Sarah graduated with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and a 3.8 GPA, two internships and her plan. She sent over 200 applications for entry-level software jobs, got three interviews and no offers. Meanwhile, her high school cousin Alex is staring down college applications, uneasy about the advice from parents and counsellors — “study computer science, it’s stable” — when the career landscape feels like shifting sand.

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Different stages, same reality: the old bridge between education and employment has collapsed. A degree no longer guarantees entry to a promising career. Even “safe” majors no longer feel safe. The career advice that worked for one generation will lead the next toward a future that no longer exists.

This isn’t the fault of students like Sarah or Alex. It’s a systemic break our education system was never designed to handle. And while that’s sobering, it’s also a rare moment where new approaches to learning and work become possible, and necessary.

It’s also deeply unsettling and stressful for young people and career-changers.

High schoolers and graduates are in phases of life that have traditionally been framed as linear — study hard, graduate, start a career. That rhythm has now fundamentally changed, and it will continue changing. For many, it feels like stepping onto a moving walkway that suddenly speeds up, changes direction, and splits in two — all at once. The uncertainty isn’t just about the job market; it’s about identity, self-worth, and the fear of making the “wrong” move in a game where the rules keep shifting.

The Great Disconnect: Before and After AI

Since the Industrial Revolution, schools operated on a premise that worked: knowledge equals value. The ability to store information and recall it on demand was worth something because workplaces needed humans who could do exactly that.

Before AI, your memory was your ticket to the table. After AI, it’s the cost of entry — and now even the table is gone.

Consider what’s happened in just the past two years: ChatGPT reached 100 million users in just two months. Today, 40% of companies use AI for basic research tasks once managed by junior staff. Job postings requiring “information gathering” have dropped 23% since 2023, while demand for “critical thinking” and “problem-solving” has risen 18%.

AI systems can access, synthesise, and present information faster and more comprehensively than any human. This makes information storage and recall economically worthless at the entry level. Employers aren’t paying for what a machine can do instantly — they’re paying for reasoning, judgment, and the ability to think through problems in context.

The bridge between an information-based education and the modern workforce has crumbled because the most valued skill in that system is now automated.

Most schools and universities weren’t built for this kind of disruption. Their structures, incentives, and approval cycles make rapid adaptation almost impossible — even when the need is urgent. The people inside these institutions may care deeply, but the system itself moves too slowly to equip students for the speed of change they’re stepping into. That’s why new, agile approaches — like the focused, two-day workshops I’m designing — are becoming a necessary complement to traditional education.

Three Generations in the Fog

The Graduate’s Dilemma

Recent graduates like Sarah invested years and significant money in mastering bodies of knowledge, only to find the market values reasoning they were never explicitly taught or tested on. In software development, for example, AI can now write and debug code at least ten times faster than a human. For companies with experienced developers who already understand their systems and business context, this means AI makes them 10x more productive — eliminating the need to hire junior graduates for routine coding work. The result: rejection, debt, and the demoralising sense that the rules changed mid-game — without warning.

The High Schooler’s Crossroads

Students like Alex must decide whether to commit to expensive education when career maps are being redrawn in real time. The stress comes not just from uncertainty, but from the weight of making life-shaping decisions with incomplete and constantly shifting information.

The Career Switcher’s Reality

Mid-career professionals and educators face a parallel challenge — skills they spent decades refining can suddenly become commodities, while the ability to adapt to new tools and problem spaces becomes the real differentiator. Many experience a quiet anxiety: if I don’t adapt fast enough, will I be left behind entirely?

These scenarios aren’t just different by age — they differ in runway. Year 10 students (aged around 16) still have space to explore and build skills before major decisions lock-in. Year 12 students (aged around 18) are taxiing toward the runway, making final choices under pressure. Recent graduates have already taken off into turbulent airspace, navigating career shifts in real time. Because these contexts demand different strategies, I’m developing three distinct workshops — each tailored to the realities, timelines, and decision-making needs of its audience.

This moment mirrors another technological inflection point: the early iPhone era. In 2008, the “home screen” of our digital lives had only a handful of icons. Within a few years, millions of apps emerged, and those who experimented early — even imperfectly — rode a wave of compounded advantage.

Today’s “home screen” of work is equally sparse: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and a few other AI tools. But the next decade will see millions of specialised AI agents and applications emerge across every sector. This is the same kind of gold-rush moment — except it’s happening across all industries at once.

For Year 10 students, this is like being an early iPhone tinkerer in 2008 — you have time to experiment, fail, and learn without risking everything. Year 12 students are deciding whether to jump into the app store now or wait until it’s fully stocked. Graduates are figuring out how to pivot their skills to become indispensable in a world where the “device” — AI — is already in everyone’s pocket.

Three Steps Out of the Fog

Step 1: Become a Seeker (Not Just a Student)

Stop waiting for the system to tell you who to be. In a world eager to reduce you to data points and predictions, you must actively define yourself. Shift your questions from “What should I study?” to “What problems do I want to solve?” and from “What job should I get?” to “What value do I want to create?”

Step 2: Build Your Identity Blueprint

A resume lists what you’ve done. An Identity Blueprint — what I call a Custom Context Profile — maps who you are, what you value, and how you think. It’s forward-looking, problem-driven, and designed for both human connections and AI collaboration. It captures:

1. Your core values and what drives you
2. The kinds of problems that energise you
3. Your unique perspective or approach
4. Your boundaries and non-negotiables
5. Your vision for the work you want to shape

Unlike a static CV, a Context Profile is a navigation tool. It helps you filter opportunities, communicate with precision, and stay true to what matters to you. Sarah’s Context Profile might look like:

• Values: Creating technology that genuinely helps people, not just drives engagement
• Energising problems: Making complex systems more user-friendly
• Unique perspective: Balancing technical constraints with user empathy (gained from customer service work)
• Boundaries: No surveillance tech, no features designed to be addictive
• Vision: Technology that amplifies human capability rather than replacing it

Step 3: Master the Foundation Elements

Rigid curricula can’t keep pace with change. Instead, focus on three core capabilities that adapt as you do:

Element 1: Identity Clarity

Complete your Context Profile. When you can explain who you are and what problems you care about, you stand out in a sea of generic applications. This isn’t just self-reflection — it’s strategic positioning.

This is also where the shift from the “Knowledge Economy” to the “Allocation Economy” becomes critical. In the past, being valuable meant being the person who knew the most. Now, value comes from how well you can allocate intelligence — human, machine, and networked — toward the right problems at the right time.

Identity Clarity tells you what to allocate intelligence toward. Pattern Recognition tells you when and where to allocate. Problem Framing ensures you allocate it effectively. Your Context Profile isn’t just a self-description — it’s a personal allocation strategy in an AI-saturated economy.

Element 2: Pattern Recognition

Learn to spot shifts in your chosen problem space. What’s changing? What’s emerging? What’s becoming obsolete?

Sarah might set up a weekly scan of product release notes from major software companies, follow several design leaders on LinkedIn, and compare how AI-driven features change interface layouts over time.

Alex might subscribe to climate-tech newsletters, watch quarterly updates from renewable energy companies, and keep a simple spreadsheet of emerging roles connected to carbon reduction or clean energy systems.

Element 3: Problem Framing

Practice defining problems before jumping to solutions. Most people rush to answers. The valuable skill is asking better questions and understanding what you’re trying to solve.

AI can code, design, and draft at speed — but it can’t yet decide what feels right in a deeply human sense. That’s why “taste” and judgment are not fluffy extras; they’re the non-automatable core.

Being the “vibes person above the machine” means you can iterate quickly, give precise, meaningful feedback, and refine toward outcomes that resonate. This is a trainable skill — much like developing a musician’s ear or a designer’s eye — and environments like GlidePath Studio are built for that accelerated practice. Machines can execute, but only humans can decide if the execution truly sings.

Bridging Concept to Action — Enter my GlidePath Studio Workshops

Ideas are only powerful when you put them into motion. The 3 Steps in this article give you the structure — but structure alone won’t move you forward if you’re finding it challenging to get started.

That’s why I created the GlidePath Studio — Course Charted, Future Shaped©

It’s not just a workshop; it’s a live, accelerated experience where you work with me (and with AI) to rapidly build the three pillars of your personal GlidePath:

Your Context Profile — a living record of your unique skills, values, and trajectory.

Your Foundation Elements — the essential capabilities the market is starting to prize.

Your First 30-Day Action Plan — a concrete, confidence-building step into your next chapter.

Every GlidePath Studio is tailored to where you are on the runway:

Year 10: You have a long runway ahead. The focus is exploration — mapping your possibilities before the market maps them for you.

Year 12: You’re at take-off speed. The focus is decision readiness — choosing directions you can commit to with confidence.

Graduates: You’re in mid-air turbulence. The focus is realignment — making yourself instantly more marketable in a world that’s changing mid-flight.

The old pathways are broken. That’s the crisis. But that’s also the opening. While others freeze in the headlights, GlidePath Studio gets you moving — fast, forward, and with purpose.

Use my contact details below to request more information on the GlidePath workshops.

From Fog to First Steps

The gap between knowing and doing can feel enormous when the future is uncertain. That uncertainty is stressful, and it’s made worse by the feeling that you’re already behind. But clarity doesn’t come from waiting until you “know enough.” It comes from taking small, deliberate actions that teach you about yourself, your options, and your direction.

If you’re a recent graduate like Sarah:

This week: Draft your Context Profile — because clarity beats credentials. When employers see 200 generic applications, yours will be the one that shows self-awareness and direction.

This month: Identify 3–5 professionals solving problems you care about and request brief conversations — because your next opportunity is more likely to come from a relationship than a job board.

Next 3 months: Start a project that demonstrates your reasoning, not just your knowledge — because employers hire evidence of capability, not claims of it.

If you’re in high school like Alex (Year 12 or Year 10):

Before choosing a major (Year 12) or committing to electives (Year 10): Complete your Context Profile — because knowing what energises you helps avoid years (and debt) chasing the wrong path.

Research problems that matter to you: Because the fastest way to waste your education is to learn skills no one uses for the problems you care about.

Experiment first: Try small projects, internships, or volunteering — because a few months of exploration now can save years of regret later.

If you’re mid-career:

This month: List your last five major work projects and identify which parts required distinctly human skills (e.g., negotiation, creative synthesis, complex judgment).

Next month: Use AI tools to reframe those skills into new problem domains — for example, translating logistics expertise into supply chain resilience projects.

In 90 days: Pilot a side project or advisory role in a field adjacent to your current one, using AI to accelerate your learning curve.

There are Opportunities in a Crisis

The old pathways are broken. That’s unsettling — but it’s also your opening. While most people, blindsided by the sudden rule change, freeze like rabbits in a floodlight, you can start moving. The advantage goes to those who act while others are still processing. Build the capabilities the market is only beginning to value — reasoning through complexity, working fluently with AI, and creating original value — and you’ll be positioned ahead of the curve before most even take their first step.

The fog is real — and so is the stress of moving through it — but it’s not permanent. It will clear fastest for those who choose to navigate rather than drift.

The question isn’t whether the system is broken — it is. The question is: Are you ready to build your path through the uncertainty?

Use my contact details below to request more information on the GlidePath workshops.

About the Author: Greg Twemlow — © 2025 | All rights reserved. I write at the collision points of technology, education, and human agency, including:

Learning as Self-Authorship — Becoming the author of your learning, life, and legacy.

Creativity as a Sovereign Practice — Expressing what only you can bring into the world.

Agency in an Age of Intelligent Systems — Making decisive, value-aligned choices.

Remixing the World — Transforming existing ideas into new forms that inspire thoughtful examination.

Living in Alignment — Staying in tune with your values, ethics, and the people who matter.

Greg Twemlow, Designer of Fusion Bridge — Contact: greg@fusionbridge.org

Appendix — Education and Employment Have Decoupled: Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What does it mean that education and employment have “decoupled”?

A: It means the traditional pipeline from degrees to jobs has broken. Employers no longer treat credentials as a guarantee of employability but prioritise skills, adaptability, and proof of capability.

Q: What factors are driving the decoupling?

A: Automation, AI, globalisation, and the rise of alternative learning models (bootcamps, online credentials, micro-certifications) are weakening the degree-to-job link.

Q: How does this affect students?

A: Students face career uncertainty — formal education alone is insufficient. They need portfolios, projects, and applied experiences to prove their value.

Q: What does it mean for educators and institutions?

A: Schools and universities must evolve from knowledge delivery to skill and agency development, equipping learners for lifelong adaptability.

Q: What practical steps should individuals take?

A: Build demonstrable projects, keep upskilling, join communities of practice, and treat formal education as one layer in a broader career foundation.