Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Technology and The Need To Up-Skill Regularly

Jobhop Jobhop's blog

Technology changes so fast, requiring us to learn different skills just as fast.

Jobhop had great pleasure interviewing Alex Laing, a senior developer from Digital Impact.

We asked Alex, is there a need to upskill regularly, considering the daily changes in technology and the impact it has on what businesses require?

In a nutshell, what does Digital Impact do?

Digital Impact is a digital agency, so our days are spent designing, building and marketing websites.

How long has Digital Impact been going?

Will Craig founded a company called Glasgoweb in late 2010, which rebranded to Digital Impact in 2015.

When did you start at Digital Impact?

I was recruited to head up the development side of Glasgoweb in 2011, and I have been in that role ever since.

Is this something you wanted to do since school?

I genuinely had no idea what I wanted to do up until the point I graduated university. I had built websites for years but I never really considered it as a serious career path. Then something clicked. I thought: “This is something I’m good at and that I genuinely enjoy.”

That was all I needed to push me into the industry.

How did you get to be a senior developer?

One of the great things about the development world is that it’s more of a meritocracy than other fields. If you put the hard work in, you can rise through the ranks very quickly. You don’t have to know someone who knows someone or be exceptionally naturally talented. Grit, sweat, and determination is all it takes.

I worked my socks off in freelance, junior and middleweight roles until I got my shot at the big leagues.

However, when I was recruited to head up the small development team at Glasgoweb, I knew I still had a lot to learn, so I made a conscious decision to improving myself. I’d build websites at work; I’d build websites in my sleep, and I’d build websites in my dreams.

There are changes in technology every day does that mean you have to up-skill regularly?

New technologies are developed every single day, and it’s essential you continually up-skill yourself to avoid being left behind.

Here is a simple example. When I started at Glasgoweb, responsive design — that’s building websites that respond to smaller screens — was something very few developers cared about. Now, responsive design is an absolute necessity.

If I didn’t know how to use any of the new responsive frameworks, I wouldn’t stay in my job very long.

How do you do stay on top of the continuous changes?

Some developers spend every waking moment on online development communities like Stack Overflow. Others attend real world meetups and discuss industry changes with their peers. A lot just read industry blogs and let authorities keep them abreast of change.

However, just being aware of change isn’t really enough. You have to actually try things out. If you want to get better at building responsive websites, try developing one with Bootstrap, then another with Foundation and another with Skeleton.

Manipulating skills is the best way to commit something to memory so get experimenting.

What would happen if you didn’t up-skill regularly?

If you’re developing websites that look like they're from 2006, you aren’t going to stay in a job very long.

What advice would you give someone looking to get a job as a developer?

Number one, experiment. You can attend all the meetups, read all the blogs and join all the communities you want but until you actually start building stuff yourself nothing is going to stick in your head.

Number two, find communities. The development world can be quite isolating, so it’s important you find supportive communities. Whenever I get stuck on a problem, I jump over to GitHub and tap into the collective experience of thousands of other developers.

Number three, think more about the user. There’s a designer I really like called Ernesto Olivares, and he’s got a brilliant usability soundbite. It goes like this: “No one will care about how cool your design looks if it’s not usable.” It’s a good reminder that our finished work has to feel brilliant to use, not just to look at.

What resources would you recommend for somebody eager to develop their skills?

It really depends on what you want to specialise in. For example, we use Laravel for the vast majority of our custom development projects. If you plan on going the PHP route, then Laracast is an absolutely essential resource.

However, if you want to specialise in .NET, learning Laravel isn’t going to be much use.

Finally, what’s your recommended read for developers?

If I’ve got a spare ten minutes, I usually jump on Designer News, Hacker News or one of the more developer-centric subreddits. I love all three, but I recommend you try reading as many different websites as possible and seeing what fits best with your culture.

JOIN Jobhop and spread the word.