I am one of the many that has grown with the times and it has paid off. One thing that has been lost in the younger workforce, is the ability to figure something out when things don't go the way they should. I have personally fired more people for this one simple thing than all other reasons combined. For example, years ago I worked as a master mechanic. I became so good at it, the dealership put in the position of shop foreman. I watched over 30 technician's and trained all new hires. I also had to handle any and all headaches as well as turn my own hours repairing vehicles. I was busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. I didn't have time for nonsense. What I saw time and time again with young guys is the inability to do anything they haven't been shown yet. When working on cars, you have to figure out how to take cars apart and put them back together. When a manufacturer makes a new model line, they do not take every mechanic in the world and send them to school to teach them how to do, every operation on the car. Often, you will start seeing these cars for repairs, before they even have the schematics available online. The point of all this is, you have to figure it out, without training. Time and time again, I would get the "I can't do this because no one has showed me how". I would have to let them go. Sure, I tried working with them for a bit, but if that " I can't" mentality didn't change, I just let them go. After all, would you want that guy working on your car? Just throwing parts at it, hoping something will fix it. All the while you are getting phone calls and being told the price is going up. You have all been there. The younger generation are very hard workers as long as there is a script to follow, a plan laid out before them. They are very computer savy and use technology to its fullest capacity. Take that script away though, ask them to find a different way to do the same thing, when the first way fails. You end up with a very lost person. So what will happen when the Gen X group leaves the work force? Who will be the group that figures out how to fix something when things don't work like the book says it should? Many of you will debate what I am saying. But, I am telling you, the automotive industry is dying right now because of this very reason. There is a massive shortage of automotive tech's right now. I'm not sure if it's nation wide but in the northwest, shops and dealerships, are begging for mechanics. If you can spell wrench, they will give you a shot. Half the mechanics in shops, I wouldn't trust to put air in my tires but the shops have to have somebody.

"The first whose babysitter was a TV. The only generation that has transitioned out of a completely analog workplace world into one dominated by digital. The first generation that is worse off financially than its parents. The one that lost more of its median net worth, 59 percent between 2005 and 2010, during the years around the Great Recession than any other generational cohort, according to the U.S. Census Bureau...We were the kids who were told we could do anything we set our minds to, but we were given no guidance on how." This is all very true. I feel like every time I think I'm building a career, the economy works against me. I've lost 3 jobs in the last 10 years and feel that I have not been valued by employers for the skills I have. I am not afraid of technology - but am usually not given a chance to learn it either.

Born in 1978 here! I think the line in the article that says, "We didn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about ourselves as a generation. We are too busy getting shit done," about covers it!