Here is why you need to keep updating your technical skills every 3 years

"What got you here till date, will not take you further ahead". I started out by thinking of just posting this line today but ended up writing this article. There is so much to share even before that line would make sense. Despite receiving the best MBA education from one of the top B-schools in India, and doing my job well, I feel that I 'know nothing' (#jonsnow). And it's not because my education or experience lacked anything. But it's because I haven't upgraded my technical skills up to date yet. Up to date as in - I haven't learned any new programming language, data science, or any new technical skill as of 2019, after graduating in engineering in 2007. Even though I have learned to use a lot of new software by now, that doesn't count in my technical skills. Because those don't build foundational knowledge in the way a new programming language or technical architectures teach you. So, now going by the fact that I feel like a dinosaur on the verge of extinction - I observed that if we don't update our technical knowledge in our field of expertise or current job now, in one or two years down the line we will become obsolete. This thought is scary to admit...but an important one to think about.

Do technical skills matter if I am not in such field of work?

It does not depend whether you are in the field of technology or not. Technology is everywhere - including the software that you use every day at work or that wonderful mobile app that you use to organize everything. Every year, newer and more advanced software & technology is coming up to replace the existing. And if you do not keep yourself updated with the rapid advancements of technology in your job or area of expertize (be it learning new software, programming languages, cloud computing, machine learning, yadda, yadda, etc), soon you will become obsolete too. The report from TIOBE PCI below shows the top trends in programming languages in the last few years. That's why you need to check yourself, after every two to three years, whether your technical skills are still up to date and relevant in your field of expertise/job. While everyone knows this to be true, how many of us are actually making an effort to learn something new? #notmany #metoo

Why should I learn new technical skills when my company still uses age-old, traditional ones?

Updating oneself with the latest technology does not only apply for individuals, but also for businesses too. Yes, sadly, your company might not have picked up the drift yet. But if they don't, then your company will run out of business soon. In 2019, Michael Dell - CEO & Chairman of Dell Technologies, mentioned in a press release that "In the near future, every organization will need to be a digital organization, but our research indicates that the majority still have a long way to go." The research he mentioned was conducted on 4600 business leaders across 42 countries on determining the current state of digital transformation in companies. "Despite rapid advancements in technological innovation, only 5% of businesses globally were labeled Digital Leaders, showing no improvement since 2016." (quoted from TechRepublic). Think about it - every business today is heavily dependent and invested in technology, no matter which industry you can think of. Why? Because technology is the only spaceship that is going to take our businesses ahead by leaps and bounds in the speed of light years in terms of profitability, customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, cost reduction and what not.

Why is upgrading and updating technology to the latest trends in businesses so important?

Here is what Forbes has to say which technology is important in 2019 and how it will disrupt businesses in 3 years. I am not deviating from the original topic of checking the relevance of your technical skills every 3 years. All that I am doing now is applying the same principle to the context of businesses too. Gartner has recently published its Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends in 2019. To validate Gartner's findings, just do a simple exercise:

• Take a look at any industry,
• Pick any one company which is considered as the 'new leader' in that domain,
• And observe their strategy.

Heavy investments are made in upgrading their existing technology either in IT, manufacturing, operations, production, automation, engineering, R&D, etc.

We keep using the word 'technology', but it means a vast spectrum of very different applications, software, and hardware. 'Technology' could be anything that empowers a company through complete digital transformation. It's not just the types of equipment, hardware or software innovations that we are talking about. But it is about how all the equipment, devices, hardware, and software are woven together into one piece of fabric to create a framework of an online, data-enriched, information system that empowers the entire business.

An example of a business that is harnessing technology to reap profits?

One of the biggest examples of how industry leaders are gradually adopting technological advancements, irrespective of which core industry they belong to, is DBS bank Singapore. To give you some background, DBS bank has been consistently been accorded as Asia's 'Safest Bank' by Global Finance for ten consecutive years. It has received multiple awards & recognition, with being 'World's best digital bank' as one of the best accolades earned from Euromoney last year.

In February 2019, we visited the National University of Singapore to participate in International Immersion experience as part of our MBA curriculum. We were taken for an industrial tour to the DBS bank for a case study. Long story short, this industrial visit took me by surprise! In a two hour presentation, all that the DBS bank representatives talked about is how their business strategy is to become the world's best technological company. In my mind, I was thinking- "okay... but... hey you are a bank!" They went on and said that they even had a company-internal, buzzword called GANDALF. G stood for Google, A stood for Amazon, N for Netflix, A for Apple, L for LinkedIn, F for Facebook. D stood as DBS's aspiration to become one of the best tech company at par with the other ivy leagues of tech giants.

After their presentation, I walked through their office floor, peering into their drawing boards (scribbled with agile scrum to-do's), going through their table of disruptive technologies while sipping some really good coffee from their vending machines. They had open office arrangement with employees in smart casuals and the entire office gave a look and feel of a typical software company. It didn't give me any feeling that it is a traditional bank.

So, Now what?

So, coming back to what we started with, we can see that with the rapid advancements in technology, it is absolutely imperative that we keep our technical skills and foundational knowledge in technology up to date. And the most realistic way to do that is to do a check of your tech skills every 2-3 years in the context of your current subject area of expertise or job - do you really know what you should be knowing? This could be achieved through any technical training, certification, online course, diploma, professional courses, etc. The idea is to not only learn, but also add credibility to your resume.

Ending note: Remember that knowledge is power. And there is nothing that you have learned which will ever go wasted.

Photo credits: Photos are taken from Graphic from a US Federal Reserve pamphlet c.1960, TIOBE programming community index, ATD. All copyrights belong to the source of the image.