A career is usually understood as an area of long term growth in terms of economy or fame or both. Economy as well as fame are dependent on people or population. Unless people spend or recognise, the above two aren’t likely to be meaningful. Let’s look at this core factor.

At the start of the 19th century, our great grandparents’ generation grew the population by about four times but mortality rate was high and average lifespan was less. If a couple has two children, it maintains the population constant. Our grandparents’ generation grew the population by about three times maintaining similar social patterns and lifestyle. Our parents’ generation grew the population by about one and half times. So, starting with our grandparents, two became seven and the seven with their spouses had seventeen children in all. This oversimplification can be understood as figures spread out over 30 years in each generation. That means, during our grandfather’s time, the population of people of their age was a third of those who were 30 years younger. Our generation didn’t add much to the population. We reduced the proportion. The seventeen of us with our partners have had twenty two children. But considering that our grandfather’s generation produced seven, we have produced twenty two. Let’s add it all. From 2, we grew to 2+7+17+22 = 48. To keep the population constant, we should have grown as 2+2+4+8=16. But hey, our grandparents are gone. In fact, most of us don’t have our parents living either. So, it’s about 40. That’s how much we have grown. About four times “still active” people. During our childhood, our country had a third as many people as it has today and it still felt alarming to sustain. During our youth, the population growth turned out to be an opportunity. Innovations had a lot of lives to impact. So, all sorts of creators had opportunities to grow and have great “careers”.

We must not forget that we do not create anything from thin air. The earth has all the material. We use them to create new things and the possibilities are endless. That’s how we have so many career paths that have emerged over the past few decades. We have moved from fundamental research in science and technology to a variety of creative fields including food, fashion and travel.

What is ahead in the future? Our children didn’t make many babies. In fact, they got much busier in this career chase which has been a very important highlight of the human race in the past century (starting from the west since industrial revolution). It has taken time to impact most of the world and therefore, had enough potential to keep reaching out to newer people. But, it is the first time now that the whole world has many people who did not want to have children. They were busy building careers. To an extent that suggesting innovative career options itself has been a great career option.

Our children have brought the population growth rate down to half. That means, soon, people of 30 yrs of age will be twice as many as the 1 yr olds. Oh well, we have grown four times since our grandfathers. So, we would still be twice in size even when the numbers are halved. But hey!, it is not about size. It is about capacity. The rapid growth of so many aspiring people has grown the markets massively. Everything we use and consume is now available to anyone who has the money for it, almost instantly. This is unlike the wait we used to face during our childhood even for the basic things. All the existing businesses have scaled to be able to grab the maximum share of this huge market. New businesses have come in to fill the gaps rapidly wherever there was capacity or creativity opportunity available. This goes on.

But, as our children age and begin to slow down and “their” children who become the new youth, the number of people would be reducing rapidly. What is worse, they will have a lot of elderlies (like us) to look after and hardly any siblings or cousins to share the load. With reducing number of “active” people, a shrinking market will not be attractive in any field. Under such burdens, the rush for innovation will not be attractive to most people as they may not even have the attention for them. This is not an isolated issue and children will not be able to find an alternate country where they can still find a “promising” career growth. The population de-growth is global. We may not yet have started to reduce in the total numbers because that’s a matter of time. We in India are perhaps 5–10 yrs behind China which is a couple of years behind Japan. Both China and Japan are already shrinking with no sight to recovery. Currencies are devaluing. That means, the same money you have will get you a lot less. This is because, no matter how much money you may have, you cannot have enough people and that makes your money useless. See? economy and fame are dependent on “other” people. More the merrier. Less the sorrier.

So, what career should children of today pick? Wouldn’t there be enough automation to eliminate people dependency?

The answer is yes. There will be growth and adoption of automation. But, robots and machines do not acknowledge careers. Only humans do. Many things will be replacing people. But, it is this very thing that the children of today must prepare for. They may live to be old enough one day. And if their life must be meaningful and gratifying, then the focus they must have is in humans and not get distanced from each other. They must learn to do what they wish to but with compassion towards all others. There is no career in future which can focus only on self. There is no competition and if we prepare our children to compete for a career, it will only make it harder for them. Children of today must learn to be self dependent because there were enough people to look after them during their childhood but their youth and old age will not find enough helping hands to depend on.

What about investments? If you or anyone in the “active” age now, wants to buy a car, please go ahead and enjoy that for about ten years. But, if you are trying to buy a house or land hoping that it will be a valuable property even after ten years, it will not. It will only begin to lose value in as much time. Unless you know your property is where you can live till your end, it is not something you should buy. There will a lot of infrastructure and property available for a lot fewer people to occupy them.

To conclude, children of today are likely to have a much greater burden of the elderly and much fewer siblings, cousins or friends. They will also experience a sea change in the opportunities available for them as they grow. A change that they may not be prepared for. One of the best career choices for them is to choose a sustainable activity that doesn’t have to scale but gives them the pleasure of being involved. Anything that they like to do and will find passion in. They are less likely to face competition or worry about it. Children of today should also learn to be self dependent. They may not find enough helping hands to depend on or hire.

What career should children of today pick?

A good career choice is one that should make one grow.