De-skillization

Amit was packing up. He was happy because he had solved a complex programming problem which others were not able to solve. He was appreciated by everyone. He felt like a hero. He wanted to go home early and share the feeling with his family. However, destiny had some other plans. The Business Head called for an emergency meeting with all programmers. Excitement turned into agony after the meeting. Business head informed the programmers that company had decided to switch to another programming language; hence their services were no longer required.

Amit invested five years of his life,to learn the skill of coding in the language. Now suddenly the hard earned skill turned black after de-skillization announcement. Amit felt cheated. Amit wanted to save the skill but in his heart somewhere he knew it was not possible. Amit was disheartened and depressed. Sunita counselled Amit to think positively.Skills are second habits, they make you better. No skill ever goes waste. Language is just a method to express the business requirement (logic). If Amit understands the logic then he will be able to use the same logic to another language. This skillof understanding the logic is called comprehension.

He gained confidence. He applied in another division. Amit cracked the interview. He was delighted that he was able to save his job. At the same time, there was subtle sadness of having wasted five years of his life. Next day he observed that everyone in the new division was in tension. Since he was new, no one bothered him. He stood there and overheard the discussion. Though the language was new but problem was not. He stepped up and suggested the solution. The solution worked. Amit became a superstar. He realised that his skill was not language, his skill was problem solving. 

There are many white skills which never turn black. These skills include comprehension, problem solving, customer focus, diligence and many more. White skills are better because they are universal. They work in multiple industries.More so they can’t be dissolved by any authority. 

Amit started working hard on learning the new language. This time Amit was conscious that the effort of learning the new language may also go waste and changed his style of learning. He started recognizing patterns and frameworks while learning the language. The learning speed enhanced significantly. The fear of change was gone because he was better prepared to handle unforeseen circumstances by leveraging white skills and his newly developed skill of adapting quickly. 

Sunita advised Amit to develop a skill of sensing. This skill is nothing but a habit of being current by gathering information about business, technology and world events. Once you start analysing the gathered information and start making your own opinion, you are able to sense where the world could go. Still there are no guarantees.

You can’t predict the future but you can be the first mover.