Skills

Pick one or two skills. Go deep. Most people spread themselves too thin.

The skills below have high demand, clear learning paths, and don't require expensive education.

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Programming

One of the highest ROI skills you can build. Useful in almost every industry.

Start here:

• The Odin Project — free, full-stack web development curriculum (highly recommended)
• CS50 — Harvard's intro to computer science, free
• freeCodeCamp — free, project-based learning

Go deeper:

• roadmap.sh — visual roadmaps for any tech career path

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Design

Visual and UX design skills are in high demand and learnable without a degree.

• Google UX Design Certificate — beginner-friendly, paid but often on sale
• Figma tutorials — official — free
• Refactoring UI — book on practical UI design for developers (worth the price)

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Writing

Clear writing is one of the most underrated professional skills.

• On Writing Well — William Zinsser (book — essential)
• The Economist Style Guide — free, direct, excellent
• Write regularly. Publish on Substack or a personal blog.

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Business and Product

Understanding how businesses work is useful in any role.

• Lenny's Newsletter — product management, free tier available
• Y Combinator Startup School — free, from the best startup accelerator
• The Personal MBA — Josh Kaufman (book — clear overview of business fundamentals)

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AI Tools

Knowing how to use current AI tools effectively is quickly becoming a baseline skill.

• Learn Prompting — free guide to prompt engineering
• DeepLearning.AI short courses — free, practical AI courses
• Practice using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity in your daily work

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General Learning Advice

• Pick one thing and spend at least 60 days on it before evaluating
• Build projects, not just tutorials — the real learning happens in projects
• Teach what you learn — writing or talking about a topic accelerates understanding

The skill that compounds the most is the skill you actually use.