High quality skills form the bedrock of any success story. From your job to your personal life, the right combination (or lack) of skills will see you succeed or fail. But the greatest successes come if you are able to separate your skills from your industry.
Accomplishing this is no easy feat – it requires deep introspection, and a willingness to address weak spots in your life’s journey. You will need to understand not only what you are doing, but why you are doing it – even for obvious things like your job. Why are you working, and what purpose does it serve you? What skills are you lacking, and what skills are required to live life on your terms?
A failure to do this results in what I call industry entrapment – an inability to escape your current career. And if your career suppresses your wages, prevents growth, and minimises your chances of living well, you can be doomed to repeat the same cycle. Therefore, understanding how to separate your skills from your industry gives you the acumen and agility to improve your circumstances.
Evolution comes in many forms, and you should evolve many times throughout your life. This occurs with your skills and your industry, too. A lifestyle change or adverse circumstances may require rapid transformation and a new mode of working. But how do we equip ourselves to do work that benefits us?
Welcome to the Work Series – my thoughts on the importance of independence from your job, mastery of your skill set, and sovereignty over your time.
Industry Entrapment
Industry entrapment is a feeling of being unable to escape your industry. It’s a common theme in both specialists with deep knowledge and in practical trades.
Industry entrapment makes us believe we have no option but to work. It tricks us into believing our skills only allow us to work in a specific way. It’s especially true if things have “always been done this way”, and your skill set has degraded due to stagnation. The world continues to move, and if you’re in an organisation that doesn’t innovate, neither will your skill set.
There are a few ways we can feel trapped by our jobs, but thankfully, there is a method to overcome each.
Non-Transferable Skills
Jobs entrap you by teaching & mandating the use of skills that can’t be easily transferred to another role. This can range from unusual operating practices, to computer skills in archaic software. These jobs are worse than worthless – they’re often damaging to your skill set.
When I began working in payroll, I used an archaic and poorly-supported payroll software. As I began pivoting away from processing and moving towards a career in payroll tech, I realised that my experience using this software (and not a more widely-used product) could hold me back. A useful contact in the industry suggested I should exposure to more software via either payroll processing or system roles. This would give me a greater skill set, and allow me to have an easier time integrating into payroll teams in other companies following job changes.1
I chose the latter and focused on payroll systems. Luckily for me, it pays much more.
I’ve written previously about the importance of finding a job that meets some or all of your financial, educational, or networking needs. Each serves a purpose at different times of your life, but learning new skills is the essential component required to transform your life. Being stuck in a job that doesn’t offer you the ability to learn useful things is disastrous in the long term.
If you pursue the path of highest income you should have enough money to solve any problem you face. Failure to do so is simply failure in another area of life. But not knowing how to use your knowledge to solve problems traps you by forcing you to rely on your job. You trade income for lack of agency, and the water won’t be flowing forever.
Lack of Growth Opportunities
Almost a decade ago, I had a job-in-between-jobs in an accounts department. The company used its own software to collate invoices for data entry, and the data entry team matched that information to internal order data. It was 8 hours a day of mind-numbing box-clicking.
There was little room to grow in that role. I already had the knowledge of accounts department operations, and there was no real-world knowledge I could gain from learning a business-specific software. Even the income prospects in this team were severely limited. Calling it a dead end was an understatement.
Worse still, I saw the peak position available in that team was overseeing a department of drones (of which I was a part). There was no innovation, no drive to do anything differently: just continue transcribing data and stop asking questions. This, combined with some personal challenges at the time, drove me into a depression, where I wondered whether my education and skills in corporate finance were of any value.
I didn’t last long in that role.
Jobs should work for you, not the other way around. Understand how your job offers you the ability to grow. Understand too how the skills your job offers you allow you to evolve beyond that job. Most importantly, use this knowledge to work towards getting a new job. One that offers better or higher networking, income, and/or learning opportunities.
Polymathy
Leonardo da Vinci, the archetypal Renaissance Man, was a scientist, inventor, and painter, among many other titles. One of his greatest interests was the study and invention of weapons, many of which were centuries ahead of their time. Despite this, da Vinci had to rely on his artistry in order to secure an income.
Leonardo da Vinci is an example of someone who recognised the value of his diverse skill set, and employed it to great effect throughout his life. If da Vinci was solely invested in his inventions and refused to engage in other skills, it’s likely that he may not have become the paragon of polymathy that we know him as today.
The deeper your skills in a particular field, the harder it becomes to use these skills in another field. Think of this knowledge as only affecting a certain discipline, or a specialisation within it. If the majority of your knowledge falls into this category, your mobility and options are in the face of hardships are minimised.
Death by Specialisation
If the market demand for your skill set is reduced or disappears, your deep specialisation becomes worthless. Pursuing a particular type of work will not reward you if the industry no longer requires your skills. Worse still, it may render you unable to earn an income entirely.
I agree, in principle, that we should make hay while the sun shines. Working hard when we have the opportunity to do so can lead to us gaining the freedom we desire. However, there comes a time where additional work is less meaningful. Developing skills to replace outdated ones becomes essential. It gives us ways to avoid spending money, which helps if our needs become overpriced or more efficient to manage ourselves.
Jacob Lund Fisker discusses this in detail in the Early Retirement Extreme book. Here, Jacob discusses the difference between deep (specialised) and broad (diverse) skill sets. Specifically, a broad skill set protects us from the negative effects of relying exclusively on deep specialisation. The polymath, or generalist, is therefore more suited to adapt to changes in their circumstances. This enables them to earn an income in a variety of ways.
How to Separate Your Skills from Your Industry
As market skill demands shift, a broad skill set is more likely to remain within the demands of the market. Specialisations are less protected, and can often disappear entirely as market demands change. Worse, you have little to no control over how or when this might happen.
Even a well-paying job doesn’t give you agency over your life. If that job relies on unique skills or hyper-specialisation, it can shackle you and prevent you from leaving. Should the market demands for your skills change, you expose yourself to redundancy or unnecessary competition for work. Relying fully on this income to survive only exacerbates the problem; in this way, job loss becomes catastrophic.
So what are we to do in the face of this entrapment? How do we take the knowledge that we have and apply it to other industries? How do we go beyond the confines of what our worldview believes we can accomplish? And what is stopping us from realising our potential?
Recontextualise Your Existing Skills
You possess a set of skills unique to you. The path you have taken through life led you to what you now know. If you want a new job or to do something new, you need to find a way to get there from your current position. The easiest way to do that is to review your skill set through a critical lens.
One of my first working experiences was a data entry job in an accounts department. Accuracy was the most important skill; all data had to be correct, otherwise it would damage operations of the team & business. I landed my first payroll position as a paper timesheet processor by recontextualising this skill and leaning into this in the interview. I was given a chance not in spite of the fact that I didn’t have experience, but because I could solve the problem they had in a way that helped them.
Your skills haven’t changed, but the context you use them in has. Hiring teams usually need encouragement to see this.
Break down your skills into their raw essence. Use that essence to solve the problems that a job faces. If you can articulate how your skills solve the problem of a job, you can easily transfer your skill set to other jobs.
Identify Meta-Skills
Your work requires you to embody a set of skills (or traits) that enable you to complete the work. For instance, a Payroll Officer job requires general computer skills, the ability to understand and accurately apply employee pay information, and the ability to identify problems. Some skills are more specific (e.g. “skilled at a specific software”), while others (e.g. “can identify and solve problems”) are more abstract.
Meta-skills are skills that help you to learn skills. The ability to identify problems, or to work with authenticity, are both meta-skills from which other skills emerge. So too are finding purpose, adaptability, and understanding new perspectives. These skills form the bedrock of your skill set and can often be transferred from job to job.
Meta-skills are abstract, and therefore easier to take for granted. It’s easy to see yourself as the go-to person for solving a particular issue, instead of being a general “problem-solver”. This mode of thinking makes you believe that you are “good at your job”, rather than “good at solving problems”; the latter being a universal skill you can apply to almost any role. Therefore, it is important to take stock of your meta-skills and apply them in new ways to unlock new ways of working.
Develop New Skills
When you define the skills you’ve already acquired, you begin to understand what skills you’re missing. If you are pursuing a career in a particular field, you may find gaps in your skill set that you want to resolve.
Learning new skills is non-negotiable in order to move forward. Your existing skills will not be useful to the same degree forever. Your physical, mental, and emotional capacities to both work and evolve are doomed to deteriorate over time. Not only that, but the demand for those skills is constantly changing.
This blog is a testament to a traditional method of creating content. I’ve worked as a writer in the past, and writing is something that comes naturally to me. However, in a world of rapid-fire short-form content, a blog isn’t the easiest sell – nor is it easy to find. Therefore, developing new skills – such as social media engagement, video content, or community building – must be part of the creator’s journey.
If you desire change in your life, you cannot rely on your old skills forever. Sure, your existing skills may let you save enough to retire at a reasonable age. Following FIRE principles allows you to do that sooner. But honing your craft, then developing new skills to best apply that craft, will give you the best change at achieving the change you desire.
Craft a Transformation Narrative
Just like personal finance, personal development is inherently personal. Just like your skill set, your journey is unique to you. Use where you’ve come from and where you’re going to create a story around which you structure your life – and your job prospects.
If you are looking for work in a new industry, it’s important to highlight how you and your skill set fit into that industry. Ideally, your skills, interests, or your journey have led you down this path for a reason. Your job is to find that reason, and clearly communicate it to those responsible for giving you work.
The easier you can make it for a hiring manager to realise your value, the better. Data driven points provide quantifiable outcomes that managers can benchmark you on. A succinct story of your journey helps managers understand what value you’re bringing beyond your skill set. Combining these provides a clear picture of the value you offer, but also helps you understand if this work is something you truly desire.
Build a Portfolio Career
Instead of relying on applying your skills to a job, you can apply skills to a portfolio career. Creating a portfolio career gives you flexibility to control how you work, what you learn, and how you live.
A portfolio career is “the process of monetising yourself through many different active income streams, instead of a full-time job”. Options include holding 2 part-time jobs, temporary contracting, a recurring consulting client, or any mix you desire. Instead of having a job that defines you, you operate as a freelance problem-solver, earning the money you need before retreating to focus on your own goals.
This method of working may be difficult for those with higher expenses, or those with dependents who require a consistent income. However, if you’re in your early-mid career, without any dependents, portfolio careers are a very real option. And for those on the path to Financial Independence, portfolio careers serve as a reminder that work isn’t the enemy.
The purpose of portfolio careers is to allow you to Choose Work You Love without sacrificing the freedoms that led you to it in the first place.
My Story
I’ll use an example from my own career journey.
A few years ago, I got a chance to interview for a consulting company – I was lucky for this for many reasons. Regardless of that luck, I clearly communicated my expertise in system administration, passion for the payroll tech industry, and ultimate goal of “helping people get paid correctly”. My story (and the angle I sell myself on) is that the context of how I accomplish that goal has changed throughout my career.
Early on, I took an active role in payments, processing tradesman invoices for a weekly accounts payable process. As I moved into payroll processing, I was actively responsible for employee pay outcomes. This later became supporting other Payroll Officers and site admins in paying their teams correctly, before moving into payroll system administration. I solved the challenge of “helping people get paid correctly” in different ways throughout each job I held.
This focus (and my ability to clarify it) ultimately led to me getting the consulting job. I made a very good impression with a manager who was willing to take a chance on me – an event that changed my life.
Closing
There are a few ways we can feel trapped in our industry. But by recontextualising what you know, you can begin to separate your skills from your industry.
My stance is clear: develop skills outside of your job. Those who separate their skills from their industry are afforded more opportunities to use those skills – both in and out of their career. This in turn leads to more interest in you as you demonstrate that you can solve the problems of others. And solving bigger problems leads to more money.
Find ways to use the skills your job teaches in ways that aren’t your job. Demonstrate that value to prospective employers if you want a promotion or career change. Better yet, grow beyond the need for a permanent job, and use those skills yourself to maximise your income and create the life you desire.
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- It’s fairly common knowledge that changing jobs every X years results in higher wages, more growth in skills, and more agency. I’ve changed “real” jobs roughly once every two years. ↩︎