Here is How to Save Your Family: Part 4

We covered the children. Now let’s talk about you. As I told you before, when I started in the work force, people worked in the same place from 18 years old to 65 years of age. Some of these same jobs are not in demand today. Some jobs have changed while others like the computer industry have evolved from mainframe systems to networks.

Employers do not have to employ people in your city or town. They can employ people in India, China, or Iraq and have them make decisions in your town. All this can be done using a computer network. A doctor can order test on a patient in Harrisburg, Pa. and have a doctor review the results in Bombay, India. The results can be verified in Rome, Italy then your doctor in Harrisburg, Pa. can call you with the results.

In today’s job market, skilled and unskilled labor, is purchased and sold on the open market just like any other commodity. This is done using “Contracting Firms.”

Here is what you must do to get started and compete in this world job market.

1. Know what you want to do at an early age.

The earlier you pick a profession or trade, the better off you will be as a competitor in today’s global job market. You should do what you like but keep in mind; you have to make a living.
When I was 16 years old, I already started learning about Genetics and Computer Science so that I can make a decision about what I wanted to do in my early 20s. I decided that becoming a Genetic Engineer would give me more money in the long run but would take up to much of my time. So I became a Computer Scientist. Here I can start making money even before I start college and I could make enough money to buy a house and start a family.

This is the thought process that you will have to do early. My competition was still on the playground when I started. I got in to the job market early and made the money before the crowed came to my party!

2. Should I go to College?

The more education the better off you are. Having said that, know something about the coming demand and supply of labor. Know something about how long it will take you to become competent in the field of work that you want to be in. It takes over 12 years to become a Doctor but will you make the money back that you put into becoming one? Are you willing to spend the time away from other things that you may want to do in your life?

How about becoming a “Home Specialist?” That is someone who has a license to do plumbing, household wiring, and carpentry. You don’t need college and you spend less time in classes. But the demand to maintain houses is great. The supply of labor is small. So the price for your labor is high.

These are things that you have to consider when thinking about going to college or taking up a trade.

3. Become an Apprentice!

Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices (or in early modern usage "prentices") or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships. The modern concept of an internship is similar to an apprenticeship. Most of their training is done on the job while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade, in exchange for their continuing labor for an agreed period after they become skilled. Theoretical education may also be involved, informally via the workplace and/or by attending vocational schools while still being paid by the employer.

Some people in the field of Computer Technology go to college then look for an apprenticeship or internship with some company. It gives the new worker experience and gives the employer a chance to try the new laborer out on the job before hiring that individual. Once you finish your apprenticeship, you will be one step ahead of your competition in getting a full time job. In some fields, an Intern may work for free just to gain experience for a job in later years.