From an early age, we learn that work time and playtime are two separate things.
The former is reserved for getting important things done and the latter is for relaxation and fun. That distinction is further reinforced in adulthood as people learn that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” and to “work hard, play hard.”
Does the line between work and play need to be so clearly drawn, though? The tech team at CSC Corptax, which makes business tax software, would say “no.” Ari Roth, technology team lead, said games are used to help the development team grow their critical-thinking skills and to learn how to write automation programs. Games are just one of the many mediums developers at the company have to grow their skill sets.
Companies in growth mode, like Bitcoin ATM network operator CoinFlip, take a more hands-on approach. Employees are encouraged to go outside their comfort zones — and even teams — and take on projects that stretch them, which in turn helps the company hit its ambitious goals.
The “how” is less important than the fact that these two companies value upskilling their teams and approach it purposefully. Leaders from both CSC Corptax and CoinFlip told Built In Chicago just what these opportunities look like.
How can you upskill a team in an industry that is just getting off the ground with technology that is both constantly evolving and yet has a history that dates back a little more than a decade? Eileen Dengler, manager of talent attraction at Bitcoin ATM network operator CoinFlip, has an answer.
What opportunities do people on your team have for upskilling and professional development?
CoinFlip has seen a lot of success quickly, and a huge part of that is because of our talent. From the very beginning, upskilling was a tool we used. Our employee population was small during our early growth, so employees had to wear many hats, and that’s a philosophy CoinFlip still follows today. We encourage people to raise their hand and join projects outside of their comfort zone. In fact, we seek to hire people who are looking to stretch themselves in their careers.
We encourage people to raise their hand and join projects outside of their comfort zone.”
What’s the most creative use of your learning and development resources that you’ve seen?
Leadership pushes for cross-functionality between departments and cross-department experiences. Everyone at CoinFlip is considered one team and we are encouraged to ask each other questions and even shadow one other to better understand the company, its departments and our products. Doing this not only prevents overlap of work but also creates a space to learn other employees’ job functions, which helps everyone to expand their own interests.
What’s an example of a time when upskilling drove innovation at your company?
As a financial tech company, our product offerings must always be evolving in order to keep up with trends in the crypto industry. In turn, this requires that our teams and their skills pivot. There is an example of that within each team, such as the marketing team creating specific international content as we quickly launched in Canada or the operations team finding a way to rapidly service our newly installed Canadian ATMs. Our business is constantly changing, and our teams must adapt by pushing themselves to learn new skills each day in order to accomplish the company’s broader goals.
Upskilling is incredibly important across all fields in tech but especially so in engineering. A company’s ambitions are only limited by what its development team is capable of, and engineers need to continually add to their skill sets to grow in their careers.
Ari Roth, technology team lead at CSC Corptax, takes both of these factors into account. CSC Corptax creates tax software for businesses, and Roth said a combination of games, access to educational resources and opportunities to learn by doing help his team develop new skills and hone existing ones, which helps the company push its tech boundaries.
What opportunities do people on your team have for upskilling and professional development?
I try to ensure everyone has opportunities to learn the general and specific skills of interest to them. There’s always something new in our field to learn and apply elsewhere.
For example, making sure there’s time to use Pluralsight, to which all developer teams receive complimentary subscriptions. We’ve had a few cases where someone wanted to learn a new library related to our UI, so we found a place where we could use it. Not every new library, technique or technology is appropriate for the problem at hand, but when it is, learning and using it results in a better product. As a bonus, we share the new information with other teams and developers, giving them a chance to learn and improve their own code.
I believe in constantly striving to improve what we do. Upskilling and professional development are how we get better, and giving the team opportunities to learn is a high priority.
Upskilling and professional development are how we get better, and giving the team opportunities to learn is a high priority.”
What’s the most creative use of your learning and development resources that you’ve seen?
One great resource is Pluralsight. Visual learners can watch demos or read transcripts. Those who learn best by listening can use pre-recorded lectures. Doers can follow and apply exercises and files. Games can also help people think about coding concepts and specific techniques. Two that come to mind are SpaceChem and Bitburner.
SpaceChem asks you to assemble parts to create molecules from atoms and get them through to various goals. Each part you assemble is an instruction, so you’re putting together a visual program that takes inputs, manipulates them and outputs them — often into another program as new inputs. SpaceChem also encourages you to think about the best way to solve a problem. Developers are problem solvers first and foremost, so it helps to hone critical-thinking skills.
BitBurner asks you to hack your way through various fictional organizations around a city. You hack servers through a set of commands that you can automate via JavaScript. This makes it an exercise in writing programs to automate tasks based on conditions.
What’s an example of a time when upskilling drove innovation at CSC Corptax?
Much of the work we do at the UI level is driven by innovation. Over the last year, we’ve moved toward React as our UI library. When we first set out to do this, no one knew React. So, the implementation included quite a bit of learning — what it was, how to use it and best practices. The drive to succeed at this project vastly improved the skills of our developers and was an enriching experience for everyone.
