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Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you. If there is market value
by stcredzero 8y ago
Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you.
If there is market value in a skill or knowledge, the market will find the people who can be trained in it, then train them. Perhaps a talent is required to be competitive.
Corollary: Beware of fields which have artificial gatekeeping. They are in a disadvantageous market.
Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
Borrowed from Scott Adams: It's hard to become a top 5% in a given field. It's easy to get to the top 20%. So find two synergistic fields where you can get to top 20%. This makes you a top 5% cross-disciplinary expert.
There are no get rich quick schemes. That's just someone else getting rich off you.
Often, it's other people getting rich off of the efforts of a huge mob, while making a small sliver of that mob fantastically rich.
- ConfusedDog 8y agoWhich fields have artificial gatekeeping? Do you have any examples? I'm not familiar with the term and couldn't find it online...
- stcredzero 8y agoWhich fields have artificial gatekeeping? Massage Therapy is one. This varies state to state in the US, but you have to have a license.
- ConfusedDog 8y agoThanks!
- fnbr 8y agoInvestment banking is one, another is corporate law. It's incredibly difficult to get a job in either field without a degree from a top school, with top grades. Google hires lots of people with degrees from state schools (or without degrees!). That's not the case at, say, McKinsey. Neither job inherently requires a degree from a top school, but it's almost a prerequisite to get the job.
- ConfusedDog 8y agoSo, "artificial" would mean compliance-based validation? Good examples, thanks!
- fnbr 8y agoIn this case, yes :) u/stcredzero's example is also a great one, as over-regulation is a massive problem. However, it's not as much of an issue for higher paying jobs, which I think are more relevant when we're discussing high-end software engineers. Note: I'm discussing over-regulation. There's a very strong case for heart surgeons to be highly regulated. There's a weaker case for having strict regulations for hairdressers.