Going Beyond Tech Savvy: How to Develop Digital Skills for Your Career
For many young people these days, technology is a huge part of their lives. Some people refer to this as being “digitally native”. This is just another way of saying that you’ve grown up with technology, so you’re very used to it.
But growing up with technology and being familiar with it, doesn’t necessarily mean that you understand it, or are able to use technology to enhance your skills.
You might find it easy to use social media or be a great Googler, able to find any information you need. But what about your ability to work with a range of computer programs and to use your digital skills for work?
The Good Things Foundation reports that 8.5 million people in the UK lack basic digital skills. This is a large portion of people, considering how often we use technology.
You might think this figure represents older generations of people who grew up without technology, but this isn’t necessarily the case. There are young people out there who aren’t confident in their digital skills as well.
The importance of being digitally literate
Digital literacy is the ability to understand and use technology. It’s just as important as your reading and maths skills. It’s easy to assume because you grew up during the technological age that you know what you’re doing.
There’s a big difference between using tech in your everyday lives and using it at work. Especially when you consider how digital everything is becoming.
You might think that not having digital literacy skills won’t hold you back too greatly, especially if you don’t want to work a job that has anything to do with the digital world.
But building your tech skills early, in life could provide you with a better quality of life. Everything is becoming more digital, in ways that we could have never imagined. Being prepared for the changes is better than being left behind when they do eventually arrive.
Even practical, hands-on job roles are becoming more digital, so gaining these skills are essential to our futures.
Ways to enhance your skills
Computing can be quite confusing, it’s no secret. There are some elements of the digital world that people with special tech talents can only understand. But that’s like anything.
What you might not know, is that there are many resources that can help you to become a more digitally enhanced version of yourself. And the Raspberry Pi Foundation is one of them.
“Raspberry Pi” might make you think of the delicious desert that pairs well with custard, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. They are an organisation that feels passionately about young people getting digitally literate. They’ve created opportunities online and offline for young people to improve their digital skills.
You can join a coding club, learn at home with their online activities, take part in challenges or even read their blog. Click here to discover all the opportunities available to you.
Additionally, our opportunity page has a whole host of programmes that can help you become a more tech savvy person.
To make things easier, we’ve compiled a list of these opportunities in different subcategories.
For those hopeful tech careerists
These opportunities are for those aspiring to have a career in all things digital. They’re all great starting points for people at the beginning of a career in technology.
- NowSkills Digital & IT Apprenticeships
- Helping you into a career in Tech with the North West Tech Talent Consortium
- Cisco Cyber Camps
- Kick-start Your Career in Tech With the Cisco Networking Academy
- InnovateHer – Getting girls ready for the tech industry
For those of you looking to upskill
You may not have any desire to work in tech, and that’s okay. But as we said previously there a chance that your future job role may have digital elements to it. So, it’s always good to have some basic skills. There’s a mixture of resources here that could help.
Check them out. Your next opportunity could be waiting for you. And keep an eye on the GMACS opportunity page for even more of these kinds of opportunities in future.
