Creating an Upskilling Program

As a CTO, one of your responsibilities is to ensure the continuous growth and development of your engineering team. Building an upskilling program is an essential part of fostering a culture of learning and innovation within your organization.

In this chapter, we will explore guidelines, best practices, common pitfalls, and anti-patterns to help you create a successful upskilling program. We will also discuss software and third-party solutions, budget considerations, and strategies for handling exceptional cases.

Selecting the Right Learning Resources and Platforms

One of the first steps in building an upskilling program is choosing the right learning resources and platforms for your team. Online platforms such as Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Oreilly, and Pluralsight offer a vast array of courses covering various technologies, methodologies, and skills. Evaluate each platform based on the content quality, relevance to your team’s needs, and pricing model. You may also consider third-party vendors offering turn-key solutions, such as General Assembly or Coursera, which provide comprehensive learning paths and industry-recognized certifications.

Companies like IBM have successfully implemented upskilling programs by leveraging a combination of in-house and third-party resources, including online courses, workshops, and conferences. IBM’s SkillsBuild initiative, for example, provides a range of learning paths and resources to help employees develop critical skills in areas such as data science, cloud computing, and AI. By investing over $70 million in digital learning and offering over 7,000 online courses, IBM has seen a significant improvement in employee skill sets and performance (source: IBM).

The following analytical approach may guide on your path to choosing the right learning resources and platforms for your engineering team. This involves a systematic evaluation of various factors to ensure that the chosen platforms align with your team’s needs, objectives, and budget constraints. Here are the steps involved in this analytical approach:

1. Identify your team’s learning needs: Start by conducting a thorough skills gap analysis to identify the areas where your team requires upskilling or reskilling. This may include technical skills, soft skills, or domain-specific knowledge. You can gather this information through surveys, performance reviews, or one-on-one discussions with team members.
2. Define learning objectives: Based on the identified learning needs, set clear and specific learning objectives for your team. These objectives should be aligned with your organization’s strategic goals, such as improving product quality, increasing efficiency, or fostering innovation.
3. Research available platforms and resources: Investigate various learning platforms, such as Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Oreilly, and Pluralsight, and third-party vendors offering turn-key solutions. Compile a list of potential platforms and resources that offer relevant courses, workshops, or certifications addressing your team’s learning needs.
4. Evaluate content quality and relevance: Assess the quality and relevance of the content provided by each platform. Look for up-to-date, well-structured courses taught by industry experts or experienced instructors. You can read user reviews, preview course materials, or consult with colleagues who have used these platforms to gauge their effectiveness.
5. Compare pricing models and features: Analyze the pricing models and features of each platform, such as subscription plans, course bundles, or enterprise packages. Consider factors like the number of users, access to course materials, and additional features like learning analytics or personalized recommendations.
6. Assess integration and scalability: Evaluate how easily the platform can be integrated into your existing learning management system (LMS) or technology stack. Scalability is also important if you plan to expand your team or upskilling program in the future.
7. Pilot and gather feedback: Before making a final decision, consider piloting one or more platforms with a small group of team members. This will help you gather feedback on the effectiveness and user experience of each platform, enabling you to make a more informed decision.
8. Make the final decision: Based on your evaluation, select the learning platform or combination of platforms that best align with your team’s learning objectives, budget, and technical requirements.

By following this analytical approach, you can systematically choose the right learning resources and platforms that cater to your engineering team’s specific needs and contribute to their professional growth and development.

Choosing the wrong platform can negatively impact both a team’s development and motivation. People value having their opinions heard on such matters. Do not decide on a platform without consulting your software team, even if it is cheaper or recommended by HR. Such an approach can do more harm than good.

In my opinion, software developers benefit most from Udemy. Its tutorials are short, concise, and generally of acceptable quality. When more detailed training is needed, the methods differ. However, the engineering team is satisfied with Udemy when they need to quickly get started on a topic.

I find O’Reilly’s Safari Books Online service very valuable for reading technical books online. With a monthly subscription fee, access to almost any book on any topic is possible.

When I need a more structured system that includes university programs instead of user-generated content on Udemy, my personal preference is Coursera.

Of course, these are my personal preferences. Your team will inevitably have their own views based on the dynamics of your company.

Budget Considerations

When budgeting for your upskilling program, you have two options: allocate a dedicated budget for each team member or create a pooled budget. A dedicated budget provides flexibility and autonomy for employees to choose their learning paths. However, a pooled budget allows you to manage resources more efficiently and allocate funds based on priority and team needs. Ensure that the budget is sufficient to cover a diverse range of learning resources and experiences, including online courses, workshops, and conferences.

AT&T, for example, launched its Future Ready initiative, which invested $1 billion in employee training and development programs. The company provides a personalized learning platform called “T University,” which offers access to various online courses, certifications, and resources. This approach has helped AT&T to equip its workforce with the necessary skills to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving industry (source: AT&T).

Handling Exceptional Cases

In some cases, team members may request expensive training opportunities, such as international conferences or specialized workshops. To handle such requests, establish clear criteria and guidelines for evaluating the relevance, potential impact, and return on investment of the training. If the training aligns with the team’s goals and the individual’s career development, consider approving the request. However, it is important to be transparent about budget limitations and explore alternatives, such as live streaming or local events, if the costs are prohibitive.

Google provides a generous professional development budget for its employees, allowing them to attend conferences and workshops worldwide. By offering access to these high-quality learning opportunities, Google ensures that its engineers stay at the forefront of technological advancements and industry trends.

Protecting Your Investment in Employee Training

Investing in employee training can be risky if team members leave the company shortly after completing an expensive course. To mitigate this risk, consider implementing a training reimbursement agreement that requires employees to repay a portion of the training costs if they leave the company within a specified period after completing the training. This approach can help ensure that your investment in employee development yields long-term benefits for your organization.

Companies like Amazon have implemented reimbursement agreements through their Career Choice Program, which provides employees with financial assistance for professional certifications and training in high-demand fields.

Language Barriers

Most technical education is in English. If your team is not in an English-speaking environment, this will introduce a new challenge. First, you need to solve this problem. Using English in a sentence may seem like an issue that can be solved right away, but it’s not. Unfortunately, the development opportunities for a team with language barriers will be very limited. If you want to have a world-class team and compete with your rivals, it’s essential to invest in your team’s English language skills.

English is not my native language, and for most of my career, I had to work with people who had language barriers. The biggest investment I made in my team was always to provide them with English lessons. I am delighted to see that some of my former employees, whom I supported in terms of English proficiency, have now reached key roles in global companies like Twitter and Delivery Hero.

You can arrange group and 1:1 private lessons, depending on the person’s language needs. If your company has financial capabilities, it should offer these lessons as an employee perk. If possible, having an English teacher come to the office and creating a classroom environment will also have positive benefits. Setting a rule for speaking only English in the office on some days and starting to do all documentation and Slack messaging in English are also effective methods.

You can find the most appropriate method based on your corporate culture. But whatever you do, make sure to invest in raising your team’s English proficiency level. You won’t believe the positive results.

Mitigating Talent Poaching Risks

Upskilling your engineering team can make your company more attractive to competitors looking to poach talented employees. While this may seem like a downside, it is important to recognize that the benefits of upskilling your team far outweigh the risks. There are some strategies to mitigate the risk of talent poaching while fostering a culture of growth and development though.

Firstly, it is crucial to foster employee engagement and satisfaction. A satisfied and engaged employee is less likely to leave for another opportunity. Creating a positive work environment, offering opportunities for growth, and maintaining open communication channels can ensure that your team members feel valued and are less susceptible to poaching attempts.

Ultimately, even if you have paid for training, the market value of a person equipped with new skills will change. You cannot expect an engineer who only writes C# to be worth the same as an engineer who writes both C# and Golang. Even if you paid for their education, you must reflect the cost of their new skills in their salary. This is usually an overlooked issue.

Career development and progression should be a priority. By outlining clear career paths within your organization and providing the necessary support and guidance for employees to advance, you can make it less likely that your team members will seek opportunities elsewhere.

A strong company culture that aligns with your employees’ values and promotes collaboration, innovation, and work-life balance can also help protect against talent poaching. Investing in cultivating a unique and appealing organizational culture can create an environment that employees are proud to be a part of.

Implementing targeted employee retention strategies can also help to reduce the risk of employee turnover and protect your organization from poaching attempts. Examples of retention strategies include offering flexible work arrangements, recognizing and rewarding top performers, and providing opportunities for employees to take on new challenges or assume leadership roles.

In some cases, non-compete agreements and confidentiality clauses can act as a deterrent against talent poaching. It is important to ensure that these agreements are reasonable in scope and duration and comply with local labor laws.

Building strong relationships with your team members is another way to mitigate the risk of talent poaching. Cultivating personal connections and demonstrating genuine interest in employees’ well-being and professional growth can make it less likely that they will leave for other opportunities.

Finally, staying informed about industry trends and competitor activities can help you proactively address potential threats to your talent pool. Monitoring these trends and activities can help you adapt your retention strategies as needed, keeping you ahead of the curve.

By adopting these strategies, you can mitigate the risk of talent poaching while providing your engineering team with the skills and opportunities they need to grow and succeed within your organization. Investing in the professional development of your team not only benefits the individuals but also contributes to the overall success and competitiveness of your company in the long run.