TECH SKILLS: BECOMING RELEVANT IN A CHANGING WORLD
The greatest height of self-deception anyone can fall into in our day and time is to base his/her career prospects, business success, and/or financial prosperity on some university degree or certificate. It’s not only unreasonable, it is quite unrealistic and may have been derived from uninformed orientations.
That you possess a university degree doesn’t guarantee anything; this is a fact many Nigerians are very familiar with. With over 25 million unemployed graduates and postgraduate degree holders, it cannot be overemphasized that in the century we are in, you need more than a university degree to thrive not only in Nigeria but anywhere else in the world.
With the pace our world is currently changing, don’t be perplexed if you wake up one morning, pack your bag for lunch, and head to work only to find a robot or a computer sitting comfortably on your desk, seamlessly performing your duties with utmost proficiency, with your sack letter lying right next to it. Let me give you the bitter fact; if you’re working without any computer skill in the age we are in, you will soon be out of a job. There are no two ways about it; with the recent advances mankind is making in artificial intelligence, cybernetics, robotics, and quantum computing, something is always waiting in the wings to replace you. It is no longer a matter of ‘if’ or ‘maybe’ it is now a question of when. Don’t take this personally, it’s not a curse, it’s simply the reality of the time.
The boundaries are constantly shifting, daily, programs are run, codes are written, and machines are designed to imitate human actions, mannerisms, and very soon our emotions. With these inventions, man aims to build a tech-driven world; a world where some robots can easily accomplish the most technical of human tasks and eliminate the constant worry about human errors. It is therefore the mark of the wise man/woman to quickly jump on the ship before the brooding tempest sweeps him/her along with the antiquities of a bygone era.
Being proficient with a computer skill is a necessity if you intend to be relevant in the scheme of things in this 21st century. With tons of resources online and the proliferation of tech schools all around us, learning tech skills has been made easier than ever.
However, before buying that online course or registering to learn in that random self-acclaimed tech school, I think you should ask yourself these three important questions; Is this place with an environment conducive for learning? Do they pay attention to the general standards and guiding principles in the field I intend to learn? Lastly, how is their alumni community; do they have a vibrant network of mentors and successful alumni?
I had my training in Product Design (UI/UX) at Univelcity a top tech school in Lagos, Nigeria and they ticked all three boxes. So if you intend to give yourself a fighting chance against that something waiting to steal your job or that thing lurking to ensure you never get employed, then you should learn a skill with Univelcity, check out their website here, select your most desired course(s) and set yourself on the assured path of relevance in a digitalized world!
Written by Boyowa Samuel
