Comment by SavageNoble
4 days ago
I don't want to be dismissive, so don't take this the wrong way.
Perhaps relying on skills as a developer was the problem? Society and the job market told you your skills were invaluable, but what did you actually do with them? What did you develop that was worthwhile? I don't know, but you should ask yourself that.
Much of the demand for developers was driven by a financial market that prized your skills, and many people bought into it. We are seeing now that such value was illusory.
How many new apps do we really need? How many new advertising algorithms are actually beneficial to society? How many of the ycombinator projects amount to more than a way to enrich autistic kids at the expense of everyone else?
You need to cast a wider net. There are a million jobs out there, but the problem is too many in the knowledge economy consider those jobs to be beneath them. Those in my peer and family circle who work blue collar jobs are much more content than those of us in the knowledge economy. Their expectations are such that they find satisfaction in their work, without warped or distorted expectations placed on them by their peers or themselves.
This picture of needing to cast a wider net is tiring. Perhaps someone that spent many years of his life learning a skill that she thought would provide, can be allowed to mourn that skill when the market demand for it disappears.
To ask of people that they constantly be ready to pivot to market demands, what management calls t-shaping, is incompatible with reality. We all get older, our fluid intelligence decreases, we get family, build skill specific social networks and so on..