In a competitive job market, your resume is your golden ticket to securing that desired position. It’s not just a document; it’s your personal marketing tool, your first impression, and your chance to shine brighter than the rest. But in a sea of applicants, how do you ensure your resume stands out?
Welcome to our guide on “What is a knowledge portfolio and how to invest in it.” Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking to advance your career or a recent graduate embarking on your professional journey, strengthening your knowledge is essential. In this article, we’ll give you some guidelines to follow to start building that “knowledge portfolio”.
What is a knowledge portfolio?
Let’s start by answering the question, what is a knowledge portfolio?
A knowledge portfolio serves multiple purposes, including career development, job hunting, performance evaluation, and personal reflection. It enables individuals to track their progress, identify areas for improvement, and present a comprehensive picture of their capabilities to potential employers, collaborators, or stakeholders. Additionally, maintaining a knowledge portfolio fosters lifelong learning and continuous professional growth.
The other day I was reading a book I just got that was recommended to me. The book is called “The Pragmatic Programmer”. I was reading one of the chapters “Your knowledge portfolio” and it seemed to me that it could be a great topic for an article.
Knowledge and experience are one of the most powerful tools we have. Unfortunately, we know as programmers that our knowledge can sometimes get out of date as new languages, frameworks, technologies are created or updated. That is why we need to adapt and take this to our advantage. The more adaptable and open to learn new things you are, the more useful you can be for your company, client or potential job.
Key points
Now… let’s start by going through some of the key points I found in the book:
- Invest regularly: Invest regularly in your knowledge portfolio, try to always look for things that interest you and learn about it. (also try to make it a habit).
- Diversify: The more technologies you get to know the more valuable you are going to be. The more technologies you are comfortable working with, the better you will be at adjusting to change. (Try mastering the fundamentals before learning a bunch of technologies, if you know your fundamentals it will become increasingly easier with time to learn new things).
- Understand the market needs: Do your research, understand what technologies are trending today and get an idea of what really are your best options. Have a balance between what you want to learn and what’s popular.
- Learn when to take risks: Learning an emerging technology before it becomes mainstream can be somewhat risky but it can be just as rewarding. This could be the difference between you and the competition. (Having something that differentiates you from the rest will give you that edge you need over others).
- Review and rebalance: Take a step back and analyze all those technologies you currently know and ask yourself: From that list of technologies, which are the ones I am truly using consistently? Am I up to date with the latest changes? What is that one thing I consider myself I excel at (and how I can improve it)? Ask yourself these questions and see what things you know and what things you need to brush up on.
Guidelines
Now that we have some guidelines let’s take a look at some suggestions on what you can start doing to improve your portfolio knowledge.
- Learn at least one new programming language every year: Nowadays it’s really easy to find free content to learn practically anything you want (miCoach can help you!). If you have your fundamentals right, you can effortlessly start learning new programming languages, broaden your way of thinking and avoid getting stuck on a particular goal. (I know I have struggled with this at some point).
- Read a technical book each quarter: Start getting the habit of reading; is a great way to start making progress on your knowledge journey. If you don’t like reading, that’s fine, there are other options like reading a blog post like this one or participating in a Bootcamp or Tech Talk like miCoach’s events.
- Read nontechnical books: Sometimes it’s not just about hard/technical skills but also your soft skills. We interact with people all the time, that is why it’s important to start thinking of how we can communicate our ideas as clearly as possible.
- Enroll in a course: Those can give you tangible proof that you have taken the time to learn something and by personal experience, fulfilling courses can be quite rewarding and injects a big motivation boost.
- Participate in local user groups: Interact with people with similar interests. I’ve learned that people are more motivated when they find others that have things in common they can relate to and share similar goals.
- Stay current: Subscribe to YouTube Channels related to the latest technology trends; being in an active community will help you find and learn about emerging and trending IT topics you can research.
Final Thoughts
After you learn something new, try and apply that knowledge to your current project (or create a new one). In my experience, by immersing yourself in a hands-on application you solidify your understanding and the true value of learning is unlocked for you.
And remember, it’s important to invest in yourself, invest in your knowledge and invest in the things you really are interested in and motivates YOU.
”The process of learning will expand your thinking, opening you to new possibilities and new ways of doing things.”
