Wende pointed me to an interesting post this morning from Penelope Trunk. Here's the part that Wende passed on...

Here is me linking to the ten billion times I've written that there is no more corporate ladder and you should stop thinking that someone will take care of you and tell you where to go next and give you a gold watch when finally you retire at 65. Evenstill, when I tell people that no ladder means instead that you can be lost while you find your own path, the most fearful of self-discovery balk at being lost and instead go to law school.

Everyone used to think law school was safe, but in fact, it's not. And it's not unsafe just because more than 50% of lawyers would not recommend that you become a lawyer because they don't like it. It's not safe because you will work really hard in your early career and then get de-equitized in your later career which is the law career equivalent of having the ladder pulled out from under you.

So the last bastion of the fast track to safe money and job security used to be finance. And now, that one's gone, too. There are officially no more safe paths to money. You have to make your own path. This is a stark, big-bang broadcast that the end of the safe career is here. And that's great. Because the quest for a safe, beaten path that will work for your own life is an empty quest. We are in a new era of work, and you get to make your own path. It's exciting. Even in a down market.

I followed the new era of work link as well. Also a good read.