The Importance of Continuous Learning in Software Development Firms

Technology is changing every single day. This isn’t news to any of us, nor is it a revolutionary concept to understand. However, according to the New York Times, 3,200 private venture-backed tech startups went out of business in 2023 and over 400,000 people working at tech companies were laid off in 2022 and 2023. So… if we know that we must constantly be changing to survive, why do so many fail to act? The answer is fairly simple, actually.  People and companies don’t want to put the work into changing. They view it as a waste of time and resources to train people on things outside of their job description and fear that it might make them leave the company or, God forbid, ask for a promotion (dun dun duuun). They suffer from the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset and assume that the processes that work now will work in 2 years. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. In one of my favorite books on this topic, “The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time” by Jeff Sutherland he illustrates this in a chapter aptly titled, “Change or Die.” 

The way we interact with software development, customer service in the tech industry, and the speed at which things are getting accomplished is moving faster than ever. At Mediusware, we understand that. These past few weeks, we opened the floor to our employees and asked them what they’re interested in learning. We got a multitude of responses from AI, to project management, to specialized courses like Google Ads and DataBricks. Regardless of current role or department, we encouraged our team to learn new things and develop skills they didn’t previously possess. The result was pretty amazing! 

Here are some of the tips we compiled for continuous professional development:
1. Be open minded. 
Oftentimes, looking outside of our current role or field seems scary and unproductive. However, we noticed that a majority of our employees were interested in learning more about things they don’t deal with day-to-day. Product managers were learning about Generative AI, UX/UI designers were learning about business analysis and process management, the list goes on! 
2. Look for free courses to start. 
The internet is endless and available to you at your fingertips. Our team started off with free courses to expand their knowledge and try things out before moving to paid and more intensive courses. This allows you to test the waters and get an overview of the topic before committing. 
3. Use tools to your advantage. 
 Using tools like Google Trends, ExplodingTopics, or even ChatGPT can give you an idea of what skills are entering the market place, actively trending, what courses can complement your existing knowledge, or what you can brush up on to fill gaps in your toolbox.