Skill Inventory for a Better Development Career

Even if you’ve never worked in tech, it’s likely you have some skills that will benefit your future development career. Technical along with non-technical skills are important to inventory for several reasons:

They open you up to more job opportunities.
They signal employers how valuable of a hire you’d be.
They give you more things to talk about during your interview.
They show you what you need to focus on to improve.

And the nice thing about the skills you identify is you don’t have to be an expert in them. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

My Skill Inventory

I went through the following process to analyze my skills in order to ensure I was making the best choice about the development career I stepped into:

Make a list of all the technical and non-technical skills that come to mind ✅
Identify my skill level or area of expertise with my tech skills ✅
Explain how the non-technical skill relates to a development career ✅
End with a list of possible development roles in order of importance ✅

My Technical Skills List

Each star rating is out of 5. ⭐ = beginner. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ = expert.

HTML ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
CSS ⭐⭐⭐⭐
MySQL ⭐⭐
PostgreSQL ⭐⭐⭐
Python ⭐⭐⭐⭐
C# ⭐⭐⭐
JavaScript ⭐⭐
Git ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Django ⭐⭐⭐
FastAPI ⭐⭐⭐
WordPress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Technical support ⭐⭐⭐⭐
SEO ⭐⭐⭐
Technical writing ⭐⭐⭐
SQL ⭐⭐⭐
Mac ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Windows ⭐⭐⭐
Linux ⭐⭐
Bootstrap ⭐⭐⭐
Tailwind CSS ⭐⭐
ASP.NET Core ⭐⭐⭐
SQLite ⭐⭐
GitHub ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Postman ⭐⭐⭐
OOP ⭐⭐⭐

Technical Skill Insights

Based on the skill inventory I did on my technical skills, I made the following insights:

I should add WordPress developer as a possible career option. (See updated list later in this blog post.)
Web development is an extremely strong option for me.
Development careers where Python is a top choice would work well for me.
I need to develop the following skills more: Linux, SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap.
I need to learn more about development in the cloud since I don’t have any skills listed for it.

My Non-Technical Skills List

Written communication — This skill will help me with writing code comments, code reviews, and documentation if any is needed in my future roles.
Editing — My experience as a copy editor will help me identify any anomalies in code.
Ghostwriting — My research skills I’ve developed in my ghostwriting projects will help me when I need to research any issues, new technologies, APIs, or frameworks I’m unfamiliar with.
Customer service — Customer service teaches you how to work with a diverse set of personalities, whether that’s through working with clients or coworkers.
Multi-line phone system — I can manage completing several tasks throughout the day.
Medical front desk — I can handle different types of chaos and conflict.
Owning a salon — Working and making decisions on my own will make me an idea candidate for remote roles.
Retail — Suits me to a role where I’m responsible for answering to a lot of people, whether that’s explaining my development process or answering questions about tech to a non-tech audience.
Medical records (print) — I am used to working within an established organizational system.
Problem-solving — I have the skills to think creatively about solving problems through code.
Deadline-oriented — I won’t have any challenges meeting daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly deadlines.
Simplifying complex ideas — I can easily explain technical concepts to coworkers who are not developers or even technically literate.
Big-picture thinking — I would do well working higher up development process where I can help inform decisions about product features.
Multitasking — I can take responsibility for several tasks at a time.
Switchtasking — I can switch focus to a different task, even if temporarily.
Critical reading — I can easily read and understand code documentation.
Email etiquette — I can communicate easily to my team through email.
Ethical decision-making — I can be trusted with difficult decisions.
Organization — The status of my work is easily communicated at any time during a project.
Brainstorming
Working independently — I can be trusted to finish my work on time.
Working on a team — I can be productive either on my own or in a large group of team members.
Collaborating — Even if working remotely, I can work one-on-one or in large groups to collaborate on solutions to problems.

Today’s Final List of My Top Development Roles

Technical writer
Back-end web developer
Full-stack web developer
CRM web developer
WordPress developer
Database developer
API developer
Product manager
Security developer
Mobile (iPhone) developer
Desktop (Mac) developer