What is the path of development of a highly qualified specialist? For example, an IT-developer, a product manager, a director of development or a systems engineer.
The path of development of a sought-after specialist in business is approximately the same. The basis is good education, because while a person is grinding away at books in the world of complex sciences, his or her intellect keeps developing. (A person regularly gets into new situations and encounters complex problems, and it is necessary to look for a way out. This is how intellect gets upgraded.). Therefore, with higher probability we are talking about a technical major and/or formal education in the natural sciences. Then, a thorny career ladder lies ahead, including practical training with experienced mentors or within the framework of high-end projects. From time to time skills upgrading happens at short-term applied courses.
However, the exceptions appear more and more frequently. There are no alternatives to primary and secondary education; they just have started providing it in private kindergartens and schools. Higher education is losing prestige, and young people often prefer to be educated in the course of project activities. Many people remember successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of Harvard in the last century for a start-up.
It is unlikely to repeat the paths of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg or Richard Branson. It is impossible to count the number of people who dropped out of school for a job, and failed. Nevertheless, we cannot help but note such a trend: many highly qualified IT specialists do not have a university degree; and, basing on this example, we can make a strong assumption.
There is a reason in such behavior: it is because fundamental education all over the world does not meet spirit of the times. IT is a comparatively new sphere, but fundamental education, on which applied IT-competences should base, has not changed at all.
Therefore, we can make a strong statement that STEM, as a standard of high-quality fundamental education, is outdated. This is the reason why many people (and already not only in IT) think that in order to become a specialist, it is better to invest time in practice rather than spend it on the old-style intellect flashing in a university.
However, it is difficult to cheat on life. Life mastery includes both intellect and applied mastery (specialization). We need both. Focused specialty, even in entrepreneurship or software engineering, is of high risk. Subject matter experts are often hostages of their experience. (Moreover, it is difficult to reject the experience, obtained “with blood and sweat”. However, it should be done often, because applied methods get outdated, professions disappear and one has to relearn.) The world is changing fast, and this is why applied knowledge quickly gets outdated. Only intellect lets us notice the changes quickly and cope with new problems, including relearning and infinite development, to always remain in demand.
Thus, it is impossible to do without fundamental education that enhances intellect. This is why Aisystant offers a new standard of 16 transdisciplines.
Education for life should include programs of intellect enhancing. It is impossible to study the applied practices and soft skills only. People under the age of 35 are recommended to upgrade their fundamental firmware to speed up their brain (it is quite possible that you will have to do it again in 10 years, if you want to be in demand professionally) and cope with modern problems and complex projects. However, they should study modern SoTA-transdisciplines instead of outdated university programs.
In addition, there is one more amendment to the education program. Such intellect upgrade should be done simultaneously with implementation of working projects. One can receive fundamental education together with applied specialization, implementing working projects. These methods are used at Aisystant, that is why you will have to do your homework using your working projects as examples, and master the required applied practices if necessary.