just 4 years ago, careers were pretty straightforward and predictable.
you wanna be a software engineer in big tech? get a good college, study dsa and core subjects, interview and job.
you wanna be a data analyst? learn python, some data libraries, build projects and get a job?
you wanna be a graphic designer? do a course, learn design skills, and then get a job.
everything was going well, and people were considering "Tech" a goldmine. and i'd say it was indeed.
then came a beast and changed everything drastically within 1 year.
currently the tech job market is way different than what it was 5 years ago.
as a founder myself, whenever i consider hiring someone for a job, i ask myself "do i have any ai tool available that can do this job better, faster and cheaper?"
(im not cruel. it's about survival)
and the answer is "yes" in 80% of the scenarios and "probably no" in 20%.
so what are those 20% opportunities? and most importantly, what kind of decisions a college student should make to always stay in that 20% group?
first thing first, stop making GOALS.
let's say your goal was to be a MERN stack developer.
now after ai became super goated, no one's hiring MERN devs coz ai does that job.
your goal's no more, and now you are in panic.
"what now?"
"omg! what should i do now?"
"what else?"
this problem in having a GOAL and not a DIRECTION is that goals change in tech.
You can't keep up with them.
but on the other hand, DIRECTION remains constant.
an example to put it clearly:
GOAL: "i wanna be a backend developer"
DIRECTION: "i wanna be in software engineering"
(yes, software engineering will not be dead. it will evolve but never die. i'll explain this more later)
The benefit of having a DIRECTION is that even if the goal changes, you stay in calm because you know that only one piece of the puzzle has changed.
if my DIRECTION was "software engineering" then after no one is hiring "backend devs" my goals can be "full stack", "devops", "gen ai" and so on.
all of these fit into my DIRECTION.
But here im not saying not to make GOALS.
obviously make'em coz then you'll know "what to do now" but the DIRECTION should be the priority. GOALS evolve way faster than DIRECTION.
example of GOALS:
"backend developer"
"ruby developer"
"devops engineer"
"gen ai"
example of DIRECTIONS:
"software engineering"
"ai engineering"
"agents"
"tech content"
"ai research"
you get the point.
But here's comes a problem.
many people already have a DIRECTION and a GOAL but still in panic.
because in reality, knowing "what to do" isn't the hard part, but "how to do" is.
this brings us to the second most important thing a college student should encode in her DNA.
OBSESSION.
people have marketed OBSESSION as something of "MOTIVATION" so it sounds like a close relative of "MOTIVATION"
but real OBSESSION comes from logic.
in an economy where everyone is distracted by free/cheap entertainment, you can easily win by being obsessed.
but why? and how?
when you are obsessed with something and give it enough ATTENTION, you mind start observing the smaller details and patterns.
those details and patterns add up and you efforts start becoming more accurate comparing to the distracted folks.
so technically even though you work less (won't suggest that) than the distracted ones, you'll achieve more, better and faster.
this obsession theory also explains why some people never become good at something even though they're trying for a long time while someone starts seeing the results in a small timeframe (not talking about shortcuts).
OBSESSION subject is bug and deserves its own article so we'll discuss more about it later.
so that's it? by having a DIRECTION and being OBSESSED will make me market ready?
NO.
these things are just the prerequisites not the complete criteria. just thoughts. air.
the element that materialize these thoughts is something else.
and to be honest i often think "why it took me so much time to realise this?"
when you look around, you'll observe that 95% of the people are REACTORS. they REACT to news, innovation and people who ACT.
do this experiment:
- find top 10 tweets from your tl
- categorise them into two types "action" and "reaction". "action" : tweet about doing/building something ie. "ive created tinder for cats" "reaction" : tweet about opinion, reaction of something. ie "what's stopping you from coding like this? [with an img of a girl and boy cuddling in bed]"
- count total "action" tweets and "reaction" tweets. in most cases the count to "action" tweets will be very less comparing to "reaction" ones. why? because most people around us are REACTORS not ACTORS. so you can get ahead of 95% people just by acting more. but ACTION also solves a bigger problem. naval said "the solution to anxiety is always action". anxiety comes from assumption of the problems. we imagine the problems and tru to imagine their solutions but when we can't think of any solution, we get anxious. but when we act, we get to know the reality fast. so the more and better reality we know the lesser the mental space for pre conceived notions. hence action evaporates the wrong assumptions. everyone is anxious because of ai about "what if it eat my job?" But there a little fraction of people who started learning fundamentals, started exploring ai engineering, agents, etc, started learning things that ai can't do, started creating content. and soon enough, they'll be in a position where they won't be worried much. and some already did that. and they were/are able to do this transition because their primary source of knowledge was the REALITY that came from their fast ACTIONS not some advice from a tech billionaire, not some comments from a guest on a tech podcast. Bottom line is ACT MORE and FAST. let the REALITY teach you "what to do". that's what the true competitive advantage is. But it's not enough to survive this market. more actions don't translate to more results all the time. there are many professions where people are required to act a lot, but they get very less results and even less growth. the missing piece here is "Exposure." EXPOSURE is knowing what is possible and some extent of how. earlier in the time you could only get the exposure either you work with leading people in the industry or your parents are rich or you are already rich. but internet has changed it. now you can get the same level of exposure by positioning yourself on the internet. i call this "Building an online presence" Once people know you you not only get the connections that will lead you to many great opportunities, but also the information and knowledge that most can't afford to have. i think my own story can be a good example. Now you may have a question "How to build a solid online presence?" for that ive written a post some time ago. you can check here: https://x.com/ajeetunc/status/1959480811293708369?s=20 that's all today. see you in the next one!
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