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Thinking about a career change or getting back into the workforce? Are you stuck in a job that you don’t enjoy? There are options!

One way we like to think about it is this: your next career choice should not only be in demand today, but it should still be in demand 5/10/20 years from now. The world is changing at a rapid pace, and you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re going to have to make another transition in the near future.

Below we’ve listed five ideas of careers that will still be in vogue 10 years from now, where you can learn many of the necessary skills from the comfort of your living room or office. Each idea comes with a quick quiz to take stock of whether the career is going to be good fit for you in the longer term, as well as some suggestions on where to start. Don’t fret, even if the quiz says no, we’ll still show you some ways to get more information!

Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship will always be an available option, but it’s not for everybody. Whether you have an idea you think will change the world, or you’re good at doing something that people will pay money for, the barriers to starting a business and finding out for yourself have never been lower.

Ideas are worth nothing, however – it’s all about your ability to execute. If you’re willing to put in the time, you can test the waters without leaving your current job. There are endless ways to approach this, it just comes down to one question: are you creative and driven enough to make it happen?

Software Developer

Wait! You saw ‘developer,’ rolled your eyes and started to move on, didn’t you? Think about it though – software is everywhere in our daily lives now, and we’re barely scratching the surface on what it could be. Plus, when our artificial intelligence overlords take over the world, you may want to know a thing or two so you can defeat them.

No seriously, a little knowledge goes a long way here. Learning some basic programming skills will unlock ideas you didn’t know you had. That knowledge is much easier to come by now, as software developers(!) have developed tools to make learning software development even easier! See?

Finance/Data Analyst

You know what’s a really powerful tool? Microsoft Excel. You know what can be reasonably easy to learn if you give it some time and practice? Microsoft Excel. If you master the basics and a handful of tools and functions, you can blow people away with what they think is dark data sorcery. Combine this with a strong grasp of business fundamentals, and you’ve got the foundation for a career in being a financial analyst.

The kicker is, you need to do this for yourself. Someone needs to handle the business of you – meaning your personal finances. You’d be surprised what downloading and analyzing the transactions from your checking account will show: there really should be a limit to how much Chinese food you order per month!

Network Administrator

Let’s see – more and more things are benefiting from technology. First it was just your desktop computer. Then laptops. Wifi. Your smart phone. Wearable devices. Soon – more than likely – you will be part robot. For businesses, someone has to make sure that all of this gear is properly set up, secure, and that people can access it with no frustration.

The demand for this – especially the security piece – is exploding. While those slots will likely be filled by more experienced administrators, that means positions are going to open up for people that do the basic blocking and tackling of network administration. That could be you.

Data Scientist

How is this different from the finance/data analyst above? Here’s an analogy: that analyst above is your really good high school football player. Maybe he could be a good college player, perhaps even make the pros. But you can’t take that player from high school and put him on a pro team. There’s too much complexity, and the high school player has a lot more to learn to get to that next level and be effective. The pro player that’s gone through that path is your data scientist.

Data science deals in large, often disconnected data sets that require a lot of work just to make the data useful for analysis. Excel simply can’t handle this. On top of that, advanced statistical methods are applied to the data to draw out powerful insights into what’s really happening. There are tools and approaches you need to learn to get here – but if you make it,  you’ve set yourself up for one of the hottest careers for right now and into the future!

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“We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.”

– Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Did you know that roughly half of Americans are dissatisfied with their job? If you’re keeping score at home, that’s approximately 75 million people that wake up thinking “this $&#% again?” There are various factors that go into it: not enough money, lack of growth, not enjoying the work, etc. That said, despite half of the workforce being unhappy with the way they spend nearly 25% of their adult life (a low estimate if you are forced to work extra hours or bring your work home with you), only 3% of people change jobs each year.

What gives?

It’s difficult to make a change. When you do change, what is it that you’re changing? Most of the time it’s the environment – the people, the location, your boss. Often you’re doing the same thing, just a slightly different way. Are you doing the right thing? How do you even know? 

The image above is the Japanese concept of Ikigai – which roughly translates into “a reason for being.” Most people think of their job as the intersection of what they are good at and what they can be paid for (“Profession”). Some people are lucky enough to be able to do what they’re good at and what they love (“Passion”). “Mission” and “Vocation” bring the idea of what the world needs into the equation. Figuring out what the word “needs” is a little tough to pin down, and probably involves a hefty dose of personal opinion. Does the world need more click-bait? Debatable – but I’m sure there are some people that produce it that believe they’re providing a necessary service. But I digress…

If you’re able to be paid for doing something that you love, that you’re good at, and that the world needs, then you’ve found something that will get you out of bed each morning with a smile on your face. 

But most people are lucky if they’re even overlapping two of the above items. Why is it so difficult?

If you were fortunate enough to have gone to college, you may have come across a career counselor there. Maybe you even used that person to figure out your major or what you wanted to do. Too few high schools offer anything similar – and if you’re already in the work force, you have to spend a lot of money for the same type of service. Sure there are some online resources, but where the heck do you start?

We’re aiming to change all that. The barriers to learning new skills, or going through entire career transitions have never been lower! There are thousands upon thousands of courses online that can teach you nearly anything you can think up. There are ways of connecting with people in fields you want to be in that weren’t available until recently. The best part – companies like Google and Apple are starting to accept alternative learning solutions, so you don’t necessarily have to go back to school to get a new degree. 

The first step in the process is figuring out careers and skills that are a good fit for who you are, and for where you want to end up. The cliche “it’s a journey not a destination” applies here. Going back to the quote at the beginning of this post, you need to become aware of who you are and what drives you, only then can you seek meaningful change and find your own personal ikigai.

We’re here to help.

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