Introduction to the 10 Skills

1. INTRODUCING: A TECH START UP

Hi, I’m Mary. I’m the CEO of an up-and-coming tech startup, Poodle Jumper. Have you ever thought about working in the IT industry but felt like it was out of reach or difficult to understand? This course demystifies this elusive industry by discussing the skills you really need to thrive, explaining how teams work together to build software, and giving you a real look at what it is like to work in the different roles. We’ll cover User Experience Design, Quality Assurance Engineering, iOS Engineering, Web Development, and Software Engineering.

Let me start by introducing our company. Poodle Jumper provides on-demand care for pets, allowing pet owners to ensure their furry family members are taken care of when they aren’t able to be home. We partner with local services to provide transportation, exercise, feeding, and grooming.

We are an early-stage startup that launched two months ago. We have a small but dedicated team that is working to develop the tools our customers and service partners need. To be competitive with limited resources, we’ve prioritized hiring individuals with the right skills, but it may surprise you that they aren’t all technology-related. When evaluating our employee performance, we found that technical knowledge didn’t always add up to an effective employee. As you’ll seen in this course, creating software requires a lot of initiative, communication, and problem-solving. So, we leverage the 10 Skills of the 21st Century created by Strayer University and Capella University in partnership with top employers, business leaders, and recruiters. These skills are critical to performing your best—not just in IT, but across all industries.

2. WHY ARE THE 10 SKILLS OF THE 21ST CENTURY IMPORTANT?

As people become more and more connected, workplaces are spreading out, with teams working in different parts of the world. Instead of staying at one company or even working in one field, people are more willing to change gears and enter entirely different professions. According to LinkedIn, the average millennial changes jobs four times before the age of 32 (Long, 4). These skills will help future-proof your career no matter what industry you work in.

At Poodle Jumper we promote employees who take initiative, communicate effectively, and solve problems. I’ll give you an introduction to these skills so you can develop them too. It’s normal to feel stronger in some skills than others. How you feel about a skill can change over time, depending on the project, task, or job you face.