How to grow your skills: Digital and Technology skills
Most jobs will require you to work with technology. As technology is continually changing, it is valuable to an employer that you can learn how to use new technology quickly.
Here are 10 tips to help you build your digital and technology skills:
Tip 1: Build your understanding of tech terms and symbols
When it comes to technology, there is a range of terminology and symbols that are useful to know to help you understand how to use different digital devices. These terms and symbols will help you understand instructions and communicate with others if you are asked to use a digital device at work.
Tip 2: Be open to learning about a range of devices
Being open to using learning about a range of digital devices and operating systems can help you prepare you for workplaces where you are expected to work with certain devices and systems. Building your skills around using different devices can help you feel confident in using them, and your local library may have computers where you can build your skills too.
Tip 3: Build your digital communication skills
Sending, adding attachments to, and replying to emails are skills you will likely need in a workplace. It is a good idea to try to build these skills early. Other digital communication methods include online chat systems, social media, and video conferencing software.
Tip 4: Get experience using a range of software
There is a large range of different software used in workplaces, which includes the Microsoft Office suite. It is important to consider upskilling in different software, especially software that may be used in an industry that you’re interested in.
Tip 5: Think about privacy and security
It is important to know how to create secure passwords and how to ensure your online transactions and the information you submit online is kept is secure and private when you want it to be. Websites continually update their security options and add things such as two-factor or multi-factor authentication – be aware of these changes and what you agree to when you use a service.
Tip 6: Use digital organisational skills
Just as you might use folders to organise documents in real life, using digital folders on your device to store digital documents can help you organise your information and know where things are. It’s a great idea to develop a systematic way of storing and naming these files that makes sense to you – this will help you find documents easily.
Tip 7: Build your online collaboration skills
Google Drive and Microsoft Teams are just some of the large number of online collaborative tools available. These allow you to work with colleagues online and in real time. Many of these have a free plan that you can sign up to, which you could use to explore and improve your skills.
Tip 8: Think about credibility of information
The internet can be a great source of information to help with problem solving and understanding issues. However, there is also a lot of misleading information online.
Be careful about what you read and make sure it is from a credible source.
Tip 9: Understand the different file types
On digital devices, you can save information using various file types that each serve a particular purpose. Some common file types you may already be familiar with include .pdf (for PDFs) and .doc and .docx (for Word documents).
You can also convert many file types into other kinds of files. For example, you can convert a Word document into a PDF.
Tip 10: Be aware of intellectual property (IP) and copyright
Although it is easy to copy and share images and other digital content online, be aware that this might be copyrighted material and you may not have the permission of the copyright owner to do this.
Social media platforms also have their own user agreements which could cover IP. If you use social media, it is important that you understand these agreements.