Opportunities

There are some great jobs coming out of the current economic crash. Not a lot of them but...

Consider the Planet Money team. I wouldn't mind being one of them right now. As horrible as this crash is and will continue to be, it's also really fascinating. Those Planet Money folks get to research every aspect of the crash. They're traveling the world finding out how the economy is affecting people of all economic levels. Planet Money is finding out about arcane financial products, what they really are, how they came to be and how they're causing domino-effect destruction in markets all over the world. Then the team boils down all the information and figures out how to explain it to us in an entertaining and understandable fashion. What a great job to have!

Then there are the lucky visionaries who are going to revolutionize the auto industry. That's going to be the job of a lifetime for somebody. To paraphrase a surfer dude I used to know, it'll be heavy but it'll be killer. Heads are going to have to roll, old, dead wood will have to be removed. But think of the opportunities for new designs, new concepts, new systems, better vehicles! It might even produce more interesting jobs for the workers who build vehicles.

Again, it's painful to have to change and move into the future but it can also be really exciting. We're being forced out of our self-indulgent ruts (Working in a dying industry may not feel self-indulgent but if you know your industry's dying and you stick around because you already know how to do the job and you can't be bothered to learn a new skill, that's pretty self-indulgent) If we're lucky, creative and keep our eyes open there are good pieces of pie to be had.

We're all going to have to learn to be flexible and try something new. I think that's very exciting. Like training for a marathon, it's going to be a lot of work but look what we'll be able to do afterward.