About Adaptation
Dejo un artículo que escribí para mi perfil de LinkedIn sobre adaptabilidad en el siglo XXI:
Around the age of 12 humans are able to process formal logical operations, that is, we're able to think beyond a concrete present form and analyze, for example, outcomes from a present situation.
That single treat having six years of basic education ahead is crucial for anyone's development and hardly taken into account so you can imagine the negative impact it may have on most people. Something similar happens when kids are not encouraged or guided by their parents.
But, what about adults way beyond those early stages? Is there room for change? It's an existentialist question that roams on most middle aged adults as they dwell in the ever cruel labor market. Professions come and go, companies rise and fall, add the ever stiff competition and you have a mental breakdown on what to do next with your life. My major is in Political Science so you can imagine that things are not easy when trying to adjust the resume for a position in a TIC.
Looking for new opportunities may prove a daunting task when looking outside one's comfort zone or what college provided. A sense of security and routine is always welcome but lack of preemptive actions can change everything drastically. That's why it's becoming more popular each day the MOOC courses as well as the specialized courses in Universities to provide practical tools and skills to the middle worker.
How to know where to start and learn what you're currently lacking? Search for the job you wish to attain, search for your current job and see what's needed to keep it in another company. You'll start to see that, no matter the area or the specialization, databases and programming are going to be present in most job posting. It's fair they do as companies need to process the information your position receives and generates one way or the other, Excel is the starting point generally as it's the basic database that any company has to manage and Visual Basic coding (embedded in Ms. Excel) is the way to go to process it fast.
Summing up, we are entering a new knowledge revolution that'll generate demand for basic technology skills, specially regarding programming skills regardless of the company's profile and working area. Universities knowing the ever shrinking free time most people have adapt to provide new tools to engage in these changes. Now it's up to us to take the bull by the horns.
