Stop Playing Tech Catchup

You don’t know when it happened. At first, all you needed to know were the basics — how to stay on top of emails, keep track of data in spreadsheets, and make a presentation or two. Then things started getting more and more complex. Slowly, even though you hadn’t signed up for a tech job, you started getting assigned tasks that required tech skills you hadn’t trained in.

And now, here you are, putting in your all to keep up with the increasingly technical responsibilities you find falling on your shoulders. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Here’s how you can stop playing tech catchup — and get ahead of the curve.

It’s not just you. More and more jobs ask for tech skills.

There’s a misconception that only tech jobs require tech skills. In fact, a report from February 2023 found that 92% of jobs analyzed required know-how with digital tools. To be fair, this does include the basic skills mentioned in this article’s second sentence. But it goes further than that, too — people also need industry-specific digital skills to make sure they succeed. 

For example, as an insurance agent, you might be required to dive deeper into data analysis to better understand your customers’ behavior or more precisely assess risks. Or, as a small business owner, you might need to gain some basic coding know-how to more precisely craft a website to build an online presence — something that is essential to a company’s viability in today’s digital-first economy.

If you end up facing something like this, and you find yourself floundering, you wouldn’t be the first. The report also found that fully one third of workers don’t have the digital skills they need. And if you’re anything like Jessica Powers, you might just get scrappy and teach yourself what you need to know. 

See, she was a graphic designer, but because her team was small, she ended up tackling technical tasks in addition to the artistic work she’d actually been hired to take on. “I did a lot of self-taught web design because they didn’t have a web designer,” she said. At that job, “it was kind of like, ‘Hey, while you’re looking at that, can you learn to do this as well?’”

But while she found success teaching herself digital skills, she did end up turning to TripleTen to really accelerate her tech knowledge. That then leads to a question: if you find yourself in a situation similar to Jessica’s, what should you do? Which of her strategies is best for you? 

Well, there are actually three paths you can follow — here’s the info that’ll help you choose the direction that’s right for you.

How to gain more tech skills

Studying independently

As was the case with Jessica, this is often the first approach people take when they come to the realization they need some additional tech skills. Studying independently can take the form of watching educational videos on YouTube, signing up for online classes, or even diving into books on whatever topic seems most relevant. In fact, if you’re wondering where to start with all this, here are recommendations for YouTube channels_{The 9 Best Tech YouTube Channels for Coders of All Levels in 2024}, podcasts_{12 Best Tech Podcasts for Career Switchers in 2024}, and books_{The 4 Best Coding Books Every Beginner Should Own} that can help you along your journey.

If you’ve got one or two tools you’re struggling with, this can be ideal. For example, if you just need to gain some know-how in AutoCAD, you can find a wealth of self-study resources catered to you. However, if you’re looking to gain a robust set of tech skills to power a more significant and employment-focused tech education to build towards something greater in the future, you might want to consider something a bit more serious.

Getting a degree

And now we swing to the entire opposite of the spectrum — going for an associate’s or bachelor’s in computer science or a related tech field. Here, we’ll just be honest. For people reading this article, this is probably the worst option. Don’t get us wrong — we’re unapologetic fans of getting college degrees, and we think there’s true value in higher education.

But if you have a degree or you already have experience in an industry, this doesn’t hold much promise. You’ll see what we mean below.

We’ll emphasize the point; if you don’t have a degree or experience under your belt (say, you’re a recent high school grad), and enrolling in college is realistic for you, we encourage you to check out that option. 

But if you don’t fit those criteria, and you need to gain practical tech skills fast without taking on eye-watering debt, going for a college degree likely isn’t for you.

Enrolling in a bootcamp

This is the choice that Jessica ultimately settled on when she realized she needed more than just a smattering of know-how here and there. A bootcamp is a skills- and employment-focused educational institution that takes elements of the previous two approaches and melds them into something both more realistic and purposeful. For example, people can dive into material when and how they like, as they can with self-guided study, but there are deadlines to stay aware of, as you might find in a more rigorous college environment.

And just like we were honest about college degrees, we’ll be honest about bootcamp education. It’s not magic, and it does take work — 15–20 hours a week, typically. In addition, if you want to just gain skills in a single tool like AutoCAD, self-study is probably the way to go. But if you’re looking for the skills and knowledge that can power a new chapter in your professional life, bootcamps are worth looking into.

What these skills mean for your professional future

‍Marin Umegane_{Discovering a New Spark in a New Country: Marin Umegane’s TripleTen Story} wanted to polish up her tech skills. Although she already had a robust career in vulnerability management in Japan, she knew she needed additional know-how. Initially, just like Jessica, Marin started by teaching herself a coding language. But it just didn’t quite stick. “I taught myself Python, but I couldn't master it,” she said.

In the midst of this search, there was a shake-up: she moved to the United States. Taking stock of her new surroundings, she decided she needed a more comprehensive education, so she enrolled in TripleTen.

At first, she saw the bootcamp as a way of augmenting what she already knew. But as she started learning more and more, she found her new knowledge sparking new inspiration. “I found a different passion for coding to make new stuff that makes people's lives easier,” she said.

Following that shift in perspective, she decided to pursue a new path. And after a dedicated career search, she landed a job as a front-end developer at a telecom company.

See what bootcamp is right for you

Whether you want to get on the path toward revamping your career like Marin and Jessica did, or you just want to gain those in-demand skills, the first step is to find out which bootcamp is the one for you. Good news — this quick quiz can tell you which one is best suited for you.