On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 20:54:57 -0700, Doug Winterburn
wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jan 2005 21:04:43 -0600, Phil wrote:

[snip of wisdom]

Back to woodworking, those who do very high end custom stuff I suspect are doing
better than the one trying to build bookcases.

No flames please, I'm not trying to start an argument, just my personal
perspective. If I'm right or wrong isn't important to me, just my 2 cents is
all.

Amen!

- Doug

By and large I think you're right.

One of the great lies we tell our kids is that they can train for a
job and expect to that job until they retire. With very few exceptions
that isn't true any more. The average worker will have 2 or 3 or more
'careers' over the course of their working life.

Sometimes the jobs change names and sometimes they don't, but you end
up doing something very different over time.

The smart way to handle this, I think, is to decide what you're truly
excellent at -- not just what you're skilled at, but what truly turns
you on. That gives you a basic skill set and you have to keep looking
for ways to apply that skill set and that level of excellence. I
guarantee you it will keep you interested and it's more than likely to
keep you fully employed.

I was thinking about this tonight as I was making out invoices for
customers. Back in mumblety-mupfh I graduated with a degree in
journalism and a minor in advertising. I haven't worked for a
newspaper or wire service in 25 years and I never worked in
advertising. Today most of my customers are web sites. But I'm still
working and, by and large, I'm still enjoying it.

And oh yeah -- there are still a lot of gainfully employed blacksmiths
out there.

--RC

"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
fly with a club.
-- John W. Cambell Jr.