Martin Buckland, a career professional in Canada, asks a very important question in a LinkedIn article: When Was The Last Time You Invested In Your Career? In his blog post he asks 10 questions about your career, which are mostly job search related. I want to go a different direction.
In the olden days, investing in your career meant going to college and having a degree. Today, there’s a phase I’ve heard called “micro-degrees.” People are saying that the good old college education is no good, and that it’s only going to get worse over time. It’s why sites like Pluralsight are so important – because we can get current, relevant information to help us become more skilled, on our own time, for a ridiculously low price compared to a 4+ year education.
We did that because there was loyalty from a company, and long-term employment with a company, and even retirement benefits. That seems to be a thing of the 1900’s, though.
So we need to think like independent contractors, which means we have to stay current, which means we have to study our trade regularly, which means we have to invest in our career.
That’s one reason why I’m so excited to put Pluralsight in front of you. If that doesn’t work, find an alternative, even if it means reading lots of books. For now, invest in your job search and career learning through my courses on Pluralsight, at no cost, AND get a week of JibberJobber each time you watch one of my courses. Here’s a short video showing you how: