Jobs that Didn't Exist 10 years ago and GOOGLE.

So, one of the ideas I  keep bringing up in class is that the jobs that will be available to you -- jobs you'll hopefully love, find inspiring, lucrative, satisfying, and a big part of your life -- don't currently exist.  Indeed, many of the jobs held by young Americans NOW didn't exist when they were in high school or even college. Some examples: analyst of marketing data (did people purchase from your company using an iphone, computer, or store for example?); marijuana packager in Colorado; APP developer; sustainability director.)

So how do you prepare for these jobs that don't exist?  How did other folks who now hold these brand-new job opportunities develop the skills they use in their current jobs?  Great questions.  I'm convinced you just need to develop good, clear thinking skills, organizational strategies, and good habits of mind.  You can start working on those now; they are universal skills.

So, for this cycle's blog, there's two options.

The first: think about these "new" jobs that include math skills. Look around, or GOOGLE something to see if you can find a job that definitely did not exist 5 or 10 years ago. Please don't repeat those ideas shared already in class -- come up with your own NEW idea.  Describe that job, the skills necessary, and hypothesize how folks developed those skills to be able to do those jobs.

The second: read this powerpoint written by some of those great brilliant and creative geniuses from GOOGLE itself.  Find some cool, novel way they used math in their GOOGLE product.  There's lots of links provided in the presentation. You might not know what linear algebra is, but feel free to surf to learn something about different areas of math, such as linear algebra.  Find something appealing to you -- surely you can find something that rocks your boat in this presentation.  (How about that phrase, "rocks your boat" ?  It's a combo of "Rocks your world," and "Floats your boat."  Somehow, it seems to work better for me than both of the two more traditional phrases.)

Be sure your blog on this topic is substantive.  Write more than one 4 sentence paragraph. Develop an idea.  Be thoughtful and meaningful. You'll begin to lose points on your blog grade if you're  too brief or flippant or write too much fluff.  Make this fun and interesting for yourself and choose something that you think is cool and that you can expand upon. There are lots of options.