Discover the Digital Age Trinity: 3 Things You must Have in the Digital Era

I remember a discussion with someone who asked what course I was studying in school and I said medicine; his response was "that your course is real good 'cos you're not going to have problems looking for job". I was irritated by such response, but mildly, because some elderly citizens I have talked with who had their education in the 50s and 60s when much of the emphasis was on finishing school and having jobs waiting for them had given similar response. But the tides have taken a new turn and we're in the 21st century where the world has witnessed a global economic melt down; jobs are no longer waiting for graduates of colleges and universities; many companies are cutting jobs, retaining only the most skilled workers and hiring contractors instead of full-time staff; and technology has given everybody the capacity to reach out to any other person in any part of the world and also made it possible for one service provider to deliver their service to a large user base in the shortest possible time.

I have read so many articles on what skills everyone must have in this 21st century, irrespective of your field of study or profession (and I guess you have too); and out of the numerous recommendations, I have sieved out three which I think (you may not agree with me) are must-have prerequisites for everyone in this Internet Age.

1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101

Entrepreneurship. Credit to BuildBiz

Some experts have argued whether entrepreneurship should be taught as a field of study, or introduced across every stratum of the society for anyone interested to pick up at his or her own pace. The arguments will keep going, but I think every human being needs to master the basic rudiments of "transforming ideas into great businesses". Moreover, it is necessary the acquisition of this basic entrepreneurship knowledge start at the earliest possible stage in life to fuel the exponential increase in the desire to work for oneself as one grows up instead of dreaming to work for someone after graduation from high school or university. The teaching of the basic processes involved in turning any great idea into a great business should begin right from secondary/high school; in fact entrepreneurial education should be incorporated into the high school curriculum and made compulsory for every student, with class projects geared towards sharpening their ability to look for opportunities in their environment and generate business ideas to capitalize on such opportunities, scheduled during the holidays. Many experts are beginning to realize how important a step like this at that fresh level may be for the future of economies around the world. Coupled with skills acquisition training, students who cannot afford university education will have not just the necessary skills, but the right theoretical framework for setting up their own small businesses.

Those who proceed to the university should further be exposed to entrepreneurial education at least in their first year where it will be made a compulsory course. And this is where universities in my country, Nigeria, are still lagging behind: most of them are still teaching students outdated stuffs oblivious of the realities of the 21st century economy. However, a few of them are beginning to realize the danger; for instance, my school, the University of Ibadan has introduced entrepreneurial education as one of the general studies, meaning every first year student must take it to be deemed worthy of graduation; the University has also established a centre for entrepreneurship and innovation to stimulate the zeal of "working for oneself" in students.

Entrepreneur and Employees

If we can have what I will call the "Entrepreneurial Revolution" by young people today where we demand the government to give more attention to providing an enabling environment for us to create jobs after graduation, the global economy may be on its path to saying goodbye to recession. And I recommend economists around the world to compare the cost and short and long term benefits of government providing jobs for students after graduation with the cost and short and long term benefits of the same government providing an enabling environment for the same students to create jobs themselves. I believe the balance will tilt to the later; and more effort should be put into realizing the later while not neglecting the former.

While efforts are being made by the Nigerian government to foster entrepreneurship through its YouWin programme, the business incubator initiative from its Ministry of Communication Technology and other initiatives in other sectors like agriculture, more should be done especially by engaging the private sector (though a few startup accelerator programs from private corporations in Lagos are doing a lot in taking up fledgling businesses) to expand the the options for anyone with entrepreneurship drive. One way is to use entertainment. Music talent reality show has become one of the most watched TV programs in Nigeria, bringing unknown music talents to stardom and creating a platform for others to launch their music career. I recently started watching the American reality TV show Shark Tank in which owners of young businesses come before top investors to pitch their businesses to secure funding and in exchange give a certain percent stake of their company to the interested investor. While a few secure funding, startups who do not still gain from the wide publicity the show gives to their businesses due to the show's large viewership base. The private sector in Africa can buy the licence from the Shark Tank creators to produce a similar reality show in Africa, just like Big Brother Africa, where startups from across Africa can come to pitch their businesses before top African businessmen and women for funding. A move like this will bring to stardom unknown African startups and also launch others to a very large audience.

2. RELEVANT ONLINE PRESENCE.

Relevant Online Presence. Image
credit to Very Official Blog

The advent of Facebook and other social networks has removed every excuse for not knowing anything about the internet. While spending an unnecessarily long period of time uploading photos on Facebook and Instagram, and tweeting about every single celebrity gossip may be productively unhealthy, following pages that deal in your area of study, profession and productive hobbies will give you access to unlimited pieces of premium information on these areas at no cost (information that one would literally pay thousands of dollars, in some cases, to attend as seminars). In addition, there are hundreds of sites and YouTube channels offering, for free, courses on almost any discipline one can think of, meaning distance or money is no longer a barrier to acquiring knowledge in any area of one's interest if there is internet access. Examples of these free online schools include Khan Academy; Edx run by Harvard University, MIT and other top universities in the US; and many others. And the good thing is, unlike the conventional school, you get to learn at your own pace; I have registered on Khan Academy and Edx for a few courses which I'm taking at my own time and rate. Hence, a lot more can be gotten out of the internet aside checking Facebook updates and visiting celebrity gossip sites.

Being relevant online also includes making critical and insightful comments on any page, blog and websites one is subscribed to; some experts will also include having your own blog or website where you share with the world your areas of interest--people have got jobs from unexpected places because of articles they wrote on their Facebook pages, blogs and guest websites; and those who run blogs have witnessed increased traffic to their sites because of their great contributions to other online forums. 

In addition, relevant online presence sets the initial platform for launching any business in the face of little or no cash for online advertisement because of the great online communities which one has impacted with their contributions; example is the Sleeping Baby company that secured funding from one of the investors on Shark Tank: the couple started the company with just $700 and spent no dime on advert, but because the wife belongs to an online community of moms where she has been making great and relevant contributions, this community helped to spread her company such that the company's Facebook page gathered 19,000 likes without paying a cent to Facebook (you'll agree with me how hard it is to get even a thousand likes on a page without paying Facebook).

The issue of affordable internet access is the only barrier in some parts of the developing world to tapping into the abundant free resources that the digital age holds. While governments in these parts of the world make efforts to attract investments in telecommunication infrastructure, the big internet giants of this world--Facebook and Google and so on--should hasten their efforts on bringing internet access to the the world's two-third with little or no access, through their Internet-for-all drone WiFi and Google Loon projects.

3. CODINGUISTICS 101

Programming Language. Image credit
to Miami Dade College

Most people today speak at least two languages, with English, French and Chinese (Mandarin) being the most spoken; and most of these speakers learned them not for academic purposes but for every other purpose-to expand their network in foreign territories. But it's mildly unfortunate that most people (including me; but I have just enrolled for a tutorial on it online at Khan Academy, where I'll be learning at my own pace) don't know the most popular language: when I say the most popular I mean a single language that is spoken in every corner of the globe by humans through computers. The most popular language on earth is the computer language; it is the oxygen that sustains every cell and tissue of the Internet anatomy: without it there will only be dead computers. And irrespective of the geographical region or cultural differences, the computer language is the same.

While most people will not become professional programmers and developers, I believe everyone should master the basic elements of this language, hence the subheading Codinguistics 101. This is because as patents on inventions and related designs expire after a period of time, some aspects of digital knowledge and information marketing (where people make money by teaching others basic things about information technology) have started expiring, meaning that anyone should be able to perform certain IT tasks without spending a dime (it still amazes me that some people pay others to do basic things like creating email accounts, blogger accounts and installing purchased applications on PCs for them at this stage of the Internet Age). Everyone should know how to do these basic stuffs; and this can only be possible if coding is introduced to everyone at a very young age; code writing (relevant in today's world) can be included in the primary and secondary school curricula and made enticing, not compulsory, to every pupil and student. The private sector can come in here (internet giants like Google, Facebook and so on are already doing so much in this area) by creating summer coding camps for kids, teenagers and young adults; and also create TV shows on code writing starring kids and teenagers to further flame the desire to learn coding in everyone.

Khan Academy. Credit to Khan Academy

On a personal quest to learn how to code (and any other subject matter of your interest, from science to philosophy), there are countless hubs online to do just that at your own time, pace and at no cost except making a connection between a browser on your gadget and the server where they are residing; examples include Khan Academy, edx.org, code academy, and many others.

We're stepping into the age of "internet of things" when virtually everything we use, from home appliances to medical devices, will be connected to the internet; and knowing how to loosen and tighten the elementary nuts and bolts of information technology, of which basic computer programming is part, will eventually become optionally compulsory.

White collar jobs are fast disappearing; companies are hiring contractors and employing only very skilled workers; and technology has become integral to our everyday life. The Ned Luds may not like it now; but if we didn't give the Industrial Revolution a chance, the world would not have developed so much as we've seen over the last century. We equally need to give the Digital Age Trinity a chance.

And one more thing; Digital Age Trinity sounds like a very good title for a highly immersing 3-D game. Game developers can build a game in which players have to master three characters (entrepreneurship, digital connectivity and a digital language) in order to survive in a digital economy.