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Ryan Healy is a recent college graduate. He is a founder of 
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There is an excellent article originally published in last weeks New York Times, titled The Odyssey Years. Five people sent me an email with a link to the article, so I’m sure it will strike a chord with most of you.
The author, David Brooks, claims that the decade from age 20 to 30 is actually a new life stage.
Brooks says The Odyssey years are,
The decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood. During this decade, 20-somethings go to school and take breaks from school. They live with friends and they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.
Whether you want to call this new life stage Emerging Adulthood, Odyssey Years or any other name that sociologists will inevitably invent, the fact is, they have a point. Your twenties are not the time to start work at a large company, slowly work your way up the ladder, find a spouse and have a kid. That’s an old paradigm, and it’s one you are more than welcome to embrace if you want to live with boredom and regret for the next 50 years.
Your twenties are a time to explore. It started with baby boomers like my mother who openly rejected mainstream conformities. She bounced from a state school to FIT to a waitress job before taking off to Europe for six months to explore the world. To this day, she speaks about that six month journey as the single biggest life altering event of her youth.
However, this was a fringe movement back then. The quickest way to the top was still to conform and blindly follow the pack up the proverbial ladder to success. Today this is not the case. Twentysomethings now understand that new and interesting life experiences are not only fun, but they are actually a key to becoming a well rounded and successful individual.
If someone asked me who my most successful friends are, I would respond by telling them about my buddies taking the road less traveled. I would tell them about Keith who just returned from teaching English in Japan, Scott who just arrived in Korea to do the same, Matt, Cole and Adam who run a sandwich shop in Oklahoma, and even Dave who just joined the Israeli Army. I would not talk about my friends on Wall Street, or the management consultants making big money.
Success is relative and today’s young people leading the way recognize that success in your twenties stems from experiencing life, not just a job. So take advantage of your Odyssey Years. Join the Peace Corps, travel Europe, start a business, work for Teach for America. If not now, then when?
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Alright, Ryan. I’ve held my tongue for a while, but this time I have to say something. I’ve been disappointed lately with the tone of these posts. For the last few weeks, they’ve bordered on sounding arrogant and condescending - not to mention, missing the point.
“That’s an old paradigm, and it’s one you are more than welcome to embrace if you want to live with boredom and regret for the next 50 years.” Really?
One of the greatest attributes of our generation is our ability to be more tolerant and accepting of all people and their choices. I agree that this is our time to explore and discover … if we want to. But some of us know what we want, we have a general plan for life, and we place importance on finding a spouse and starting a family.
Yes, our parents wish they had explored more and spread their wings, but our Gen X friends also having regrets - exploring too much and waiting to start a family and settle down until it’s nearly too late.
I’m excited for you, Ryan, and Penelope as you start your next venture, and your pride is justified. Just make sure you still maintain your ability to respect the decisions of others, whether they mirror yours or not.
The point is not that our generation has the ability to explore - it’s that we have the freedom to choose to explore among many other options.
I think it’s idealistic to believe that we’re much different than the previous generations in this area. I’m in my early twenties and am the only one of my friends who is not in a long term relationship, engaged, or married. This is of course the same place that our parents were at this age.
As far as not jumping into a career, I believe that is because our generation has been afforded this advantage by our parents. It’s much easier to travel and chase your dreams when mommy and daddy pay for everything. (Thanks Mom!)
Lastly, let me just say that the whole travel to a foreign country to teach English thing isn’t unique at all. It’s the “in” thing to do right now if you’re in your twenties.
Jacqui,
People have been hinting at my arrogance since I started blogging. I want to change their perception, but it’s also the style that got me to this point. Your comment definitely struck a chord. I’m thinking hard about what you wrote.
-Ryan
Ryan,
I, too, am terribly disappointed with your rhetoric on exploration. I won’t deny that interesting life experiences tend to make for more interesting people (though I will point out that not all interesting life experiences are about spending six months to a year in a foreign country).
However, I DO take exception with a couple of ideas - one that you’re stating outright, and one that you’ve accepted as an underlying assumption.
The one you state outright is that it’s old hat to work your way up at a company during your twenties. Flat-out WRONG, and I’m speaking as someone who doesn’t believe in paying one’s dues or in company loyalty. There are lots of people job-hopping, perma-lancing, and starting up their own companies. These people are very vocal about it. But there are a LARGE number of people in our generation that are doing their best - despite disloyal companies and the general problems of being underpaid, overworked, and treated poorly - to work their way up the corporate ladder the traditional way (albeit more speedily, which accounts for alot of the “why don’t these kids pay their dues?” stories).
These people are more silent, but it’s this silent section of our generation that is going to prove to be one of the most important aspects in Gen Y gaining control of corporate culture. Because these are the employees that the company is going to be desperate to keep in a couple years… and that desperation is what’s going to precipitate major changes. Right now, bleeding-edge companies are trying to attract top grads, and look at the changes that’s creating. Imagine what will happen when companies are striving to keep people that have worked for them for five years, ten years, when their experience is still coupled with youth because they buckled down and took a serious job early… There will be a major impact.
The second thing I take exception to is the underlying assumption that as twenty-somethings, we don’t have important work to do RIGHT NOW - which does include slogging through alot of BS as fast as possible. It’s like when Boomers call us apathetic and wonder why the young people aren’t out protesting like they were. I’m not saying that devoting yourself to a causelike the Peace Corps or Teach For America is bad - it’s not. It’s great. It’s wonderful, and I admire those people.
BUT OH MY GOD HAVE WE GOT BIGGER PROBLEMS. We’ve got hundreds of bigger problems, and what 85% of them boil down to is money, which is inherently boring. You’ll probably learn this as you work on your start-up, but most problems - most serious problems of every kind - actually boil down to money. And money is boring and prosaic, and doesn’t lend itself easily to freedom since most of our economy - to wax Marxist for a moment - is based on blood=money, and in order to create more wealth, one must make a deal with someone in which you pay them less than their blood is actually worth, etc, etc.
But the point is that SOMEONE is going to have to fix things like the deficit, and social security, and global poverty, and financing or stopping the Iraq War, or every other political problem, which always boils down to either small or large amounts of money. And that someone is our generation. And the faster we can all whiz through the bottom layers of corporations, the more we focus (and threaten to job-hop to anyone who’ll give us more responsibility), the faster we get the reins of the country. The faster we get our shot at fixing it.
And these money things are tremendously boring, and don’t make for free or interesting people. But let’s not pretend that we’re going to be allowed to do them if we all wait tables and teach in foreign countries until we’re thirty. And let’s not look down on boring work as necessarily “not the new success.”
PS. That whole “not the time to find a spouse or kid…” sooooo Xer. Seriously. We’re jugglers. Multi-taskers. The entire point is that we’ve been mentally trained to handle more tasks at once than any other Generation, and that we balance work-life.
Your “odyssey years” don’t have to be your entire twenties. I used my college years and now my early marriage years (before kids) for that. I think our generation is looking to get through those years faster and get to what we really want in life sooner. Why waste time “wandering” when we know what we want?
Kristen,
Thanks for your honesty. The point about the “silent” part of our generation being the most important part of gaining control of the corporate culture, is amazing insight. I never thought about it like that before. Those people will cause the change, and despite their “silence” I would bet they are still reading and thinking much like all of us vocal people are. You could really write a whole thesis on that topic. I’m going to think about it more.
You’re point about money is a valid one also. Everything does boil down to money, and yes, there are huge problems that our generation is going to have to fix. I failed to articulate it well, but exploring during these “oddysey years” does not have to be traveling or teaching etc. It can be job hopping as well. And I think job hopping, or even the constant threat of it, is helping our generation get the upper hand quicker than past generations, however baby boomers and certainly, Gen Xers are not going anywhere, anytime soon. We can’t fix all the problems now, but we can certainly do our best not to create any more problems for OUR kids to fix.
Melanie,
I think you’re right. We are looking to get through those years faster to get to what we really want. But, I have found that even when you know exactly what you want, you still need to wander around until you figure out how to get there. There are a million ways to get to the same destination, I guess its a matter of what’s important to you as an individual that determines how you get there.
Thanks for the great comments.
-Ryan
Hi Ryan,
A few thoughts.
1) Personally I did some travel in my twenties and it was wonderful. I am a big believer in getting out there and seeing the world. Looking back on it now I am grateful that I was able to do it because I know that many folks do not have the money, or the time, or the opportunity to be as carefree as I was.
2) Being now married for 9 years and having gotten married in the second half of my twenties, I would like to state for the record that I don’t have any “regrets” and I certainly hope to not have 41 more years of “boredom.”
3) The website I work for, CoolWorks.com, specializes in “jobs in great places.” In my humble opinion and based on the varying experiences of those who have used our site, I believe that people can go out and do good things and be successful at any age and in any profession. Seasonal jobs are wonderful and can lead to great careers. My seasonal job definitely worked out well for me. In addition, one of the most personally satisfying experiences for me about working for Cool Works is that lots of people will also find “success” and I would like to think that every one of those people can determine for themselves what success means to them.
I enjoy reading your articles. I may not always wholeheartedly agree with what they say, but they do stimulate discussion and I think that’s great. Keep it up.
Kari
“That’s an old paradigm, and it’s one you are more than welcome to embrace if you want to live with boredom and regret for the next 50 years.”
Eesh, Ryan. Are you sure this is what you meant to say?
You’ve plainly been raked over the coals by others, and it’s a shame that the basic idea behind your article was overshadowed by flippant remarks like this one. But I think you might also want to take another look at the ol’ EE mission statement. I thought Employee Evolution was about encouraging GenY and helping GenY leverage its unique advantages to be successful … however folks choose to define their success. But this article wants to tell people how to be “real” GenY, because if you don’t do it Ryan’s way, you’re doing it wrong. Wouldn’t you agree that that’s counterproductive?
Sean,
You’re right it was a flippant remark. I would take it back if I could.
-Ryan
The point of this post is not for those people who know what they want to do at this age (or any). If you know what you want then go for it and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you what is right or wrong because who knows.
It is for those of us who are looking at options. Life experience is the only way to learn, and if that means settling into company life great, but most of the friends I have talked to seem to not know what it is they want; now. There doesn’t need to be a delineation between the two. They are both life experience. I am living in Korea teaching English, this has been an ‘in’ thing to do for a long while. I’ve met some people who are in their 40s and are still here. Point being I made this choice because I am not ready to settle down. I have plenty of time to do it, the important thing is it knowing when that time comes. I am not at any advantage or disadvantage because I didn’t jump right into a company. Everyone is forced to go head first into LIFE after college.
As long as you are not sitting in your room unaffected by the rest of the world then what your doing is good. Making mistakes and learning will help in your career no matter what stage of life you are at right now.
Side note living in Korea does help with my casual pitch.
Hmm … so why do “odyssey years” need to be constrained to a decade of your life? Why does “exploring, learning, growing” need to be in opposition to earning a living (money) and adding your values to the future (raising children)?
I believe the more challenging model is to make your life an “odyssey”. Continue to be curious, and willing to invest in that curiosity (act). While doing that, earn enough money to pay your way, raise children, and contribute your values into the future.
It’s worked for my for me for the last 3 decades or so … and its fun.
Though I seem to be in the minority, I appreciate this post.
I spent the first half of my twenties being the underpaid, overworked, ’silent’ employee. However I got to learn first hand why trying to pay my dues, making myself indispensable, etc does not payoff in the modern era.
After running an $11 million integration for a fortune 500 company I was given a paltry 25 cent raise (even though I was already the lowest paid person in my position by several dollars an hour) and then promptly fired after my company was sold off because I didn’t fit in with the new mentality. Since then (2 years ago) I have had jobs ranging from a day and a half (I was let go for asking a question) up to 6 months. Most of it was contract work. Which means I’d spend the few months I was working saving up for when I would inevitably be out of work again.
I would also say most of the people I know are the silent types. Their job is a means to an end - a paycheck. The paycheck is all that matters. Passion, pursuing a vocation as opposed to a job is all becoming passe. Now that I’ve been horribly burned by corporate America I am trying to find out what my other options are. Instead of options I am finding a lot of people my age are just accepting what is as gospel. None of them like what they do, but in order to pay the bills & indulge a few hobbies they are willing to sell their souls. I don’t think people who are suffering in silence are going to be the catalyst for our future. If you feel underpaid, under-appreciated and don’t believe in company loyalty are you actually going to be the person a company is ‘desperate for’ in a few years? I doubt it.
I live in Milwaukee WI & admittedly our unemployment is high right now. Still, when I can get an interview I am often told “We love you, but…’. I am overqualified or under-qualified, but much like porridge companies want someone who is ‘just right’. If you do not have the exact skills a company wants right now they don’t want you. There is no ladder anymore, you are what you are. Breaking out of that mold is not only extremely difficult but often frowned upon.
Now at 28 I maybe broke, living at home & looking to go back to school to facilitate a career change, but I am much happier on my odyssey than I ever was trying to play by the rules. There are at least some of us out here who think what this blog (and Penelope’s BC) is doing is important. It takes a lot more courage to go against the grain than with it. It’s comforting to know I’m not the only one who thinks the current system needs a lot of help.
I am slightly troubled by your assertion, Ryan, that starting out as a newbie in big company, working one’s way up the corporate ladder and starting a family in one’s twenties is a path towards boredom and/or regret. Because I find it equally troubling, as a 22 year old, to think that I have to spend my twenties purposefully “finding myself” through constantly exploring, traveling, living here, living there, dubious of establishing any sense of being grounded or committed to something or someone. I don’t know about everyone else, but it seems to me like the “road less traveled” is becoming awfully crowded.
All of this reminds me of a few years ago when I was a junior in college and decided to travel abroad to Scotland for the year. All of my friends kept asking if I was going to take the opportunity to travel around Europe since “you’ll probably never be able to do it again so easily.” But strangely enough, I didn’t want to travel around Europe and besides a brief jaunt over to Ireland, I stayed in the UK. I felt guilty at times for not wanting to bum around Europe like a poster kid for STA Travel. But I realized that it is OKAY to stay put sometimes, to enjoy being where you are and accept being settled in one place. I also came to understand that some of us just are not the footloose, “go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do” type people. For me, the notion of working my way up within a company that I enjoy working for is just as fulfilling as trekking around Southeast Asia is for others.
And lastly, Ryan, and again maybe this is just me, I feel damn lucky to have an entry level job that offers upward mobility. I also feel lucky that I have the freedom to find a partner that I want and the means (someday) to start and provide for a family. I was reading an opinion piece in today’s Washington Post that discussed the fact that 1 Billion people still live in the same level of abject poverty in 2007 as in the 1960s. The bottom 1 Billion are no better off today than they were back then. Wow. So all this hem-hawing about the possible regret/boredom of the “old paradigm” followers falls on deaf ears to me. Whether some of us choose to follow in the well-trodden footsteps of past generations or others choose to spend their 20s on a modern day vision quest, not one of us should forget the fact that we are incredibly lucky for at least having the ABILITY to choose the trajectory of our lives by “playing by the rules” or not. And where is room for regret or boredom in that?
Amanda - Thank you for calling me a coward. If we go by the results of your little sob story, it takes more courage these days to dive headlong into the corporate world than it does to dick around Europe/job hop constantly/start a crappy restaurant/fail at a start-up business. Right now I’m giving myself a pat on the back for having the cajones to brave the corporate waters and stick with a job, knowing full well that I could be fired for no reason at any time. Have fun “finding yourself” in your parents’ spare bedroom.
Ashley - I am officially crowning you champion of all the comments on this post … ‘it seems to me like the “road less traveled” is becoming awfully crowded.’ is probably the best summation of my opinion on this matter. The whole “finding yourself” seems more like an internal journey, I highly doubt that “myself” is anywhere in Europe or Southeast Asia.
I never once used the word coward. I am saying there is just as much reason to try something else as there is to sit in a cubicle. I’m not planning on a trip to Europe nor am I trying to ‘find myself’. I’m saying there is more to finding a career than suffering silently waiting for your ‘big break’. I’m going back to school so I can work in a field I think I’m better suited for - Is that really flaky of me? I don’t think so. I think I’m making a choice to not accept corporate america as the only way to make a living. It’s a choice I’d rather make now than when I’m 50.
I have worked in Corp America at companies who probably wouldn’t look at your resume since a month before my 19th birthday. I didn’t job hop, I put in long hours, etc. In the end I still ended up SOL.
So we can discuss your cajones once your company gets sold off, you do get fired for no reason or your position is outsourced to India because they can do what you do for 1/10 the cost. No one I’ve met in my working life was above those things happening to them regardless of job performance. Point being you are not a snowflake, you are not special or worthwhile within the corporate empire. What people today are is a resource and as soon as your cost outweighs your value you are usually eliminated. Gee, sounds like a great future to aspire to. If only I was so brave…
This does beg the question - If you all are so content with the way things are, what are you doing on a blog with the title Employee Evolution?
Suffering silently waiting for a “big break.” Hmmm….I suppose if one is not proactive you could certainly be suffering silently. But I think those who are smart about how they go about their careers realize that a big break is usually not much more than a compilation of “small breaks.” So if you want to become, say a CEO of a company, as an entry-level professional you can’t just do your work all the while grumbling to yourself “when the hell is this company going to realize that I should be CEO, damnit?!!” No, instead you have to go in everyday with the mindset that in someway, however minute, you need to exceed an expectation someone had for you that day. A “small break” would be seeing an opportunity to exceed an expectation and doing it successfully. In doing this, there is no suffering, no silence….you’re making waves on your terms.
When have people not been seen as resources? We can at least say since the times of Adam Smith we’ve been seen as resources when he wrote “Give me that which I want and you shall have this which you want.” I get a paycheck, my employer uses my expertise and skills. At any point, if it no longer meets either of our wants, the relationship is terminated. Maybe I am a bit of a mercenary in this sense, but that is how it goes and I really can’t fault “the corporate world” for this so-called usery. But because of the very nature of this exchange-based relationship, I find it silly that anyone look to have their specialness or worthwhileness acknowledged or appreciated by a corporation. I am secure enough with myself to not really need those two things validated or even noticed by an employer. Get your emotional kicks somewhere else.
On another point - if you’re taken by surprise that your company is being sold, or so blindsided by a firing or your job being outsourced to India (btw only 2 out of 10 jobs face the threat of being outsourced), then you’re really not paying attention to the office politics going on around you. You’re on the outside, the last one to know, out of the loop…essentially clueless. You say you were fired because you simply “asked a question?” I would be interested to know what the question was…I doubt it was “where is the restroom?”
And to answer the question about why I’m on a blog like this - please get off your high horse…we’re not all so content. Our jobs aren’t perfect; mine certainly isn’t. Most of us don’t claim otherwise. But we deal with the cards we have at the moment. We’re looking for ways to adapt and deal with our jobs. Ultimately, I want the same thing as you (presumably): to be happy, fulfilled, successful, productive and to lead a comfortable life.
I don’t think anyone here necessarily accepts that corporate American is the ONLY way to make a living. Indeed, it is but ONE way to make a living. And it is the way that a number of us have chosen at this moment in our lives. But like any choice, there are pros and cons. Your choice certainly has them as well.
And as a side note, as an African-American female, it is ‘brave’ for me to venture into the corporate world. Because for so long and, until fairly recently, someone like myself was shut out from that world. And we are only now allowed in because we fought for it. So don’t put down bravery.
Ashley -
You make good points & are very articulate. It seems we do want the same things.
My question wasn’t about the bathroom, but it was fairly innocuous in nature.
Being that I am in IT I am one of those ‘likely to be outsourced’ people. So it is a concern for me.
As a woman in IT I also understand bravery. I was mostly pointing to Andy’s assertion that my earlier comment referred to people in Corp A. as cowards. Not my intent. What I said was it’s harder to go against the grain. Sounds like in your situation you are doing just that. Good for you.
I’ve tried the small breaks system. I also pay attention to what is going on around the office. There was literally no warning of my company’s sale. One emergency conference call & that was it. The people in charge were so removed from the day to day operations there was no subtle vibe to pick up on or anyone even in my building who knew what was up.
Maybe I’m older than the average commenter here, maybe my luck is that bad or my area is that economically depressed…who knows? What I do know is I really tried to play by the rules, do everything the ‘right way’ to have a good career and it didn’t happen. It’s not even that it didn’t happen fast enough. In my case it was that nothing I did mattered in the end. I was subject to things beyond my control.
So maybe I am asking to much, but we do spend most of our time working. I don’t think it’s too much to want my work to be mildly satisfying & somewhat appreciated. As a matter of fact I’d take that over a big paycheck any day.
Well regardless of what you think, someone else didn’t think your question was “fairly innocuous in nature.” And at the end of the day, thats all that really mattered.
But whatever. You seem to have adapted a “woe is me”/ fatalist approach to this topic and I guess it suits you.
And honestly if your job is outsourced it is because someone either does it better than you or for less $ to the employer, or perhaps, both. Nothing personal, its just business.
Remember…the best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.
Obviously I don’t have to imagine myself without one, because I’ve been there. I’m not being a fatalist. I’m saying I’ve seen both sides of the coin. A lot of these comments seem overly optimistic or naive. That’s just my opinion.
At the end of the day someone else’s opinion is all that matters? It’s not personal? I guess I’d rather not be a sheeple for the next 40 yrs of my life.
Amanda,
If you do go back to school and find a career path that you enjoy and allows you to make a living, then congratulations! Double kudos if the new career you find allows you to break the corporate shackles.
Do not assume, however, that the rest of us “sheeple” corporate types are sitting around waiting to be downsized. Most of us are in a constant effort to improve ourselves and be better people. Some of us even make the daring effort to not let where we work define us as a person.
Oh, so now in addition to mocking “bravery,” those who have decided to go for a corporate career are mere “sheeple”. Thanks, Amanda, for putting this uppity corporate hack in her place. I feel so enlightened now - excuse me as I now go to live in a hollowed out bus in the Alaskan wilderness.
I was very impressed to hear from the other twentysomethings who would describe themselves as being in their odyessey years… I first heard about it on the radio this morning and was struck by how accurate I had been pegged. After graduating college at 22, I started with jobs in my field (being a Marketing major), then gave up after a string of unsuccessful fits. I am now 25, and am looking forward to teaching ESL in South Korea. It’s not just the job, it’s not just the opportunity, and it’s not just the travel - it’s the chance to go ‘off the beaten path’ and explore the person I want to be.
The odyessey years, as I understand the term, is to do that exploration. That journey may begin at 22 and end at 35, begin at 18 and end at 24, or begin at 24 and never end at all! For the people who emerge from college to find the world a markedly different place than they left it, some time is needed to reassess and reevaluate. In my case, I emerged with the Bachelor’s and the vague notion that I wanted to do something in the field of Marketing. I had no idea why, doing what, and so on. It took working at nearly a dozen jobs in the last 3 1/2 years to discover the specific things I enjoy.
For those of you commenting above, congratulations on finding the person you want to marry, the place you want to live, or the thing you enjoy doing. That process either came easier to you, or you already knew enough to not need years of odyssey time. I disagree that the corporate life is assured to be boring, but you have to admit the stereotype has a basis in reality. Corporations are much less generous regarding pay and benefits, not to mention retirement - and care less about who you are than what you can do for the company. If you’re fortunate enough to work for the company that cares about you as a person, I congratulate you. For the other 95% of companies out there, however, the large corporation is simply not the place you want to work at any longer than you have to.