Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Black History Month serves as a reminder to honor individual experiences and celebrate collective accomplishments. Beyond bridging wage gaps, fostering Black representation in tech is about creating inclusive experiences that empower marginalized communities. In the spirit of celebration, we shine the GA spotlight on four new AI tools by Black creators, embodying progress, equity, and empowerment in technology.
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
At General Assembly, we’re all about connections. We bring tech talent and top companies together to create a future of work where everyone can thrive. And we believe quality tech skill education should be accessible to anyone, no matter where you are in your search for the perfect career.
We offer a variety of learning formats, ranging from free two-hour webinars to full-time, career-changing bootcamps — and many options in between — to help our learners find their perfect tech fit (and ultimately, their dream career). No matter the format, all our courses cover the in-demand tools and concepts of today’s top tech disciplines — coding, UX design, data, product management, and more.
Maybe you’re already over the moon and committed to a certain tech discipline. Or maybe you’re still exploring the field and looking to “date” a tech skill (or two, or three) at GA to find your perfect tech career match. Read on for a step-by-step dating guide to find “the one.”
Continue readingDear Learners,
Today we’re announcing the relaunch of our one-day workshops. That means seven hours of hands-on practice with today’s most in-demand tech skills like data, UX, AI, coding, and product management — live in a virtual classroom like our short courses and bootcamps.
Continue readingIt’s only natural: as the new year dawns our ambitions awaken and our optimism for positive change flourishes. You’re feeling the pull to reimagine your career — now, how to make it a reality?
Commitment and consistency will see you through the months ahead as intentions transform into actions. While the emotional climate is favorable, you can take bold strides forward by setting aside time each day to act and reflect on your goals — goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. And if you’re really serious about career change or career advancement, you’ll need to make skill-building a key element of your goals so you’re prepared to unlock next-level achievements.
As you chart your course, use the following tips to turn ideas into action.
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Rebecca Szymczak, aka Cardsy B, author of The Saturn Diaries and tarot reader to the stars, consulted her tarot deck and has tips for which signs should utilize February’s Aquarian innovation to pitch new initiatives and which signs should work with the mid-month Mars/Pluto conjunction to make moves. She also has some insight into partnerships — this year, Valentine’s Day isn’t just for romantic connections — but is advantageous for business relationships as well.
February begins with Imbolc, the Pagan celebration of the peek into spring, which reminds us we’re beginning to emerge from the slower winter period to bring new ideas to life. We then move into the new moon in Aquarius on February 9, waking up our drive to innovate, especially in humanitarian efforts and social strategies. This is a good time for all signs to plan team brainstorming sessions and look at departmental structures. Right before Valentine’s Day on February 13, Mars will conjunct Pluto in Aquarius, making it an increased time of ambition, but also a time to be mindful of your approach regarding power plays. We have the full moon in Virgo at the end of the month, bringing some much-needed grounding after a big month of shake-ups and transformation.
Whatever your sign, change and expansion around partnerships is on the way this month. Aquarius season is the innovator and changemaker — so read on to see what the cards have in store.
Continue readingUser experience (UX) design separates a good product from a great product.
Harnessing skills like user research, wireframes, and prototyping, UX designers have a unique perspective when it comes to understanding the interactions between users, business goals, and visual and technology elements. For companies, their work fosters brand loyalty and repeat business. For consumers, it means frustration-free online experiences, intuitive mobile apps, efficient store layouts, and more.
Watch or read below as design experts from The New York Times, PayPal, Zola, and other top companies share how they design simple, user-friendly, and beautiful products.
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As businesses embrace artificial intelligence, a new challenge looms: preparing the AI-ready workforces necessary to leverage this new technology — before their competitors do.
It’s not going to be easy. In a fast-moving landscape, even the most tech-forward companies are scrambling to keep up — not to mention stumped on developing and deploying training for a technology that’s been accessible to the general public for just over a year.
For instance, 70% of business leaders currently don’t believe their teams have the skills to effectively and safely use generative AI. And 59% agree that their organization lacks the tech talent to meet their digital transformation goals.
What’s more, workers’ eagerness to build their AI skills far outstrips their skepticism. A survey by Adecco Group, our parent company, found that 62% of workers believe that AI will have a positive impact on their jobs — and that 67% of them expect their employers to help them learn how to use the technology.
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Education Technology (also known as “EdTech”) refers to an area of digital technology devoted to the development and application of tools (including software, hardware, and appropriate technological processes) intended to promote education.
Put another way, “EdTech is a study and ethical practice for facilitating student learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.”
Although this developing field may sound like a specialized niche, its potential implications are far-reaching and affect many segments of the population. Read on to find out if you’re among those most likely to benefit from the advancement of EdTech, and how you can contribute to its growth.
Utilizing Ed Tech to advance your career offers numerous benefits, making it a pivotal tool in today’s workforce. One of its key advantages is accessibility, as Ed Tech provides convenient access to educational resources anytime, anywhere. The personalized learning experience it offers tailors educational content to individual needs, fostering a more effective and engaging learning environment. Additionally, collaborative features enable individuals to connect and learn collectively, fostering a sense of community and expanding networking opportunities.
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A JavaScript framework is a collection of JavaScript code libraries that provide a web developer with pre-written code for routine programming tasks. Frameworks are structures with a particular context and help you create web applications within that context. JavaScript is a powerful coding language used in both frontend and backend development.
It is completely possible to build strong web applications without JavaScript frameworks, but frameworks provide a template that handles common programming patterns. Each time you have to build an application, you don’t need to write code for every single feature from scratch. Instead, you can build upon an existing feature set.
All JavaScript frameworks, like most other frameworks, provide some rules and guidelines. Using these rules and guidelines, any developer can make complex applications faster and more efficiently than if they decided to build from scratch. The rules and guidelines help shape and organize your website or web application too!
For example, think about a potter’s wheel where you can build pots. The potter’s wheel is your framework; it has certain consistencies that you have to work with. The wheel rotates, and you can use that rotation to build pots of different shapes and sizes.
You can build pots, plates, cups, bowls, or even cylindrical sculptures. But you can’t build a house with it; you need to find a different framework for that.
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As the founder of a career mentorship platform for women, I spend my days speaking with people who want to change careers but aren’t interested in starting over. They’re terrified that taking risks might mean losing everything they’ve achieved. They agonize about explaining “gaps” on their resume during an interview or at networking events.
Lucky for them (and you), I have good news: changing careers doesn’t mean sacrificing your past. It means building from the experience you have and leveraging that in a strategic way.
What’s more? There’s a simple (seriously, it’s four steps) way to incorporate both your career change and past experience into your elevator pitch. It’s the perfect solution to that dreaded question: “So, what do you do?” for those of us who, frankly, have done a whole lot.
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