It’s been a decade since I had a job–that employment bargain where you get paid a specified amount for completing regularly assigned duties. Over that same period of time I’ve led or contributed to hundreds of projects– thousands if you include blogs as short projects.
This sort of project-based life is no longer unusual. About a third of American workers now engaged in some kind of freelancing work (here’s a list of 150 types). Freelance work includes gigs and projects:
- Gigs are short term predefined and repeatable tasks (e.g., Uber drivers, nannies, live-performance musicians).
- Projects are unique assignments with specific deliverables and timeframe (e.g., computer programmer, graphic designer).
Tom Vander Ark (@tvanderark) is an education advocate, advisor, and author ofGetting Smart: How Personal Digital Learning is Changing the World. Tom is Founder and Executive Editor of Getting Smart and a partner in Learn Capital.
Read Vander Ark on innovation at Education Week.