The job market has changed drastically in the last 10 years. I remembered my dad getting a job with the United Auto Workers at General Motors (GM) and then 30 years later, he retired from the same company. We all know how uncommon this is anymore. There are many stats out there about the number of jobs that Generation Z (born between 1995 - 2012) will hold over their working lives and the conclusion is all the same -- a whole lot. I believe we need to invest more in the Gen Z, so they become job creators of the future. We need more people like Henry Ford and Larry Page whose innovation have sparked new industry as well as jobs.
With technology being seamlessly woven into our daily life, there isn't any better time to have kids engage into software programming (or coding). Some would say it's the second language to learn now-a-days. Everywhere we look now these days, we use something that is embedded with coding. Some kids are learning coding and they don't even know it. This includes the popular game called Minecraft, which I believe also teach creativity, entrepreneurship and quantum physics.
As parents, we thrive on seeing our children get the best out of their curiosity. I've seen kids as young as 8 years old trying to learn how to clone a simple online game or come up with a better game. This is creativity and entrepreneurship at its best. Some of the most recent founders of successful tech startups including PayPal and Twitter showed the same entrepreneurial DNA as early as junior high.
I'm not saying that learning coding is the only way to become a job creator for the next generation. However, if your child is playing the games, apps and technology that is spawning the new economy, they probably have creative ideas to improve on it as well. So why not take advantage of that curiosity by encouraging them to improve on the things they are already using. They could be the tech-savvy job creators for GenZ.
Thanh Tran, Founder
@ttrandet
@kidpreneurco
www.Kidpreneur.co
www.Facebook.com/Kidpreneurco
