In my job search, knowledge and experience with technology and software has been one of my weakest points.
I didn’t own a laptop until less than a year ago, and before that, I had lived in a cabin with no electricity for a year. I was out of the technology scene for long enough that I am behind the times by a fair bit when it comes to the use of software and programs that I don’t know.
It seemed to me like there was only one (good) way to solve this problem. I needed to start throwing myself into using new software.
You never know what the tech stack of a future company you’ll be working for will be, but I think it’s still a great practice to become knowledgeable about what’s out there and get a basic understanding of how they work. Even if the company you work for doesn’t use it, you might know that it could increase efficiency in your new team and you can introduce it to them.
In general, I am much more a fan of “just in time” learning vs “just in case” learning. So this seems to fly in the face of that. But the reason I see testing out these as being useful is that your opportunity cost is very low. Most of these software’s have free trials that you can use and you can learn new features at your own leisure.
It’s just adding more tools to your tool bag. If I were a carpenter and I only had a hammer and screwdriver, I could probably do a fair amount of jobs still, but it would definitely limit me. Even if I told them I was willing to go buy the new tools for the job, it could be a turn off because it becomes a longer time commitment and probably money out of their pockets.
By paying for these tools on our own before we approach them, they already have a good perception of what we can do and aren’t afraid to hire us for any job.
Today, I learned a new one: TextExpander
I did a short tutorial video explaining what I learned in about an hour of using it.