Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Stay at the same job or get new skills?

I know so many people, that are working at the same job for decades. Year after year, they are doing the same job over and over. My question is: should we stick to only one job or try and learn some new skills on the side and try a better industry?

Why are people sticking to the same job for many years?

There are several reasons for that. If the job pays well, than of course, people are content. They are making a living, may be saving some money. The thing is that once you get kids, you need money all the time, you have no time to change jobs or study. This is the main reason people stick to one job. They will try to avoid quitting or getting laid off. The only way for them to start looking for a new job is to force them. Thus, if they get fired, they will have no choice but to look for another job or skill set.


There are good reasons to stick to a job. First it pays your bills and it puts food on your table for your kids. Once you get used to a job, it more easy for you to perform it. That's quite a convenience. But my, question is: how secure a job can really be? how do you know that you're gonna be at the same place in 10-20 years from now? Is it safe to stick to one job? After all, if we get older and get fired, it's much harder to study and get good jobs, we don't have free time, we have kids and a lot of bills to pay. On top of that the older we get, our health generally decreases, we can no longer perform a lot of jobs, especially those requiring heavy physical work.

Why we should study on the side?


I think, that even if we have a job that pays our bills, if it's a low skill job, it's better to learn new skills on the side to increase our financial security in the future. In case, you loose the job, you have better chances of finding a new one if you have studies or relevant experience.

I think as teenagers, we start basically, with low-paid, low skill, mostly physical jobs. But as we get older we should study jobs that require more abstract skills. Your body gets old with time, but your mind doesn't. So if you become an architect or web developer, you can practice the job even when you're old, because it requires mostly your mind, not your body.

What do you think? sound off in comments.

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