Advice for this years grads: don't wait for permission; just do the thing
From June 2025
Do recent college graduates have to realize that all professions will become more like journalism?
Have had several discussions recently with college students or recent graduates interested in technology or analytics.
1. I think we all acknowledge that the early tenure job market is just weird. By all accounts, the US economy is okay, but anecdotally at least early tenure hiring seems very slack. How much of this is: (a) front-running of GenAI’s impact, (b) overhang from the 2020-2022, (c) interest rates > zero or (d) general macroeconomic nervousness, I couldn’t possibly say.
2. There’s ton of research demonstrating that the early years out of college or grad school are critical in building skills, a network and even a reputation. You see long-term divergence between those who start doing that quickly and those who don’t.
3. On the other hand, there is a lot more opportunity to develops skills and a network outside of a traditional company than there was back in the 1990s, for example. Between YouTube and LLMs, you can learn things yourself that we used to learn sitting at the of grizzled old warhorses. There are massive open source data sets. There are tools you can use for free.
4. I’ve been suggesting to folks in college or just out of college to just start doing what they are passionate about. Health care analytics? Game programming? Just do it. And start posting about it on Twitter or Linked. You won’t go viral, but you will learn a lot and you will demonstrate a track record that will be interesting to employers as talent markets get a little less strange.
5. More of the professional world may start to look like journalism. Many folks with glittering journalistic careers started at freelancers and caught on with major newspapers after building and demonstrating their skills.
<Yes, I acknowledge this is all very easy for me to say having graduated into less confusing world of the 1990s, but we live in the world we live in.>
Great advice! I notice some of the best new-grad performers in the market right now are those creating. Whether through LinkedIn or twitter posts, or through github portfolios, it tells their story and showcases what they're capable of.