DEV Community

Stephanie Morillo
Stephanie Morillo

Posted on

What non-coding skills do you want to learn next?

In addition to coding-related things you're working on, what are some non-coding skills/fields you want to learn about next? These can be coding-adjacent (like user research or project management) or something new entirely (marketing).

Are you using any resources to help you learn these skills? Which do you recommend?

Top comments (93)

Collapse
 
otherdcn profile image
Dan C.

Writing skills. Technical writing for software documentation (user manual, testing manual, design manual, etc) and content writing for blogging and articles. I don't have any resources. Your post is probably what I needed to start looking for some.

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

Hey Dan! Can I offer some suggestions?

Hope this helps! :)

Collapse
 
otherdcn profile image
Dan C.

Hi Stephanie!

Great Stuff. These sources look great. Thanks a million 🙌🏼

Collapse
 
upieez profile image
Samuel Huang

Awesome resources!

Collapse
 
salunkebhavesh profile image
Bhavesh Salunke

Thanks for the content. Don't we have any free online course in substitute to the san diego extension

Thread Thread
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

I have not come across any free online courses that are similar in scope, unfortunately.

Collapse
 
arquetipo28 profile image
German Reynaga Araiza • Edited

I'm not pretty sure if this is valid for your question but I'm learing data análisis and it is meaning to learn some maths and statistics that I've already forgotten. I'm using khan academy for the maths and Udemy tutorial for the data science concepts and methods

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

It’s definitely valid! I was on a data analysis learning kick a few months ago; mostly SQL and Excel, but also some statistics. I work on a team that relies heavily on business intelligence (though not my role). What are you hoping to use these skills for?

Collapse
 
arquetipo28 profile image
German Reynaga Araiza

I hope to apply them in my job, and try to create a department focused on the data analysis, also I want to use it in some of my personal projects, maybe trying to offer a solution as a consulting using data analysis. :D

Collapse
 
shostarsson profile image
Rémi Lavedrine • Edited

I would love to be more skilled in Teaching technical things. 🧑🏼‍🏫
I am gonna start with Streaming short explanations about technical concept around Security.
As showed in the Lewis' Pyramid,
Lewis Pyramid of Learning

when you are teaching something to someone else, you are actually doing a lot of good to yourself as well.

It can look a little selfish, but it helps both sides actually. 🤝
I started recently a Twitch channel to do that and hope to push more contents in the future.

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

I agree with this so much! There's nothing selfish about teaching others in order to learn better; it's mutually beneficial. :)

If you're interested, General Assembly made their course "How to Teach Online" available for free. This might be a helpful resource. Best of luck with your Twitch channel!

Collapse
 
shostarsson profile image
Rémi Lavedrine

Thanks for the link.
I'll definitely have a look at it.

Collapse
 
zenulabidin profile image
Ali Sherief

That is a very useful infographic, thank you very much!

Collapse
 
ogaston profile image
Omar Gaston Chalas

Right now, I'm pretty focused on enhancing my communication skills in English. I've been underestimating for a long and now, at this point in my career, have the ability to express good and clear insights is a MUST.

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

That's great! Are you using any resources to help you? By communication skills, do you mean in general (reading, writing, speaking) or are you focusing on one at a time?

Collapse
 
ogaston profile image
Omar Gaston Chalas

Currently, I trying to get better in each one, but specifically in speaking. The method that I'm using is turning my whole environment in English, any content I consume or any device I use must be in English. Also, I have a conversation group with my coworkers. Have you any recommendations? I'd appreciate any suggestions. :D

Thread Thread
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

I don't know if this is true in all Slack communities, but some Slack communities pair people up for coffee chats and stuff—that may be an option. :) I've also heard Duolingo is a good place to get the opportunity to practice but I haven't experienced this myself. Something that would work would be recording short videos/screencasts/podcasts, or starting a Twitch channel and going live coding or gaming and talking to people that way!

Collapse
 
jonathanyeong profile image
Jonathan Yeong

In terms of coding adjacent, I want to get better at writing and communicating in general. In terms of resources, I thought Radical Candor by Kim Scott was a great book on communicating. And for writing I read On Writing Well by William Zissner. But I feel like both of these things take a lot of practice, it's almost like coding except I can't run test cases to make sure my writing is up to par :D.

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

Oh definitely. Writing and communication does take a lot of practice, but it helps knowing that even the best writers and communicators still have a lot to improve upon. I've been a writer most of my career and seeing some of my writing from 10 years ago makes me realize how far I've come!

Are you using any resources to help? What's the main challenge you're facing: is it the time needed to improve your writing or something else?

Collapse
 
jonathanyeong profile image
Jonathan Yeong

I'm not using any resources currently. Do you have any suggestions? The biggest challenge I face is getting something out of draft into a published post. I feel like I lose steam. Either I think it's not worth writing about or I edit it for so long I give up on it.

Thread Thread
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

Well, I did write a book that helps developers do just that. It's called The Developer's Guide to Content Creation. :) No pressure, but if you want to learn more you can click the link here. And as a bonus, I'll send you an invite to an upcoming virtual content AMA I'm hosting in 10 days.

Otherwise, I do link out to some resources throughout the discussion thread, but nothing about the specific problem you have here. If you purchase the book and have questions as you read it, you can always reach out to me on Twitter. :)

Collapse
 
facundocorradini profile image
Facundo Corradini

??? how can being an extrovert make communication harder?

Collapse
 
a3n3d3i profile image
Andi

I would say that I am really curious about HR as not only it would put at an advantage in the job market knowing the "tricks" but also would help me to better deal with various intrapersonal situation when dealing with my collegues

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

Ooo this is a good one! You’re totally right; understanding HR in terms of career growth is extremely valuable. What resources have you found that are useful to you?

Collapse
 
ridaehamdani profile image
Ridae HAMDANI

I really want to improve my French and English languages, also I want to work on communication skills, I want to go out of my career zone, I want to learn/do something that keeps my mind buzzy and gives my some peaaaace - but I do not know what it is this thing yet - I am open for any suggestions !!!
thanks @radiomorillo

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

What do you mean by "go out of my career zone"? What kinds of things are you interested in?

Collapse
 
ridaehamdani profile image
Ridae HAMDANI

I mean doing something not related to IT domain. My real problem is I am not interested in anything. Can you suggest me something to do ?

Thread Thread
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

A lot of folks in the discussion thread seem to be interested in writing, design, and data analytics. Maybe look through the discussion thread for some inspiration! :)

Collapse
 
harken24 profile image
Jozo

Not sure if it's related to your questrion but lately I've started getting into music production and it's just so fun :)

Collapse
 
radiomorillo profile image
Stephanie Morillo

This is absolutely relevant to my question. :) What software are you using? I admire folks who are into music production; some of these DAWs require a lot of work and patience to learn! :D

Collapse
 
harken24 profile image
Jozo

I'm using FL studio, it's much more customizable than ableton and that's important to me, and yeah they do require a lot of work and patience but so does programming, and I see a lot of similarities in studying programming or studying music production. So you know it's all about that mindset. :)

Thread Thread
 
pclundaahl profile image
Patrick Charles-Lundaahl

I've used Ableton for over a decade, but I've always been a little jealous of the cool stuff you can do in FL! The Patcher, Harmor, and that FM synth (Sytrus, I think?) are all just completely wild! Maximus is outstanding, too!

Also, +1 for the similarities between programming and music production.

Thread Thread
 
harken24 profile image
Jozo

Yes it's pretty amazing piece of software even though I'm still learning every bit and piece of it.

I hope one day I can be a music producer with programming job on a side. :)

Collapse
 
xoadra profile image
Ian Peterson

It's related to code but I'm currently refreshing and reinforcing my math knowledge and plan to soon dabble in statistics as I want to eventually pivot into a career in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

I also want to eventually deepen my scientific knowledge in areas like physics and get into investing eventually too. I also have an interest in entrepreneurship and want to get into that one day. Lots of future goals I have but most of them are locked up due to my job search. :(