Nobody Knows What They Are Doing

Just some degenerate millennials who happen
to be some of the smartest cats I've ever known. 

I've come to recognize that despite the extreme misfortune of entering a job market during the worst economic climate ever, the predicament of our lost generation, as well documented by the New York Times and Lena Dunham, has resulted in one of the most resourceful, creative and efficient generations. We were initiated into an understaffed, underfunded and highly competitive environment and we had no choice but to learn shit quick.

Unlike our boomer colleagues, you would never hear one of us utter something like, "that's not my job" or "I don't know how to do that." Instead we'd pull up a tutorial on YouTube and teach ourselves. Half a decade into my career and I'm finally realizing the value of this skill. I can blow a CEO's mind with a line of code, and all I really did was Google it. The most successful people I know continue to be self-taught self-starters who seize each and every opportunity they see in order to acquire new skills that keep them climbing the ladder.

Before I finished college I felt like such a lost degenerate dummy, terrified of what people referred to as the "professional world." I was so apprehensive that I actually just moved to Europe and decided to just keep going to school. Merely uttering the word "resume" made me break out in hives, so I needed some time to gain some confidence.

After a few years of hustling, freelancing, and bopping around job to job, followed by a few somewhat respectable positions, I was overwhelmed with a sense of complete and utter shock at the fact that NO ONE, not a one person, knew exactly what they were doing. Even the really really really smart Ivy leaguers were more often than not taking shots in the dark. I worked under people who managed projects I could have done with my eyes closed and watched as they boggled the whole thing, biting my tongue and wondering how society had not yet collapsed under such mismanagement.

The NYT article, which adds to a growing pile or hopeless opinions about our future adds this nail to our collective coffin: "For the first time in modern memory, a whole generation might not prove wealthier than the one that preceded it." If wealth equals money, then I'd probably have to agree with that statement. But if wealth refers instead to skills, innovation, creativity, resourcefulness, adaptability and a wide range of experience, I'd have to argue that we may just turn out to be the richest generation of all.