated to their vocation - cars, aviation, solving unsolved crimes, cake-artists, home automation, battle bots, you name it. That's what we look for when we add to the team - people who know how to take a problem they've never seen, break it into parts, and figure it out. If I find them, I hire them - we'll teach them IT. I'm the least capable person in the building on any given day. They're downright rock stars.

That's what I fear we are losing - and I think it's fair to say that we lose a little more with each generation. Again - not a generational issue - a societal issue. The only thing I know to do about it is continue to build a company where smart people can bring their brains to work with them and *actually use them*, and raise three boys (that's all we've got, otherwise it would be girls too!!) who can think critically, embrace failure as the raw material of wisdom, and who aren't afraid of a problem they've never encountered. Please accept my sincere apology if my initial post came off as harsh.

Peace,

Wes

It’s good to see an employer that invests in their folks!

 

[Orion7319]

It’s tough that trade jobs and skills are looked at how they are compared to other skills. No one downplays their value when an issue arises! We all do the best we can and try to learn along the way. I don’t think not knowing such skills is as intentional as it seems. I think we’d all benefit from some mix.

I got a diploma from a trade school after I graduated from a four year college with a BA. I got a lot from the BA, but I realized I needed to supplement it with some practical hands on training. Nothing at all wrong with learning a trade and making a living doing a trade, nothing at all wrong with getting a degree in art or music or something either. What matters most is to never stop learning new tricks… never become stagnant, that’s when you find yourself in a rut.

 

[kul]

What matters most is to never stop learning new tricks… never become stagnant, that’s when you find yourself in a rut.