On Learning A Tech Skill: Skills and Career Paths That You can Follow.
You Need a Path
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If you are reading this.
There is a good chance that you are already learning a tech skill.
And even if you aren’t, you have come to the right place.
I chose to write about this because there are several issues about choosing a tech skill to learn that are rarely addressed.
But before we continue, let me make something clear.
There is a probability that the first skill that you start learning might not work for you.
There is nothing bad with investing a few months in something and moving if it does not work for you.
“Work for you “ here only applies if you discover that your chosen skill doesn’t make the best use of your gifts and talents.
I chose to point those out because no matter what skill you choose to learn, it takes a lot of hard work.
So if you choose to try out something else later, let it not be due to you running away from the hard work it takes to learn what you first chose.
There are no shortcuts anywhere.
With that said, let's move on.
Todays episode is brought to you by Superday.
At the end of this post your would learn about PATH directory and how you can take advantage of it and the Superday App to learn High Income Skills.
Categories of Tech Skills
Like many things in life.
There are different categories of tech skills, and they are
Code, Design, and Media.
Every tech skill falls under these three things.
I will talk about them in this article
But before I do that.
Let me make something things clear to you.
If you are good with traditional skills like Fashion Design, Shoemaking, etc don’t hurriedly abandon them for a tech career.
A lot of people let the hype around tech careers make them abandon lucrative things that they are naturally good at.
If you know how to make shoes, your major concern should be how to leverage technology to build a profitable career from it.
You can learn things like content marketing, social media marketing, and similar skills that would help you scale your shoe brand online.
Traditional skills are still very important and lucrative.
The richest man in the world currently makes his money from Fashion.
Don’t jump into coding and leave your shoemaking just because you think coding will make you rich quick
That doesn’t mean you can’t do that.
But know why you are switching and get the right motivation.
If 100% of the reason is that someone else is doing it then you may be setting yourself up for frustration.
Also like I said earlier, building a profitable tech career takes time and effort.
Don’t abandon a place where you are already progressing and start learning something else from scratch just because of the money.
Traditional skills will forever be lucrative.
Now with that said.
Let’s dive into the different skills.
Software Development
This is the most popular tech skill out there.
If you ask me to define what software development is in one word.
I will say that “It involves writing instructions for a computer to follow”
Developing software can be very empowering and it gives you literal superpowers.
Below are the subsets of Software Development explained in Car terms
Frontend Development – this involves writing software for the visible parts of digital products like a website. i.e the car color, shape, seat type, etc
Backend Development – this involves writing software for the invisible parts of digital products. i.e Car engine
Mobile Development – Frontend and Backend development deals mainly with Web products. With Mobile development, you can learn how to write Apps that run on Smartphones.
Product Design
This is one of the most important tech skills.
The best products are the ones that a lot of thought was put into when it comes to designing.
That is what makes the difference between an App with basic features and one with features that make it go viral.
The following are subsets of product design
User Interface (UI) Design: the focus of this type of product design is the looks and styling(Interface) behind a product.
User Experience (UX) Design: UX design involves designing every element that shapes the experience that people have with products, how it makes the user feel, and how easy it is for the user to achieve their desired tasks.
There are other product design careers like Industrial Design.
Content Development
This is the biggest entry point in the tech space.
Writing online is something that we all do in one form or the other.
If you are someone considering this, you need to move past the basics very fast and transition into any of the following.
Content Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Growth Marketing
Copywriting
Social Media Marketing etc
How To Choose
With this list of tech skills, you might be confused about how to start.
But my advice to you is this.
Take a look at them and start with the one that resonates the most with you.
Pick it and give it your 100% focus.
Review your progress after a while and know if it is something that you can continue in.
It is better if you try something for three months and move to something else that would work.
Than spending one year jumping from skill to skill without being sure of which one to focus on.
Focus is your friend, especially in the early days.
How To Transition to Tech From Conventional Careers
If you are a lawyer, banker, doctor, etc who wants to transition to a career in tech.
There are some things that you need to consider.
Are you making the switch to advance your career
Or to try something different.
You need to first of all identify why you are making the transition.
This will give you the right motivation to take the necessary steps.
Once that is done then you need to look for transferable skills.
For example, if you are a departmental head in the bank where you work,
You might want to consider learning project management.
If you are a lawyer you may consider a career in Blockchain development as it involves writing Smart Contracts.
If you are someone in the hospitality business, you may consider a career in UX Design.
No matter what conventional career you are involved in, you also need to take other necessary steps being taken by those building a tech career.
Things like networking, attending tech events, and using the right materials and processes.
The Builders Approach
A significant percentage of people who are transitioning to a career in tech do so because they want to build a digital product.
If you fall into this category.
You still need to ensure that you follow the best practices.
Also, be careful not to overwhelm yourself.
Learning a skill to build a product isn’t ideal in all circumstances.
You can do that for simple websites, landing pages, Apps, etc
Or learn how to market your products via Ads or organic content.
But if you are building something more advanced.
Know when to partner up with someone who is already good at the skill that you need.
About PATH
The purpose of this post is to give you a good overview of what it takes to learn a tech skill.
But that is not enough.
I have created a directory that takes a deeper dive into tech skills and even gives pros and cons of anyone that you might want to pick.
One thing that I have noticed is that there is no platform that break skills down into sub categories so many people struggle with learning.
Something like content writing has different subsets like Blogging, Newsletters and even social blogging.
So what I did in the directory was break down sub categories of skills and also give the pros and cons so that you know which one to pick.
The overall goal is to reduce the stress of starting out.
Below is a sample of how it looks using Blogging as an example.
Google and Facebook have also created high quality course for various tech skills.
I listed where to access those courses and also how to get Scholarships for them
Hit the button below to access the PATH Directory.
Conclusion
When considering building a Career in tech, understand that:
It takes time and hardwork to start seeing monetary returns
You need to invest time to learn a particular skill, don’t jump from skill to skill
You need to get the right motivation for the career that you are building
Good evening Ajulu,
Where can you learn copywriting from , thar you know of?