What will you do?… What will you use?… How will you live?… How will you communicate?
These are all questions each of us must address as we see the once-distant future approaching at break-neck speed.
If we are wise we will not wait until it is too late to acquire the skills and experience needed to survive and thrive.
We should be about the task of envisioning how what we know merges or converges with our passions and interests.
Our choices are pursuing short term gain versus long term success. They are not mutually exclusive just at different and sometimes opposite poles. What is not at issue is that standing still or treading water is not an option. We need to be about our personal mission of gathering skills like a hunter gathers skins and pelts. These might be degrees, certifications, credentials or assumed or acknowledged talents in areas that will be in demand in a future that is hard to know but must be anticipated and planned for.
Yesterday the Perl, Java and XXX develop saw this day coming and are now developing the applications that are fueling the growth of new industries. This does not mean we should all become programmers. Too many now unemployed workers made that mistake. It also does not mean chasing the latest trend that is a mistake that has broken the heart of many a young wide-eyed hope-filled entrepreneur.
So, where will the next Gold Rush come from? Today it is Social Media, but what comes next? Then there are the questions we started this post with. There are no easy answers, there may even be no answers just questions that must be addressed in the fullness of time.