Elroy, I have witnessed in my professional life many instances where careers where fast tracked with terrible results.
Not that involved deaths of people like fast tracking younger pilots careers, but also tragic and with loss of money.
Fast tracking is required in two instances:
1) When there is a technology change from the old wave to the new wave.
2) When there is over investment
In the case 1)
the older generation of experience people are not enough to cope with the amount of work, therefore youngster are brought in.
They, being youngsters, are full of confidence and drive and think they can do the impossible.
Case in point the mobile networks taking over from the fixed networks from mid 90s to mid 2000's
In the case 2)
Over investment causes the salaries to go up and they eye a quick buck by engaging in the new field.
This new field attracts all kinds of unexperienced people with the goal to make good money.
Once the Internet took off, there was a dearth of people with enough computer skills, networking and communications.
The younger people over populated computer science courses as the salaries were higher.
Younger people are attracted to newness because they identify newer business models and technologies with their own youth.
Newness is glamorous and increase the chances of picking up girls as girls chase younger men in higher salary jobs.
Then they start screwing up.
Case 1) is right here: With all the hoopla of 5G with thousands of youngsters salivating for the same amount of moolah doled out in the fixed to mobile move. It is not going to happen by the way.
Case 2) is happening today right before our eyes with programming, AI, Machine learning which are nothing more that recycling and repackaging technologies of resulting from R&D of the late 80s.
Youngsters soon after the initial glamour wears out, discover that technical professions, leads one to become an specialist.
Once you specialize ina given technical field, you are in a dead end professional field.
They then think they can advance their careers, by becoming managers. That is done in two levels
Level 1) schools offer MBA for the guy to get the grips in the business side.
Level 2) is a low level industry that profit from technical people who want to go into management.
You can see how many certifications in the Project Management field
blog.teamweek.com
Learning something new is all good. Knowledge does not occupy space in our brains. There is always space fr more knowledge.
But people think -erroneously- that they can come back, show the new papers they got to the managers and to HR and they will pay them a higher compensation.
Fast trackig a career is nothing more than a short cut.
Lazy guys do not want to learn by doing. They want instant gratification.
Companies, whose top management fast tracked THEIR own careers thing that can be applied across the board. |
