Comment by atrettel
16 days ago
Your post reminded me of some thoughts I've had about a similar topic over the last few years.
I'm a scientist, and I've often thought about how the work I and others would do would be different in different funding environments. That's the same idea of people's "potential [being] misdirected" that you are talking about. People often chase the newest shiny things and follow the money for both hiring and funding, but that isn't always good for both the people themselves and for innovation as a whole. We need to make it possible for people to develop their talents and skills, whatever they are and even if they don't match the current needs or desires of the environment, so they we have experts and experienced folks when the time comes for those innovations and technologies. It's the same idea as diversification in investing, with more agility and resilience gained from a diversity of skills and experience. I hope more funding managers and hiring managers realize the value of fostering people's potentials rather than focusing myopically on supposed current needs.
This makes me think about all the psych grads, that went to school, wanting to help people, but are now writing dark patterns.
But they are being paid a lot more than they would get, helping people.
That's a great example of this kind of problem. People are pragmatic and take the jobs that are available, even if that it's not what they originally planned for or what would be more helpful. I've done the same myself a few times.