Why you need to constantly learn, change, and change the subjects of your professional activity.

In recent years, there have been two main trends in the labor market, the so-called "candidate's market" and "employer's market". The difference between them was who determines the conditions at the current moment, in whose favor circumstances most often develop. And now a new theme has appeared, about the interaction between a recruiter and a candidate using AI, when one prepares resumes and cover letters with the help of neural networks, and the other uses them to select candidates for interviews.

And if for some reason you are thinking about changing jobs, what will allow you to feel most confident in the labor market and choose the optimal conditions for yourself.

We all know very well about the necessary professional skills (Hard skills) in a particular area in order to be a sought-after specialist, but why does the professional path of a candidate with a bunch of specialized certificates and courses not always work out successfully, why after an excellent self-presentation the employer enters a stage of disappointment when it comes to specific results and tasks. Why does a PM at a certain stage enter a stage of burnout, when he realizes that his "team" is not a team, but only a source of problems and client dissatisfaction.

Therefore, now, after extensive experience working on different projects, I put human qualities (Soft skills) first — the skill of a person to learn, change, hear and listen, understand what teamwork really means, responsibility as the norm, independence also as the norm, the ability to see and solve problems, the ability to admit one's mistakes without falling into depression, the ability to communicate with different people with different interests and a full understanding that a team is about a common result, not a place for realizing individual problems and complexes.

That is, all other things being equal, with the same Hard skills, the team should be strengthened by a person who will bring more benefit and results with a minimum of problems for an established team.

As paradoxical as it may sound now, especially in the era of "coaches", "bloggers" and "infobusiness", it is very important to get a basic higher education. Which, ideally, provides primary professional skills and precisely these Soft skills, which develop with every lecture, with every test and session, with every passed exam. Further, at the stage of entering the profession, it is very important what the first couple of teams will be like in order to understand how everything works. Ideally, these should be teams with well-established processes and diverse professional tasks. And this is precisely what provides the opportunity to develop both Hard skills and Soft skills.

As professional skills develop and practical experience is gained, you can fall into the trap of "I already know everything, why should I study." It is very important to understand at this moment that you need to learn always, that everything is constantly changing, that unexpectedly you can become a professional outsider despite having enormous professional experience, because technologies are constantly evolving, new methods appear, and the professional experience of other colleagues can be very instructive and interesting, and it is very important to understand that from time to time you need to change the subject of your professional efforts so as not to become ossified in monotony.

Therefore, in order to be a professional in your field, and to feel confident in the labor market, if necessary and if desired, to have the opportunity to change fields of activity, you need to constantly develop, learn, participate in professional communities, get acquainted with the experience of colleagues and new developments in the professional environment, read interesting articles by professionals, take courses, certifications, participate in different projects, attend at least online professional conferences, etc.

All this allows you to remain a professional in your field and be a sought-after specialist.

And again, this professional approach is considered by those who already have developed Soft skills and understand how important it is to develop in all directions in order to be both an expert in their field and an interesting person)))

At ROOT CODE, we share this approach and actively support our employees' desire for continuous development. For us, it is important that every team member has the opportunity to grow professionally, master new technologies and approaches, participate in industry events, and exchange experience with colleagues. We believe that investing in employee development is investing in the future of the company, which is why we create all the conditions for our specialists to remain experts in their field and feel confident.