As I spend more time getting acquainted with the technology field, I cannot help but notice the pervasive stigma some folks carry not having gone to college. While I could argue why you should have went in the first place, you did not go, so I will not bother. Instead you landed in technology, and made a lot of money. A lot of money–fast. Before my personal leap into the field, I had met many of you before–in the context of professional musician–I facilitated “recreational” musicians to realize their rock n’ roll dreams at a local venue after a 6 week boot-camp. Most of the participants were folks who crushed it in technology and then thought the stage was next. Many of these folks indeed went to college the first time. So am I talking to those folks as well? Yes! But for those of you who did not go, stop saying you did no go as a way of assuring yourself as a talking point to others: whereas it may be great for others who have not gone to hear, for those who have: it reeks of embarrassment and resentment. Given the money technologists make, there is no reason why you cannot take a class here or there, or take credits by examination–which plenty of you could probably crush!
The industry claims to be aware of its life-long learning posture, and yet I find the solutions to that end lacking. The obvious issue is the autodidactic confidence many in the tech field acquire by being really good at something society really needs and will pay big bucks to get done. What is even better is the labor demand is so great, the industry has been able to look off the presence of a traditional college degree as it simply bloats the labor market. I know why you’re nervous: the field is about to be all there is to do. Since everyone–I mean everyone–will be only looking for serious work in technology, the colleges and universities are adapting. One of my schools has an email thread where everyone is in hysterics at the near-end of our institution at your hands. The latest contract contention between workers? The college wants to pay “in-demand” field teachers way more than the rest, inherently devaluing and destroying college/university as we know it.
I get it: it’s similar to why I didn’t pursue technology in the first place–I am also better at other things–and I know how much many in the technology industry simply do not like read books or write beyond blog length. After I spent years writing 7+ page applications to jobs I had no hope of getting, I see how short your attention spans are for some things. Reading is the bugaboo afflicting much of our human population. Why read when there are so many screen options?! You joke that you’ll spend 7 hours trying to automate something that takes 5 minutes, and yet you do it because you’re good at it. Or your mind is tickled by it in ways some other folks haven’t been tickled. But just like some may not realize there is a place for them in technology, some of you in technology may not realize there is a place for you in college: at any time, well, unless it dies first.
Asynchronous and online. Speaking of time, the colleges have online and asynchronous offerings. Community colleges have “open-enrollment” meaning you can take classes a la carte. You can cut out your video-game/movie watching again just like you did when you first slogged in the industry. Or lose sleep, whatever works for you. The online experience will get better and better (hopefully). Many of you probably hated the in-person version of school anyway, so this may revitalize you!
Put your money to good use. I’m coming out swinging: the average technology individual stands to make a lot of money–even in a short time–and I see you struggle putting it to good use for yourself. Once you’ve bought the devices, house, car, and toys you want; after you’ve been to Hawaii seven times, why not push the economics of higher education into a space of guaranteed security? The state is incapable and/or unwilling, but 40-something technologists with chips on their shoulder for not having gone to college….GO! If just a handful of you made it a priority to take an occasional class, the place that helps people learn to be more appreciative of differences in social culture could more directly help the technology industry with its woeful status as socially inept. As for your travel plans–stop being an ugly American tourist and turn into a cultural ambassador. Plan “vacations” to places that don’t necessarily have a beach or resort.
Stop being bad at getting social. It’s good you all are becoming aware of how socially inept you can be. But rather than think you can solve anything by yourselves, this is where taking college courses will help do this more quickly. You could and should be taking courses to improve those “soft” skills. Stop calling them soft skills if they’re so important, by the way. Since virtually everyone in technology will need to work with people at some point, making sure you’re not an asshole can be mitigated by learning about culture, ways of knowing, and expression outside of your comfort zone/ancestral heritage. Take a communications class before you give a presentation on good communication. Take history classes and propose research topics on intersectional themes related to your work to reveal patterns for which no algorithm currently exists. Take a literature course on non-western women authors to read a story outside of the sterile corporate tradition. Doing something that is not about you will help you to acquire the perspective needed to come across more learned and cultured.
Help innovate instead of imitate. I see your attempts to check the box of with sad, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion failures. I see how uncomfortable the CEOs and leaders of multiple companies are addressing social issues authentically. This is where your chip and stigma is obvious. What’s more is you all are in an echo chamber, so you do not realize how poor your imitation of a social sciences curriculum is. Instead of wasting your time in isolation trying to get good at something you avoided in the first place, why not engage with those who are dedicating their lives to the pursuit social technology akin to your pursuit of machine technology? While you’re taking a class, you might realize how some automation could help organize or represent the information differently to reach different kinds of learners, since you yourselves are non-traditional learners. What you may not realize is the teacher training these days emphasizes integrating the senses to achieve complete learning exposure, rehearsal, and retention. In other words, teachers are better at recognizing that not all students learn the same things well the same ways. The industrialization of education–while positive in its attempt to universalize–certainly did a number on us as individual learners, ultimately casting out those who couldn’t sit still, or otherwise be engaged properly. Just like the Social Scientists lack technical problem solving skills, you cannot solve your social ills, but the two industries could help each other and should be helping one another.
Remember where you came from. In the era of working from home and lightning-speed communications, you should be in communication with your old neighborhood/town/city. If you’re in technology, it’s possible you left that home behind because of the lack of opportunity, so connect with folks back home and ask how you can help. Part of the problem with technology is its concentration physically. This too is changing, and will change rapidly. Do you really want to go home and see it better or worse? Do you really need to keep up with the neighbors when your old neighbors who helped make you you see the local park diminish? But what if I’m from this awesome tech place already? Great! Sponsor a community or volunteer with an organization seeking to change the paradigm for a broader community outside of your successful community. What about the nearest struggling neighborhood? If your nearest neighbors succeed, that helps everyone.
The Matrix You Don’t Want to Believe You Are In
Much of what I suggest is antithetical to the material cultural casino-economy of the 21st century. I am suggesting long-term learning as a growth strategy to folks who like to shortcut and automate everything. Have you not noticed how long and short life is/can seem? You can speed up everything around you, but it doesn’t change the marathon that is a lived lifetime. Some of your anxiety and uncertainty comes from constantly playing the game that capitalism tries to convince you is the only one in town: fear and greed by tomorrow. To live in constant altering states of fear and greed is to live in a present that has no time for the past. The only future that really matters is the short-term future. I see your red scare flare at the notion of a 5-year outlook. I see the way the anecdote serves to charge everyone else with similarly industrial mindset to success in the industry. But that success could be simultaneously short-cut with the help of professionals better at it than you and committed to a long-term human-being’s growth.