Acquiring new skills and improving existing ones while working full-time, schooling, or collaborating on side projects can be very challenging. However, it is rewarding. Upskilling not only improves your professional value. It opens doors to new and bigger opportunities in the rapidly changing remote job market.
If you’re familiar with the Eisenhower matrix, upskilling would fit in the “important but not urgent” quadrant and it can be something to easily postpone, BEWARE. ⚠️
What is Upskilling?
Upskilling is the process of learning new skills or improving existing ones in your current role and industry.
This will help you close the skills gap in your role at your current company and industry, which in turn will enable you to remain valuable and competitive in the demanding remote job market.
Upskilling can help you move into higher roles in your organisation.
Why Should You Upskill?
Changing Job Market Trends
The remote job market is constantly changing. Layoffs are on the rise. Technological advancements are springing up each day.
These are a lot to take in. But if you’re working remotely and/or in the tech space, you must adapt to these changes to stay competitive and employable.
New tools? Additional skills or requirements for your target role? Learn them and show employers that you’re up to date, and can work for them.
It’s worth noting that what worked some years ago may no longer work now. You need to be at par with the industry changes.
Impact on Job Roles and Skill Requirements
If you want to land a higher role within your field, then you must prepare and be ready for it.
Upskilling is one sure way to do this. Compare your current skills with the requirements of your target role, identify areas for improvement, and work on them.
This will enable you to bridge the skills gap in your industry and help you increase your value. It also helps you increase your chances of landing a role.
Simply Because You Work in Tech
The tech industry is always evolving. So upskilling is not an option for you if you work in tech.
Research. Read. Learn — to keep up with these changes and ensure your skills remain relevant.
4 Key Benefits of Upskilling
When you acquire new skills or improve existing ones in your current field, you:
Increase Your Employability
Upskilling enhances your skillset and makes you a valuable asset in your organisation and the job market.
For example, you can be considered for internal promotions and leadership roles. Again, learning new skills may help you retain your job in some instances when there are layoffs.
On the external side, you’ll be eligible to apply to many higher roles outside of your organisation.
Have a Higher Earning Potential
Acquiring in-demand skills increases your capacity to earn more income. This is because you can undertake more complex tasks — which will demand higher pay.
Pro-tip: It’s okay to job hop and leave your current organisation if you secure a better job offer elsewhere.
Companies usually have a higher budget for hiring new employees than they do for existing employees (Read the new hire pay research by Capterra). So your chances of earning higher may be outside of your company, not within.
Can Easily Adapt to Industry Changes
Upskilling makes it easy for you to navigate industry changes and thrive in fast-paced environments.
Adaptability may come to some people easily. However, being prepared for change makes it easier for anyone to adapt.
Ensure Professional Growth
In the end, you not only learn new skills and improve existing ones to enable you to do good work and adapt to industry changes or prepare for your next big role.
Upskilling affects you as a person. It helps you improve yourself and your career. And contributes to your professional reputation and credibility. Don’t take upskilling for granted.
How to Upskill: An Easy to Use Guide
1. Identify your skills: Make a comprehensive list of your current skills, both soft and industry-specific skills.
2. Research your target role: Comb job boards and read job descriptions to understand the responsibilities, requirements, and skills needed for your target role.
3. Assess your current skills: Evaluate your existing skills and compare them with the requirements outlined in the job description you found in Step 2.
Pro-tip: Use colour-coding to make it easier to identify skills you have (Green), do not have (Red), or ones that you need to improve (Yellow).
4. Identify skills gaps: Based on your skills assessment, you can now determine which skills you lack or need to improve to meet the requirements of your target role. List these skills separately in another document.
5. Research in-demand skills: You may have identified some of these in the job descriptions. However, go a step further and read industry and field reports to stay updated with the latest trends and identify the skills that are in high demand in your industry. Add these skills to the document containing the skills you need to learn.
6. Align career goals with industry needs: You can’t learn everything at once. So prioritise. And to ensure you’re getting the best of both worlds at a go, align your career goals with industry needs and prioritise learning the skills that align with both.
7. Plan your learning path: Now that you know what to learn, it’s time to decide on the resources, courses, degrees, workshops, bootcamps, or certifications you need to acquire or improve the skills. For some skills, you may need a book or certification. For others, you may need a degree.
Rule of thumb: Reach out to professionals ahead of you in the field to validate the resources or even make better recommendations (which can help in Step 8). I know no two journeys are equal. However, getting first-hand information will help you save time in deciding on resources to start with, etc. If you’re in industry communities, ask there. LinkedIn and Twitter are also good places to find such people.
8. Look for learning resources: Here, you want to identify specific resources that can help you learn new skills. Say you want to learn copywriting and have decided that it’s a book or series of articles that’ll help you acquire this skill. Now, what specific books or articles do you need? That’s what this step is for.
9. Create a study plan: Develop a realistic and structured study plan that outlines what, when, and how you will learn. This step is necessary if you’ll be self-learning.
10. Get to Work: Start learning!
Remember, consistency is key when upskilling.
6 Ways to Upskill and Keep Up with Industry Standards
Even though there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to upskilling, you will need to use 1 or more of these routes to acquire new skills and stay relevant in your industry and company.
1. Formal Education: Enrolling in a university or college to pursue a degree or diploma.
2. Online Courses and Certifications: Courses offered by platforms like Coursera, edX, and Udemy.
Note: Courses differ from certifications even though they both help you acquire or improve your skills. According to the Career Professionals of Canada,
Courses will help you learn, grow, and build your skills (training) — you’ll get better at what you do! Certification will authenticate and validate your skills (credentials) — you’ll get recognized for what you do!
3. Bootcamps: Intensive training programs that teach specific skills in a short period.
4. Workshops, seminars, and conferences: Events that provide learning and networking opportunities.
5. On-the-job training and mentorship: Learning from experienced colleagues at work.
6. Reading: Self-learning through books, articles, research papers, etc.
In tech, upskilling is dependent on what you are looking to achieve. If you are looking to build your own skillsets then there are hundreds of free or low-cost courses (Coursera is a great one, Masterclass is also good) to learn and grow.
But if you are looking to attract employers with certificates and niche expertise then I would advise looking for strongly accredited courses.
Speak to the people around you about what they would “recognise” in their field and then invest in yourself. — Luke Blaney, Professional Recruiter, Career Coach, and Managing Director at ARx
4 Upskilling Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Upskilling doesn’t come by easily. Chances are you’ve tried learning new skills a couple of times but had to give up. For one or more of the following reasons.
Financial Constraints
Upskilling often requires financial investment for courses, certifications, or materials. Some bootcamps require payment and if you’re applying for a degree or diploma, without a scholarship, you need money.
Solution: Look for free or low-cost online resources, apply for scholarships, or ask your employer about professional development funds. Some organisations have a budget for learning and development and will cover upskilling expenses — in part or full.
See what Luke Blaney, a Professional Recruiter and Career Coach had to say:
Before doing anything, draft a quick email to your Head of HR / Professional Development to see whether your company will pay for the course.
Many businesses are happy to fund staff education (as it helps retain great people) but they just need a nudge to remind them you’re still there and still keen!
Lack of Motivation
It can be challenging to stay motivated, especially when you juggle multiple responsibilities like work, school, and side projects.
Solution: Set clear, achievable goals and remind yourself of the benefits of upskilling and why you decided to take the step in the first place. These can keep you going.
Another thing is to get an accountability partner who’ll check in on your progress. They can be a friend or colleague — they don’t necessarily have to be in your field.
No Guidance and Support
Without proper guidance, it can be difficult to know where to start or how to progress.
Solution: Join online communities and ask questions. Also, make your upskilling journey public and share what you intend to do through posts on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Doing this will make leaders in your field aware of your journey and when you pose questions, concerns, or doubts, they’ll be happy to offer support and guidance by commenting on your posts.
It also doesn’t hurt to reach out personally.
Difficulty in Selecting Resources
There’s a lot of information out there. So many courses, books, articles, and what have you. While the overabundance of resources may be good, it’s not an entirely good thing for the learner. What do you start with?
Solution: Research thoroughly and ask questions. Luke Blaney advises that you “Speak to the people around you about what they would “recognise” in their field and then invest in yourself”.
Additionally, reach out privately to people or ask in your communities, on Twitter or LinkedIn. See below a screenshot of how a B2B SaaS Content Marketer asked for course recommendations on LinkedIn.
4 Best Practices for Upskilling (especially if you’re self-learning)
- Set clear goals: Define what you want to achieve through upskilling. Is it to land a new role outside your organisation or to get a promotion within? Or is it simply to stay ready and prepared for any industry changes? Knowing your “Why” will guide your learning process.
- Learn at your own pace if you’re self-learning: Don’t rush it. But do as much as you can. You don’t have to crumb too many things to learn at a go. Prioritise understanding and absorbing what you’re learning.
- Apply what you learn: Practice. Practice. Practice what you learn. This will reinforce your learning and show you how to use the skills in real-world scenarios.
- Network: Don’t try to walk this journey alone. Connect and build relationships with professionals in your field — using LinkedIn and Twitter. Some people can recommend resources and others can become your accountability partners to keep you on track.
Also, join online communities and network. In these communities, you can meet people who will guide your journey, provide support, and even recommend you for opportunities.
Upskilling vs Reskilling
Both upskilling and reskilling mean learning new skills.
However, upskilling helps in your current role and industry. Reskilling, however, helps you transition into another role or industry, different from the current one.
For instance, a content writer and marketing specialist can upskill to content strategy.
Nonetheless, if this same content writer and marketing specialist wants to break into a new field like data analysis or product management, that’s a different ballgame altogether. That will require reskilling.
Note: This article is still relevant if you’re looking to reskill, that is — transition into a new field.
Next Steps
Embracing continuous learning is one of the best things you can ever do for yourself in your career — especially if you’re working remotely and in the tech space.
So many changes occur abruptly and sometimes, you can’t control them. However, what you can do is be ready to learn to adapt to these changes and do good work so you can remain relevant in your field — as a NoCode Techie.
Up Next: Read the blog post on Upskilling Platforms →
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