When I was much less fortunate I knew this to be true but lost sight of it as my circumstances improved during the 90s – the ‘new economy’ is the ‘service economy’ according to this USAToday article – Wal-Mart, not high tech, defines ‘New Economy’. My personal experience refutes this. As does most of the internet elite that are out here in the blogosphere. But that is because many of us are the creators of technology – not simply the users. Amoungst my friends, my old peers, I stand out as being abnormally blessed. In such a way that I know at anyone time it can just vanish. Very, very few people improved their lively hoods in the 90s (and the 80s for that matter), that weren’t already on a path up and up. I worked hard, I studied hard, and found mentors that taught me the ropes along the way. But looking at it in hindsight just blows me away… how did I get here? Every statistical fact says it shouldn’t have happened and for many I know it certainly hasn’t. The census numbers bear that out.
You know one of the major things I remember of the 90s was tons of tech schools luring in people looking for middle class lifestyles with promises of ‘learn Microsoft Word and have a career’.
I had arguments – yes arguments – with a few friends tell them that those advertisements were outright lies and bullshit.
It was like a mantra – ‘you must learn not to use Microsoft Word – but to create it – in order to earn a career.’
When I made the risky decision to go to tech school myself, I already knew this to be true. In this field it is the creators that earn the money. So I took up a course in client server programming at Chubb and the rest is history. Course selection was all important. I chose a technology course that enabled me to become a tools builder. A creator.
This is true unless you are using the technology to find efficiencies in your business. Read that to mean lay-offs to your aveage Joe. That payoff is occuring now. Reading the news American productivity is higher then it’s ever been. Most definately due to technology. And now the unemployment rate is rising back to pre-90s levels. Wal-Mart is the greatest example of that success.
My first developer positions were in non-Media corporate America. Retail and services. The tools I built helped those coporations save millions of dollars. In many cases, those dollars were saved by laying off staff that were no longer needed. Truth of the matter is – these jobs far outnumber the kind that I currently have.
I now work in media. I turned down higher paying offers for this. I’m a creator building tools for other creators. It’s a very important distinction. It is a different ball game. Looking at the current state of blogging – it is heartening to see how technology is helping many tech illiterate folk create compelling and interesting products – their sites – that bring people back again and again. I salute those who’ve built MovableType, Manila/Radio, and Blogger. You’ve done a great public service. It’s very very difficult to create tools for creative people. Your highs and your lows are extremely dramatic. When people complement you – it’s huge. And when people criticize you – it’s huge. Because your users are creators themselves.