Pictured: the incarnation of fear itself--a millennial taking a pointless selfie with Broadway sensation Alexander Hamilton.
Now that I have you all sufficiently panicked by that title, hello there and welcome to the first installment of the Millennial Minute: Introduction Edition.
My name is Kato, and I am 27 years old. I have an arts degree collecting dust behind my television, I dress an awful lot like a lumberjack for someone with a severe tree allergy, and I am just barely older than Nintendo’s first Game Boy. As the blog title suggests, I also happen to be one of those millennials that the media likes to devote so much time to. On a daily basis, my schedule is full of single-handedly destroying the golf industry, the diamond industry, and the real estate industry with my generation’s twin cudgels of apathy and low discretionary income. The destruction of modern society does keep me very busy, but thankfully I do still find time to fit in a full workday in the office.
I’ve heard a lot of things about Millennials: we are entitled; we are the generation of the participation trophy; we are narcissistic, technology obsessed, serial job-hoppers, and lazy, just to name a few. Now I don’t know about all of these, though I do have a 7th place ribbon from 1998 and an average texting speed of about 90 words per minute. I am very proud of both of these accomplishments.
Many things about millennials have been spun negatively, to the disadvantage of millennials looking to break into the workplace. I would like to argue that we are the generation of the untapped asset. Despite our generational differences, I think that we all have the same common goal: the success of the company we work for. I’m still learning to play the game by the established rules (see: 7th place ribbon as proof of my figurative and literal sports prowess). We might play the game a little differently, but you should see me as your teammate instead of your rival. All I’m looking to do is update the playbook and maybe teach you a few new moves along the way.
Think of this blog as just that: a few new pages for your playbook. In addition to sharing a how-to guide to millennials and providing my insight as a young professional millennial in the workplace (bonus points for being the only male millennial on an otherwise female-dominated team), I’ll be spotlighting different technology tips and tricks to help make your workday more productive.
After all, I’ve been working with computers since before I could read and troubleshooting them for nearly as long. In typical millennial fashion, there are very few pieces of software that I haven’t learned how to use after enough poking around, and I am self-taught on everything from Microsoft Office, Adobe, and a number of video editing platforms. It is likely that I have forgotten more about technologies I’ve learned than the average Baby Boomer ever even knew existed. Don’t ask me to show you where the emojis are on your phone, but I can help with almost everything else.
I am also going to gingerly recommend some reading material to the class. I suggest picking up a copy of Chip Espinoza’s Millennials@Work: The 7 Skills Every Twenty-Something (and Their Manager) Needs to Overcome Roadblocks and Achieve Greatness. I’ll undoubtedly reference it a few times in future postings and discuss some of the major takeaways. It’s not quite Oprah’s Book Club-caliber, but it was definitely valuable early in my career, and it’s a great resource for millennials, colleagues, and managers.