Here’s some bits and bobs of what I’m reading this week and some of my own opinions of the posts.

Texts between Elon Musk and his Sycophants

I rolled my eyes when I read that one of them would “jump on a grenade” for him. Bloody hell. Read this tripe and I dare you not to roll your eyes too when the uber rich surround themselves with yes men.

Text-ure

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Work Experience & Human Capital

The irony not lost on me that the older and more experienced I became, the less salary I was paid. But then again, I’m a woman.

And I made different choices in my work and life. I decided to take on contract roles, go part-time, start my own business which failed, was unemployed for a long period of my life, took casual roles when I could. All these experiences create gaps in your CV and difficult to compete with those in your field who haven’t done these experiences. So for every work experiment, you’re put behind your peers even though you may have kept up your education and life experience in other ways.

Everyone’ situation is different. These reports work with generalities. Just because you’re highly educated and have varied experiences, does not necessarily mean you’ll be compensated accordingly. In fact, in most cases, it’ll be used against you in competition with others for the same roles you’re going for.
https://blog.irvingwb.com/blog/2022/10/work-experience-and-human-capital.html

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Meta Meets Microsoft: Virtual Reality

https://stratechery.com/2022/meta-meets-microsoft/

IMHO You know what the real game changer will be with VR?

When your own avatar has a life of its own while you’re sleeping.

Thing is that the limitation with this technology is time. If it’s morning in one part of the world, it’s evening in another. You have to physically have to be in the same ‘time’ with your colleagues in order to meet virtually in a virtual space.

But what happens when your avatar – your virtual self – has the meeting on your behalf at times when you’re physically not available?

That’s when I pack up my bongos and go live off the grid. I can’t fathom this thought. It hurts my head – I lament for humanity.

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The Unconscious Fluency of Writing

A great reflection by Mark Carrigan on the joys of writing and how he doesn’t have to think about writing as it’s given him joy.

This blog has saved me in some way. I’ve been able to write out all the junk floating around in my head here and made sense of it all. Sometimes, I’ve had people comment on the posts, or other times not. In the past, I used to share these onto Twitter and further conversations would transpire but it’s becoming less and less now that I’m off the social networks.

My intention is not to write for an audience – despite people telling me to do this or creating a business. I write for me. If people get any value from my ramblings then that’s fantastic but that’s all they are. I’m not here to educate, to influence, to thought lead – I’m here to understand….myself and my place in the world.

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You’re Learning a Lot, But Is It Valuable?

Well, value is really in the eye of the beholder.

Value to whom?

If I was to follow what other employers, parents, peers, asked me to learn based on their definition of value, I’d be in roles that I’d be bored out of my brain. My parents wanted me to be a doctor. My employer wanted me to learn Power Platform; a friend told me I should start to learn how to code; another told me that if I’m not learning about Substack or SEO or know how to do mail campaigns, my (old) business would die.

Sigh.

Yawn.

I’ve always been of the opinion to learn, by all means, things that you would need in the role that you’re in and that would help you in it.

However, if you want to learn something else – do that too.

Don’t learn something because it has utility – learn something that makes you learn about YOURSELF.

I learned Power Platform just enough to be able to automate some basic work processes however I learned French to the point I can converse and understand native French speakers.

Guess which I’m most happy about?

I learned how to do an email campaign but I also learned how to read music and learn to play the ukulele. Guess which one was more fun and got my mind free and relaxed?

Get my drift?

If you’re basing your learning choices around whether it’s “valuable” or transferable, you’re looking at it from one perspective only.

Are reading music and speaking French transferable? No idea. I doubt it. Others told me I have wasted my time when I could have been building skills to help me get better roles or work.

I don’t see it that way – I want to learn things that make me a BETTER WELL ROUNDED PERSON because this type of learning creates social experiences with others that are not based around making others into a financial transaction for you.

Go wild, learn something new and different. Don’t make things about work only – make them about LIFE.