If one has internet, one can invest in oneself through education in very tangible lucrative ways. Never before has access to so much knowledge been available from MIT courses to marketing books, much of which is free.
Sure, but do these mooc/online courseware platforms teach one how to apply these new tangential skills and translate them into CV language and personal development actions that will get them hired? Especially if one is not already mentally inclined to join a 21st century workforce?
I'm asking this coming from the perspective of someone born in rural South Carolina (in a portion of the United States known as 'The Bible Belt') who is an entirely self-taught programmer, versed in a couple of languages-and realized I had to go to an entirely different part of the world to even make use of what I had learned. So my mind is going out to those people who don't live in dense urban areas and are maybe looking for a relatively 'future-proof' job that may as well be asking the to learn an alien language.
It was only by circumstance alone that I got exposed to the kind of entrepreneurial thinking needed for me to realize early on: I'm not gonna do jack shit with these computer skills, there's no market here, I live in a town that used to be a booming textile center and is now an economically depressed shithole (I say that lovingly, it's my economically depressed shithole), and has been for the last 30 years-forcing me to pack up and leave.
Do you think a substantial number of people who have internet have the same circumstances I did to know "I have this skill now, thanks to an online course, and now I need to follow up on it by making this sacrifice to put myself in a position where these new skills will get me hired. I need to be having these discussions with recruiters and hiring mangers, and doing these things to stand out"? Or even have the resources to pack up and plant their butt in a different part of the country?
Personally, I don't know if all of these code camps and online training programs do more than say "Here's a wrench, here's how to use it, good luck with your future as a wrench turner".
Can anyone speak to career development as an extension of this wealth of online knowledge? I just have hesitations of what utility these programs offer beyond here's how to do x with n.
Understand, there are people in this country who have been working since 16 to provide for themselves, they work for less than 9 dollars an hour, and still pay rent, utilities, medical bills, car payments and more. They didn't have hours during summer to sit around and play video games that they could have spent watching MIT courses instead. They today, still don't have the time to game the system and get ahead that others have.
The ability to get ahead by shear will is far beyond the will and patience most people who write medium posts about coder burnout have to contend with, the difference is instead of possibly not becoming a more well off person with higher net worth, the possibility is dying or incurring more debt.
Regardless, even if single individuals can get ahead, that's fine and commendable in some sense, but there will be many more who won't, the shear majority won't because the system itself produces these circumstances, and in fact, profits off it. What we see is the function of the way we set up companies and society in general.