The tech skills shortage is now even more acute because of the pandemic that has dramatically accelerated the shift, including cutting short four-year degree post-secondary education to training programs tailored for the jobs on offer, according to a recent report by the Financial Post. Here’s the logic: technology is constantly changing and shifting very quickly so by the time you finish a four-year degree, what you learn at the beginning of those four years may no longer be relevant. Plus, traditional paths aren’t always flexible enough to meet the needs of employers.
Colleges offer the shortest and most relevant route to employment as the programs offered are focused on developing a skill set with the practical approach to preparing graduates for the job market. With your background and experience in a particular industry, going back to a career college will help you land the job that you’ve always dreamed of. You can be at any point in your life to learn new skills, so age is never an issue when it comes to learning something new.
The question is which skills should you focus on to learn? Forbes has listed the top 16 areas for your reference and we sum it up for you!
- Data analysis
Data and data insights continue to be key to any sector. Usage, metrics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more are all locked in the data of any product and technology out there so it is important to learn how to unlock the value of the data.
- Virtual holographic augmented reality
Virtual holographic augmented reality improves profit and morale. Employees value community – direct eye contact and interacting with life-sized people are critical psychological factors. It enables virtual teams to interact as though they are physically together, seeing the same thing with full eye contact and in life-size.
3. Cybersecurity For cloud technologies
The future of technology will eventually be all in the cloud, but where we need to upgrade our skills is implementing cybersecurity in the cloud. Many cloud providers have great security tools that, if used correctly, will provide the highest level of security to your cloud environment, and learning how to use the tools correctly is essential for the future.
4. AWS and Azure
You need to be up-to-speed on AWS and Azure services and how they are different from on-premise technologies. If you treat the “the cloud” like a co-lo facility you’re going to spend twice as much money and double your support efforts. Both services offer free or low-cost accounts you can use as sandbox environments to learn in and try out different architectures.
5. Agile and DevOps
Going agile by expediting collaboration, product iterations, and customer feedback loops is now the norm in tech and a new norm in many other industries that historically adopted the waterfall approach. Similarly, going DevOps by combining development and operations functions is now more important than ever—not only for faster go-to-market speed but also to be more adaptable in any fast-moving industry.
Keeping up with changes and learning new skills is key to your professional development and, for tech entrepreneurs, the viability of your company and that also includes soft skills, such as:
1. Communication, Optimization, and Negotiation
Technology is enabling the smooth functioning of many core services such as health, education, online retail, etc. The technical task force behind these essential services needs to learn how to communicate effectively, how to optimize the usage of existing resources and how to negotiate for what they need from external and internal stakeholders to do more with less.
2. Change management
The most important skill transcends technology—it’s the ability to manage and lead change. We have to keep our tech skills up to date, but more critically, we must be change agents to unlock new opportunities and evolve business with technology. Anticipating and managing change is how our company drove the implementation of key infrastructure programs. This ended up positioning us to enable 225,000 people to work remotely and successfully launch a free version of our digital fitness app to help the public in response to COVID-19.
3. Business problem-solving
Far too often, CIOs and other technology professionals are focused on new or emerging tech. However, far more differentiating for a CIO is the ability to understand what the business is trying to accomplish and what the roadblocks are along the way. From there, use your ability to solve problems using new and innovative solutions. Add value, not just technology.
If you haven’t already known, there’s a funding option by the Ontario government for you to learn new skills called Second Career. The program covers tuition and other costs such as books, basic living allowance, child care, transportation, and child care.
Are you eligible for Second Career funding?
What are the criteria of Second Career?
Will you be able to continue to work while studying under the Second Career program?
Our student advisor will be happy to guide you through the process, so please email us at [email protected].
In the meantime, let’s see if you qualify for Second Career by filling out this form https://bit.ly/3ywyD5a!