It is official – my company will be converting our client-server business software to a new cloud based system later this year. The contract was signed this week. My boss and I knew our company’s owners would decide to make the conversion someday, but we thought (were hoping) it wouldn’t be quite so soon.
After the announcement was made, one of our company owners told me both my boss and I spend too much time entering and manipulating data. There are more important things we should be working on. He also mentioned that 50% of our employees would not embrace this change and was hoping some of the curmudgeon’s would retire. (I wrote more about this in my post Do software conversions force older employees into retirement?
My immediate reaction was skepticism and a fear of the unknown. How will my job change? Will I have enough work to do if the reports I spend hours creating are automatically produced?
Fortunately, I was comforted by Peter Thiel’s book Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future.
He writes:Americans fear technology in the near future because they see it as a replay of the globalization of the near past. But the situations are very different: people compete for jobs and for resources; computers compete for neither. (pg. 141)
And
Computers are far more different from people than any two people are different from each other: men and machines are good at fundamentally different things. People have intentionality – we form plans and make decisions in complicated situations. We’re less good at making sense of enormous amounts of data. Computers are exactly the opposite they excel at efficient data processing, but they struggle to make basic judgments that would be simple for any human. (pg. 143)
I wish my company’s owners would read this quote:
The most valuable businesses of coming decades will be built by entrepreneurs who seek to empower people rather than try to make them obsolete. (pg. 141)
It appears my job’s focus in the future will be on interpreting data which I do enjoy, rather than creating spreadsheets which I must admit at times can be mind-numbingly boring. I need to remember
Worry and regret never solves tomorrow’s problems and only drains away energy from today. James AltucherThis post is the first in a new series I am implementing called, “Staying relevant over 50.” A few years ago, I read a statement claiming advertisers don’t market to the over 54 age group because this group is no longer relevant. My ultimate goal of this series, other than providing relevancy suggestions and tips, is to prove these advertisers are wrong.
How do you recommend staying relevant over 50?
Please note I am an Amazon Affiliate
Hi, it's Donna (Just One Donna) and this topic is a good one for the over 50 crowd. For me staying relevant means embracing change. Life is a journey and that means the scenery will change along the way. In order to enjoy the journey we must see opportunity in and delight in that which is new and different. When I started blogging a fellow blogger, approximately my age, told me I was too late to the game. I was irrelevant. Well, I ignored her advice and I'm still playing the game.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you ignored your friend. BTW - I discovered your blog through a generic search looking for new recipes. So there! Your friend actually makes me angry and inspires me to write a post about things our friends think we are too old to do. Additional education or career changes come to mind.
DeleteMy former company went thru several software changes in the last 10 years I worked there - every time we got merged the new big boss would move us to all of their systems. It always made more work for me - never less. Fortunately, i got a couple of days of training each time and you need to continuously lobby for all affected staff to get real training, not self-help. That will be really helpful for the over 50 crowd, whom someone (perhaps not you, but the HR person) needs to also lobby them to see the upside of new challenges and new training. I heard a former Silicon Valley guy say today on NPR that older workers are NOT obsolete. They have invested 10,000+ hours learning their areas and have much to offer both their current employers and potential future employers. Know you will do fine, because you do have a good attitude, but you may have to share it! good luck!
ReplyDeleteInteresting you always had more work - never less after a software conversion. Great comment and advice. I will use it.
DeleteAlso new software is not going to correct poor communication from management or weak processes. Just saying.
DeleteI believe that continuous training by companies are crucial to bringing awareness to older members within the organization. Companies have a wealth of information available to them that will show were new trends are emerging and the related technology/information that will be needed to stratify this industry.
ReplyDeleteIt is also on the person to do research on the latest trends and technology emerging. Finally, learn from new people in the organization! Young people, especially millennials, have current knowledge of the best technology, trends etc that somebody over 50 can use.
I taught myself excel at my old company. We had just hired several newly graduated engineers. They had to come into my office to turn in their time sheets. I would ask each one a different question, so not to burden one person with training me. Worked marvelously.
DeleteIt seems odd to want to lose all the experience and wisdom that comes from older workers. You'd think companies would have a system in place to allow a transitioning as you age that makes the most of everyone's skill sets at the right times.
ReplyDeleteAs with everything it is personality. They don't realized what they are losing though. I learned first hand when I lost my accounts payable processor last year. It was a nightmare hiring and training someone else.
DeleteVery interesting. I turned 50 last year, and am so glad to see that so many of us are open to reinventing ourselves, learning new skills and open to new ideas.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I also agree many of us are open to new ideas and want to learn.
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