Its harder today right?
Especially if you are in your late 40s to 50s...
Things just change and move so fast nowadays!!!
Remember that time when you were eyeing your boss' job?
Now that old fogey has retired, you finally got his job! Whee!
You not stressed on the greater responsibilities. Why say no to better pay and prestige?
I mean you have been his/her lieutenant, deputy, assistant for donkey years, its just wash, rinse, repeat. You can even do it with your eyes closed!
How hard can it be? Just follow the past precedents, and chant, "Faster, quicker, cheaper!"
Its all about Efficiency, isn't it?
Now imagine you are working in Comfort Delgro. A bit stunned and blindsided by the private hire competition right? Who the hell in your company knows how to code?
How about Singtel? Your wash, rinse, and repeat tactic of buying other telcos overseas for growth is getting old... (Limpeh got money!)
Now you got to relearn new tricks and explore opportunities outside your field of expertise?
Should you get into the mobile/PC gaming market? Let's sponsor a professional gaming team!
Or compete with the traditional banks and other smaller and more nimble startups to claim a slice of the fintech pie?
Then there's the ultimate - when all things fail, become a property play! (SingPost, SPH can, so can we!)
No need to say more if you working for SPH. How the hell do we compete with "free"!?
You finally understood and empathised when desktop publishing made typesetters obsolete in your industry so many decades ago...
When the pin pricks your own skin, you don't become so smug like when you were a management trainee back then,
Mind you, I'm not talking about CEO positions here.
Just you finally replacing your old boss to be a department head in your late 40s or 50s...
Not what you expected right? You envy your old boss can coast along for so many decades when change isn't so rapid...
You? Its so fxxking stressful! And no fun!
Especially when the pivot today is towards Effectiveness.
But that's like telling an old dog to do new tricks!
If I had to be "entrepreneurial" in thinking, I wouldn't have chosen a stable and consistent paying job in the first place!!!
In case you want to learn more about Efficiency versus Effectiveness.
Its the same for politics and religions too.
To win new converts to your sales funnel banner, you got to do Twitter, Facebook, Instagram?
Kissing babies during weekend walkabouts no longer enough...
Its so funny to see Trump sharing his ideas and policies on Twitter! Can you imagine our PM doing it?
Oh! It will come! "Akan datang"!
Of course youths would have the edge over us old fogeys!
You grew up with all these rapid changes in technologies and cultural changes. Its not new to you!
We can see it in our community.
How would 1M65 be attractive to youths? When youths have goals to retire by 35?
A few have indeed done so by being early adopters of cryptos and are now millionaires in their 30s!?
All the power to them!
There is some truth in the meme about not trusting any adults above the age of 30...
Go big or go home! (This works best when we have nothing much to lose anyway!)
Oh! What I would give to be young in my 20s again!
It sucks to be old IT dinosaur in a rapidly changing world.
Just when I'm finally comfortable with Windows 10... Windows 11 is coming!?
You got to be freaking kidding me!
Why is Windows called Windows? Long ago, a command line operating system (OS) called MS-DOS was what people used. Then, a brand new GUI OS that uses multiple 'windows' to run programs changed our lives forever :D
ReplyDeleteChange happens a lot faster these days, at least it seems that way to me. Disruption, they call it. Embracing change isn't easy, but the very least we could do is try to adapt?!
Kevin,
DeleteI experienced the PC revolution first hand in 1986 when I got posted to 9 RITC after my BMT and Ammo storeman course.
Because I looked "educated" - better than saying I look like nerd - they ask me to be their computer operator/accounting NCO on the side beside being an Ammo storeman!?
That's when I touched a PC for the first time - IBM AT computer, green screen monitor, dot matrix printer :)
Software was Wordstar, Lotus 123, and Dbase 3. That was the time when there were independent software developers before Microsoft completely dominated with their Office Suite...
I had to memorise all those stupid MS-DOS commands!!! Nightmares!
Change is indeed hard and difficult for those who are not good at adapting, or flexible in their thinking.
I guess there's one thing working in my favour - I'm shameless.
I don't mind going back to the selling floor.
If brick-and-mortar retail went obsolete, I have no problem flipping burgers at some fast food outlet.
Just as long I am healthy and willing to work, I won't go hungry in Singapore ;)
Old Fogeys who are willing to adapt will have no problem to learn IT. Digital ambassadors are here to help.
ReplyDeleteCW,
DeleteYes, those who are FLEXIBLE and ADAPTABLE can manage change better.
But those who can't see change coming until its too late...
And even then, still fight tooth and nail against change?
I guess HR will put a bullseye target on their backs...
Smol,
ReplyDeleteWhen push comes to shove, most people will curse but adapt. Only the minority, as well as those with options, will resist.
Remember those days when people created ascii pictures? Or wrote programs to convert scanned photos into ascii art that could be printed by dot matrix printer across many pages & stitched together to form a huge picture?
Like these examples here, 1960 example and here.
Would make a nice NFT lol.
Spur,
DeleteDon't get me started on NFTs...
In the Art world, there are already loads of trash masquerading as "Art".
But NFTs?
That's on a whole another level of the greater fool theory!
Then again, if people can pay a million for a baseball card or comic book, I guess just as long something is classified as "collectible", its anything goes!
LOL!
Smol,
ReplyDeleteThe only constant is change. It does not matter whether the individual is old or young. It always has the bad mood when he/she does not embrace change. This is the way of life and the attitude matters.
WTK
WTK,
DeleteChange at evolutionary pace is manageable.
Change at revolutionary pace can be murder!
LOL!
Smol,
ReplyDeleteOne can decide whether to join the changes with the assumption of being FI and adopting the minimalist lifestyle. It may not be not to the liking of some. One cannot have the whole cake and eat it. This is with the exception of the Authority.
WTK
WTK,
DeleteDifferent strokes for different folks.