The Most Productive Use of a Quarantine: Re-tool the workforce.



The Best Way to Spend the Pandemic: Learn a New Skill! 



I've seen (and heard) a great many people commiserating about being bored-at-home during the COVID-19 quarantines currently taking place across the nation, across the world.  We don't know how long it will take, exactly, but we do know it will be several weeks, at a minimum. 

So what to do? 

During a nationwide economic reset, the absolute best thing you can do is to learn a new skill.  Robotics and Automation are going to replace many of the jobs available today.  For example, robots capable of building entire houses are already being tested in the market.  Not being developed, mind you, but being tested in production.  That's just one step away from mass rollout.  Automated food handlers, bartenders and on and on are all on the cusp of making their entrance into the workforce.  Many such manual labor jobs will be lost over the coming decade, and we're going to need new positions -- requiring new skill sets -- in order to maintain a healthy society. 

6.6 million people -- primarily bartenders, constructions workers, waiters and so on have been laid off over the last two weeks.  These are precisely the jobs that will be endangered in the next decade.  What better time than an enforced "shelter-at-home" order to learn something new!   

Certainly, you could load up on liquor and Netflix and spend several weeks in an alcohol-induced stupor, but is that really the best us of your time?  

Now, you might say to yourself something along the lines of:  "I don't know much (or anything) about technology!"

To this I would respond simply: Hey, I was an English major and proverbial Starving Artist in the 90's when I started down the road to becoming a technologist.  Sure, I had been around computers as a kid, but I never took them too seriously.  I piddled around with some simple BASIC programs, but mostly I studied English and Sociology -- and, uh, partied.  

Thus I say that your lack of experience, information or understanding is a great place to start. 

Over the years, people have asked me how I made such a transformation.  The answer is simple:  I applied myself.  I studied constantly.  I brought computer books with me everywhere I went, to the point that I traveled with a little rolling library following behind me.  Further, I wrote code.  Lots and lots of code.  HTML and JavaScript are a good place to start, because you're basically working in a sandbox and can't cause too much trouble.  Moving forward, languages like Go, NodeJS and even the venerable Java are still very much in demand.  

So spend your stay-at-home time in a stupor, or improve your life.  The choice is yours. 

My recommendations for learning sites:

Comments

  1. charles lieuranceApril 3, 2020 at 1:27 PM

    Very good, Kevin, though I'm still going to watch movies & get drunk.

    ReplyDelete

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