More on work

My Linkedin connections have ratcheted up their activity level since the start of the new year. At last count, my associates collectively posted more than 750 status updates. Most of the activity is the result of people making new connections.
When one person shows a lot of new connections, it's often an indicator that the person has or is about to lose a job. When there's a squall like this, from people at different companies, something else is going on. I suspect, but can't confirm yet, that this is a good sign. People who have jobs are looking for better jobs or at least are thinking about it. They're wondering who among their connections is doing what.
People aren't finding the kinds of steady jobs of old. Those jobs and the expectations for same ended probably 20 years ago. Tom Peters predicted it in the 80s and has ridden the wave of New Work for a pretty good career. He used to say that your career was your Rolodex (back when folks knew what one was), that you always needed to be thinking about how you'd be assembling a job based on your personal connections. Companies, too, would be developing virtual, ad hoc teams that would come together for quick projects and dissemble with no hard feelings.

Of course, lots of people have made a living with all kinds for a long time. Recently, a guy has received a lot of attention for admitting that he wrote college papers for pay. (These folks have an, um, interesting name for their company in this line of business.) Some 40 years ago, I did the same. I didn't write many and probably made only a few hundred bucks. I did  guarantee a B. My big advantage was that I could type, making it easier for the customer who didn't have to recopy the text into his (it was all guys) handwriting. It might be the only typewritten paper that the student ever handed in, but in a big school, no one noticed.
Funny thing. I was bombing out of my own courses even as I wrote B papers in sociology, English, and history. Karma generally finds you, eh?