Tomorrow’s jobs would sound made up today

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Imagine filling out a form at Home Affairs and them rejecting it because you’ve put down a made up profession. This is exactly what happened to a Dutch software developer in 1957.

Edsger Dijkstra, the famous computer science pioneer, was asked about his job during his marriage rite in 1957. He answered "programmer" and the authorities promptly refused it on the grounds that there was no such profession!

All of us devs and IT professionals should thank Edsger for paving the way for us to have legit careers. Its also a powerful example of how many jobs were not even a twinkle in civilization’s eye one generation before.

I explained this to my daughters the other night over dinner. We were discussing different industries and fields of study they might want to explore as they grow up.

We talked about how some jobs, like app developers and social media experts, didn’t even exist back when we had finished our university degrees. Their own uncle and his business partner had even built an entire company focused on digital marketing and branding.

Makes you wonder. What kind of industries and jobs would sound made up today but totally legit 20 years from now? The future is unwritten. One more reason to have a growth mindset, stay humble and keep learning.