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Subject:Friday philosophical - the age thing From:"McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 7 Mar 2008 10:43:43 -0500
A remark by Andrew in another thread, about late nights, early mornings
and not being at one's best reminded me of previous threads where some
young turks have noted that they're tough enough (as are the fresh young
engineers) that they aren't fazed by long or irregular hours - they
usually mention the all-nighters they pulled at college, not so long
ago.
When I put this together with the ongoing trend to raise the
education/credential bar for many jobs - including tech-writing - I
come up with this thought:
The useful-life window for young-turk-dom might be narrowing.
The young turks either are still invulnerable (because they _are_ that
young - and therefore inexperienced), or are putting up a brave front
because they've passed 30 and are realizing that the bod just doesn't
bounce back like it used to, and "oh, that's what they mean by
brain-fog", better fake it with extra helpings of Red Bull, and some
Grecian Formula in the beard.
This is as it always has been. The young-and-invulnerable part of your
career (any career) is shorter than the long haul of your overall
working life. BUT, as the young folk have to spend longer and longer in
school before starting that first real job (or come out with the degree
in imaginary dead languages and have to return for a second degree or
certificate in tech-writing to put brioche and latte on the table), they
are entering later. That is, they are entering the real workforce (as
opposed to the "junior" one that sustained them through school) with
more and more of their years of invulnerability already used up.
Just a thought to put a chill on some weekends.
Kevin
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