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Education Digital Skills

Discussion in 'General' started by Spraduke, 23 May 2019.

  1. Spraduke

    Spraduke Lurker

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    Hi all,

    I have volunteered to help the business I work for to better understand the digital skills it needs/will need and how best to retain 'digital talent' (I dislike this term but it seems to be the buzzword of the day).

    It would really help me out if you could take a few minutes to answer the following questions as I'm trying to get a broad 'feel' for what a fairly broad group of tech savvy individuals thinks:

    1. What industry do you work in (e.g. automotive, financial, manufacturing, etc.)?
    2. What 5 skills would you consider to be your most helpful/useful for your role now and the near future?
    3. What factors would make you more likely to join or stay at a company requiring those skills?
     
  2. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    This one right here.
    1. Low tolerance for ********.
    2. High tolerance for alcohol.
    3. No real desire to have any kind of life outside work.
    4. Bionic fingers.
    5. A life plan that does not include retirement.
    Money.

    Hope that helps!
     
  3. MLyons

    MLyons 70% Dev, 30% Doge. DevDoge. Software Dev @ Corsair Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    1. software development
    2. Common sense, problem solving, Google, knowing when to self solve a problem or when to ask someone else, passion for the topic concerned, little plans outside of work as no matter who says no overtime there will be overtime
    3. Money, Work from home, flexible hours (as long as the work is done then it's fine), No absolute muppets in my office or working area, any of those weird offices that ban headphones can jog on, People that know not to interrupt me just as I've internally worked something out but not typed it, office that's either very easy to get to in London (I'm talking next to a station) or I can drive to, casual dress is an absolute must (we're not customer facing ffs), time dedicated to learning.
     
    Hex likes this.
  4. Guest-44638

    Guest-44638 Guest

    I would fail in any job that requires these... which is probably more of them than I acknowledge.
    No; I don't have a job, 'cause I can't guarantee that I won't do serious damage to co-workers that may p*** me off and cause me to have a mental breakdown.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 23 May 2019
  5. Guest-44638

    Guest-44638 Guest

    To 3.; that I can get the job done on a quality over quantity basis.
     
  6. Spraduke

    Spraduke Lurker

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    Thanks for responses so far. When the company is thinking digital skills the examples given so far are all the buzzwords: IoT, Big Data, AI, Blockchain (yadda yadda). When it comes to skills the ability to google the right term is by far the most useful though!
     
  7. MLyons

    MLyons 70% Dev, 30% Doge. DevDoge. Software Dev @ Corsair Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Don't underestimate passion for the product. When I'm working on something really cool I'm much more productive than when I'm doing annoying code fixed for something I don't like.
     
    Hex and Mister_Tad like this.
  8. legoman

    legoman breaker of things

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    2nd IT Analyst (apparently) More, project support/3rd line/RAS support/software development/trainer/major incident manager.

    1. Able to manage expectations
    2. On the spot thinking to fix issues quickly.
    3. Tell people no (when they want things they are not going to get)
    4. Being able to multi task, a lot
    5. Being able to do everything third line should be doing

    1. Pay - actively searching as we take home around 8K less than people in the same role at other companies
    2. Better work/life balance, I get calls emails texts etc when I'm not in work, on holiday etc to give advice on issues
    3. More training options, current options are very limited and hidden behind a myriad of logins, red tape and budget restraints
     
  9. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    1 - Creative industry and/or IT, depending on the day.

    2 -

    Knowing when to, and having the ability to say 'no' to your boss.
    Knowing when to walk away from a job.
    Resisting the urge to scream 'English ************, do you speak it?' at those use management speak or excessive buzzwords.
    Knowing what your contract says and/or obliges you to do [or not do].
    Keep your work life and personal life the **** away form each other.

    3 -

    More money
    More money
    Seriously, i'm only doing this **** because you're paying me. No pay, no me.
     
  10. KayinBlack

    KayinBlack Unrepentant Savage

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    "Primitive skills technician" (I recreate tribal skills to keep them alive)

    Huge tolerance for tedium
    Strong repetitive task focus
    Calluses
    Good safety skills
    Serious self-directed work ethic, cause there are no bosses

    If you get good, you can sell all manner of things. You would really be surprised at what people will pay money for.
     
  11. Spraduke

    Spraduke Lurker

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    I somehow knew that Money might come out top of the wants :p
     
  12. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    We're evidently a mercenary bunch... plus the bills don;t pay themselves.
     
  13. Guest-44638

    Guest-44638 Guest

    Generally speaking, most of humanity is... very seldom do you find someone happy to not be paid a king's ransom - per se - to do a job they enjoy.
     
  14. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    I don't have a complete answer, because anything I would have said has already been said, but it's kind of important not to forget people skills at the same time.

    It's no good having the best <job title> in the world if they have to interact with other people and come across as a jumped up turd in clothes. If you're hiring a tech who will have to explain why a user can't log in using their fingernail clippings for the nth time it'll help if the tech can do it without being a waggling peen about it.
     
  15. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    IT, software vendor.

    Probably in order-ish

    Empathy
    Public speaking
    Independent learning
    Content creation
    Convincingly winging it

    Money, I'm not doing this for my health
    Flexibility (work hours, location)
    Career outlook
     
  16. Byron C

    Byron C Multimodder

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    DB Development, although soon to be a DevOps engineer

    • Time management and knowing how to prioritise your workload
    • Being able to "dumb it down" when talking to senior management - people don't want to hear the technical details of a problem, they want to know: what you can do about it, how quickly you can do it, and what will it cost (whether that's simply your time or actual money)
    • Google and StackOverflow are shifty buggers - take their advice with a pinch of salt
    • If you f--- something up then let people know about it and start fixing it, don't sit in a corner and panic about it
    • Be ruthless about your work/life balance; make sure you're getting paid when you work extra hours - your time is valuable, so value it

    • More money - this ain't a charity
    • Challenging work that I actually enjoy doing
    • Management that actually supports their staff and have a clue about how to run a business
    • Career prospects
    • Informal atmosphere
    • Flexible working arrangements - working from home, flexible working patterns, etc
    • Commute that isn't a total ballache
     
  17. Guest-44638

    Guest-44638 Guest

    Bedroom to PC desk is preferable :p
     
  18. Spraduke

    Spraduke Lurker

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    Thank you everyone for your input. Essentially confirms my initial thinking but always good to get a broad view on such things.
     
  19. Wakka

    Wakka Yo, eat this, ya?

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    Medical/scientific research (mostly hardware personally, but the company provides software solutions too)

    1. Workflow/time management
    2. Communication with other departments
    3. Inventory management
    4. Multi-tasking/flexibility
    5. Not giving a f**k when it's the weekend/i'm out the office

    1. Respect. Even more important than money, for me. I don't care if you're the CEO, i'm part of the machine that pays your salary too.
    2. Money. It's still important, even more so when the levels of stress and expectations rise within the work environment.
    3. Flexibility. Work hours, overtime, substituting week days for weekends to fit around life.
    4. Not being expected to pick up other people's slack, fix their mistakes and have to babysit them into doing their job properly... Just don't employ idiots, basically.
     
  20. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    Commute that doesn't include roads scattered with screws and nails.

    FTFY :grin:
     
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