Whether you are an incoming student struggling to choose your degree or major or you are a working professional worried about when the next set of layoffs are going to happen. Here are five things to keep in mind to future proof your career.
1. Knowledge of Fundamentals
New Ideas come and go but they are always built on top of old ideas and techniques. Knowledge of fundamentals is absolutely essential to be able to quickly adapt to new situations. New ideas don’t change the fundamentals. If you are good at something and you know the fundamentals well then you can adapt to new situations. The following questions will help you or your parents make the right decision
i) Does the field have established fundamental principles?
ii) What are the typical businesses that utilize knowledge of this field?
iii) What are the cutting-edge problems or issues in this field?
iv) How technology is changing/integrating itself with the field?
Pro Tip: Instead of doing a course on a new framework or library. Try to learn how to learn a framework through the documentation.
2.Generalist vs Specialist
How much specialization is needed in a given industry domain/job depends heavily on the business model and the customer preferences in that geography. This applies to almost every industry. Typically, the more developed the economy the higher the demand for specialization. Ask yourself the following questions:
i) Is there a scope for specialization in this field?
ii) Is there a demand for specialization in the country of your citizenship?
iii) Is there a demand for specialization in another country?
Example: If you are a sound engineer, you have plenty of opportunities in a country like US where the music industry demands specialization but same is not true for a sound engineer in India.
3. Accumulative effect of Experience
Does more number of years you spend doing something increase your value? This is a tricky one. Anything you do will add value to your career up to a certain point. After that point, you need to evaluate how long you should keep doing the same thing. You can be a software engineer with 10 years of work experience but if the company you worked for didn’t offer enough opportunities to do new things then those 10 years of experience may not matter as much as someone else’s 7 years in a fast paced environment.
Accumulation of varied experience adds value. If you are in a situation where you are stuck in a dead end role then try to find some work (unpaid) outside your office to keep adding to your experience. If that is not possible then consider switching roles.
What takes time to learn and acquire cannot be replaced easily.
4. Becoming an Independent Learner
You need a few things to truly become an independent learner. As yourself the following questions –
i) Is your field a highly technical field with lots of active researchers?
If yes, then you need to have good language/verbal skills to read updated scientific and
technical documents.
ii) Are you up to date with industry trends?
Develop an understanding of your industry and its trends. This helps you anticipate what
new skills are going to become important in the future. It helps you decide what you
need to learn.
iii) Are you planning a career switch?
In order to make a successful career switch you might need some help from others in
order the build foundational knowledge. Learn new things with a goal of mastering
foundational knowledge so that you can become independent. In other words, doing a
basic course in coding may not be very helpful if you are planning to become a coder.
Instead also focus on principles of programming and computer architecture.
5. Foundational Skills
The course work you pursue should include foundational skills necessary to make progress in the long run. Several student skip difficult courses and end up in a situation where they have the foundational knowledge but not the necessary skills. For example, studying economics without calculus can create problems in the future when the jobs demand analytical and modelling skills. You cannot learn calculus overnight. Ask yourself the following questions when making the decision
i) Are there any tools and techniques that are used to apply the fundamental principles in solving real-world problems?
ii) Are you learning the basics of the tools and techniques or are you only learning surface level knowledge related to application? For example, should an engineer learn pure mathematics or should he/she only care about the formula and its application?