Education & Tech

It is common knowledge that the tech industry suffers greatly in the educational arena. It is also common knowledge that the tech industry is dealing with some very high rates dealing with a lack of "talented" developers. Coincidence? I think not.

Let me explain. As a former educator, I followed a wave of people whose careers were bulldozed by the pandemic. I had always had a fascination for technology, but admittedly didn't know much more than an average person.

I am a tinkerer. If I don't know how to fix something, and I have the time and not the money, I will research and fix it myself. I was homeschooled until High School and basically had to teach myself. I have ADHD and had to learn how to learn like the kids in school... it was very difficult. But I was determined. I learned some basics about neuropsychology and in university, I took a class on educational psychology. Therefore, I am not a newbie to self-led learning or research.

I taught myself the foundations of Spanish, how to record audio, how to play multiple instruments besides my primary, how to fix my own car, how to fix my own household appliances, I taught myself many a new skills....

When I jumped into tech, my jaw was on the floor at the way more experienced developers truly believe they are guiding someone else or "teaching" them. They expect you to either "get it" or "not get it". As if the world of learning is so distinctly black and white. But that's where so many ridiculous assumptions come in.

1. Not everybody learns in the same way. We all know and say this, but how do we apply this?

2. If you give me carving knife and say "carve a masterpiece"... I absolutely could do it... but without one-on-one or even small group guidance, it would obviously take a LOT of time spent with trial and error, more trees than it should take, and thousands of hours of practice. Not exactly the most efficient way. For an industry obsessed with "the most efficient way"... there seems to be quite a lack of experience in teaching and getting new developers up-to-speed in the most efficient ways.

3. One of the biggest things we learn in the education industry, is that if our students don't learn... it's most likely not THEIR faults for not understanding. It is probably ours, because we didn't explain something well enough or from different perspectives. And that's where creativity comes in.

4. The unnecessary shaming of someone trying their best to learn a new skill, needs to stop. Seriously. Shaming is last century and the same tactic one uses in elementary school to deflect responsibility away from oneself. It is DE-motivating and it doesn't have the affect you might think it does. In fact, the ego brought into the tech world, really needs an overhaul, just because a developers intelligence is good in intellectual math and problem-solving, doesn't mean one has the intelligence it takes to teach something and communicate well...

5. Leadership IS the problem, not the newbies trying desperately to hold on and read between all the lines. We put leaders in charge because of their experience with something, understandable. However, after we put them in charge we expect them to be natural leaders... just like the leaders expect newbies to be natural developers and "get" what they are saying, like some kind of psychic.

These mentalities are holding the tech industry back hardcore. We put these leaders in charge and then we don't hold them accountable for their own learning, practicing, and honing of their own leadership and management skills that it takes to be a good leader... Essential skills such as communication.

Another thing I noticed... is there are a lot of attempts at cutting corners that should not be cut. Companies are shooting themselves in the foot by not taking the time upfront to really plan the execution of their development life cycles. They try to "save time" by doing it more on the fly... but in doing so, they end up with a lot of miscommunications, confusion, vague task directions and back-tracking. And when the time comes to crunch... who gets blamed for everything falling through? The developers who asked questions and asked for more documentation, but were told it was "not important" at the time.

A leader of a software development team, would do well to upskill a bit in the Business Management area and learn WHY it's important to take the time to plan and get organized upfront rather than when it's too late.

If we want the tech industry to continue and to strengthen it's foundations, rather than continue closing the doors to perfectly capable developers... it's time we take HOW we educate and teach tech seriously.