Modern Compass Newsletter

Hello there,

We’ve arrived at a point where AI has or is close to commoditizing knowledge. It’s no longer viable to go to college to gain knowledge and hope for a career. The current state of this is college costs continue to rise, while the value of knowledge slowly erodes. At the onset of typical 4 year degree, the valuation of the knowledge learn may be worth less than the cost of tuition.

When AI has Phd level knowledge and learns while we sleep, what do you go to college for, how do you decide, what can help you make that decision, and how can you stand out to start and progress in your career?

This newsletter issue will touch on Character, Self, and Trust of your Modern Compass.

The Insight 

The answer to these burning questions is more human than you think. For one, AI at this point in time is really great at some tasks like software development, troubleshooting, and technical tasks but it's spotty at connecting the dots across what it tells you, and it doesn’t have experience applying what it knows and failing, it just knows that it knows it. That is our crucial foot in still. There is nothing unique about the AI’s individuality and there’s no trial & error, no lived experience to draw upon. That is what we can offer, but its not always easy proving that point.

The 3 key areas to think about deciding on college in the age of AI are as follows:

1. What can college grant you access to? Internships, mentorships, fellowships to name a few, but that has to be weighed against the overall cost. I.e. if college at an Ivy League gets you the small possibility for unique mentorship but will leave you with a $300k school loan, is it worth it?

2. Understanding what is unique to you and if it can be amplified by college. You may not have a grasp on this but I highly encourage to thing about what is unique to you, as in how are you different than others in your circle. Do you approach things differently, different sense of humor, visual, etc what is that? We’ll talk about why that’s important in a moment and a GenAI prompt on how to help you find it.

3. Finally, a decision framework you can trust to help you make this decision.

I’ll be honest, this is a rough time to decide to go to college. As a 40+ year old, I would not want to be facing this decision with the uncertainty of AI in the market and diminishing entry level roles that college grads would often get, but that at the same time, I’m optimistic that being unique will pay off, which is why its an integral part of this activity.

A quick aside on my college experience stumbling through and finally getting a Bachelor degree. It wasn’t until I aimed for something tangible, that college became valuable and feasible to me. I targeted an intern program at the local Air Force Base as a civilian specializing in Operations & Supply Chain Management that a specific degree could help me get access to. At the time, I felt my unique thing was that I really enjoyed Tycoon games (games where you simulate running a business), which is why Operations Management and managing supply chains sounded so interesting. I never did get that internship, but it gave me purpose to get through college where I was otherwise wandering aimlessly.

#1 Evaluate Access

This step is determining what college can grant you access to like internships, mentorships, fellowship, and so on. Now more than ever you have to understand what value and access you can get through college to determine its value, while weighing to the overall cost of tuition through the duration.

The following 2 case studies are around 2 individuals that went to college. 1 dropped out, and 1 finished, both are successful and both found something to access by going to college. I’m not advocating college is the best route, but these may help to see how others have leveraged access. Check out their stories and see if they resonate with you as you determine what you can gain access to by going to college.

#2 Find What Makes You Uniquely You

This isn’t a joke, I’m serious find what makes you uniquely you. Finding what makes you unique and amplifying that is what will help you stand out in your endeavors and career.

The tricky part is what makes us unique is a moving target, and it evolves as we age, trial & error, and gain experience. What I consider to be unique to me now was way different than what I would have considered 5 years ago, but there is still some relation between them. Even my example above, I thought my uniqueness stemmed from being the only person I knew that enjoyed playing business simulation games, especially those with supply chain aspect to it. While that served me to a degree, I was looking at the wrong thing. I looked at what I enjoyed, not what made me different.

For me here and now, my uniqueness boils down to a simple message, I’m a builder, and I like to make things simpler to understand and navigate and my natural tendency to be optimistic and positive come through (this applies across my career and Modern Compass).

If you’re struggling to find what makes you unique, try a couple of these activities.

A. Look at your closest relationships (family, spouse/SO, friend, mentor) and ask yourself whats a way I see or behave a little differently. Not better, we aren’t trying to put ourselves on a pedestal just differently. Find one thing and try to expand on that concept.

B. Simply ask a loved one or close friend whats unique about you they enjoy you being part of their company. This could be an endearing activity at any rate, even if you are good at the first activity.

C. GenAI Prompt: Pick a topic you genuinely love talking about - a game, movie, hobby, anything. Ask ChatGPT or any GenAI tool to write a text to a friend explaining why you love it. Read what it generates.

Notice your reaction. What feels wrong? What's missing? What would you never say that way?

Now rewrite it in your voice. What did you change? Did you add humor? Get more technical? Use different examples? Cut the fluff? Add emotion, maybe emojis? 😄 

Those changes give a glimpse of what's unique about how you communicate and think. The gap between AI's version and yours is where your edge lives.

Before I get to the decision framework, we should circle back to a point I made earlier. Knowledge is being commoditized, but don’t confuse that with knowledge not being valuable at all. The key distinction is you no longer need a human to go compile that knowledge by hand, it’s now at your fingertips. Before AI, you still had access to your fingertips, but it was widely dispersed, hard to find in google search, and let’s be honest, Google at times influenced what you saw in search based on who paid the most for ads.

If you aren’t using AI to get data and knowledge, it will be difficult to succeed when your peers are using it and accelerated by it. Get comfortable using AI if you aren’t already.

For the purpose of this newsletter and to help offer you some guidance, I wanted to compile research on where the most entry level positions are being displaced or eliminated by AI to offer some guidance around where the impact is now into the next 5 years.

Most Impacted Entry-Level Positions

TIER 1: Severe Displacement (50%+ reduction in entry-level hiring)

1. Junior Software Developers

   • Why: AI handles routine coding, debugging, boilerplate work

2. Journalism/Content Writers

   • Why: AI generates routine news content and basic articles

3. Investment Banking Analysts

   • Why: AI handles data processing, modeling, and pitch deck creation

4. Bookkeeping/Accounting Clerks

   • Why: Data entry and transaction processing fully automatable

TIER 2: High Impact (35-50% reduction)

5. Marketing Coordinators

   • Why: Routine content creation, social media posting, basic analytics automated

6. Management Consulting Analysts

   • Why: AI handles research, modeling, slide creation

7. Paralegal Research Assistants

   • Why: Legal research and document review automated

TIER 3: Moderate Impact (20-35% reduction)

9. HR/Recruiting Coordinators

   • Why: Resume screening, scheduling, initial outreach automated

10. Financial Analysts (Entry-Level)

    • Why: Routine modeling automated

11. Data Entry Specialists

    • Why: Completely automatable with high accuracy

#3 Decision Making Framework from Modern Compass

Instead of simply saying “trust your gut,” I want to introduce what I’ve coined as iTQ, your Intuitive Trust Quotient in my book. It’s a tool within my informed trust chapter that removes abstraction, expands on intuition, and makes it more tangible and actionable.

You may have heard of trust models like the Trust Equation or Trust Quotient, which are designed to evaluate how trustworthy you appear to others, especially in business or leadership settings. Those models focus outward where as iTQ flips the lens inward. It helps you assess how clearly and accurately you interpret signals (including trust) whether you're deciding to pursue a relationship, accept advice, take a risk, and for the purpose of this newsletter, decide on college.

Developing your iTQ lies in developing these four key skills:

• Intuition – Recognizing patterns without overthinking.

• Active Listening – Staying fully present so trust is built on what’s actually said, not assumptions.

• Consequential Thinking – Anticipating second and third order effects of your decisions.

• Adaptability – Allowing your iTQ to evolve as you learn and grow, keeping it relevant in an ever-changing world.

In short, iTQ brings structure to instinct. It helps you trust more intentionally, and directionally, anchored in discernment, not guesswork. I could deep dive more into how you develop across these 4 skills but for now I will not go deep into those, but I will if you reply asking for the next issue to be an iTQ deep dive.

Now apply iTQ in some of the following examples:

Intuition – Does this path genuinely amplify what's unique about you, or does it feel like you're following a script everyone else is reading?

Active Listening – What are industry professionals actually saying about entry-level hiring in your target field right now? Is the access this college promises (internships, mentorships, network) still opening doors, or are those doors closing regardless?

Consequential Thinking – If AI eliminates 50% of entry-level positions in your chosen field by 2028, does your unique edge still matter? Will that $300k in loans for Ivy League access pay off if the traditional career ladder no longer exists?

Adaptability – Is this path teaching you how to leverage what makes you different and adapt to change, or training you for specific tasks that might not exist in five years?

The data shows the traditional career ladder is breaking at the bottom (entry level) rung. Your iTQ helps you decide whether college amplifies your unique advantage enough to justify the cost or whether your edge is better developed elsewhere entirely.

The Silver Lining: Permission to Choose Differently

Here's the rub: the data doesn't offer much comfort for traditional college graduates entering knowledge work between now and 2030. Entry-level positions are contracting across the board.

That isn’t optimistic I realize but it gives you permission to question whether the traditional path still makes sense without feeling like you're settling or giving up.

The 18-year-olds making college decisions right now have something previous generations didn't: deep research at your finger tips, use it!

Maybe that means choosing college strategically for access, amplify what makes you unique, or it’s simply a requirement for your field of interest like healthcare, etc. Alternatively it could mean learning high value skills outside traditional institutions or starting something rather than joining something. You do not need permission to go test AI right now, it’s free along with much of the training videos on it. I’d even recommend going as far as stumbling through creating your own web application with AI for yourself, because passion projects can help display your uniqueness. I know it did for me when I interviewed 13 years ago and mentioned I tinkered with building websites and hosting. That is what helped me stand out along with team/culture fit more than having a degree. I know that because several people on the team I joined did not have degrees, and I’ve seen some very successful people go very far without degrees.

The opportunity isn't in following the old script. It's in recognizing the script has changed and you get to write a different one.

Alternative Paths Also Worth Considering

• Coding bootcamps (3-6 months, $10-20K) - faster entry to tech (if desired), portfolio-based hiring

• Military (initial years commitment)

• Trade certifications (electrician, plumber, HVAC) - AI-resistant roles, high demand, eventual 6-figure potential

• Military service - technical training, leadership development, security clearances, and GI Bill benefits that fund education later without debt

• Apprenticeships (paid while you learn) - especially in manufacturing, healthcare tech, renewable energy

• Soft skills training (sales, negotiation, facilitation, coaching) - amplifies what AI can't replicate: human connection, persuasion, and presence.

• Self-directed learning + portfolio projects - prove your uniqueness through what you build, not where you studied

For Parents: If you're supporting a child through this decision or starting to think ahead, focus on helping them discover their uniqueness early. Notice what they return to repeatedly, watch what makes them lose track of time, and pay attention to their "weird", the thing that makes them different might be their most valuable asset.

Sharing is Caring

Please share this issue with any loved one or friend that is looking to make this decision to be of help to them.

Even better, I’d love to hear if this issue helped you or another you shared it with to make their decision or gave them more perspective than they had before. Additionally I welcome any feedback or stories about what help you make this decision in the past for yourself as well.

Modern Compass Book Updates

Writing has picked back up since I’ve concluded what I want to do with the web application I built last month. You can check that app out and last months issue here. I’ve finished another chapter in the relationships section and begun the final layer of relationships which is Loyalty in Modern Compass. I’ll leave a teaser and why Loyalty is the pinnacle of relationships. its one thing to have good intentions, it’s quite another to live it in loyalty. Beyond that I have 5 more chapters to be done with a first pass of the book. Early 2026 I will share the manuscript for a round of Beta reading. I know a few subscribers are interested, if you are interested please reply and let me know.

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