“I’m here to tell you that your thesis, as far as my son goes, is correct.”

I was speaking with my friend who had asked me about my eldest child’s plan for college.

Now, I’ve been open (some would say adamant) that I am increasingly skeptical of the value of a traditional college education.  That’s not to say I don’t think liberal arts or college doesn’t matter. I think they are great.  I just think that, a degree that costs $300,000 (list price) over 4 years, isn’t worth it.

In the world that I foresee, these expensive credentials matter less and less.

What matters is: what can you do? What value can you bring?

“My son,” he continued, “bounced around during college a few times and graduated from a school that wouldn’t impress most people. But he knows how to code.  And now he is killing it.”

The young man is working at a Fortune 500 tech company and pulling down over 6 figures annually.

This came to mind today not because I need validation (though always nice) for my view (which is in the distinct minority), but because I submitted an application to the marketing advisor to Nexus Mutual.<https://forum.nexusmutual.io/t/proposal-to-serve-as-mutant-marketing-advisor/602>

I’ve been a long-time fan of this project and have multiple blog posts on/mentioning NXM<https://blog.neverstopmarketing.com/?s=nexus+mutual>.

Over the past two years, because I have some skin in the game, I’ve become involved in the community, gotten a chance to know the core team, participate in governance, and meet other members of the community.

A few weeks ago, someone put up a post indicating that he wanted to start a “Marketing Hub.” I jumped in and offered to help, since it’s in my interest to do so.  Over the course of a few weeks and some calls, we came up with a pretty solid proposed marketing strategy, which we posted (in various iterations)  here <https://forum.nexusmutual.io/t/proposed-marketing-strategy-for-nexus-hub/559> , here <https://forum.nexusmutual.io/t/updated-marketing-strategy/571> , and here<https://forum.nexusmutual.io/t/mutant-marketing-roadmap-aka-marketing-communications-hub/598> on the community forum.

What this showed the other members of the Mutual is that we were taking the job seriously.  We hadn’t asked for anything.

After getting feedback on the forum as well as through more informal channels, we felt confident that we could move forward to get formal approval.  So, we created a proposed budget, action plan, and compensation requests for our efforts.

Now, here’s the cool part.  The funding for all of this, assuming it passes the community vote, comes from a Community Fund. Nexus Mutual is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization that  owns and manages a basket of funds that the collective membership can decide how to allocate in order to further advance the goals of the mutual (in this case, grow membership).

When I posted my proposal to become the advisor, I received a public endorsement from the founder of the mutual, Hugh<https://forum.nexusmutual.io/t/proposal-to-serve-as-mutant-marketing-advisor/602/4?u=jer979>.  He didn’t mention my credentials, he mentioned the contributions I had made over time.  Same<https://forum.nexusmutual.io/t/proposal-to-serve-as-mutant-marketing-advisor/602/2?u=jer979> with my partner in the marketing strategy development process.

If the proposal passes, it will because of my reputation, earned by putting in the time and effort to add value to the collective effort.

The number of DAOs (and the amount of money they have at their disposal) has grown significantly over the past 18 months.  So has the number of people who are working for DAOs. These are remote-first, global organizations where transparency reigns, value and outcomes are what matters, reputations are earned-not given- and, because everything happens in public, accountability is inevitable.

As cryptoeconomic networks propser, the number of opportunities to work with (and for) DAOs will continue to grow.  You’ll be able to do it all anonymously, as long as you have established your reputation.

No one needs (or will care) where you live, who your family is, or where you went to school.

Employment is going to look very different.

There are many reasons why college makes sense and has value, but securing a “good job” is increasingly not one of them.