In the current tech talent pool, candidates are searching for ways to upskill for that competitive edge. Upskilling is the process of continuous learning and an excellent way to stand out as a candidate. But with all the resources available, where do you start?
Hint: with this blog!
We shared answers to common questions about upskilling in our AMA-style discussion (now on-demand!). Keep reading for an inside look into what the experts had to say.
You’ll hear from these Hired team members:
- Sophia Koehl, Partnerships
- Simon Mackie, Publishing Manager, SitePoint
- Nate Becker, Candidate Experience
Read the beginning of the conversation here and scroll down to access the full webinar.
How does upskilling apply to my career path?
Nate
Your field is always growing. It’s always changing and evolving. In your role and your company, there might always be new opportunities and if you look at your own role you can look at where it is now versus where it was when you started. You can get an idea that companies want you to specialize your skills and employers are always specialized in your role. You can see the importance of it even looking at your growth in your one role.
On Hired, employers put these skills directly in the job descriptions. On your candidate profile, you’re going to put these skills directly on there and that’s how we match you – according to this tech stack and these hard skills. It’s important in how you get matched and how you get seen.
Simon
One of the great things about tech careers as a whole is you don’t necessarily need to go back to school to improve your skills, to upskill, or to transition roles. Once you’ve mastered those programming skills, development skills, and engineering skills, you can then shift your focus to look at learning frameworks and libraries, and keep moving on a path forward.
When you’re looking at a career path as a whole, you definitely need to be upskilling to reach the end goal. Upskilling tends to involve projects. When you’re looking at the projects you’ll be working on, you need to identify the skills you need to be learning for your employer to achieve those project goals. Working on those projects is a great way to learn new skills and learn what you’re interested in to see where your career path could go in the future.
People in tech have a bunch of different skills they need to learn at different times. You could be a developer who needs to learn some Scrum skills. In the future, if you’re interested, it could lead to a career as a Scrum master or a product owner in Scrum. Upskilling is vital to you figuring out how you navigate your career path going forward.
Sophia
I like what you said: you might just figure out what you’re interested in. That’s an important call out, especially in a tech role where the career path might not be as linear as another domain. You need to be in tune with your interests and when you upskill and you experience new skills, you might find something that you really like. That might help you carve out your career path. Hired partners with organizations like SitePoint, that provide workshops and upskilling opportunities. There are a lot of organizations out there wanting to support you through this.
Other key topics from the conversation include:
- Upskilling vs reskilling
- Why now is a good time to upskill
- How to ask your company for upskilling opportunities
- The best technical skills to upskill for
- And more!
An inside look into SitePoint’s toolkit
What technical skills should I upskill for?
Simon’s picks:
There is so much to learn. How do I prioritize which skills to learn?
Simon’s picks include developer surveys like:
Source: Talent Acquisition - hired.com
