You spend two years to really sabi one tool well well. You know di parts wey nobody document, na you people dey run come meet, then inside like eight months dem replace di thing and good part of wetin you sabi waka with am.
Dat one no be reason to stop to bet on skill. Na reason to careful about wetin you dey bet on. Some skills dey sit close to dem tools and dem dey expire together. Other ones dey sit under di tools and dem dey more valuable every time di surface change, because di people wey get dem fit pick whatever new thing land inside two weeks and start to dey useful with am before di month end. Dis piece na about how to separate di two before you spend ten years, and about wetin di difference actually dey ask you to do come Monday morning.
Which skills go still get value for ten years time?
Di ones wey dem root no dey live inside tool. Judgment about wetin worth doing, taste, clear writing, to read people, to teach, to negotiate, and to work accurately with your hand, all of dem na skills wey di best people for 1995 for still be di best people today, just with different equipment for hand.
Di economics dey back dis difference sharper pass wetin most people expect. David Deming and Kadeem Noray, wey track US careers, find say di high return wey applied technical degrees dey give at di start dey drop by more than half across di first ten years of working life, exactly because di technical content of dem jobs dey turn over under di people wey learn am. Di degree no bad. Na di specific knowledge just old.
Meanwhile di skills wey dey sit under go di other direction. For another work on di US labor market, Deming find say jobs wey need plenty social interaction grow by almost 12 percentage points as share of di workforce between 1980 and 2012, and say employment and wage growth strong pass for jobs wey need both high math skill and high social skill. To read room no be soft extra. For di numbers, na one of di most durable asset wey you fit own.
How I go take know tool from skill?
Ask one question: dis thing go still matter if today software disappear tomorrow? If di honest answer na no, na tool you hold. If na yes, and na only different way to express am you go need, na skill you hold.
Run di test on your own week and e go clear too much. To sabi which panel one setting dey na tool. To sabi why dat setting wrong for dis job na skill. To sabi di syntax na tool; to sabi how to break big problem into pieces wey you fit verify na skill. To fast for one editing program na tool; to sabi where story dey lose viewer na skill.
Kaʻohele Carlos, wey start KEEP CALM, don spend long career for design inside one big technology company, one field wey dem don replace di tools wey e start with more than once, but di judgment wey e build never change. Na di test dey work across real career, no be for theory, and na di reason dis article put di weight where e put am.
So I suppose stop to dey learn new tools?
No. Learn dem quick, but no hold dem tight. Tools na how skill dey touch di world, so person wey get correct judgment but no get any current tool no too useful dis quarter.
Wetin change na how you dey learn dem and how much of yourself you dey invest. Give new tool one week of concentrated, small uncomfortable use wey dey aim to produce one real piece of work, instead of three months of tutorials wey dey aim for completeness. Learn di twenty percent wey you go use everyday, sabi where di documentation dey, then stop.
Then refuse di identity. Di moment tool turn who you be instead of wetin you just hold for hand, di day dem retire am go be your own crisis, and you go find yourself dey defend am pass di point wey di defense make sense. Tools worth to learn quick and worth to hold loose. Di people wey dey move easy through change no be di ones wey bet correct on which tool go win. Na di ones wey never mistake di tool for di work.
Wetin ten year skill dey look like for Monday?
E dey look exactly like your ordinary work, with one change: you dey practice di under-thing on purpose while you still dey do di surface thing. Di skill no be separate subject wey you dey study for evening, na standard wey you dey apply to di tasks wey already dey your front.
Some examples wey no cost anything extra. If di skill na clear writing, carry one document per week wey you for send anyway and cut am by one third before you send am. If na judgment, write your call down before you know di outcome and read am back one month later, because na di only way judgment dey ever get scoreboard. If na to read people, spend one meeting per week wey you no go talk almost anything, just dey track who actually decide wetin. If na to teach, carry one person walk through one thing properly dis month instead of to just send link.
Each of dem na one hour or less inside work wey you for still do regardless. Ten years of dat one na plenty plenty practice, and none of am need free morning wey working adult no get.
E risky to commit ten years to one thing?
E less risky pass di alternative, as long as di thing wey you commit to na di skill and no be di tool. Ten years of judgment, taste and clear explanation no dey expire when product die. Ten years inside one product menus na bet on one company roadmap.
Plain fact dey too about who dey finish long things. Angela Duckworth and her colleagues, wey study wetin dey predict whether people go complete really hard programs, find say di predictor na grit, wey dem define as perseverance and passion for long-term goals wey person hold across years, no be intensity for any one week. Di risk inside ten year bet no be say di field change. Most times na say you restart four times and you never pass year two of anything.
So keep di horizon and stop to dey re-decide am every week. Di test na yearly, no be daily. Once a year, ask whether di root of di thing still matter and whether you go still choose am again, and if di answer na yes, put your head down for another year and make di tools do whatever tools dey do.
Di long bet na di one wey get ambition pass
To bet on ten year skill no be di careful option and person no suppose write am like dat. Na di harder, greedier choice, because e dey give up di short-term win wey people fit see, di one of being first with di new thing, in exchange for being di person wey everybody need for year eight, when di new thing don old and judgment about wetin to do with am don scarce.
Take di tools serious and pick dem up quick. Then spend di real hours under dem, on di part wey nobody fit deprecate: di taste to know wetin worth building, di sentence wey dey make hard idea land, di read of a room, di hand wey sabi wetin di material go do next.
Tools dey change every few years. Wetin you dey actually build dey take ten, and e still be your own for di end.
Sources
- National Bureau of Economic Research, STEM Careers and the Changing Skill Requirements of Work
- National Bureau of Economic Research, The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals