With robots, machine learning, AI, and changing economic conditions — the way you should think about your career should be drastically different than you did back when you were picking a major for college… In this episode, I talk about my TWO key principles on how to think about building your career in your 20s and 30s.
I’ve worked at a company as large as GE, I’ve worked in a 40 person startup, I’ve started, grown and sold my own company and I’ve even been an executive of a 1,500 person company at the age of 35.
Having gone through the corporate ladder, having managed large teams, and coached countless people through their career choices, here are my principles on how to think about building your career in your 20s and 30s.
Principle #1, Don’t get that “good job” in your 20s.
Don’t get that “great” job. You know what great jobs are? Great jobs are cushy jobs, jobs that pay you more than they should be paying you, and jobs that are going to get automated in the next 5 years. Great jobs are dead end jobs wrapped in shiny gift paper to make it look like you’re spending your 20s wisely. You’re not.
Instead, get a job that has a ton of grunt work. Get the job that doesn’t pay as well, doesn’t have that fancy title, but by doing that job you’re getting the experience and learning a core skill that no one can ever automate away and no one can ever take away from you.
Principle #2, Only pick jobs where you’re either CREATING or you’re SELLING
While there are SO many types of jobs out there, I think the most lucrative jobs, the future proof jobs, the jobs that will give you unlimited growth and wealth fall into two broad categories.
They’re jobs where you’re either CREATING something to add new value to the world
…or they’re jobs where you’re taking new creations and figuring out ways to SELL THEM into society
Whether it is jobs in computer engineering that create new products, or artists who create new music, or doctors who find ground breaking cures — creators are the people at the forefront of innovation and the ones that can reap the biggest rewards
And for any new creation, you’ll need an army of sellers, of marketers, or storytellers who help spread the word about new inventions. These category of jobs too are completely future proof and will always be needed
And if you just so happen to be in the intersection of these two, where you can create AND tell stories, where you can code AND do a sales pitch, then you’re just unstoppable.
In a world where we have to think about artificial intelligence, where we have to think about robots taking over repetitive jobs — there are two kinds of jobs that will be future proof, two kinds of people that will be future proof….
1) creators who can think outside the box and use human ingenuity to continue to propel us forward
And 2) sellers, story tellers, marketers, who can help inspire, connect, and spread ideas to deliver value
How are you thinking about your career growth in your 20s and 30s?