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That would be great. However, I'm afraid in this age we're condemned to our specific specialization for life. For every job, to get a job at all, years of expe

That would be great. However, I'm afraid in this age we're condemned to our specific specialization for life. For every job, to get a job at all, years of experience ('XX years of YY specific recent buzzword experience') is generally required. Even for things a flexible, intelligent person could easily learn on the job given some time and hard work. You could probably switch career once with a lot of hassle, but 'trying your hands at various jobs for a few months or years' sounds very optimistic...

dualogy 15y ago
For every job? Doubt it. There are always demand/supply imbalances somewhere in the caleidoscope of "all possible jobs" at any given moment and place. In a demand/supply imbalance you may not be the "perfect choice" but the second-best and totally-acceptable if you demonstrate that "I'll learn on the job and I have the basic core soft skills of enthusiasm sane-humility big-picture-view hands-on-brain" in your interview. Well you just tell them "pay me 80-90% instead of 100% of your usual salaries for 1-2 months, then decide whether to keep me for another year or not. I always learn on the job and I always get good at it, fast." Only if it's the truth of course. (Of course, that's for "simpleton" jobs, not for programming. You better had been building stuff privately or at uni for at least a year, obviously.) Can-do or can't? "It's your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude!" ;))
- wladimir 15y ago
  Right, that might have been true ten years ago, and was even more true if you go back further. These days it's hard to get a job even for people that have a lot of experience in some area (at least if it isn't computer-related... we're the lucky ones for now, but that's another story). I mean, if you aim for the simpleton jobs, you'll be competing with more experienced people that'd happily take the 80%/90% offer just to get a job at all (if it isn't below subsistence level).

dualogy 15y ago

For every job? Doubt it. There are always demand/supply imbalances somewhere in the caleidoscope of "all possible jobs" at any given moment and place. In a demand/supply imbalance you may not be the "perfect choice" but the second-best and totally-acceptable if you demonstrate that "I'll learn on the job and I have the basic core soft skills of enthusiasm sane-humility big-picture-view hands-on-brain" in your interview. Well you just tell them "pay me 80-90% instead of 100% of your usual salaries for 1-2 months, then decide whether to keep me for another year or not. I always learn on the job and I always get good at it, fast." Only if it's the truth of course. (Of course, that's for "simpleton" jobs, not for programming. You better had been building stuff privately or at uni for at least a year, obviously.) Can-do or can't? "It's your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude!" ;))

wladimir 15y ago
Right, that might have been true ten years ago, and was even more true if you go back further. These days it's hard to get a job even for people that have a lot of experience in some area (at least if it isn't computer-related... we're the lucky ones for now, but that's another story). I mean, if you aim for the simpleton jobs, you'll be competing with more experienced people that'd happily take the 80%/90% offer just to get a job at all (if it isn't below subsistence level).