The first couple of decades of life are usually spent view college as the "finish line" of the academic path. Elementary, Intermediate, then high school, followed by the hallowed finish line of college. The reality is that business is changing so quickly, that you'd better be, as well.

Follow up:

We can complain all we like about disappearing pensions and job security, but the simple fact is that days when fat old corporations would take care of your retirement and provide you with a guarunteed position until you are ready to leave are gone. We've shifted into an era of personal accountability. Pensions have been replaced with 401K's or even better yet, a ROTH 401K, and companies are more often than not offering tuition reimbursement and/or funding for training.


There are plenty of people lacking enough initiative for this kind of responsibility. So, you'll likely find a target-rich environment when you attempt to leverage some of these resources. This does not have to translate into a vendor-led training course. Don't get me wrong; those external courses are usually fantastic and you should soak up all you can. That having been said, keep an eye out for other opportunities, like college tuition reimbursement, mentoring circles, internal CBT catalogs, corporate Safari subscriptions, etc. Resources are more plentiful in some companies than others, but no matter what is available, DON'T STOP MOVING!