4 Signs It’s Time to Enhance Your Skills and Advance Your Career

When was the last time you enhanced your skills and advanced your career? If it’s been a while, then you’ve probably been feeling a little out of place, anxious about your current job, and maybe even feeling left behind. Not keeping up with advancing skills can leave you out in the dark. But, enhancing your skills, on the other hand, keeps you competitive, relevant, and in-demand.So, how do you know it’s time to enhance your skills? We’ve pinpointed four different signs that you should be looking for. If you can relate to one or more of these signs, then it’s time to level up and advance your career.

Lack of promotions have you asking, “Do employers look for experience or education?”

When it comes to experience it isn’t about the number of years anymore. According to Bureau of Labor statistics, the average tenure of salaried employees is 4.6 years, which has trended downward over the past decade. These days, employers are thinking of less of seniority-based promotions, and more about skill-based promotions. And with tech skills being a high sought-after component of any resume, tooling up your kit is a surefire way to get on a shortlist for upcoming promotions.According to LinkedIn’s 2019 top IT skills report, nine out of the top ten were coding languages. If you can learn the same skills in a few days or weeks that others learn in a few years, then you’ll ultimately end up with more hands-on, real-life experience. Coding bootcamps can help you master coding languages like Python, C++, or Java over the course of 3-6 months. Not only can these new tech skills give you a leg up in promotions, it just may very well push you to a brand-new department in the company, or even to another field altogether. In fact, this kind of midlife career change idea is more common than you may think. A recent study found that 48% of software engineers reported not having a computer science degree. So, it’s safe to say that picking up tech skills along the way can help you write your own story in your career.

You’ve stopped pushing yourself to learn the most profitable skills

How long has it been since you took a break and learned a new skill that’s beneficial to your career? A year? Longer? When you push yourself to learn new skills you not only advance your career, but you prove to your employer that you’re dedicated to growing as an employee. But even beyond that, learning new skills is a great way to stay engaged and happy at your job. 61% of employees report feeling burnt out in their career, and this can lead to feelings of unhappiness and general malaise. On the other hand, psychological studies show that learning new skills keeps you motivated, happy, and self-assured. Pushing yourself to learn leads to you feeling more confident and comfortable, but it’s all about learning the right skills. Relevant skills are about looking towards the future. What’s going to help you grow as an employee? What’s a skill that your employer needs in an employee? What’s a missing skill you’ve always wanted? Think about these questions as you explore options for skilling up.

Your job role or responsibilities would benefit from learning code

As you advance in your career, you’ll be given new and more challenging responsibilities. While some of these responsibilities will align with skills you already have or ones you can quickly pick up on the job, you won’t always be able to gain the skills without the right training. Industries like marketing and finance now rank SQL as being one of the most sought after skills in 2020. Even if you’re not interested in learning software engineering or cybersecurity, UX design can be a very beneficial skill to have if you have a background in graphic design, marketing, customer service or even psychology. UX design  is all about collecting user research and data to understand their needs and pain points, while finding the best solutions for an improved product experience. For example, while  you may have been hired for social media management or another marketing role, the ability to list CSS, HTML, and other front-end design knowledge on your resume will give you a leg up and allow you  to easily work cross-functionally with other team members  without skipping a beat.

You’re wondering “Will robots take my job?”

With automation steadily increasing in all types of industries, experts are calling this era the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The manufacturing industry has seen this time and time again; even now, analysts predict that 20 million manufacturing jobs will be displaced by the year 2030. But it’s not just folks working in factories that need to be aware of the concerns of automation. 37% of workers are concerned that robots will take their jobs. This number has rapidly increased as the same question asked in 2014 only had 3% reporting concern. According to the Harvard Business Review, one of the best ways to defend yourself against automation is to stay curious. This means committing to lifelong learning, and considering automation is affecting industries like marketing, finance, and sales, tech skills like coding and design are a great chance to keep robots from coming for your job.

Get the Skills for Your Next Career Step at Eleven Fifty Academy

If these issues are causing you worry at work, the best step forward is through the doors at Eleven Fifty Academy. Our huge selection of coding bootcamps can help you quickly skill up and develop talents you never knew you had. With most classes lasting three to six months, you could be on your way to a better career before you even know it.