What You Should Do Today To Create A Career If You Simply Cannot Do A 9–5 Desk Job!
How to Create a Fulfilling Career in the Digital World Without Being a Coder
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It’s OK. We’ve all been there.
That single error you can’t fix — mental, emotional, and physical fatigue — burnt out because of the pandemic and the lockdowns — losing hope — losing faith — bro/sis — you’re not alone. Except for a blessed 10%, 90% of the world’s people are in this state.
We all dream of coding careers. 100,000 USD per year is worth all the effort you put into a top 1% university degree, and a dream life — except for one thing.
Very often, it’s not worth it.
Even Elon Musk will say, “I have 5 billion-dollar companies but I can take nothing of anything when I die.”
Naked we came into the world, and naked we depart.
Coding is easy for some and a struggle for others. But if you were to ask me, discipline and consistency will beat programming aptitude every day.
What’s the use of being 1st out of 5 million profiles by your score if you’re too stressed or burnt out to hold down a job?
And now, simply put, the world has changed.
The pandemic has made our lives so completely digital that Mark Zuckerberg thinks owning digital items that don’t exist in real life can actually be a reality and a profitable path for a multi-billion dollar company.
It scares me.
What is the nature of reality if all we do is digital? And if reality is virtual?
And the pandemic has accelerated this trend by several orders of magnitude.
There are now so many ways to earn that coding, engineers and doctors are becoming old-hat.
If you have a digital product, can scale, and deliver value — it doesn’t matter what you do.
The video channels on YouTube are living proof for that.
The channel TwoSetViolin is an excellent example. They had passion and skills. And yes — they got lucky — but they worked incredibly hard by enjoying the work they do.
People are making money in more and more creative ways every day.
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Programming Is Just One Sector In The Computing World
Coders earn millions but wreck their health, relationships, family life, and their relationship with their kids.
Some get burnt out in as little as five years if they can’t move to management.
And with ten years of experience, nearly everyone moves into management.
Some wizards stick with coding, but what is the use of a life in which you spend 80% of your life stuck in a chair, staring at your screen, earning money for things you don’t need, in an activity which makes no difference to the world and all its problems?
The billionaire and the beggar have the same destination at the end of their lives.
So then, what should you do?
Roles In A Digital Company
Maybe 50% of your employees are pure coders. And they will make or break your digital business.
But what about testers? It’s a much easier job, also with a very high salary.
What about technical writers who create your documentation? A bad technical writer can wreck a software project!
How about a chef? A cook? One of Google’s most valuable employees was a master chef (!) who was an absolute master of his art.
How about managing breaks? Yes — managing leave and relaxation for employees? That is important too! A cousin of mine in the US has become a director of an organization that manages outreaches and has even appeared on American television because of the passion she puts into her work.
How about digital artists and graphic designers? If you’re in anything with a GUI, their quality can make or break your product!
Digital art for games and movies is now a multi-billion dollar industry.
UX/UI designers? Creatives to the core? What made Flipboard stand out? It was a news app. It reported on everything. But everyone fell in love with their user experience. Their UX was their killer feature!
Musicians and composers are in massive demand for computer games.
Instructors and mentors are critical for training in every company. Even teaching has a role to play in software!
Scriptwriters, choreographers, and digital marketers are also important for advertising, market reach, social media, and brand visibility.
Administrators? Personnel managers? Human-Relations-related jobs?
I can continue for another 10 or 20 roles, but you should have got the idea by now.
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The World Has Changed
Active income is still important. But passive income allows you to live the life of your dreams, while not working at all!
Income involves skills.
Skills involve passion.
Passion involves effort.
By effort, I mean hard work.
But if it's something you love or choose to love doing, it will be fun as well.
Gamification and elements of play are now critical in the digital world.
It’s no longer 9-to-5.
It’s your passion, put into creative action.
Creativity can make anything monetizable.
Anybody going through YouTube or Medium or Facebook or Snapchat or Instagram can testify to that.
Remember — And you will. Success lies in not giving up.
If you have a deep passion + aptitude and attitude that can be monetized into something digital that can scale globally — you’re in the driving seat of your life.
People are now skilled.
Highly, highly skilled.
If Lindsey Stirling was just a classical violinist, she would not be special.
She synthesized modern music and hip-hop music into a genre that can be defined most accurately as something entirely new.
Her videos now have over 3 billion views.
And she has worked hard and is truly one of the most spectacular phenomenons on the Internet.
She kept going.
Just kept going.
Regardless of the pain, negative feedback, self-doubt, and impostor syndrome that everyone goes through in some way or the other.
Photo by Elijah M. Henderson on Unsplash
Conclusion
In the world of the Internet, a 9-to-5 job is an outdated option.
Find your passion.
Monetize it.
Be ready to scale globally.
Find a mentor.
Believe in yourself.
Monitor and control your inner commentator.
Discover the role you have to play in this Universe.
And enjoy every second of what you’re doing.
That will take care of 80% of the problem.
Persistence will take care of the rest.
“He who persists, wins.” — Mathew Jacob
Don’t give up.
But don’t quit your day job.
You and your family need your bread and butter.
Switch to full-time work with careful planning and a fallback plan (what to do if you meet with failure. And you will. Success lies in not giving up).
J.K. Rowling is now the richest book author of all time.
But her life wasn’t a magical cakewalk.
Read the story of her life (available on Wikipedia on this link).
It’s a real testimony to what persistence can do.
Rags to riches. Literally.
Photo by emrecan arık on Unsplash
With social media, anything is possible.
So — Inspired — Motivated — Enlightened —
Change The World For The Better!
Work hard and persist.
Success is a matter of time.
Don’t limit yourself.
Dare to dream big.
And stand tall.
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