Upskill
Intro
Table of Contents
When you’re walking through the job market, the best currency to have in your back pocket is skills. Money doesn’t open many doors, connections can only get you so far, and charisma won’t get the job done. No, it’s your abilities and talents that are valuable commodities in this domain.
With this in mind, it makes sense to expand your skillset as much – and as often – as you can. Whether you’re brand new to the workforce, looking to switch career paths, or just wanting to advance in your current role, upskilling can be an excellent path to success. This might mean taking an upskilling course or just self-directing your learning.
In this post, I'd like to talk about we can learn and upskill in an efficient way. And, while, most of us are aware of learning platforms and courses, in this post I'll talk more about how to learn/upskill.
No, you don't have to be a genius to get started 😄
When talking to students, I've discovered one topic that constantly arises in conversation. And that topic is the misconceived notion that great developers are born with a special programming gene. So, let's walk through the question are developers born or made, from a practical perspective.
When I talk to students - especially the ones who want to get into tech - I've discovered one topic that constantly arises in conversation. And that topic is the misconceived notion that great developers (or a person with any tech position) are born with a special programming gene. So, let's walk through the question are developers born or made, from a practical perspective.
Whenever we see a skilled coder it's easy to think that they were born with the innate ability to build applications and that learning new languages and frameworks comes easy to them. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
Over the years I've known more developers than I can count and I have yet to find a single one that was a born developer. I've had the chance to talk to engineers and developers from FAANG companies, as well as graduates from well-known schools. And as amazing as all of these individuals are, each one of them became a great developer through hard work and dedication.
If you want to become skilled badly enough, and you're willing to:
- Dedicate the time
- Learn from experienced teachers
- Fight through frustrating challenges
- Continually build projects with features you've never developed before
You're going to wake up one day and realize that everything is clicking and that you've become a professional in your field.
So, instead of taking the mindset that you need to be a genius to become a designer/engineer/developer/analyst/etc, take the mindset that best technicians are also the hardest working technicians. With this approach, your potential for skill is literally limitless. You are 100% in control of how good you will become. And your success will completely be determined how hard (and how smart) you are willing to work.
Affordable Learning Resources 📚
I think most of us - at least on this sub - are aware of free/affordable learning resources. And while we are big fans of online courses, they do have certain limitations. For one, most online courses are meant for beginners. So, yes, they are a good fit if you want to learn about a topic from scratch. But, eventually, you should transition to technical books. Some part of your income/savings should be invested in these resources.
And, in case you haven't read, you don't need to pay lakhs for a bootcamp.
Find a structured plan 🎯
Many students want to get into a particular field (software dev, design, business...). And although there are a plethora of courses out there, students get overwhelmed and numb.
Most people that we’ve interacted with struggle with finding a structured program that helps them get into a field. So, you want a program that takes you right from the beginner level, to a point where you are at least ready for an entry-level job.
In that case, you can look into a Learning Path.
A Learning Path is a selection of courses tied together for learners to progress through, mastering a particular subject or program. We offer you a program consisting of courses, projects & tools - which you can work on for free absolutely!
You check out: Atlas - Find the right learning roadmap for you
How to study & understand complex topics 💭
When I was in college, I used to struggle to learn Data Structures. Fortunately, over the years, my education and work have helped me put together a strategy for how to study and understand complex topics.
Typically, I apply this learning system to subjects such as algorithms and software engineering; however, it can be applied to any topic. While there is a near infinite set of study strategies out there, I like this approach because it utilizes a divide and conquer strategy, focusing on breaking a complex topic into easy-to-understand components, and putting the pieces back together at the end to see how they all work together.
The goal of studying is to learn a topic, and one of the easiest ways to understand a complex subject is to break it into easy to comprehend components. For example, if you're trying to understand an advanced algorithm in computer science from scratch, you may feel a little intimidated.
However, if you break the algorithm down into small enough components you'll see that it's essentially a process of steps made up of connecting simple modules such as loops, manipulating variables, and using conditionals. A problem is only hard when you try to think of it as a whole. However, any concept can be understood if you simplify it down to easy to comprehend pieces.
Obviously, the more complex the topic, the longer it will take to deconstruct; however, I am a firm believer that anyone can understand any topic assuming they dedicate themselves and put the work in. I hope that you can leverage this mind mapping process to understand complex topics and that it will help you learn how to study properly and truly learn.
The comprehensive study system 📖
There are a number of other study strategies that research is showing to be more effective than traditional study practices. In their book Make It Stick, cognitive psychologists Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel give the following recommendations for studying:
- When learning from a textbook, use the key terms from the back of each chapter to test yourself.
- List out key terms and use each one in a paragraph; this will test to see if you understand a concept outside of the realm of how the textbook or instructor supplied it.
- While reading new material, convert the main concepts into a series of questions and then go back and answer the questions when you're done reading the chapter.
- Rephrase the main ideas in your own words as you go through the material.
- Relate the main concepts to your own experiences, much like the reification process we've already discussed.
- Look for examples of key concepts outside of the text. When I'm learning a new programming language I never rely on a single source. If I come across a concept that doesn't make sense I'll usually review 2- 3 other sources that provide alternative explanations to what I'm attempting to learn.
Augment your learning by building projects 🚀
Side projects are apps, designs, websites, case studies, or engines that you create by yourself and on your own time. These projects typically show off your skills as a programmer/designer/analyst, which can help make you a more qualified job candidate. Your side projects can be programs that are specific to the industry you want to enter. For example, if you want to go into the education industry, then you might build educational programs.
Consider making your side projects relevant, realistic and complete before putting them on your resume. For example, it's typically more impressive to create a program that's new and solves a current issue. Having a finished project can show potential employers that you're capable of finishing a task.
Learning new skills in this era is as easy as it can get. Being certified in the skills that you want to learn is an added advantage as you can include these certificates in your job profile. Hence the best time to start upskilling yourself is today because it can transform your personal and professional lives by increasing your value as an individual. Once you begin to develop new skills, you will continue to do so for the rest of your life. After all, there is no age bar for bettering yourself.