Monthly Archives: July 2014

A Matter of Degrees - Careers That Reward Without a Sheepskin

A Matter of Degree: Careers That Reward Without a Sheepskin

Higher education is expensive. In the traditional sense, it captures time and money in a concentrated, four-year, intellectual marathon. For some, that isn’t a problem. For an increasing number of high school graduates, it is becoming a disappointing fact of life: they simply cannot afford it. Others are weighing their options and deciding in favour of careers that do not require that up front investment.

If college is not an option for you, there are a number of career paths that allow you to learn on the job, rewarding you with increasing responsibility as you advance. There are others that require some technical or people skills, but due to the nature of the particular industry do not require a formal degree. All are more accessible than careers requiring a four year diploma. Let’s review.

Computers are not going away. If you’d like a job with security, learn a skill related to these powerful electronic tools, and keep it polished, current, and ready. There are certainly secondary degree programs that grant status, but many computer companies would jump at the chance to hire an industry-engaged high school grad, aggressively pursuing the latest and greatest technologies. Plenty of software developers and web programmers began their careers without a four year degree. It’s not likely that you’ll land an impressive spot out of the gate with an industry giant, but working as a software developer or web programmer with a young company that has potential could be a perfect fit. And who knows where the company will ascend to in a decade?

Sales reps often work on commission and usually are not required to have a four year degree. If you’re good with people, intuitive about what they need and want, and know your product, you can earn a good living. Pharmaceutical and technical companies may require that reps have a degree, but heavy equipment, service groups, food and beverage suppliers, construction companies, sports teams, and in a general sense, local or regional companies, usually find a high school degree sufficient.

Bookkeeping skills are always in demand, and any responsible worker with solid knowledge of computer bookkeeping programs will find plenty of work. Businesses are good at making, selling, and promoting their products, but often not very good at managing their finances. Their need to hire someone to keep an eye on that for them makes this a lucrative line of work, especially if you have good referrals from prior clients. This choice also offers great stepping stones to becoming an accountant, or even a CPA, as expertise, resources, and desire to improve enter the picture. Certification for all levels is available, as are degrees, but not every business needs a CPA. If you’re good with numbers, this can be a great career, even if you don’t have a degree.

Heavy equipment operators and truck drivers usually do not require degreed personnel. There are technical schools that provide certification in short term classes, enabling students to pursue careers quickly. While not an executive wage, many earn substantial salaries in this field that often does not even require a high school diploma.

Captaining, piloting, and deckhanding on water vessels is an exciting opportunity that embraces a variety of educational backgrounds. Certification through a training program is an advantage here, but experience and practical skills count for a lot. Beginning as a deckhand and learning the ropes on the way up is a good way for a young person to begin. Responsible, eager, and able workers will earn their way to the pilot’s or captain’s seats by executing their duties well. Private yachts, both power and sail, also offer opportunities that start from the bottom up. Websites seeking to match boats to crew abound, so if travel, adventure and learning a new career is in the cards, take a peek.

The labour trades all offer young workers entry level positions, signing new apprentices to learn from experienced workers. Degrees are rarely required in this field, which is instead focused on ability, coordination, and logical, practical thinking. Carpentry, plumbing, electrical, masonry, and finishing trades do experience fluctuations with the markets, but if you’re willing to travel, there are always construction sites gearing up somewhere in the world. Moving into management after you gain experience can have substantial financial advantages.

Commercial pilots, while required to complete a prescribed number of flight hours and training, are not required to be degreed. It is also unlikely that people will quit flying around the globe, but the airline industry does have its ups and downs, as well as risks and rewards. Still, it remains an interesting, highly valued position worth investigating if taking to the air sounds inviting to you.

Some jobs are so new that formal degree programs cannot fill the posts required. Those cutting edge industries frequently hire employees with background knowledge as opposed to a formal degree. Consider 3-D printing, writing apps for electronic and mobile devices, and any web programming or coding.

Private investigator, event coordinator, fashion designer, private chef, house painter, yacht concierge, wine and spirits sales, and an ever increasing list of new product developments in the world of computing, all offer opportunity for those with initiative and drive to earn a good living. In these fields, degrees are becoming less important than demonstrated expertise, especially if you set out on your own. A few loyal clients and some praiseworthy work under your belt will work hard toward building a solid business.

The important thing is to get out there and do something to show the world what you know, then network it like there’s no tomorrow. Recommendations that link you to successful people can get you in the door for an interview. What you do with that interview once you’re in is all up to you, so choose your niche, polish your brand, and know your mission. Are you ready?

Earning and Learning - You're Smarter Than You Think

Earning and Learning: You’re Smarter than You Think

It’s a wonderful thing to attend a graduation, watching happy faces queue up to receive that hard-earned degree. Not everyone, however, takes that traditional path to the academic sheepskin.

Circumstances sometimes demand that one earns an immediate pay check rather than shipping off to ivy-covered buildings filled with classrooms and professors. Degree qualified individuals may seem to have more cachet in some circles, but going to work instead of going to school doesn’t mean you are any less capable intellectually. In fact, some valuable benefits may be in store for you if you delay formal study until you’ve spent a few years attending the school of hard knocks, learning responsibility, a trade, some technological procedures, even people skills. You may not have realised it yet, but all those life skills are inadvertently building a portfolio for RPL, Recognition for Prior Learning.

Learning by doing something, as opposed to reading about it and discussing it, gives you direct, hands-on experience. Certainly intending no disrespect to the traditional academic path, expertise gained from actual work is often a more rigorous, sink-or-swim kind of a deal. Training is trimmed to the bare minimum to get employees up to speed quickly, reducing any investment in time spent teaching. The learning curve, as it were, is often quite short, sometimes leaving you to figure things out on your own.

In that kind of survival mode, you often learn things that don’t make it into the textbooks. Valuable things. Things you can truly use, every day. Whether you’re sweeping floors, taking care of swimming pools, selling things in a shop, or flipping hamburgers in a restaurant, there is value in what you know.

Similarly, if you have a hobby you are passionate about, you’ve likely collected a good bit of knowledge. If you like to travel, it’s a good bet you understand how to plan a trip, convert money, or translate languages. If you’re into photography, you understand what F-stop and aperture mean, and know how to frame a good picture. If you like to sew, you probably understand how things fit together, and know how to do something in fewer steps. In whatever you do for a hobby, you’ve learned valuable basics, plus some creative ways of doing or using things that improve your results. It all builds expertise, and that expertise can translate to college credits, granted through RPL programs.

So what types of coursework might you expect to breeze through, armed with your prior knowledge? Here are some possible examples of how to translate what you know into college credits:

  • Do you drive a truck? You probably have skills in navigation, time management, mechanical operations, efficiencies related to loads and deliveries, and even math skills figuring mileage, weights, tyre pressures, litres of petrol, and costs. Your skills could earn you credits in business courses related to logistics or planning, even math and management.
  • Do you clean hotel rooms or office buildings? You probably know which kinds of cleaners work best, how long it should take to perform various tasks, and how to arrange your schedule to get everything ship shape during your shift. Hotel and hospitality management groups can use your expertise. Business courses focused on those industries, especially in hospitality management, would be good targets for RPL applications.
  • Are you at home raising children? If you’ve run a household, you likely know a good deal about budgeting, managing supplies, cooking, nutrition, and cleaning. It would be logical to guess you also understand something about time management. If you can handle everything between a two-year-old and a teenager while keeping things in good order, scheduling appointments, remembering birthdays, staying within budget, and doing so with a sunny disposition, you’ve got skills worthy of an administrative assistant or a manager, appropriate for credits in related coursework. Oh, and if it’s more than one teenager? You definitely have counselling and negotiation skills.
  • Do you do volunteer work?  If you’ve raised money, organised an event, solicited donations, created advertising materials, or presided over meetings, your skills are valued by non-profit organisations. You could earn credit for business courses in scheduling, development, marketing, and public relations.

Getting credit for what you’ve learned on the job, in the military, through volunteer work, through hobbies, or in the business world, is now more popular than ever. Non-traditional students can earn credit in a number of ways. Examining the courses offered at an academic institution and matching them to your individual knowledge is a good way to start.

Are there course descriptions that sound like they could have been written as your job description? Perfect. You can schedule a test for as many courses as seems appropriate. With passing scores, you’ll be allowed to skip the classroom versions, pay a modest fee for the credits received, and save both time and money as you check those courses off your to do list. Most schools have a limit on the number of course hours permitted through RPL programs, but getting those credits can shave a year or more from your academic journey.

If testing is not your strong suit, you may prefer to create a “portfolio”, listing things you’ve learned in relation to specific courses. The portfolio would include tasks you’ve performed, volunteer duties you’ve fulfilled, or even those rabbit holes you’ve been gone down for years researching genealogy, computer programming, social media, or the complete history of polka dots. If you’ve got the goods, you can issue a “challenge” for the courses you feel confident in, submit your portfolio, and receive credit for whatever the school deems an adequate match of skills and coursework.

It’s time your hard work was recognised. After all, you’ve learned things the hard way. Now get ready for some smooth sailing on your way to the degree you’ve always dreamed of, turning your earning into learning and receiving credit where it’s due.

Show Me The Money - Careers Ten Years Out

Show Me the Money: Careers Ten Years Out

What will you be doing ten years from today? Will you have the same job or will you switch fields? Will you be with the same company or working for one that has not even been thought of yet? Will you live in the same town or will your career call you to a new location? And what will your pay check look like? Wouldn’t it be fabulous to peek ahead and find out?

While we can’t actually do that, there are some indicators that point toward viable career paths of the future. Before we go there, however, consider this: Dave Evans, a Futurist for Cisco Systems, says that 95 percent of everything we know as a species will be discovered in the next 50 years. That means we only know a pitiful 5 percent today of what we will know by 2064.

Ray Kurzweil, Director of Engineering and Futurist for Google, says that the knowledge we will gain as a species in the next 100 years will be the equivalent of the previous 20,000 years of knowledge. Both cite huge discoveries in technology as one of the basis points for their statements. Well, now, If things are going to be moving along so quickly, what will that mean for your career path? Better put on your running shoes, and try to keep up. But first, back to the future.

Consider the lifestyle landscape in 2004. Did you have a cell or mobile phone? If you did, it probably looked a bit different from the one you have today. It probably also operated a bit differently as well, and pretty much just made phone calls. Did you have a laptop? Maybe, but it was probably pretty heavy, and certainly couldn’t do the things today’s machines do. Even the shrunken versions in notebooks and e-readers can probably do more than the original laptops. Did we have big data ten years ago? Sure, we had data, but not streamlined, organized metadata, dropped on our electronic doorstep through the wonder of analytics as it is today. While much of what we’re doing today resembles our daily routines of ten years ago, it appears we’re in for a much faster ride through the next ten. Ready?

  • Sentient machines: Over the next ten years, technology is expected to provide rapid advances in the area of robotics. We will likely begin to see sentient, thinking machines and self-aware robotics that almost seem human. I know. Don’t tell Siri. Or Watson. They truly have no job security here. Engineers and technicians who know how to design and build these machines will be in demand. Software designers and programmers who can bring these things to life through almost human movement, reaction, speech, and appearance will not have to look hard for work.
  • Big Data: As we collect mountains of daily data, some big opportunities in analytics focused on financial sectors, marketing, sports performance, sales, and manufacturing will emerge. Extensive data will even begin to come from your doctor’s prescription. Pills containing tiny microprocessors will be travelling through your bloodstream, digestive tract, heart, and lungs, collecting and transmitting data about the state of your health to your hospital. All of these things will need computer savvy technicians to run programs, analyse data, and make sense of this brave new healthcare world.
  • 3D Printing: While the jury is still out, and the product is still in its infancy, 3D printers have the potential to drastically change how we shop for many things. These amazing machines can print things in three dimensions using any number of materials, from plastic and metal to glass and chocolate, building items, layer by layer, with jets of stuff. A brilliant graphic designer who is also well versed in programming will be writing programs to plug into everyone’s 3D printers, allowing them to “make” their own replacement parts, or design cool new things, right at home on the little old desktop.
  • Transportation and Energy: Getting things from point A to point B seems to be in for some big changes, as does energy, with sophisticated equipment and extensive new knowledge to perform new tasks, faster, cheaper, and better. Those equipped with industry knowledge that keeps pace will be busy.
  • New Jobs and New Kinds of Work: Many new jobs will emerge with this technological boom, including things like urban shepherds and farmers, and anyone thinking very, very small, as in nanotechnology and photonic crystals. Farmers located in cities will begin to tend crops on roofs, vertical gardens, beehives, and perform composting, as they already are in some cities. Expect it to become much more common. On the opposite end of the spectrum, those working with nano-molecular materials to fabricate new layers in semiconductors, insulation, solar arrays, and microprocessors will command respect, and a good wage.

With all these advances, which careers are likely to become obsolete? Postman and meter reader come to mind. Drill press operators, printing company workers, and retail clerks will decline in number as automation continues to take over.

What to do if the automation, computerization, and renovation of the career landscape doesn’t appeal to you? People still need to be human. Some jobs just can’t be done by a machine, at least not in the next 10 years. We will continue to need physical therapists, training and development specialists, marketing and convention/event planners, interpreters and translators, registered nurses, physicians, surgeons, teachers, counsellors, and dental hygienists.

But what if you’re that square peg that doesn’t fit in the round hole anywhere? There’s still a place for you as well, serving as a corporate disruptor. It seems that the disruptive nature of start-up businesses instils an organized chaos that dynamic companies love. It keeps employees on the cutting edge of discovery, wondering what the next big thing might be. So get out there and mix it up. Plan now for where you want to be in ten years. It’s possible, but highly unlikely, that you’ll be doing the same thing.

Drinking From The Cup - What The World Learned From Football

Drinking From The Cup: What The World Learned From Football

We watched. We cheered. We held our breath. And we celebrated. All 27 million of us, worldwide, as we watched teams compete in The World Cup in Brazil. There were tweeting Brazucas and snazzy boots. There were spying drones and stylish haircuts. There was a final with just ten red cards, the least since 1986, and a time stoppage clock with a sponsor plastered all over it. Fun and frustration aside, there were also lessons to be learned from this amazing set of contests, many of them that translate well from the football pitch to the office.

Whilst much of our business knowledge is gained in the classroom or the conference room, handed down by teachers and mentors, there’s no substitute for a live, 3D event. In sport, like in life, there are teachable moments that illustrate the good stuff, making the difference between a glorious win and a disappointing head-hanger. Here are five takeaway lessons that you probably spotted if you’ve been glued to the telly for the past three weeks watching football. Put them to good use:

  1. It’s not over till it’s over. Sometimes that last effort makes all the difference, like in the 113th minute of the Germany vs Argentina final. Keeping your head in the game for the full clock is what winners do. Focus, then follow through. Your confidence will shine in interviews, presentations, challenges, and whenever your mettle is about to be tested, with persistence at your side. Giving up, even when things seem a bit bleak, prematurely steals away any opportunity for success. Staying on task gives you not just the chance to win, but also the chance to learn some things that may prove valuable next time around, win or lose. Never, never, never give up on yourself.

  2. Persieing works. We’re not talking launching headlong across the conference room table to score a goal like flying Dutchman Van Persie, but we are talking about aiming high. Going for a little more than you are comfortable with, whether it involves an educational pursuit, a career move, or a personal best in potholder weaving, is a strategy that can deliver results you never dreamed possible. Set your sights high and commit to the accomplishment. If you do happen to fall short, you’ve given it your honest best, and again have probably noted a few things that you’ll do differently next time. If you go for it and get it, congratulations are definitely in order.

  3. Snazzy boots do not necessarily mean fancy footwork. There was a boatload of fussy footwear tearing up the turf around Rio, and it was fun to watch the fashion show. From Lionel Messi’s World Cup Birthday Boot, to Nike’s flashy gold Neymar Hypervenom, footballers sported some remarkable designs. Style matters, to be sure, and it’s always good to look smart, whether you’re running down the field or striding up to your next boss, but there is more to success. Substance, as in knowledge, experience, creativity, and the like, makes a career take off much faster than new kicks. Keep in mind, however, that even an Einstein genius won’t make it through today’s demanding critiques if personal grooming isn’t up to snuff. Keep things relatively neat and clean, while directing resources to knowledge, skills, and abilities. Those that matter will not be put off if you have yet to achieve that GQ wardrobe. They’re too busy focusing on your interesting ideas and conversation.

  4. Which wins, an awesome team or a superstar? Yes, that’s a trick question. No matter how accomplished a player is, it is nearly impossible to win a contest without the support of the team. They may not all be out there kicking goals, but they’re all doing their part to help the forward to put numbers up on the board. Similarly, a team without a standout or two is at a distinct disadvantage. It’s like a business without a manager, or a corporation without a CEO. Someone has to lead, others have to support. When leadership and support staff work together, everyone wins, both on the sports field and in business.

  5. Opportunities are funny things. Some people think they just magically happen. Others believe they are built on the backs of strategy, experience, and hard work. Either way, if you don’t recognize one when it’s coming at you, it simply doesn’t matter. Whether it’s serendipity or strategy that prompts an opening, staying engaged, constantly scanning the horizon for what could become the chance of a lifetime can have big payoffs. Consequently, if you’re away with the pixies while someone else drops the ball, you’ll miss an important opportunity that may not knock again soon. Recognizing every opportunity for what it is, knowing what to do with it, and acting decisively, are all key.

The World Cup won’t come around again until 2018, when we all have reason to watch another marathon of matches, broadcast from a widespread collection of venues scattered about Russia. There will be fabulous teams, standout superstars, a classy new ball, and some stylish trends. Who knows? Black shoes may even become the “it” that everyone must have. There will be lots of chatter about culture, globalization, social media, and personal stories. There will also be winners and losers. For some, especially those at the very top, winning may be everything. For most, there are lots of ways to win, and not all of them are reflected by the score.

In the classic work, The Art of War, Sun Tsu sagely advises that “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” That winning first thing may have some merit. Let’s give it a shot.