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To reply with a personal anecdote. When I went to study computer science, Google did not exit yet. Facebook did not exist. Apple was an obscure company. World
by perfunctory 7y ago
To reply with a personal anecdote.
When I went to study computer science, Google did not exit yet. Facebook did not exist. Apple was an obscure company. World Wide Web was a hobby. My parents were genuinely worried I wouldn't be able to get a job. Fast forward. Had I been more realistic and chosen a degree that better matched the job market of the time I would probably be unemployed by now.
Draw your own conclusions from this.
- malandrew 7y agoSometimes the two coincide. Had you been born 20 years earlier but still had the same passions, how might things have been different? Another fun thought exercise, what subject can someone go study today that would be a hobby right now that parents would worry about with respect to job prospects, but that in 5, 10 and 20 years will have its own Google, Facebook, Apple and World Wide Web?
- perfunctory 7y ago> Another fun thought exercise, what subject can someone go study today That's a nice one. As Alan Kay said - the best way to predict the future is to invent it. I guess we should let kids study what they like and then let them go explore and discover and make mistakes and invent that future. Instead of trying to shoehorn them into the existing job market.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoOf the kids who take that approach, some huge fraction will not invent the future. ("The future wasn't artisanal baskets with rap lyrics enscribed? Who knew?") For the ones who succeed, your approach will work brilliantly. For the ones who are off on a dead end that they imagine to be obviously right... some other approach might be more useful.