Seven tech skills to learn during the ongoing ASUU strike

The word “ASUU” is a term most Nigerian students associate with strikes. Since 1999 till date, the Academic Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has gone on strike for 1621 days.

2022 strike action has gone for 228 and there’s still no end in sight as talks between the federal government and ASUU keep ending in a stalemate. For most Nigerian students the situation has caused them to idle away and waste precious time.

But as a student, you can put this time to productive use by acquiring skills that are not only relevant in the tech industry but would be instrumental to the future of work. The good thing is that most businesses today are not concerned with your degree or level of education but the skills you are bringing to the table.

If you can invest this time learning these skills, you would have put your time to productive use. Here are seven tech skills you can invest in to empower yourself as the ASUU strike persists. They are content marketing, UI/UX design, data analysis, cyber security, graphic design, web programming and mobile app development.

Content Marketing

Content marketers are the driving force behind getting products to market and ensuring product adoption. They are responsible for understanding the market (demand/need) and finding the best possible content strategy to communicate their organisation’s product as the solution to the market.

Content marketers use relevant articles, infographics, email newsletters, videos, podcasts, and other media. There’s a ton of free or affordable content online to start your journey but here are 5 instructive courses to kickstart your journey into content marketing.

UI/UX Design

First off, UI/UX Design means User Interface/User eXperience design. And they are not the same as graphic designers. User interface design focuses on a product's look, feel, presentation and interactivity. In contrast, the user experience design creates easy, efficient, relevant and all-round pleasant experiences for the user.

Overall, UI/UX designers are responsible for overall user satisfaction with a product. They make a product much faster, easier and more fun using tools like Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, InVision, Adobe XD, and Premier Pro. Here are courses you can start with

Related Article: Amidst the ASUU strike, tech communities are springing up across Nigerian universities

Data Analysis

If you are good with numbers, then you should really consider a career in data analysis. A data analyst reviews data to identify key insights into a business's customers and ways the data can be used to solve problems.

They communicate the insights drawn to help people make informed decisions. Data analysts use spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, SPSS. Some courses to get you started in data analysis are

Cyber Security

Last week, a teenager was arrested for hacking ride-hailing giant Uber. This is just one of many high-profile hacking activities in recent years. Cyber security experts are the professionals who prevent this from happening.

They defend computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks. Here are courses that can kickstart your journey into Cyber security.

Graphic Design

Graphic designers create visual content to solve problems and communicate ideas through typography, imagery, colour and form. They create interactive and attractive posters, infographics, book covers, product labels, logos, business cards, signs, website layouts, mobile apps, and software interfaces.

Graphic designers use tools like Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, InDesign, and After Effects. Here are enlightening courses to kickstart your journey into content marketing.

Web Programming

In simple terms, web programming is how we teach computers to perform specific functions. Through unique programming languages, programmers can communicate with computers so they understand which tasks to execute.

They are responsible for building functional programs writing clean code, designing user interfaces, web layout, organise testing, debugging, integrating back-end data, upgrade and repairing existing programs Some of the common languages used for web programming are XML, HTML, JavaScript, Perl 5 and PHP, Python, SQL, CSS, Golang, Swift, C#. Begin your career in web programming with these courses

Mobile Application development

Here’s a skill relevant now and for the future of work. The average person uses 9 mobile apps per day and 30 apps per month. According to Statista, by 2025, mobile apps are projected to generate over $613 billion in revenue.

The people who create these apps are Mobile app developers. Mobile application development is the process of creating software applications that run on mobile devices and tablets. Some of the tools used for app development include Xamarin, Sencha, Appcelerator, ionic, and Framework 7. Begin your career in mobile app development with these courses

There are many other tech skills out there you can learn online through videos, courses, books, hackathons, internships, and mentorship. Your education also doesn’t have to stop when the strike is over. By scheduling a stipulated time every day to practice you’d set yourself up to be a highly skilled graduate when you graduate.