Engineers ought to be taught abilities aligned with organizational outcomes. However you also needs to encourage them to pursue their very own expertise ability growth.
If you happen to ask engineers to make time to be taught one thing they’re truly considering, they’re extra doubtless to put within the effort. And also you by no means know when these abilities will turn out to be useful in your group.
Principal Program Supervisor at Microsoft Steve Buchanan shared an instance. He noticed Kubernetes as an up-and-coming development, however when he requested his supervisor to be taught these new abilities, he received shot down.
Steve discovered Kubernetes anyway. “I spent the time learning, even invested dollars in a program at the time just to kind of ramp up on [Kubernetes]. And then fast forward, I ended up becoming a lead for a region around containers, and it was because I took the time prior to invest in myself and start learning that technology.”