What can you do with a computer? A lot? Nothing? If you are comfortable working with a computer, you are in lucky. If there is nothing you can do with it, then you would better have lived in the 70s.
Because today, without having some computing (digital) skills backing up your whatever profession, you are just as useless as a pen with no ink. Technology has changed how things are done in every career.
Karl Marx once warned that machines, which in our case, are robots and artificial intelligence, will take over our jobs. This is true but also wrong. Why? Because technology has created more jobs than it has destroyed. What appears to be technology taking our jobs is actually us lacking the right skills to navigate these relentless changes.
With our too theoretical classroom knowledge that never gets to touch the actual demands of the real world, most graduates find dead ends when they enter the real world they rarely learned in college lectures.
Digital skills defined
UNESCO defines digital skills as a range of abilities to use digital devices, communication applications, and networks to access and manage information. They enable people to create and share digital content, communicate and collaborate, and solve problems for effective and creative self-fulfillment in life, learning, work, and social activities at large.
Digital skills will give you career mobility
According to ITU Key message for Girls in ICT Day 2019; Any professional job we can think of has a strong tech component. Technology has become a critical tool in fields as diverse as art, history, archeology, law, primary teaching or graphic design. Tech qualifications will give an advantage in a competitive job market, earn a higher salary and give career mobility.
I am a big fan of digital myself. Because it gave me career mobility. I was expected to be teaching English language and Literature in the classroom but I am doing digital marketing instead. And that’s because my degree was no longer needed in the job market by the time I was graduating. Imagine what would have happened if I didn’t possess any digital skills, I would probably be a stay-at-home unemployed-government-blamer right now.
Those who are applying for jobs will tell you that most of the job requirements or qualifications involve a number of digital skills. From Microsoft Package to digital marketing skills, the ability to collaborate online and more. The list is endless.
So how do you stay relevant with the right skills?
It is simple. With an increased access to free information, all you need is a smartphone or a laptop and develop a learning lifestyle. These are your keys to achieving absolutely anything including finding your dream job, Career Development or even switching to another career.
Here are some free resources you can learn from industry-leading experts in different skills such as marketing, coding, personal branding and more.
One good thing about digital skills is that you can learn them on the go. From YouTube lessons to online courses, blogs, and apps, there’s plenty of free resources to take you to the next level without having to register for an entire semester. You can spend a few minutes reading an article about current trends in your industry or sign up for an online course —there are plenty of them available online.
The world is not going to stop changing. It is just taking pace. Whether you choose to be left out or keep up, you have the ability to do so.
Links in this post
- Google Digital Skills for Africa
- Bloomberg Marketing Concepts
- Khan Academy
- The School Dilemma, article
- Why a Girl in ICT?
