The Start-Up of You

Thomas Friedman always has a lot of provocative things to say about how technology is shaping our future. In July he had a piece talking about how young people should be preparing for the future. It's called "The Start-Up of You," and his basic claim is that those in college may need to invent their own jobs. He says that big companies aren't now (and probably won't ever) going to hire thousand of thousands of engineers. Instead they are looking for small numbers of very talented engineers who can add value to their company every day, every hour. The point about needing to invent your own job is an important one for college students. It's possible to see this as a good thing, rather than a bad thing. Instead of having to be shoehorned into a job that some big company has, that you don't care for, you can invent a job that is suited to your talents and passions. That means you should spend you college years purposefully, finding out what you are good at, what your passions are, and how you can use those skills and passions for society.