Why You Should Always Be Learning - The Importance of Continuous Education
Education is incredibly valuable, however, when we hear the word “education” it can be easy to associate this with academic accolades such as getting a degree or completing a technical course.
Although this is a highly valuable and valid way of learning, it isn’t the most inclusive way to continuously evolve. There are a number of ways in which you can educate yourself without spending money, as well as eliminating the need for tests or full-time commitment.
At Orbis, we are incredibly vocal about continuously learning, as we believe that you are never “finished” with education, even if you’ve completed mandatory schooling and university.
We chose to partner with Kodiri, which offer games and challenges for developers at all levels. Alongside this, we also use their platform for interview testing.
This enriches our consultants’ knowledge as well as giving our candidates the opportunity to brush up on their coding techniques.
One of our Consultants, Cierra, recently completed a course to develop her knowledge further within the Product space:
Alongside this, we are also re-starting our lunchtime webinars called Code & Create, hosted by one of our Senior Consultants, Joe Davies.
Code & Create is a series of conversational webinars featuring various technical guest speakers. These include step-by-step workshops, live coding, demos, and animated discussions.
All sessions are kept below the hour, so they’re easy to digest and won’t take up your whole lunch break.
We wanted to make these webinars completely accessible and inclusive, which is why we offer free downloads of previous lunchtime sessions - just in case someone can’t attend!
Why do we do this?
Although recruitment is a key focus for us at Orbis, giving back to our community through adding educational value has always been a key driver for us.
Not only does it strengthen our knowledge and encourages a culture of learning internally, but it allows us to connect with candidate and client communities effectively.
Additionally, running workshops and offering other learning styles gives more opportunities to individuals who either didn’t have access to further education, or didn’t respond to particular teaching styles whilst at school/university.
Where else can I learn?
We are fortunate to live in a world where information is readily accessible in multiple formats, giving anyone the power to learn and continually educate themselves.
Some of our favourite places to learn internally are:
Webinars
Games/short courses
Lunch and learns
Workshops
Other effective ways (particular for juniors wanting to get into the Tech industry) are:
Coding schools, which can be an alternative route to university or college. These are often cheaper than university or can be funded via a scholarship or a corporate partnership
Apprenticeship schemes
Blogs, white papers and books
TED talks, YouTube
LinkedIn's events and groups (which is where specific webinars can also be attended for free)
General Assembly, Flat Iron School, Grace Hopper (USA), Makers Academy
Podcasts
In-person events
To conclude, learning and education should be a linear process, and with unlimited resources at our fingertips, both paid and free, a culture of learning is something we will continue to cultivate at Orbis.
We are always looking at ways in which we can enrich our consultants careers, as well as offer better learning opportunities for our candidates and clients.
As part of our growth and development, we will continue to share these initiatives and partnerships publicly, to hopefully inspire other companies to adopt a similar school of thought.
Fancy learning more about the latest trends, hacks and innovations in Engineering and Development? Join us at our next Code & Create workshop - Sign up here!
