On 6 Feb 2008 16:24:44 -0500, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>
>Heh, true enough.  But the other thing that *should* happen with 
>globalisation is that the expertise moves up - so as more rote jobs are 
>shipped overseas, the former workers have to learn new skills.
>Nobody ever said that life was easy or that continued employment didn't 
>require the acquisition of new skills.  It's a sad reality for those who 
>don't adapt to the changing employment scene, but those who do tend to do 
>a lot better than those who don't.
>
>My dad's generation stayed employed by one employer for most of their 
>lives (dad worked for Massey-Ferguson for something like 50 years before 
>he retired in '81).  Those days are pretty much long past (though I work 
>on a team with people who've been with the company for 15-20 years).  
>Most people also can expect to go through 3-5 total career changes these 
>days as well.  I'm on #3 myself - went from implementing/fixing 
>technology to teaching it to managing those who teach it.  I never 
>thought I'd move out of implementing.

Yes but what do you do with the millions of people that were needed for
manufacturing and keeping the system going before automation and cheap
transport. That's the problem or at least one of them.
Not everyone has the opportunity to re-skill and move up. I'm on career #4;
worked in factories, became a service engineer, worked offshore, now in SAP. 
But then I'm a chancer :)
I can't believe I've had three interviews this week for jobs that would take me
completely round the world. And one later in the week to work in Malaysia. That
is a far cry from my father who only went abroad in the war. :) 

Regards
	Stephen

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