At one point or the other, we all deal with pressure both in our personal and professional life. There are days our jobs or businesses would be very demanding and performing tasks under pressure becomes a necessity. It can be overwhelming especial when we have limited time.

Think of a time you were under pressure, how did you respond? Were you calm or you felt overwhelmed? Did it bring out the best or worst in you?

Learning how to work under pressure in a healthy and productive way is very important because it helps to reduce burnout, helps you deliver your task on time and keeps you calm.

In this post, I will show you the 10 tips that would help you work under pressure and meet deadlines

To-do lists are running lists of every task you need to complete.

Outline your priority, make the most important things come first and less important things should come below. Set a time limit for yourself for every activity on your list and try to beat up that time. Don’t make the mistake of setting a deadline that you can’t meet, analyse the complexity of the work and estimate a reasonable amount of time to get it done. Listing your task will motivate you to achieve them because it makes them clearer and direct.

Calmness can be very powerful because it helps keep your thoughts clean and keeps your mind at rest. Panic and worries will waste your time and energy unnecessarily.

Being calm doesn’t just make you think logically but it enables you to make decisions appropriately. It gives your mind clarity and enables you to provide possible solutions to your problems. 

Part of the prioritization process is to learn how to say no. Reject unrealistic requirements right from the start. If you have so much to do and you’ve been requested to do something else please politely say no. This is important because the other party won’t get disappointed in you for not meeting up and you would be able to focus on the task at hand. 

In a situation where you can’t say no, you should look for help in order to meet up.

Focus on what you are doing now, do not think about the future or the past. Constantly remind yourself of the task at hand, multitasking may feel like you are getting more work done but having to think about so many things at the same time can leave you feeling burned out or disorganised.

A noisy environment can reduce your level of productivity, for example, phone calls, colleagues talking, sounds of desk clutter etc.

Allowing your mind to wonder about would prolong the task at hand. Focus your time, effort and attention on just one task.

Never agree to an impossible deadline to please someone otherwise this would do more harm than good, it can lead to your boss losing trust in you or even your customer. It can leave you feeling stuck and irritated.

Having a limited time to complete a given task can make the task at hand look overwhelming and difficult to achieve.

The best way to deal with this is to break down the bigger task into series of smaller and achievable tasks. Set a deadline for each of the smaller tasks. This would help you to stay on track and complete the whole project in a timely manner and will help to reduce stress.

Delegation is a key component of success. You don’t expect to do everything all by yourself.

Delegation is a life-saving tip. It helps empowers others, helps with their personal and professional development and also helps you save time. If someone is better at a particular task than you are, it would be great to delegate that task to them, they would be able to complete it in less time and probably in higher quality.

Pressure is mostly a result of the failure to prioritize and act.

putting off certain tasks when you have more time on your hands can make a rod for your own back. Procrastination causes stress and can affect your ability to do well in your job.

Procrastination is a habit and can be hard to break. But, by being persistent, you can force yourself to act rather than resist. This will help ease the pressure later on.

How do you spend your time? Do you spend it on important tasks or less important ones? It is very crucial to learn to spend your time on the important task and understand that among the important task there are those that need to be done now because of their level of urgency.

Creating a daily schedule helps you to focus on the task at hand. For example, Runners who train for marathons and diligently adhere to daily practice are most likely to cross the finish line.

Start by creating a weekly schedule, then break it down into daily tasks. These routines will help you stay committed to the tasks at hand and will prepare you to tackle any unexpected situation.

In conclusion, the ability to work under pressure is a great skill that everyone should develop because things may not always go as easy and smooth as we have imagined. Never neglect your physical and mental health. You can relieve pressure by taking a deep breath, taking a walk and requesting help when necessary.

HOW TO WORK UNDER PRESSURE AND MEET DEADLINES

As an employer, if you want to get the best result and performance from your employee’s then it’s important to keep them motivated.

Recent research shows that employees work 20% better when motivated. This means that a company’s treatment of its employees can positively affect its result and productivity.

In this post, we will look at 6 motivation techniques for the workplace 

It is important to reward and celebrate hard work among your employees. Recognising employees achievements on a regular basis is an effective way of motivating them. When an employee performs an excellent task celebrate him publicly, it will not just encourage him but also his colleagues. They will as well long to be celebrated publicly, this would motivate them to perform a great job.

Also, let every team member know exactly how much each of them contributed to helping the company move forward. Focusing on what your team does right rather than what they do wrong helps motivate them.

Consider non-monetary awards such as public acknowledgement, increased responsibility, status, titles, workspace etc. it is important to praise your employees publicly and discipline them in private.

More than half (57%) of employees surveyed by Randstad say they need to leave their current companies in order to take their careers to the next level. This means that a lack of growth in an organisation can lead to a lack of motivation for its employees. 

Investing in your employee’s development also mean investing in your business. The more developed your employees are the more quality job you would get from them. When you take your employees growth seriously, you are indirectly telling them that you value them as much as you value results. This would go a long way to motivate them.  

Encourage your employees personal and professional growth. You can do that by offering tuition reimbursement or sending them to workshops and seminars that can help improve their skills. You can as well suggest books, articles they can read to eliminate weaknesses and help them discover their strengths.

Identify the goals you want your team to achieve. Break them down into measurable and achievable goals. This is an effective way to help team members stay motivated when working on a project.

For example, if your team has been tasked with publicising the company’s product on various platforms, you should encourage them to set smaller goals such as designing creatives, creating content, designing marketing strategy on how to publicise, if it’s going to be on a daily or weekly basis. 

Breaking down the larger goal into smaller tasks help bring your team members closer to achieving the main goal. The progress can be easily measured because the goal has been broken down into smaller tasks and it would be easier to know who among the team members is putting in effort and who is not. 

Prioritising work-life balance in the work environment is an effective way to motivate your employees. It can help reduce stress and increase productivity.

A survey from Randstad in 2018 suggests that a lot of employees leave their jobs because they seek a healthier work-life balance. 36% of respondents said they are planning on leaving their current job because they are not allowed to work remotely.  Nearly half of the respondents express their interest in joining the gig economy so they can have better flexibility.  

Employees value a work environment that gives them the opportunity to manage their time. A very effective way of motivating your employees is to focus on productivity rather than working hours. A flexible working schedule can help your employees feel less stressed and be more productive. 

Encourage employees to ease stress by taking vacations during holidays or break during the workday, this can be a lunch break or a walk to an eatery. This can help reduce care costs and also boost the morale and mental well-being of your employees

You can provide employee assistance programs for managing stress, anxiety and other challenging issues. For example, You might consider offering yoga or meditation classes over a lunch break or encourage your team to participate in these activities when they feel stuck about the direction of a project or need to take a short break.

Successful organisations like Google, Microsoft Intuit etc. have wellness programs in place for their employees. As an employer, it’s important for your employees to have wellness programs in place because it will help them stay healthy, stress-free and be more productive.

Involving your employees in goal setting shows them that you care about their opinion and value their input. As an employer, you may not be specialised in every area, you can get suggestions from your employee who specialises in that area. 

Encourage your team members to try new ideas, offer their input at team meetings, and take risks when the situation allows for it. Try taking action when they offer their input on a particular subject. This will show your employees that you truly value their opinion. It will also go a long way to motivate them to give in their best to perform their tasks. 

The value of having a motivated workforce cannot be overlooked as the success of any business or organisation is attached to it.

If you are an employer, an executive or a business owner, it’s possible you’ve had quite a number of meetings with your team. The irony is we spend so much time in meetings yet we spend very little time thinking about how we can run effective meetings.

In 2012, Salary.com did a survey and they found out that the number one time-waster at work was ineffective meetings. Every day we see meetings becoming ineffective and less efficient because it is done poorly. Such meetings can create confusion and miscommunication among team members and can also lead to low performance of team members.  

Meeting that is done right is extremely powerful, it drives growth and development, it creates unity among team members and helps to improve communication.

In today’s post, I will be sharing with you 8 tips that would help you run an effective meeting

Start by asking yourself this question, do we really need a meeting about this? There are information or issues that don’t necessarily require a meeting, some of these can be done via emails. You can make a weekly memo which can be sent to every member of your team to read, it can include a summary of what was discussed in the previous meeting and things that are happening within the organisation.

Not every single issue deserve a meeting. It’s easier to call for a meeting frequently when you have a smaller team member of about 5 to 10 people, but imagine you have a larger team of about 15 to 100 people, every single time you gather that large number of people you would likely be wasting each other’s time. So you need to ask yourself this question, do I really need this person in this meeting? This would help reduce the number of participants and would increase the effectiveness of the meeting.

Different meetings require different strategies and structures. For example, an organisation can have a board meeting where its board member come together to deliberate on issues and to make decisions, such kind of meeting tend to last long hours and is not done too frequently. While meetings with your team member are meetings that wouldn’t last for long hours like a board meeting, the aim of this meeting might be to create a bond between team members and to brainstorm on issues. 

To make a team meeting effective, you need to ask yourself, how do I get every team member involved? If you don’t answer this question correctly, your team meeting would end up a one-sided form of communication which would hinder the effectiveness of the meeting.

Have a clear objective and agenda for your meeting. You really need to think about what is the meeting purpose, do you want to decide on something? Or do you want to get input on something? 

It is important you have a clear idea of what the objective of the meeting is. It is more important to communicate this objective to your team members ahead of time so that they know why they are attending the meeting. When you have an agenda, it helps every single person participating to come prepared and also with the necessary information, for example, statistics, reporting etc. 

Research shows that Monday morning is the worst time to have a meeting, despite the fact that it’s so common. When planning a meeting, you need to choose a time that would be convenient for every one of the participants.

Planning a meeting for late hours in the day can be ineffective because at that point the participant may be tired and exhausted from the day’s activities which can make them less productive. You can as well get suggestions from the team members by asking for their opinions on the perfect time for the meeting, then you can go with the majority.

It is important to start your meeting on time and end it on time. Don’t make the mistake of waiting for all the participants of the meeting to be present before starting. When you do that it becomes a habitual thing for them since they would be waited for. Immediately it’s time, commence the meeting, whoever is late would need to catch up, it trains them to keep to time.

It’s equally important you end on time because every single time you drag on a meeting, it affects the rest of the task these participants might have for the day. Having a clear cut time would help the participants prepare and be able to do the rest of their tasks for the day. It would be helpful if you have one of the team members as the timekeeper, this would help to keep track of time.

Irrespective of having a great agenda you still need to manage the meeting in order to stay on track. A lot of times people brings up tangential ideas, it might be a great idea but it’s off the meeting agenda. You can write down such ideas for future deliberation but they shouldn’t be discussed at the moment because it is out of the day’s agenda

One of the hardest tasks to accomplish leading a group of people is to get them to focus. Whether it’s the organizer or any of the participants, someone should always take the responsibility of guiding the meeting back to the assigned topics and bringing back the focus.

At the end of the meeting, summarise all the agreed-upon action items. Most people don’t do this, it results in team members not performing their tasks according to plan because they weren’t paying close attention in the meeting. 

At the end of the meeting, make sure you go through all the tasks assigned to every individual, you can go about it by saying, “okay, let’s review what we all agreed upon”. Put responsibility with the name of the person who is supposed to perform the task and due dates associated with those tasks. This would make your meeting effective and efficient. 

After the meeting, ask each team member to rate the meeting, you don’t do this for daily huddles but you can do it for your weekly, monthly and or even quarterly meetings. 

You can ask your team member to rate the meeting on a scale of 1-10. You should aim for 8 out of 10. This process can help make the meeting more effective because you begin to put close attention to why the rating is either low or high. 

You can have a one on one with the team member to get their opinion. You can ask, what do you think we could do to make the meeting more effective? What can we do to make it more valuable? Or what could we do to make it more productive for you? This could result in different solutions that you might not have thought of.

Technology is constantly evolving, today a lot of things we do or use are based on codes, ranging from social media, ordering and buying of things online etc. 

Almost every job right now requires some form of computer literacy, most jobs in the future will require more than that. 

Nearly 50% of all jobs today require some coding skills. Thousands of industries depend on computer programs to run their operations. Code is the backbone of work in the finance sector, health sector, food industry, customer services, education etc. In order to prepare your kids and set them up for greatness in the future it’s important they learn to code.

In this post, we will look at 7 tips to get your kid interested in coding

The first step to getting your kid interested in coding is to convince them that coding is about creativity. You can achieve that by finding out what they want to create. For example, is it video games, robots, interactive drawings, applications? It’s very important to follow their lead. Creativity is a kid asset when it comes to coding. 

If you notice your kid enjoys playing games, you can get the kid involved in platforms like Tynker which aims at teaching children how to make games and programs, the idea is to make coding a game.

Kids are innately curious and love to explore. They love to discover things for themselves, they pick things up, smell them, touch them and ask lots of questions. It’s important to take advantage of their curiosity when coding, allow them to deviate from the tried and tested path, it helps them explore other possibilities.

Create an environment where they can try out new things, don’t always bore them by making them repeat the same thing over and over.

The impact of coding can be felt in nearly all industries like, Health sector, Finance, Agriculture, Sports, Art, Movies etc. find something they can relate to in order to make coding more relevant to them. For example, if the kid loves football, he can create a website for tracking live scores.

Encourage kids to try what seems interesting to them. They can try out different things to figure out the one they love best. There are a number of Apps that focus on everything from drawing to animation, storytelling, robot creation and game designs.

These apps are fun to use since they take the help of games and challenges to teach basic coding constructs like loops, recursion, structural thinking and decision making to kids. For example, Apps like Tynker and Robo wunderkind would be great for kids that love games. Tynker teaches the kid how to make games and programs while Robo wunderkind provides kids with the kits they can use to build robots and power them by an app.

As kids code, having friends who are also interested in coding helps to keep them engaged and makes the whole process fun. For example, group coding projects encourage teamwork and allow kids to learn from one another.

Kids can meet up with one another to play coding games or they can use coding Apps to make projects and share with one another. When kids see their friends interested in coding it helps them to develop more interest in the whole process.

When kids have a real-life programmer with whom they can share their enthusiasm, they become more excited. It helps them understand that coding is fun. They will be able to interact and ask questions.

A mentor will provide the kid with the necessary guidance when they hit roadblocks, challenge them to keep exploring and help them transition into hardcore coding. As a tip, getting a Mentortribes mentor for your kid would make your kid’s coding journey fun and set your kid up for greatness.

You can make problem-solving fun for kids by making puzzle games a regular activity. If your kid does not enjoy problem-solving, you can always encourage him/her to be curious. Push them to learn how something works and to find different ways of doing things.

At an early age, children are likely to be attached to their parents. They love to play with their parent.  As parents, it is important to take advantage of this opportunity by learning to code with them, play around with codes together with your kid, it would make the process fun for them. Seeing you go through the journey with them helps encourage and make them confident.

Learning how to code has become a necessary skill especially for the younger generation. It is important to encourage your kids to take up coding at a very young age in order to prepare themselves for what the future holds.

Nearly 50% of all jobs today require some coding skills. Thousands of industries depend on computer programs to run their operations. Code is the backbone of work in the finance sector, health sector, food industry, customer services, education. 

TIPS ON HOW TO GET YOUR KIDS INTERESTED IN PROGRAMMING

Do you know that your advice, support and mentorship can save that colleague of yours from being fired? Do you know it can save that student of yours from dropping out of school? And do you know it can heal a hopeless soul in your neighbourhood?

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." — Winston Churchill

If your cup is full then you have an obligation to fill up other’s cups, when their cups overflow they also fill up other’s cups and it becomes an embodiment of paying it forward. Mentorship is a cycle of generosity, you help others, you help yourself and better your society 

Sometimes it seems like the benefits of mentorship are just on the mentee. Research proves that mentees benefit from mentorship in several ways but being a mentor is also good for our personal and professional growth. Sometimes the mentor can be the one who gets more out of the relationship

In today’s post, we will look at the benefits of becoming a mentor

As a mentor, you have the privilege of learning everything new again from your mentees fresh view of life. Being a mentor can challenge your own thinking by seeing things from a different perspective you are going to think about how you can do things differently yourself in your day-to-day life. You may as well find that you can challenge old or past behaviours and improve things in a fantastic way.

When you start working with mentee’s, you are going to build a network of people who like you, know you and trust you. Even when they move on to a new corporation or start a new business they are going to think of you, recommend you and would want to keep working with you in some way. 

For every mentee you work with, your network is going to grow by not just one but probably five to ten people due to the people you will meet through them and the people you will meet for them when you look for people to help them.

Being able to work with people of different gender, different age brackets, different backgrounds, different departments and demonstrating patience while offering them guidance and support, helping them figure out the best path forward: these are qualities of a great leader

When you mentor others and take care of the relationships people will respect you and think of you when it comes to leadership. They are going to see you as more of a leader than others and that can pay off for you.

When you are trying to help someone see their learning deficiencies and improve upon them, you are going to notice yours more too. You are going to want to be a good example for example, by taking more classes, going to seminars and improving your own development.

Being a mentor can help your interpersonal skills when we mentor other people we learn how to interact, we learn how to answer challenges and questions, but also we learn how to listen. If you can improve your interpersonal skills, you are going to find this really valuable across the board in your organisation, in your industry and in your day-to-day life.

Mentoring would give you a far wider understanding of different departments, different organisations and different industries. When you mentor people, it’s not a must to mentor only those in the same industry or organisation as you. You are going to learn more about different parts of a different organisation or different departments by being a mentor and you never know what opportunity will unlock for you. Even if you are mentoring different people from the same organisation, the chances are, we may be doing so in different departments, you may learn about different departments and how you can have a more positive impact and it may help you in your everyday life. 

Being a mentor is a fantastic thing to do if you can have a positive impact on someone else’s life. As a mentor, you can change someone else’s life for the better. Your advice can help save someone the time he would have wasted on trial and error, your encouragement would help save someone from giving up and your support can help someone become a better professional in his field. 

Recent research shows that people who had acted as mentors were six times more likely to be promoted than those who didn’t, and 20% more likely to get a raise. An employer would prefer to bring on board someone who has mentored others over someone who hasn’t because mentoring others helps develop skills that you may not have learnt in school. 

As a mentor, you will have the privilege of mentoring someone who is way younger than you are and of a different generation. This is an opportunity of leaving a mark behind even when you are not there. You may be mentoring a future leader, future employer, future director or even a future minister, making an impact in such a person’s life is also equivalent to making an impact on the future generation. some of the most successful people throughout our history have been mentored themselves and the mark of their mentor can be felt. For example, Maya Angelou mentoring Oprah Winfrey, Mahatma Gandhi mentoring Nelson Mandela, although they never met, Mandela was greatly influenced by the books and writings of Gandhi.

In conclusion, if you want to enjoy these benefits of being a mentor, it’s important to seek to be a great mentor by learning about the skills needed, taking your mentorship seriously and putting a lot of energy into it. Just like everything else in life, you get out of it what you put into it. We at Mentortribes would love to help you make an impact on the world by giving you the privilege to teach out of your experience. 

Do you have what it takes to be a mentor and do you want to enjoy the benefits of being a mentor? 

Let me know by leaving a comment below right now 

“Guy, forget Tech. I don’t see anything there. I have been on it for 3 years but I can’t seem to make headways. Not even a single gig. All those things are scam.” Josh vibrated.

“Hold on, hold on, I am your friend yes, but I am not guy, lol. Has it gotten to the extent of calling me, guy?”

He laughed. “All I’m saying is, Tech Skills are over hyped.”

My friend, Josh has been on this journey like he said, for three years. He is as some would say “self-taught” or “Internet-taught” and the truth is, Josh is not fit to handle gigs yet, I do tell him.

Discussing with Josh, I made him know the importance of learning from one source to avoid information overload and most importantly, having someone hold your hand as you build a career in Tech. This is known as “Mentorship-based learning.”

The UNESCO International Bureau of Education sees mentorship-based learning as a relationship between a less experienced individual and a more experienced person known as a mentor through which the mentor facilitates and supports learning. 

It can involve a one-on-one relationship or a network of multiple mentors.

The purpose of mentoring is to help mentees tap into the knowledge of those with more experience than themselves and learn faster than they would on their own. It is also an opportunity to grow their network and connect with leaders rather than just their peers.

So the internet can be likened to an ocean with all kinds of creatures, some of same species but they sure have their distinctive features. The same can be said about course materials available on the internet where you have different people teach their own perspective on the same matter. 

The negative effect on the learner? Information overload, Confusion and frustration. Take for instance Digital Marketing. There are lots of videos on YouTube about it but all are different with a thin similarity which is difficult to spot.

Relying on the internet to learn a Tech skill will leave you picking tiny fractions of information with no guidance on how to piece them together. Because, the course creators are not readily available to attend to the learners.

This is why it is important to be intentional when choosing where to learn a skill. And choosing a Tech skill service provider like Mentortribes that leverages on mentorship-based learning makes a whole lot of difference. Tech is hard already. Navigating through it without help is a journey you wouldn’t want to make.

On the flip side, Mentorship-based learning will save you all the rigors and hassles of having to figure things out on your own.

Here are some of the advantages of Mentorship-based learning in Tech:

1. Shortens the learning curve: With mentorship-based learning, you are guided by mentors on the dos and don’ts of your chosen Tech path as well as industry best practices. You also learn what you are supposed to straight up rather than experimenting on trials and errors and in turn waste time unnecessarily. Having someone mentor you will cut a journey of three years by half or even less.

2. Leverage on the experiences of mentors: The mistakes, the lessons, the toils have all been done by mentors. They know where the jobs are and how to get them. Holding your hands means you do not need to do the searching. They have cracked the code and you just have to leverage on their experiences to excel.

3. A support system: Is there a feeling greater than having someone you can call on when you feel stuck? I doubt there is. I was discussing with a friend and he said that for the past three days he has been trying to troubleshoot a particular issue but it wasn’t working. Imagine that he has a mentor, he would not have to waste such amount of time on a single task.

Having a support system also comes in handy when you feel like giving up. Because the truth is, days would come when you feel like nothing is working and you would want out. A mentor would therefore hold you down while using himself as a reference point on why you should persevere.

4. Have someone refer you to people that matter: A mentor is that one person that would mention your name in a room where your expertise is needed. You wonder why you have not gotten a job in Tech and someone whom you know when he started learning, finishes and gets one easily? Or why some people get higher paying jobs than others? They have people on whose back they ride: mentors!

With Mentorship-based learning, you get to connect with industry leaders rather than your peer.

Working in the Tech industry invariably means you get to spend a lot of time on your laptop and smartphones and for all we know, the lights emanating from these screens are not healthy for the eyes.

The eye is among the most important organs of the human body. Without it, we cannot function optimally so it’s necessary we take precautions to ensure that our eyes are healthy.

Too much screen time can be damaging to the eyes but for someone who makes a living off the internet, these lights also known as Blue Lights are unavoidable.

Blue Lights, simply put are a range of lights that contain the highest amount of energy in the visible spectrum. Your laptops, smartphones, your LED televisions all have one thing in common: Blue Lights of which excessive exposure to, have been found to cause certain damages to the retina.

Too much exposure to blue Lights can cause Macular degeneration (which can lead to permanent vision loss), and Digital eye strain.

According to Charles Awuzie, a Nigerian TechPreneur based in South Africa, one of the good advices we should no longer take in 2023 is “Reduction of Screen time”. Just like he said, we now work, study, hold meetings and carryout transactions on devices and screens. Reducing screen time will mean reducing productivity and for a large part of the world population, it will mean putting a limit to our source of income especially, people in Tech. This does not mean he cared less about eye health.

What can you then do to keep your eyes healthy and out of harm’s way even as you work in the Tech space?

1. Blue light filters: if you are always exposed to the “screen”, a convenient way to reduce exposure is to apply blue light filters to your device screen. These filters are available for smartphones, computer screens and tablets and you can easily purchase them where computer devices/electronics are sold.

2. Protective eye wears: wearing blue light blocking glasses, yellow-tinted computer glasses or glasses with anti-reflective lenses can also help keep your eyes safe. 

3. Ensure you rest your eyes: choose a time when you usually get off work and use that period to rest your eyes.it could be during the weekend when you do not have much to do on your computer.

4. Eat foods that support eye health: consuming less junks and more healthy foods will help you stay fit. Special attention should be paid to carrots, bell peppers, kale, spinach, broccoli, strawberries, oysters, salmon, eggs, meats and healthy fats as they promote and support good eye health.

Having a career in Tech and especially working remotely means we cannot totally avoid exposure to Blue lights but we can take measures to keep safe while on the screen. Do the best you can to support your eye health.

Working in the Tech industry invariably means you get to spend a lot of time on your laptop and smartphones and for all we know, the lights emanating from these screens are not healthy for the eyes.  But for someone who makes a living off the internet, these lights also known as Blue Lights are unavoidable. How then do you manage to keep your career running whilst prioritizing your eye health? 

BLUE LIGHT AND EYE HEALTH: A CONCERN FOR PEOPLE IN THE TECH

We advocate learning Technological skills. This is because there are endless possibilities and opportunities as well as flexible work environment in the Tech space.

As much as technological skills are trending, and one cannot go wrong with them, one’s reasons for venturing in matter a lot. Every action is backed up by a motive and pursuing a career in Tech is not an exception.

It is your reasons for going into a thing that help you stay put when the going gets tough and it doesn’t seem rosy and, it is definitely the wrong reasons that see people giving up on something when it turns out not being as they expected.

Here are some wrong Reasons people go into Tech

Money: Before you say “What?” please calm down, please, LOL! Are you calm now? Great! We know money is good and necessary for everyday living. We know also, that money is one of the reasons why we learn skills and go into businesses. Money is a motivation. But what happens when you go into Tech solely for the money and the money is not forthcoming? This is why passion is necessary. When you make money your only motivation and propelling force, frustration becomes inevitable.

Friends: Some people go into Tech and venture into particular area because they have friends that are in that particular niche who are hitting the money big. You do not have same passion as them so it would be wrong to toe the Tech path because of your friends.

To prove a point: The issue of “others are doing it, why can’t I” or “I can do better than what he or she is currently doing”, is a very wrong reason to take an action most especially in Tech. others are into it, and so what if you are not cut out for it?

For the title:  Some people fancy the titles “Tech Bro”, “Tech Sis”, “Programmer”, etc. These are mere titles and are worth nothing if the bearer doesn’t know his onion or, do you not know that there are broke Tech bro and sis?

Look beyond the above reasons and find what motivates you naturally. Do not go into Tech because your friends are all gone in or because you feel that it is the new gold or because it is all the rave.

It is also important to speak with someone who is in Tech to mentor and counsel you and to help you discover your why.

Wrong reasons why People venture into Tech

That’s right, you want to learn a digital skill.

It’s awesome to improve on oneself and that also includes improving financially.

You have access to the internet so it’s dumb to think that you do not know what’s trending: Technological skills!

Call it digital skill, soft skill, technological skill, it all means the same thing: A skill that requires more of intellectual/mental work than physical strength to carry out. It is all the rave and yes! It is worth it.

If you want to learn a tech skill or you wish to pursue a career in tech but seem overwhelmed with the many options that you do not know which is best for you, then read till the end and we promise you will gain clarity.

There is a surge in interest in the Tech space in recent years and it can only go up. But why the surge? The answer is increase in Technological innovations which require the knowledge of some skills (technological skills) to navigate.

This surge has changed a lot of things including the way people live and work, giving a large number of the world population the freedom to live and work remotely and smartly.

It could be overwhelming deciding which one skill to pursue a career in. This is because there are loads of these skills out there but the truth is that, there is that one skill for you and all it takes to change your financial status is just, that one skill.

Here is our take on how to know which is that “one skill” for you.

Passion: when choosing a tech skill, go for what you have passion for. It is your passion that will keep you motivated and unrelenting when the money isn’t coming in yet.

Are you passionate about writing or designing then go for skills related to them.

Your strengths and weaknesses: let’s face it, you know your strength, your weaknesses, you know what you can start, finish and not abandon half way through.

You know if you are good with numbers or letters and that informs your decision. If you are cool with numbers then go for coding/programming related field. If it’s letters, look towards writing/ copy/marketing.

Do not be a run-away science student that jumps into more complex science in Tech, LOL! Actually some guys avoided sciences not because they cannot take the heat but because they were not properly taught at the formation stage.

If you feel you can do it, go for it then. You would want to do what you do with some level of ease, right? More like it comes naturally. This aid your learning process.

Duration: some skills take longer to learn than others. So, if your goal is to learn and perfect in a month or two and start earning, well, consider skills you can master quickly.

In summary, know what you can take, what your goals for the skill are, whether they be long term or short term.

And yes, no one skill is better than the other. It all boils down to what you make of it.

It could be overwhelming deciding which Technological skill to pursue a career in. This is because there are loads of these skills out there but the truth is that, there is that one skill for you and all it takes to change your financial status is just, that one skill.

If we want to set our children up for academic success, every child should learn to code. Coding for kids not only helps improve their mathematics and writing skills but also gives them valuable skills in life and eventually in the workforce.

“why should a child/my child learn coding?”

Well, this is why I will be sharing with you 8 Reasons why every child should learn to code

Put simply, Coding is the a method of communicating with a computer. It is using a language that a computer understands to give a computer instructions in order to perform specific functions. Coding allows us to create things such as computer software, websites, apps and video games. 

Before we get to talking about why every child should learn to code, you may have come here looking to find out HOW you can teach your child to code. It’s easy to get started teaching children to code, even if you don’t have any coding experience yourself! In fact, we’ve compiled a list of coding concepts even 5 year olds can understand here.

there are many ways to start teaching your kids coding and here are some ways out of the many ways:

You can get started coding with your kids today! It’s easy, and all you need are items you likely already have around your house. To first start learning the basics of coding, you don’t even need a computer! One of our most popular unplugged coding activities involves learning to code with a deck of cards! You can find out how to learn to code with a deck of cards here, or you can find our whole list of unplugged coding activities here.

If you’re like me, you struggle with appropriate screen time for your kids. I know that I got to the point where one more YouTube video of kids opening and reviewing toys was going to send me over the edge. We try to make our screen time as educational as possible. I even taught my son to play the piano using this app!

There are lots of amazing coding apps that can get your kids learning to code without even realizing it. Even popular games like Minecraft have an education edition that helps kids to learn to code. Our favorite coding app is this one. We have a whole list of the best coding apps for kids here.

One of the easiest ways to get a taste of programming basics for kids is with the fun and FREE hour of code activities available online. These activities are designed to take only an hour and can give kids and parents a chance to understand the importance of learning to code. We have an entire list of our favorite hour of code activities here.

Our coding worksheets will help to reinforce the basic coding concepts learned in the activities above. These worksheets are perfect for the classroom or home. Our worksheets cover the concepts of algorithms, sequencing, loops, variables, decomposition, branching and debugging.

But why is it important to learn how to code?

Why should kids learn coding? There are so many reasons to learn coding, it was hard to pick just 8 benefits of learning to code. From problem-solving skills, job opportunities, critical thinking, and creativity, there are so many reasons to learn programming. Let’s review why kids should learn to code.

Now these are 8 reasons why coding is important for kids to learn:

Programming helps children learn to problem-solve

Understanding computers and learning the basics of coding helps children to develop an appreciation of how things work. It also teaches them how software engineers use math in order to solve problems in a logical and creative way. This is an important reason that coding should be taught in schools, so children learn these skills while they are young.

The ability to solve problems is a trait that is useful in life in general. We all want our children to become excellent problem solvers so that they can overcome any adversity they face. Learning to code gives children the chance to learn this type of skill while they are young and it can help them along the way in life. This is one of the big reasons coding is important to learn.

Computer programming gives kids a challenge and helps them develop resilience

When children learn to code, they develop the ability to bounce back after failure. They learn that failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and in fact, it can often be something positive because it serves as a learning opportunity. This is one of the most important reasons why kids should code, as they will learn quickly that ‘debugging’ your code is half the fun.

When you fail and try again you can learn from your mistakes. Coding gives children the ability to try and try again until they succeed and produce the result they are looking for.

“ A computer is a bicycle for your mind” – Steve Jobs

Learning to code teaches children how to think. Computer programming isn’t just about teaching how to type lines of code. It is more about teaching children how to think differently. Being able to code effectively, a programmer needs to use logical thinking. They need to be able to see a large problem and break it down into smaller pieces in order to solve it in an effective manner. This is called decomposition and is one of the key features of computational thinking.

Children learning code will need to take a vague idea and use their creativity to turn it something effective. If the first solution doesn’t work, they try another one. If that one doesn’t work, they try again until the problem is solved. Coding helps to develop this way of thinking and these types of thinking skills are highly sought after.

A child expands their creativity when they learn how to code

Coding is important to learn because computer programming teaches children to experiment and gives them the confidence to be creative. They will have the chance to design something that is entirely their own. Children thrive off of the feedback they get from creating something they love. Just like learning a language, or to play a musical instrument, children need motivation. Usually seeing results along the way is enough to cultivate this, and this is what happens when children learn to code.

Because coding is easy to pick up, for children especially, confidence comes easily. When children learn how to code it gives them the opportunity to be confident and create something in a fun and exciting way. 

Why is learning to code so important? For us, creativity tops the list! We love the creative games and activities our kids can create with coding. Coding doesn’t have to be boring, in fact, coding can be fun! We show you how to make coding fun for your kids in this post.

Because coding is easy to pick up, for children especially, confidence comes easily.

When children learn how to code it gives them the opportunity to be confident and create something in a fun and exciting way.

Why is learning to code so important? For us, creativity tops the list! We love the creative games and activities our kids can create with coding. Coding doesn’t have to be boring, in fact, coding can be fun! We show you how to make coding fun for your kids in this post.

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8 Reasons Why Every Child Should learn To Code

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