Self-Taught Skills

Self-taught skills refer to the ability of developers to independently learn and acquire technical knowledge, tools, or concepts without formal education or structured training programs. This involves leveraging online resources, documentation, and hands-on practice to build expertise. It demonstrates initiative, adaptability, and a proactive approach to professional growth in the fast-evolving tech industry.

Also known as: Self-Learning, Autodidactic Skills, Independent Learning, Self-Education, DIY Learning

Why learn Self-Taught Skills?

Developers should cultivate self-taught skills to stay current with emerging technologies, fill knowledge gaps, and enhance career flexibility, especially in fields like web development or data science where tools evolve rapidly. This is crucial for tackling specific projects, such as learning a new framework like React for a front-end role or mastering cloud platforms like AWS for DevOps tasks. It also showcases problem-solving abilities and resilience, which are valued in agile and remote work environments.

Learning Resources

• tutorial: How to Teach Yourself Hard Things
• book: The Self-Taught Programmer
• course: Coursera: Learning How to Learn
• docs: MDN Web Docs: Self-Directed Learning