Dean's World

My salary has increased by 25% the last 3 years, so at least one part of the equation holds true. As for job security, eh, I don't believe that that is an indicator of an economic upturn. The way that I stay employed is by enhancing my current skills while learning some new ones. A lot of tasks that I used to perform manually have been automated, so I learned how to write the automation programs.

Years ago, I either read a story or watched a TV show where the following conversation took place:

"So what will you do if they replace you at your job with a little black box?"

"I'll get a job making the little black boxes."

That idea has been stuck in my brain for as long as I can remember. What it means for me, it means that I shouldn't plan for my own obsolescence.

When I worked as a materials engineer of aerospace alloys, I worked with some highly skilled people who had been performing the same task for 20+ years. No one in the world was better at their jobs than them. However, they didn't bother to improve their skills and computer automation eventually replaced most of those jobs. However, the people programming the computers were in high demand.

Job security as our parents new it in the 1950's, where you would work for the same company for your entire career, has gone the way of the dodo. The best thing to do is to accept it, and move on.

I don't mean to sound sanguine about unemployment. I've been out of work before and it sucks, big time, and I have a family to support, too. However, I've paid attention to what skills are in demand, learned some of them and stayed ahead of job loss for the last decade. To do that, I've had to change jobs 4 times during that time period. However, all the moves were of my own making. My job security comes from my willingness to adapt to a changing workplace and my ability to learn new skills. I believe that that is how job security is actually defined these days. Just my opinion, of course.

I'm making less today than I was 5 years ago - but I've switched careers (programmer to analyst) and I'm working on several long-term entrepreneurial initiatives. I'm optimistic in the long-term, but short-term I'm taking a lot of risks which have caused more than a few sleepless nights.

As for the "Black Box" analogy mentioned by Matthew - what do you do if the Black Boxes are made in China by people earning less than our minimum wage?

This is the trouble faced by my peers at The ITPAA.

My response post is up:

The Saturday Challenge: The Economy Is Doing Well. How About Income Growth? (and a Bonus Look at the Long-Term)

HERE