What is a technology upskilling program
Tech upskilling programs provide employees with the knowledge and skills to excel in their current position and advance their careers. Tech upskilling can help reduce hiring costs, improve delivery timelines, and increase productivity and innovation in your organization.
How can you determine what technical skills your program requires
Start by determining what tech skills your team needs.
Some organizations are reactive. While they try to stay on top of the latest technologies, their technologists often need help to put them into practice. Some organizations, on the other hand, are proactive. Some organizations make educated guesses about the skills they will need in the future, but their investment may only sometimes be on the right target.
Organizations use both approaches with a dynamic skill approach. You can align individual needs with organizational goals when you work with the teams and talents in your organization. Chris said that working together would help him see what was beneficial and what was likely to come up in the future.
Consider these factors when determining the technical skills that your team needs:
Demand Forecast
Listen to your clients. You might receive requests on a topic or area you’ve never worked in. These requests indicate a need to develop tech skills.
What services or products do your customers buy?
What do they want?
What can you deliver for money?
Trends in Industry
Your teams must develop the necessary skills to overtake and catch up with your competitors if they can perform something faster or more efficiently than you. You should also include these skills in your program for tech upskilling if other organizations can leverage new technologies and gain a competitive advantage.
Organizational goals and individual needs
Organizational goals and individual learning needs can drive tech upskilling programs. Mads said, “I feel you get the best out of your co-workers and that their upskilling is the most effective when there’s a genuine reason for why they want to learn this topic.”
She gave an example: “We want to ensure that our developers are more competent in the language in which they work, not just in their native language. We want them to create more secure code. We’re finding ways to motivate those teams to upskill and learn something we need for our business. “It’s important to understand what our colleagues are looking to learn in order to meet their needs.”
Information from Multiple Sources
Many organizations rely on multiple sources of information to determine what tech skills they require. Nick said that Cisco has been pushing for more software development and automation.
“We need to move in this direction if we are to complete this type of work. The tools and processes that we choose to use will be more based on the forecasted demand.”
By combining observations and subjective measurements of what is happening in the industry with more specific objective measurements of our business, we are usually able to get a fairly good idea of the skills we need.
What resources are available to help you upskill
59% of technologists believe that hands-on labs or sandboxes, alone or combined with video content, are the best way to prepare them for applying new learning in the workplace. However, only 32% say their organization provides hands-on experiences. These tips will help you determine the best learning resources for your technology upskilling program.
Consider different learning resources
A variety of content is available to support different learning styles, from on-demand video to labs and Sandboxes. Nick said that “[Learners] need] input from many different sources.” “By sources, I do not mean different vendors. Video input, hands on lab input, listening to audio, reading books…The combination tends to help information gel better in your brain. When we talk about training resources, they can’t just be one thing.
Find a partner to help you with your technology upskilling program
Find a partner that can help you reach your business and program goals. Look beyond the content. Mads said that a partnership with vendors who can help you make the most of your platform and look at different options such as labs, videos, or sandboxes is very valuable.
Make sure your employees have licenses
Mads said, “There’s nothing worse than licenses not being used because you don’t know how to make the most of the platform.” Create learning paths that will encourage technologists, whether it is an instructor-led session or on-demand training, to use the content available at their fingertips.
Nick continued, “It’s difficult to explain this to management when people don’t attend training or use their licenses after you have lobbied so hard for money to pay for it.” “One of the best things that we can do…is to create time and space so people can learn.”
How can your organisation’s technology skills be future-proofed
Only 26% of technologists said that they would prioritize AI/ML if they had the time to learn during their workweek. ChatGPT’s rise may encourage both individuals and organizations to increase this number.
Mads said, “We will probably see an increased shift in organizations building [AI/ML] talents internally due to ChatGPT.” AI/ML is being used by more organizations to advance their products and services.
AI/ML is a subject that will become increasingly important to keep up with the changing technology and future-proof your tech team. Mads said that people should start by learning the basics of AI/ML and upgrading their skills, just as they would with cybersecurity.
Focus on timeless technology
It’s crucial to stay abreast of new technologies. But it’s also important to improve existing tech skills to ensure they are future-proof. Both are needed to build a solid foundation for an organization and stay competitive.
Nick said, “I believe a lot of it comes down to the distinction between timeless and contemporary technologies.” “For example, my technical background makes me a network guy, and many of the core principles about network design do not change.
What does change are some of the overlay technologies and products, as well as the ways we can distribute routing policies and information across the network. We also have to adapt our interfaces with these products.
He suggested focusing on the timeless technology that is at the core of these new products. Once your teams have a solid understanding of the concepts and technologies that underlie these new products, they can focus on improving their knowledge instead of having to constantly learn new ones.
