End of the Corporate Ladder?

We’ve been talking a lot about untraditional career paths here over the last few weeks.  After all, with the changing economy, people are looking for ways to keep their heads afloat while spending quality time with their families.  My life has changed over the last few years for that very reason.   

Some folks, like Cathy Benko, feel that the “corporate ladder” is really a thing of the past.  Rather than a trying to get ahead by climbing “up,” people are looking at success differently.  She says, rather than looking at a career ladder as linear, it is now becoming just the opposite.

“Examples of nonlinear careers are everywhere: women who step out of the work force and then step back in a few years later, Generation X-ers and Y-ers who show less loyalty to a single company, executive men who have climbed the ladder for decades and now insist on carving out more family time as they continue to work.”

I can see her point.  My career is anything but traditional these days.  More than that, it changes constantly.  Work, as we once viewed it, has also changed. More companies are allowing their employees to telecommute, many offer flex time, and other people have chosen to drop out of the “corporate world” altogether in favor of entrepreneurial pursuits.

Do you agree with this assessment?  And if so, how has your career path changed over the last few years?