Rock wrote:I suspect the job market for 20 somethings in USA say 25-40 years ago vs. today is like this:
1. Back then, if you could manage to get a practical 4 year degree in a decent university and get at least average grades and were willing to play the game (wear the monkey suit, say the right BS in interviews, etc.), you could easily work your way up the ladder and attain well paid middle management position in a Fortune 500 or similar firm. To do this, you just needed some ambition, willingness to conform to business norms, and and IQ of say 110 or better (maybe even 100 if you had some luck on your side).
OR
You could pursue a blue collar route and also get to stage where you were pulling in decent money, especially if your industry was unionized and/or just very profitable.
2. Fast forward to 2015. Most intellectual processes which require averageish human IQ can be handled by machines and computers or outsourced to certain third worlders. On blue collar side, China has come-in and created the world's most practically efficient and cheapest industrial supply chains so they now handle the bulk of world's manufacturing with their own citizens of course. Giant corporations have gotten their act together so much that all the low lying fruit is gone. Average people with average intelligence in USA have been made largely redundant. They can be used in low value added subsistence roles in low paying service industry jobs, that's about it.
To be financially successful now in USA, assuming you start from scratch, you need to be capable of becoming a doctor, lawyer, certain types of engineers, banker, management or IT consultant OR you've gotta be out of the box creative and entrepreneurial enough to create your own high paying business in some industry including those opportunities online. You could also do decently as a uni professor, or some other kind of niche professional. My point is:
A FEW DECADES AGO, IT WAS VERY DOABLE FOR AN AVERAGE MIDDLE CLASS BACKGROUND TYPE OF MALE WILLING TO JUMP THROUGH ALL THE HOOPS TO AHIEVE THE SO-CALLED AMERICAN DREAM BUT NOW, YOU REALLY NEED TO BE WAY ABOVE AVERAGE IN SOME WAY - IQ, CREATIVITY, OR EXCEPTIONAL LUCK - IF YOU DON'T COME FROM A BACKGROUND WHERE YOU ALREADY HAVE WEALTH, ASSETS, AND SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FROM YOUR FAMILY. YOU BEST BE SOMEHOW IN TOP 5%, BETTER TOP 1% OR BEST TOP 0.1% IN SOME PRACTICAL WAY IF YOU WANNA MAKE IT FROM SCRATCH IN USA!
Rock, I agree with some of this but here are a few exceptions:
1. It is still not difficult for a young person with drive and intelligence to find good corporate jobs. I know many who have done this in recent years. However, you can't count on that working out with a meaningless degree from a marginal university. A degree in business from the University of Texas means a hell of a lot more than a degree in sociology from North Texas State. And you must be able to balance out the picture by being socially adept enough to interview well.
2. It is very hard for a newly graduated lawyer to find a well paying job unless the lawyer is a graduate from an upper tier school. So I would not include them in your list of successful professions.
3. I strongly disagree with this statement
"you've gotta be out of the box creative and entrepreneurial enough to create your own high paying business in some industry including those opportunities online."
Execution trumps ideas in the world of entrepreneurialism and small business. High IQ guys with great ideas who will never actually do anything are a dime a dozen. OTOH if you look around, you see people of average intelligence who took an OK idea, executed it well, and have all the money they want or need.
Dismissing it as something which takes incredibly high intelligence or family connections just feeds the
"I don't have a chance" mentality of HA. One friend of mine comes to mind. He has never said anything to this extent but I know for a fact that his business has made him a millionaire. Passive online income? No, lawn service. He gets contracts with individuals and businesses to cut, edge and prune. There was no originality to his "idea". Success came through superior execution of a mundane idea.
Here is an analogy:
People who don't know better think that you have to be a racehorse to succeed in entrepreneurship or small business. But the fact is that most successful people are plow horses. Their successes come not from superior intelligence but rather from having the willingness to put their best efforts into a venture.
