We’ve all heard that the world is changing but, now more than ever, it is changing at an exponential rate. I don’t even think it matters anymore if you have a formal education at a fancy school or are self-taught off of Lynda.com. Skills are skills.

Sure, if you want to be the next CEO of GM — and who wouldn’t? — then you might need that ivy league piece of paper. However, in the words of Dylan, “The times, they are a changing.”

Out with the Old

In today’s economy of bankrupt billionaires and self-made millionaires it hardly matters anymore where you went to school. Maybe it’s the result of crashed markets in the US or the rising Chinese economy but skills are the value these days. Skills can be traded for currency in any economy.

This has become more and more obvious to me. I am working on a few different projects and I am looking at working with individuals from China, India, the Philippines and even parts of Northern Europe. All of the people that I have been in contact with, at these locations, are far more eager and skilled than a lot of their western counterparts.

I receive bids from Americans and Canadians and immediately I dismiss them because they are overpriced. Also, to justify the extra costs, they are not even more qualified. My point is that people in western nations are competing for the same jobs at a higher cost and, in return, are providing no additional skills.

No Revelation

This isn’t a revelation. Thomas Friedman famously wrote about this in The World Is Flat. As an aside, this book was really good. In contrast, the followup, Hot Flat and Crowded, is not worth the paper it’s printed on.

I think it was in one of Robert Kiyosaki’s books — I can’t remember which one — where I read “‘A’ students work for ‘C’ students, and ‘B’ students work for the government.” I read this statement when I was in school and it has stuck with me ever since.

This doesn’t mean that if you get straight A’s then you will be relegated to working for a slacker. This means that if you only spend your time trying to get a perfect score on a test then you are going to be educated but not skilled. There is a difference.

Going Forward

I think that if anyone wants to stay competitive in a global economy then they most likely are going to have to worry less about where their pieces of paper come from.

They will need to worry more about how their skill set is going to be viewed by people that, may or may not, speak a different language than them.

What do I Know?

Nothing! What I wrote above are just a few thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head recently. I have very little working knowledge of world economies. However, I am a Canadian living in Asia and I have seen this — a lot.

I am carious what you think. Post a comment with your thoughts. If you thought it was interesting then please share it on Twitter or Facebook.

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Image Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by rednuht

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About the author

Matt
I'm Matt and I share how to build an internet presence through internet business, social marketing, lifestyle design and productivity tools. While here, read about me to learn my story or find out how you can hire me.

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