We live in the era of skill mismatch.
The needs of businesses change much faster than the subjects taught in schools and universities.
The effect is an asynchrony in demand and offer in the job market. Young people are well prepared for a lot of theoretical concepts but lack practical knowledge about the things companies do.
Why is this important?
The outcome is pretty clear: it can be extremely difficult to find a job and grow your career.
There are fields - like engineering, or even more software engineering - where there’s less mismatch, in part due to the recent nature of the subject itself which makes it harder to teach outdated things.
But still, this is a widespread problem.
While work isn’t everything, finding or creating a meaningful and well-paying job is still a difference-maker in how peaceful your life can be. Money is a tool, but there’s no point in denying its importance in today’s world.
Now, the web is full of resources, and learning skills can be just a click away. But so are scam courses, low-value material, and traps like tutorial hell that don’t add any value to your growth path.
As a software engineer working for a big company, and a creator for my projects, I’ve thought about a better way to develop good skills to thrive in the modern age.
Here’s a 5-step guide:
Silence everything, and think
Noise is an enemy. I find that whenever I want to draw any conclusion, navigating online blocks my thoughts.
It’s not hard to get why: the web is great, but it’s also a fast-paced flow of information.
Try to silence everything, and organize your thoughts.
Think about the things you’ve studied, you know, you like. Maybe there’s something that inspires you, that you’re drawn to.
Or something in which you excel.
If you turn down the external volume, you can also organize all the inputs you’ve gathered up until this point.
Take notes
What your mind produces in this thinking session is important.
Try not to lose it: take notes.
Writing these things down can also stimulate new ideas and open up interesting directions.
I still occasionally go through old notes - that I mainly keep in Apple Notes, no fancy tool necessary - to understand how my ideas have changed or what led me to where I am today.
Now search, and try
With these newly organized and more specific inputs, it’s time to use the internet and look for resources.
Look for material on the topics you noted down, see how more topics are connected, and how people work within these fields.
Then, try what inspires you.
Example: you come to know about DevOps, a software engineering kind-of-specific field that you didn’t hear about at university. Look for free YouTube courses about it, tutorials, try to use some tools.
You may find it interesting, or hate it at first glance.
First case: go to the next step. Second case: iterate, go to the next thing, and repeat.
Dive in what you seem to like
There will be things you seem to like.
This is a good signal. It’s now time to dive deeper, to take a complete course, to build a project, to find people doing that thing and talk to them to understand even more.
Here the process takes time, so be patient and embrace the fact that growth is a marathon. There will be mistakes, and they will be crucial to gaining more knowledge and becoming better.
Capitalize
At this point, you will probably be more than ready to capitalize on your newly acquired skill.
This seems an easy step, but many people stop because of fear, mostly.
Putting yourself “out there” ultimately makes the difference in:
- how fast you’ll keep growing
- whether you’ll get opportunities or not
I like this idea that circulates online now about expanding your luck surface area.
Try your best to get lucky, and luck will come in some way.
If you’re struggling to find a job, I’ve created WorkHaut, an AI career advisor to help assess your CV and current situation and provide advice about how to improve your chances of getting your dream job.
For 1-to-1 help, feel free to contact me from here.
Thanks for reading, and see you next time.