The future of work: are your skills up to date?

As a tech company, we are curious to understand the impact of remote work on demand, skill, and talent. In order to shed light on this matter, we have reached out to an expert, founder and CTO of Career Karma, Artur Meyster.

According to an article published by Forbes, Career Karma is a tech-driven platform which "helps people become software engineers by matching them to the right coding bootcamps and giving them support for the rest of their careers."

Read further to find out more about Artur’s views on the future of work.

Many professionals today are concerned about the future of work. As the tech industry continues to come up with new innovations, the global workforce will have to find a way to accommodate and incorporate the changes that come along. Aside from that, other circumstances such as the global COVID-19 pandemic have also pushed the world toward a certain direction.

The only way to successfully predict what’s to come is by monitoring current trends. Instead of panning in on a particular sector, we will focus on the new norm, which is remote work. It is safe to say that remote work will continue to have a place in the future as it has been one of the main elements that allowed economic continuity amidst the devastating pandemic.

Additionally, it makes financial sense for companies to hop on the remote-work bandwagon as it eliminates the need to have the physical infrastructure; no office equals less financial commitment. Companies are also slowly realizing that they no longer have to hire locally, which means they can outsource talent for cheaper costs or still pay the same amount for better talent from across the globe, for instance.

It doesn’t matter which field you’re currently working in or if you’re still looking for your first job, remote work seems to be the new “mainstream” and today’s companies truly value employees who can continuously adapt to new game plans. In this article, we’ll discuss the demand for remote work and how best to tackle it.

Demand for remote work

The LinkedIn 2020 Emerging Jobs Report found that remote work is no longer a perk and is becoming a priority for a lot of employees. It said: “More than 40% of millennials, who now make up the largest generation in the workforce, say flexibility to work from anywhere is a priority when evaluating job opportunities.” This is backed by the increasing number of remote jobs offered by large companies in the likes of Amazon, CVS Health and American Express.

A BBC article from last month also reported that Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has explicitly expressed the company’s support for remote work. It will "aggressively open up remote hiring" in July and half of the workforce is expected to work from out of the office for at least five more years.

This goes to show that it is only a matter of time before the whole world follows and adopts the new working norm. For a majority of people who are used to working in a physical office, the transition may be a little challenging. Don’t worry because we’ve got you covered.

Read on as we uncover some of the skills needed to become a stellar remote employee.

Skills you need to ace remote work

Here are some of the skills you need in order to ensure productivity is at an all-time high, even if you’re working from the comfort of your own home.

1. Time Management and Accountability

Working in a remote setting means performing your tasks under little to no supervision. Some companies may choose to use time tracking tools to ensure you meet the required hours. Therefore, you would need to have a high discipline level and good time management skills. Employers need to know that you are able to meet deadlines and perform the necessary tasks within the given timeframe, even if you are nowhere within sight.

At the same time, working from home can also blur the line between personal and professional space. It is easy to get sucked into work when you’re always at the office. You need to come up with a sense of structure when it comes to time to avoid both over or underworking.

2. Communication

As a remote worker, communication is key to ensure that you’re still connected to your company and fellow colleagues. Now, more than ever, you cannot afford to miss an important phone call or message from your employer. You have to be contactable during work hours and try to respond promptly when contacted by any of your teammates.

On top of that, having good communication skills means that you are able to communicate clearly with your clients or colleagues. When working from different locations, miscommunication can happen and it may affect ongoing projects or incur unnecessary costs to your company.

3. Willingness to learn new tools

At times it can be hard to carry on with a team project when the team members are not immediately present. Lucky for you, there are a lot of tools and software to support various kinds of remote projects.

For project management, for instance, your company might want to use Trello or Dropbox; for meetings, perhaps Zoom or Skype works best. As remote work picks up more traction as a trend, more and more of such software will pop up.

As a remote worker, you need to be open to learn and use all the relevant tools. Even if let’s say you’re not the most tech-savvy person, download and try them out on your own and learn about all the features you can utilize to make your tasks easier. After all, that’s why these tools are built. If you have questions about them, don’t shy away from asking your peers or you can always look them up on the Internet.

After reading the skills recommended by Artur, we reached out to our very own Pauline Beelen, Recruitment & HR Consultant at SALTO KS and asked her which skills she believes are essential for remote work.

“I think in order to be successful as a remote worker you need to be strong at organising your work, find efficient ways of communication with colleagues and stakeholders and make sure you take time off to recharge. When working remotely you have a sea of time: make use of this flexibility to both maximise your output and take good care of yourself.” - Pauline Beelen, Recruitment & HR Consultant at SALTO KS

This article is a contribution to the SALTO KS Blog made by Artur Meyster, CTO and founder of Career Karma.

To find out more information, visit their website here, get matched with coding bootcamps here, or check out their social media below.



Now that you have discovered what it takes for a professional in tech to keep their skills up to date, do you feel ready for the challenge? If yes, check out our Careers page in order to join the SALTO KS team and #becomeabrick.