"Useful skills"
The types of skills that are "useful" to society are changing quickly because of technology and the internet
When considering whether to continue pursuing a hobby or a particular curiosity, I find myself asking: "is this a useful skill to develop?"
Because making an impact is a major driving force of my intellectual pursuits, this equates to the question: "is this a skill that will help me make a large-scale impact on the world?"
One of my main hobbies a few years back was video editing. I would make VFX shorts and edit montages of video game footage. Eventually I switched my focus to learning to code because I saw coding as a useful skill to make scalable impact, and being able to make video game montages as a useless one.
Lately I have been trying to avoid categorizing skills as "useful" or "useless". But it isn't my desire to make an impact that has changed, it is the world that has changed. Because of the internet, you can affect the world with practically any niche interests or curiosity.
The creator economy. With online communities, it is easier than ever to find and connect with others who appreciate your specific niche interests. The internet has enabled a huge range of new business models that enable more and more people to make real businesses out of their skills. These skills might have seemed totally "useless" 20 years ago.
This trend is just beginning. The internet is evolving and becoming more and more integrated into our lives. There will be increasingly more opportunities to create impact in other peoples' lives through creative and intellectual pursuits. Web3 and the decentralized internet will enable a host of new business models that will allow creators to have real ownership over their works and capture more of the creative value they produce.
In this new economy, the generalists prevail. Those highly specialized in a single skill won't be able to compete unless they are in top fraction of percentile globally. Those who diversify their skillsets will be able to compete globally at the intersections of their areas of specific knowledge.
Your unique contributions will be produced at the intersections of your specific knowledge. Say I’m selling a JavaScript course. From a talent perspective, I'm probably in the top 20% of people who know JavaScript. Why would you buy a JavaScript course from me over someone at least in the top 1%? Obviously not. But... I'm probably also in the top 20% of video editor's, and in the top 20% of concise speakers. Put together, that puts me in the top 1% of people with that specific combination of skills. Someone out there is definitely interested in JavaScript lessons from someone like that.
"Soft skills" will rule. As machine learning, automation, and technical tooling improve, the engineer without a multidisciplinary mindset will become less and less useful. Society will seek creative individuals to attach creative solutions to problems and human needs. Design, writing, human communication, critical-thinking, community-building, creative problem-solving -- these will be the skills that move us forward.
More and more everyday the world is starting to reward those who pursue their intellectual and creative curiosities wherever it takes them. So if you can spare the time, don't be afraid to spend time pursuing your curiosities that don't immediately seem "useful". You might find that following your genuine curiosity to be the best thing you ever do for your career and your impact.