Blog Living in a Techy World and I’m not a Technical girl
Reflections on being over 50 in Marketing.
I’ve been in marketing and design for over 25 years. I started out with a drawing table, having mastered all the art skills by hand to create graphics what is now accomplished in a fraction of the time on a computer. After literally decades of new technologies emerging in my industry, I was forced to learn, adapt and master many of them. Based on my involvement working on many projects, with many people of all ages, here is what I take away from these experiences.
All of us, no matter our ages, face the challenges of keeping up with technology in marketing, media, and culture. It is a challenge to keep skills sharp and relevant. It is not necessarily more daunting for the over 50 crowd. I’ve worked with clients who dismiss the idea even trying to understand technology, claiming they are too old to adapt as they print out pages and markup edits by hand. It’s not like thinning hairlines, or wrinkles that you have no control over. You need to keep an open mind and be willing to try. You have to embrace and take pleasure in learning new things.
We live and work in an environment that we will absorb a lot just by being present and participating. Getting older gives me an advantage over a newly staffed web designer who has no clue how his/her webdesigns may eventually turn into profit for that company. Having experience allows me handle problems or tackle certain challenges because I’ve seen them before. I may not have grown up with Instagram, or Facebook but I understand the way it is used in marketing and how it can grow your business.
New technologies appear, disappear and morph so quickly that everyone starts at a disadvantage. To keep up. requires effort, curiosity and ambition, no matter your age.
