Upskilling during lockdown

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meesy

meesy

Cancelled
Apr 14, 2012
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Fremantle
I live in Victoria at the moment & currently unemployed. I'm currently studying (never intended to this year but corona hit) but I still have a good chunk of time left to train other stuff. Essentially I want to exit lockdown with a set of skills that are what employers are looking for. So far I've been reading a lot and binging on educational videos on youtube but I don't think this is enough to impress recruiters. Dabbled a bit in learning coding but finding that a bit dull haha. Got the adobe suite and have been learning how to use some design software. Anyone have some good sites or programs to recommend? Or has anyone used this lockdown to really get better at something? I have an interest in information technology and perhaps design.

As an aside I had to really think about what the word skill actually means. Personally I believe you can read all you want, gain a lot of information for example, but a skill involves repetitive and consistent practice of something that improves your ability to do it. I think skilled ability is essentially your knowledge base in execution and as the world gets more automated and information easier to access I think having a job will necessitate being extremely proficient in at least one skill.
 
I would think cyber security would be a great field to get into, it's growing and ScoMo has pledged millions over the next 10 years into ensuring government systems are protected.

The way i see it you should find someone who has the job you want and chat to them about what they did to get there, including formal training. Also research the industry as a whole, find out about the competitive landscape, major issues etc. Even if you're going for a tech role it would look good that you understand the business, they may earmark you as a future leader.
 
EdX have some great courses from top rung institutions worldwide. Harvard's CS50 is a great intro to IT.
 

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If you're serious about a career in information technology, then you should probably persist with the coding. There are a few areas of IT that don't really require good programming skills, but it's hard to think of even one where they aren't at least useful. Basic networking is another all-purpose skill that will always be handy in the IT field. Being able to wrangle the tools of your trade to create your own solutions makes a lot of things a lot easier.

Stuff like IT and design are very broad, so it might be worth having a think about how they can be combined with a more specific field that you already have a strength or interest in. Having an unusual combination of skills is a really easy way to stand out in an interview - as long as they are well-targeted and useful. Certainly, it's a lot easier than being the best and most experienced interviewee in the meat-and-potatoes aspects of your field.

Every job and every field in every company has persistent, fixable problems that exist because most of the people working in that area don't have the niche skills or knowledge to devise and implement appropriate solutions. If you work in that field and can learn some of that stuff, you will always be in demand.
 
Last edited:
meesy said:
Anyone have some good sites or programs to recommend? Or has anyone used this lockdown to really get better at something? I have an interest in information technology and perhaps design.
Click to expand...
As Cluggage mentioned, Edx is a great platform for getting an introduction into a whole variety of IT-related courses/areas. It's kinda phenomenal being able to access introductory Harvard / MIT / Berkley courses for $0 from your own living room.

Depending on the field, most employers will still look for those who have completed accredited courses but if you are a self-driven learner, you can patch together a strong knowledge base and skill set to build a portfolio/projects that can impress a potential employer.
 
Caesar said:
If you're serious about a career in information technology, then you should probably persist with the coding. There are a few areas of IT that don't really require good programming skills, but it's hard to think of even one where they aren't at least useful. Basic networking is another all-purpose skill that will always be handy in the IT field. Being able to wrangle the tools of your trade to create your own solutions makes a lot of things a lot easier.

Stuff like IT and design are very broad, so it might be worth having a think about how they can be combined with a more specific field that you already have a strength or interest in. Having an unusual combination of skills is a really easy way to stand out in an interview - as long as they are well-targeted and useful. Certainly, it's a lot easier than being the best and most experienced interviewee in the meat-and-potatoes aspects of your field.

Every job and every field in every company has persistent, fixable problems that exist because most of the people working in that area don't have the niche skills or knowledge to devise and implement appropriate solutions. If you work in that field and can learn some of that stuff, you will always be in demand.
Click to expand...

I've actually tried to reprise my uni skills and downloaded Python to mess about on, won't do me any harm to brush up on my coding.
 
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