By Wasim El-Haj
I have lived at the same address for seven years. During this time many single-level houses have been demolished and replaced with multi-dwelling high-rises. I strolled past the most recent demolition last week, a beautiful house where the elderly neighbour once tended to rose bushes and where I would – quite literally – stop and smell the roses. I pondered how once, long ago, this ground was just as flat and barren as it is now once more. Down to its foundations, ready to be built up again.
I was at an event last week where the NSW Minister for Education – Rob Stokes – gave an address about careers. He spoke of the need to “focus on the skills and capabilities that you’re going to need into the future” adding “afterall, that is what education is all about; it’s about preparing for the future.” He spoke of Adam Smith’s approach to developing market prosperity and declared this model no longer served the same function for the budding worker wishing to thrive in the modern world.
So what do we do? We go back to foundations and build again. In terms of careers, there is a foundation built on one’s skill-set and knowledge. What are your skills and how are they transferable in different contexts? My science background draws parallels between workplace adaptability and Darwin’s theory of natural selection. As I’ve said in a previous article – we must be able to adapt or else risk becoming obsolete, irrespective of one’s vocation.
Much has been said about artificial intelligence taking over human roles. Minister Stokes added “they (people) look at artificial intelligence – and all these things – as things that are going to take away jobs. I don’t think that’s true at all. I actually see there is a profound opportunity out there and rather than seeing a future as a wage labourer working – as it were ‘for the man’ – you will increasingly be working for yourselves or in teams, collaborating together, with new ideas that are constantly changing and constantly adapting.” These comments may be surprising and contrary to much of what has been published on artificial intelligence, but none can predict the future.
Historically, looking at the trajectory of the past 20 years, many jobs once done by man have been replaced with computer algorithms and gadgets. But how many more careers have been created in the fields of engineering, IT, game design and app development? This reminds me of a letter I received in 2015 from Sally-Ann Williams, Engineering and Outreach Manager at Google Australia, an excerpt from which is below:
“So the skills that you are going to need to capitalise on these opportunities and to adapt and to change and to thrive are exactly the sorts of skills that you are acquiring – having a great time doing- right now. Skills of creative thinking, of collaboration, of developing ideas of…” The Minister elaborated, beore going on to quote Henry David Thoreau:
” If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.“
So build the foundations, in yourselves, your clients, your children. As you carry on this trajectory, remember, whilst there is a focus on skills in the recent career development arena, knowledge remains part of the base.
In their After The ATAR II report (downloadable here) ‘Year13‘ have mentioned that 12% of students who were surveyed reported the HSC prepared them well for real-life experiences. The NSW Department of Education is continuing to forge partnerships and implement new programs that will help instil the values and develop the skills that are important for the success of out youth – and ultimately the success of our nation – in the future. Such programs as iEntrepreneur, a pilot program run by the NSW Department of Education in partnership with Generation Entrepreneur, and The Truth Project similarly run by the NSW Department of Education in partnership with Year13 – and which will run a pilot next year – address these important core skills being sought by employers now and likely into the future.
Happy building!