My last birthday came with a zero at the end of the number. This time I didn't celebrate, much.  I was just glad to be home and go out to dinner with my family.  I'm on the road a lot so I try to be home on the "important" days.

Recently, a mentee wrote about a job offer she was considering and she had an interesting question about age: Am I too young to give up journalism and go straight into j-education and training?"

I replied, "Age is simply an arbitrary number we humans assign to ourselves and pretty much everything else. You know, something like that glass of water is kinda old.  Best pour it out and get a new one.  It's supposed to be some kind of physical and psychological measuring stick.  I never treat "age" as something that prevents me from doing things other than running the 100 meters like Jamaica's Usain Bolt. Neither should you.  I added, "Ask yourself this: What do you actually know and can that knowledge be of benefit to others in this particularly controlled environment called academia?"

A career pivot these days is not the kiss of death.  That's not to diminish the struggles millions are having with unemployment and under-employment. But nowadays, there is a growing culture of entrepreneurship for a reason.

As long as you stay current, engaged and always let people know you are here and ready to work, who's going to care about the number of your last birthday other than your mom?  And, if they do, tell me why you want to work there?

doug@knowledgewebb.net

*Chantal de la Rionda edits this blog