Thoughts About Parenting: Career Advice

Introduction

@cmp2020 wants to be a musician. Actually, he is a musician - a pretty darned good one, in my admittedly biased opinion (Go check out his profile and see what you think). He sings, plays piano, French horn and mellophone, and he composes too. But that's not what I mean. When I say that @cmp2020 wants to be a musician, I mean that he wants to pursue a career in music.

When you are the father of a 15 year old who wants to go into music as a profession, it's sort-of amusing to watch peoples' responses when the subject comes up in conversation. When you are talking about him with other adults, the reserved people will politely change the subject, and the more outspoken ones will suggest that, as a parent, you should actively discourage this unrealistic plan of his. When adults are talking to him about it, every last one of them advises: "Make sure you have a backup plan."

So... I've been thinking about fatherly career advice for a musically talented teenager - or really, any teenager.

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Coal and Steel, Railroading and Technology

Once upon a time, the Reading Railroad had the largest market cap in America. Now it's gone. At least three people in my family tree spent their careers working for the Reading and Pennsylvania railroads (which merged then split into Conrail and SEPTA). When the Pennsylvania coal and steel industries were booming, so was the railroad industry. In the early and mid-20th century, I am sure that many people thought that coal, steel, and railroading would provide jobs for generations. Then came the 1970s and 1980s. I remember when steel mills closed in nearby Phoenixville and Conshohocken and slightly further off in Allentown (of Billy Joel fame). When the steel industry declined, it took the coal industry along with it, and central Pennsylvania experienced massive poverty. When coal and steel were gone, Conrail got bought by CSX, and most of those jobs moved away. In more recent times, the (freight) railroad industry has staged a comeback, but thanks to automation, I don't think it's anything like the job producer that it used to be.

None of that mattered to me, when I was launching my career. For as long as I can remember, I've been passionate about technology. From the Colossal Cave adventure to Zork and programming in BASIC, I was hooked! So, my career path was clear, and I was lucky. My passion aligned with the job market and I have done pretty well. But, I'm starting to see familiar warning signs. The 1960s or '70s steel industry is the 2010s Information Technology industry. American IT jobs are being displaced by overseas workers and automation. Unlike many, I don't want to try to interfere in that process, it's the market doing what the market does best, creative destruction. Those who are impacted must learn to adapt. Some people lose. More win. But, it's a powerful lesson to me. No matter how promising a career looks when we're 18, we just don't know the future. Coal and steel, railroading and technology were all industries that looked like they would provide jobs for generations. Meanwhile, musicians have been around for centuries. So, what career do you tell a young man to pursue when you know that you have no idea what the job market will look like in 10 or 20 years?

Looking back on my own career, one thing is clear. Advancement comes from what you do "off the clock." You don't get promoted or hired into a new job for doing your job. For doing your job, you get a pay check. If you want advancement, you have to learn new skills, complete projects that go beyond your basic duties, or find some other way to expand your value. Usually, you have to do that on your own time.

So the best advice I can come up with is to recognize that a job is a step on a path, not a destination, and to identify three guiding principles: pragmatism, passion, and service.

[Image source: pixabay.com, licensed under CC0, public domain]

The Principles

Pragmatism

First, we have to pay the bills. We have to have a place to live, food on the table, and all our other basic needs met. So we start with pragmatism. Before I launched my professional career, I delivered newspapers on my ten-speed bike, unloaded farm trucks, tore down used cardboard boxes, worked as a lifeguard, worked as an usher at a movie theater, and worked in a factory making cardboard boxes. I wasn't passionate about any of these jobs (except maybe lifeguarding), but I'm glad I did every one of them. Step one is always step one. Do something that someone will pay you for, and do it to the best of your ability.

Passion

Once our basic needs are met, we will naturally want a job that we enjoy. If that means that we're working in a factory during the day and composing music at night, then that's what it means. If I'm passionate about music, and I'm not working in music, then I should have that goal in mind during every waking minute, and I should constantly look for ways to merge pragmatism and passion. If one of my ideas fails, then good, I've ruled out something that doesn't work. On to the next idea!

With @cmp2020's music activities, I have learned that there are all sorts of opportunities for musicians to work if they're willing to put in the effort. Teaching lessons, church music groups, open mic nights. As they say, "Overnight success is ten years in the making." If we're passionate about something, we can find a way to make it work. And this is (I think) especially true with the impact that the blockchain and other technologies will have on the music industry of the future.

Service

Am I making the world a better place? If I have a job where the bills are paid and my needs are met, and I'm working in a role that fills me with passion, the next level of fulfillment is to maximize the way that my skills benefit others. Note that I'm not necessarily talking about charity. For service to be sustainable, it's got to be funded. There is nothing wrong with being paid for service to the community. But I believe that it's more fulfilling - at a personal level - to do a job that benefits many people than a job that benefits few.

Conclusion

So my career advice goes like this: First, do something. Anything. It doesn't matter what, but you have to start somewhere. Put a stake in the ground and never give up one job until the next one is lined up. Once you're doing something, evaluate how it fulfills your needs. Are your bills paid? Do you love what you do? Does it make the world a better place? If the answer to all three is yes, then consider yourself lucky, and keep asking yourself that question because your needs and desires will change over the course of your career. If the answer is no, then ask yourself what you need to do to get closer to those goals, and start doing it in your spare time without waiting for someone to invite you or offer you permission. Get yourself ready so that when the opportunity to move in the right direction inevitably arrives, you're ready to take it.

So after thinking all of those thoughts, I am not discouraging @cmp2020 from following his dream. He's a good musician, and he is working amazingly hard to make himself better - I can only wish that I had his self-discipline at that age.

I don't know what the future holds for musicians or any other profession, but I can see where his passions lie, and that counts for something. So what I am telling him is that if he wants to be a musician in this day and age, he needs to learn more than just music. He also needs to learn about intellectual property and technology and probably a dozen other things that I'm not even aware of. There will be no "plan B," but "plan A" might sometimes feel like navigating a maze of twisty little passages. Life is hard, but one step at a time, diligence, following his passion, and a sincere desire to make the world a better place will almost certainly take him where he needs to be.

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@remlaps is an Information Technology professional with three decades of business experience working with telecommunications and computing technologies. He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in computer science, and is currently completing a doctoral degree in information technology.