(Photo credit @sunlifter)
Happy New Year to all of you! I can’t quite believe that we’re already in 2022. It’s a great time to consider whether a new year means a new job/career for you.
#announcements
If you would like to drop in to say hello or ask a quick tech/career Q, please subscribe to the newsletter - and you’ll get the Q&A registration link!
I’m also launching a series of short workshops to help you jumpstart your job searches! Based on the LinkedIn poll I did, multiple workshop topics are appealing! (There’s still time to vote if you want to push one forward to the top.) I’ve decided to offer the first one as a free session on understanding tech, and then 4 other paid workshops related to tech resume revamp, job search strategizing, developing 30-second pitches, and finding contacts.
You can register for any of these workshops here: lu.ma/lizarnold
You are welcome to share this public link with anyone who you think could benefit from these workshops!
#tech+careersoundbite
It is incredibly popular to do predictions around this time of year. Rather than add to the noise, I thought it would be useful to share 5 of my favorite tech+career predictions for 2022 & add my own commentary. I’d love to hear what you think!
“The next generation of top talent will have “Polygamous Careers,” transforming the corporate world as we know it.” – Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer, Adobe.
I love this one for likely obvious reasons. It’s great for creative types who have many interests & career goals, and helps to elevate side hustles from an auxiliary activity to one critical piece of your career/skill portfolio. It’s not really a new concept but I love the thought of it becoming more mainstream within many organizations.
“NFTs will become mainstream and attract far more diverse consumers.” – Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed
When I read this, it convinced me that I need to take NFTs more seriously: ‘NFT trading volume hit $13bn for 2021, which was a yoy increase of 43,000% (!!).’ I’m fascinated by how this tool can help creators of all types to better monetize their artwork, and at the same time, how brands can leverage the usage of unique NFTs in the new metaverses being developed. Your avatar could wear a piece by a designer or you could own a unique copy of a song from a new artist - and these are verified by the blockchain. More to come on NFTs in a future newsletter!
“The Zuckerverse Is the Biggest Tech Fail of 2022” – Scott Galloway, NYU MBA Professor & Founder, Section4
Ready Player One has shown us that one company designing a metaverse game can easily go horribly wrong, and Meta (aka Facebook) is no different. They have already hosted 3 concerts that were poorly attended. And while I have no doubt that some will be attracted to their metaverse, if it is siloed off from other virtual worlds, it’ll likely die on the vine.
“The spirit of Silicon Valley continues a spread outward.” – Tomasz Tunguz, Managing Partner, Redpoint Ventures
The dispersion of tech talent from Silicon Valley to remote locales & the conviction of Theranos’ disgraced CEO Elizabeth Holmes is part of the subtle dismantling of a power concentration in Silicon Valley. It will always retain an allure & plenty of power due to all the company HQ’s – but it has been fascinating to watch other cities like Miami & Austin suck talent to them. I will be very curious to see what will happen in the coming months as hybrid/remote work becomes more commonplace.
“Precision medicine is imperative to scaling care delivery amidst rising demand.” – Aike Ho, Principal, Acme Capital
We need continued innovation in digital health to support the rising demand for healthcare services (hello neverending pandemic!) coupled with the decline in the number of healthcare professionals here in the US. The only way to scale services is via tech-enabled healthcare services. Tho as there are some worrisome trends about AI bias that could cause some unintended consequences, we & the growing health tech startups need to remain vigilant. Many of the communities that require tech services are in low-income and rural areas that are losing healthcare workers at higher rates.
#random
Forget the metaverse - instead, contemplate the existence of the Multiverse. The TV show Fringe delved into this topic if you want to nerd out on a very weird yet binge-able show.
