Saturday, December 16, 2006

When we turn old

I guess its still too early in my life to worry about getting old. But what struck a chord in me was the newspaper report about high flyers who have now reached the middle age. They are not considered old in the conventional sense but in the globalised society that we live in today, they are considered dinosaurs. Over paid dinosaurs to be precise. These people who use to command a princely ten thousand dollar salary are now finding themselves to be out of a job. Their salaries are either too high to be re-employed or they are too 'old' to be doing jobs that are supposedly more suitable for the younger generation.

So you may ask, what has these middle age talk got to do with me? A youngster that has not even finish his undergraduate degree? Well, in the not so near future, I will be in the same boat as these folks. Like them, I will soon be a university graduate with a high expentancy level to command a top notch salary. Like them, I will eventually find myself displaced by younger and hungrier graduates who will be willing to work for half of my pay. Like them, I will soon be bemoaning the fact that unlike wine, I will not get better with age.

It's this vicious cycle that has engulfed society today. Unless you set up your own business, your future will lie in the mercy of your employers. The moment your salary hits the roof and your services are unable to keep up, the axe will arrive. And it is usually the faithful servants of the company that is at the end of it.

Sometimes I wonder to myself, when I reach the day of reckoning at 45 where I will probably have a family and I am in this mess, what will I do? There could be two options in front of me. 1) Sit at home and blame the government 2) Get my arse out and try to be entreprerunial. Of course the latter option will be the obvious choice. And that is why suddenly being your own boss is the in thing. There you don't need to wait for the sack. You just worry about the profit margins.

Like me, I guess you people out there will be worried as well. It won't just affect me and you. It will affect everyone else. If you don't adapt to change, change will find you and make you a dinosaur.

1 comment:

mikairis said...

that's y u start a business urself, when u grow old. lol...