Choosing skills to grow/advance in Career

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

We all have potentials far greater than many of us realize, numerous examples are quoted to highlight how successful people put the dogmas of society behind and move forward. Recently, I have enrolled for a 3-year bachelor course from IIT Madras and completed its level 1. Since then, few of my friends have been approaching me to understand the decision. This is really intriguing to see people looking forward to self-growth, learning and increasing personal value.

1.??????Why should we learn?

The pace of change has increased multifold in present generation and learning/reskilling is important to stay relevant. We need to understand that learning can’t stop. The tools that exist today are much advanced and nuanced than 10 year earlier (AI/ML/Fintech). Either, we learn actively to stay ahead of the curve or we are left behind and learn later to maintain a career. If we look at transition of business leaders, we can clearly see the transitions but failed to appreciate learnings required for such transitions.

Taking example of how Vijay Shekhar Sharma (PayTm) did transitions are as below: -

Value Added Services (Telecom) à Prepaid wallet à Payment Bank à Small Finance bank

But all these transitions have completely different challenges and skill requirement. In his personal admissions shared that before he applied for Payment bank license, he was not aware about Assets & liabilities, but to be a Banker he learnt them and today he is learning Credit/AI/ML for the future.

"The swiftest way to triple your success is to double your investment in personal development." - Robin Sharma

?2.??????What should we learn?

We need to be clear about area and objective for learning. The area of learning can be anything like career advancement, pursuing a hobby, spiritual advancement, etc. ?Once the area is decided, we can decide the level and time frame. A simple skill map like the one here can be used. My area of learning is career advancement, so I mapped my transitions for career growth and level of skills required. In the skill map there are already developed strengths of Digital banking + Blockchain /Sales + Analytics while Process flow design + Program Mgmt needs some focus, but the skills that need major focus are Web 3.0 skills i.e., Web/APP development, DBMS, Machine learning, Artificial intelligence, etc. Once the area and level of skill development is defined one could define my objective as to learn Web 3.0 skills to an intermediate level in next 1-1.5 year and proficient level in 3-5 years. Please find the sheet to generate skill map here

"Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure." - Paulo Coelho

?

1.??????How should we learn?

The preferred mode of learning comes from both person style and availability of content. As we already have many activities to be performed in the day, we should strive for mode which can easily blend in our present-day life. My personal preference is for DIY methods, and spend a lot of time in commuting so I prefer audio-books/lectures that can be listened while commuting followed by exercises/assignments in the night. In present day there are lots of resources available both online and offline and one should consider expert advice on resources, but use their own style.

It’s easier to follow fashion than it is to have personal style. – Ralph Lauren

?

2.??????Which course should we learn?

In today’s world we have access to learning resources at all places and one could end up choosing wrong resource. As time and money are limited, if we commit to a wrong resource, we will end up leaving midway with a feeling of disappointment. Whether we want to take learning opportunity at industry events, workshops, MDP or full-course, we need to ensure below are in alignment: -

i.????????????????????Time and money required to use the resource.

ii.??????????????????Feedback/reviews of the resource.

iii.????????????????Peer group using the resource

iv.????????????????Whether the resource is detailed, overview or somewhere in the middle.

My personal view is that MDP and Industry events are more on the overview side while the degree/diploma are more on the detailed side. Please spend most time in ensuring quality and nature of course before investing time and money in it.

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.”

?A child learns the most not because he has skills, but because he has the potential to learn and uses that potential to learn. People around us are constantly using their potential to create a better

I would like to thank Asit Oberoi, Arun Tikoo, Ejaz Adil, Samir Thakur, Tushar Manek, Vaibhav Tambe, Himanshu Gupta, Utkarsh Chandra, Vijay Thapliyal, Kush Sharma and all others for being an inspiration/guide/who constantly inspire me to learn and discover. Let us discover the potential in ourselves and develop skills to make a Better Us.

“It is never too late to be who you might have been.” - George Eliot