Younger workers once foresaw the demise of horse-drawn carriages — but anticipating obsolescence can be self-fulfilling
How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time
If you are an average 30 yr old engineer, let's say you want to retire reasonably by the time you are 60. A year wasted at a poor job or role is equivalent to you throwing away 3.3% of your career. The older you get, the steeper your loss is.
The Death of Software Development
The job of software developer is dead. You might still be coding, but the profession as you knew it is gone.
No Jobs for Horses
In the face of automation, the free market failed completely to provide horses jobs that paid a living wage. Why this happened is critical…
36 important life and work lessons a top tech executive learned before turning 30
The days are long but the decades are short.
No One Dies in this Dystopia
I am all done with grading for the semester just past, but the work sticks to me in a way I can’t yet manage to fling off.
Use it or lose it: How cognitive skills change with age
Cognitive skills are commonly assumed to begin deteriorating from the age of 30, which could pose a significant challenge for rapidly ageing populations. But this assumption relies largely on cross-sectional data that cannot distinguish between ageing patterns and cohort differences. Using German longitudinal data, this column finds that skills, on average, increase markedly into one’s 40s before decreasing slightly in literacy and more severely in numeracy. In addition, skills decline at older ages only for those with below-average skill usage, outlining a clear policy pathway for avoiding skill declines.
Opinion | You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch (Published 2016)
Ageism in the workplace is toxic, and it hurts everyone.
planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence is a capitalist strategy where companies design and produce things with a limited useful lifespan — on purpose. The intention is to encourage new purchases, when none would be necessary. This tactic emerged in the early 20th century and has become common across all industries and especially in electronics, fashion, and home appliances. Companies implement obsolescence through various approaches.
The Case for Lowering Your Expectations
It may be the key to happiness and sustainable performance
'My father had one job in his life, I've had six in mine, my kids will have six at the same time'
In the ‘gig’ or ‘sharing’ economy, technology will release you from the nine to five. But it may also bring you anxiety, insecurity and low wages
The Toolbox Strategy: How To Become Uniquely Valuable
After having just dropped out of university, at 19-years-old; I received a line of advice that changed how I made every decision in my career…
It's the 21st century – why are we working so much? | Owen Hatherley
Owen Hatherley: The right calls for hard work, the left for more jobs. The dream of mechanisation leading to shorter working hours seems forgotten
The Future Is Worker-Owned
It’s time for businesses to work for people, not the other way around
Why women over 50 are the future of work in the age of AI - Fast Company
And why you should hire them to survive in a world of chaos.
notes on the industrialisation of decision making
worrying away at an old subject
In 2026, I’m no longer interested in ‘working on myself’
We think of ourselves as full-time projects, but what if doing so much inner work does more harm than good?
