Is My Job Vanishing? Am I a Dinosaur?
Not if you keep up. Not if you evolve with the times.
In our business of marketing and creative talent, things have changed and, in many cases, dramatically. With the advances in technology—some that are happening so quickly we can’t keep up—these jobs have most definitely changed. Entire industries have changed.
I’m old enough to remember the days of typesetting and color separation companies. Of course, I also remember when the advent of desktop computers meant that everyone suddenly became a graphic designer (ouch!).
For design people, the concepts for your job are the same. You still need the talent you have to design a brochure, compose a page, design packaging, or create a logo. You just may have to do it electronically instead of manually. Have you kept up with all the changes in software over the last 10-20-30 years (or the last six months, for that matter), and learned new skills as things progressed? You need to.
Are you an illustrator? There are programs for that. If you’re not familiar, check out local community colleges for classes. The talent that lets you create beautiful art is still there, you may just have to learn to express it differently.
Are you a marketing or advertising professional? Then hopefully you’ve been keeping up with how people are connecting and communicating these days. It’s not too late. Check out LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. The marketing basics you learned and have been utilizing for years are still the same; again, you just have to apply them in new ways to augment the traditional processes you’ve been using.
But, I don’t believe we need to throw out the baby with the bath water here. Those things that make us good marketers, good communicators, good designers are still valid. We just have to expand how we apply those talents.
Embrace new technology; it can be an amazing gift.
On the other side of this coin, there really are things that are going to be left by the wayside. The whole printing industry is suffering and I believe will morph into a niche market. While there will still be demand for traditional printing, it will just be a smaller, more specific market.
Printed newspapers are going away. Some printed magazines are going way. A lot of traditional printed brochures are going away. But not all. I believe books will continue to live on, side-by-side with the electronic versions. An occasional brochure or poster or end-cap will still need be printed.
So are you in the print business? Chances are you’ve already changed with the times, or you wouldn’t have survived. People still want this information, they just obtain it in alternate ways. Someone still has to supply that. We still need copywriters, editors, graphic designers and yes, print professionals.
These days, students are learning to develop and express their talents in new ways. We “old dinosaurs” can learn new ways as well. It’s always good to keep learning new things, that’s what keeps us happy and creative.
So, is your job vanishing? Are you a dinosaur? Hopefully not. Keep an open mind. Learn new ways of doing things. Keep up with changes. The talent that got you where you are is still valuable, you’re just giving it new tools with which to work!