The internet is full of resources for learning new skills and if you wanted to, you could forever be a student. It’s tempting to stay there and accumulate knowledge without putting yourself into situations where you apply what you’ve learned.

The Challenge

You have built a set of technical skills and you love learning new things. You feel the pressure (or expectation) to continue learning new programming languages, analytical tools, how to use data platforms, and how to communicate most effectively with stakeholders. You realise, however, that you haven’t spent enough time putting your knowledge into practice.

The Solution

Learning is great but it also keeps you in a certain comfort zone where you add new knowledge, gain certifications and build things (all of this is great and important!) without using what you’ve learned in real world business scenarios.

If you’re thinking about what skill to gain next, pause. Stop for a moment and reflect on what you already know:

• How have you applied that knowledge at work?

• Do you have projects that demonstrate your capabilities?

• Are your skills visible to the outside world, e.g. through things you’ve built and published?

• Have you received feedback on your work relating to specific skills?

If you’ve now identified gaps, think about how you can fill them. Demonstrating a skill is important for your professional progress because it’s what matters to decision makers and hiring managers. You can claim expertise on paper but how have you proven yourself in your job?

Have a conversation with your manager as part of your professional development plan and find tasks and projects that allow you to apply your technical skills. Also discuss your ‘soft skills’, e.g. communication, and how you can demonstrate your strengths and improve where necessary.

If there is no scope in your current job for growing and developing specific skills you’ve built, look beyond. For example, if you have used PowerBI for creating dashboards for many years and want to learn how to use Tableau, but can’t do this in your job, join community projects. Alternatively, create your own portfolio as you learn. 

The Next Step

If you find yourself rushing from one book to the next and from one podcast to another, absorbing knowledge in every ‘free’ minute of your day, stop. Just stop and think about it. You can continue later, but give yourself a chance to think about all the ideas and information you’ve absorbed and how much of that you’ve been able to put into practice.

Be honest with yourself. 

I say this because I’ve been there. I’ve spent hours and hours listening to finance podcasts while painting the walls in my London apartment. I didn’t take action until 18 months later, though!

Like many of you, I love learning and there is so much cool stuff out there we can access. But all that knowledge will only empower you if you ACT on it. 

So use it, apply it, learn what it looks like in the real world. Gain those experiences and combine the theory with the practical, put your own spin on it and see where that takes you.

I promise, by doing the work (not just learning about it) and by making it your own, you will grow as a professional and along the way you’ll create career opportunities for yourself.

Have a great week!

Eva

P.S.: Did you find this useful and want help with your very own next steps? Book in HERE and let me know what your biggest career obstacles are and we’ll chat about how I can help you with your next career move.