[Leparamour]

I agree with the general of idea of learning high-demand skills, only I always found it to be a bit of a chicken and egg problem:

I have no (interesting) problems to solve with VBA/Vim/Powershell/Keras/Never Split the Difference-style negotiation in my day-to-day work or not enough fantasy to conjure these up in my private studies.

The lack of experience then disqualifies me for roles where I would be confronted with these (interesting) problems. Never understood how to learn intricate stuff inside a void of direct applicability

[Bakary]

In this case, the chicken is the current job from the vantage point of which you see similar jobs to your own that also require a specific skill in addition to what you already know

The egg would be the effort you expend on that skill to meet the basic requirements of the interview for such jobs

The new chicken borne out of this would be you learning on the job and carrying on from the fundamentals you've learned to get the job

[Leparamour]

Thanks for the input! I'm going to reflect on this.

[stevesycombacct]

> I have no (interesting) problems to solve with [...]

In fact, what pushed me into VBA was when $manager thought I would be a good fit to learn it, and gave me the book! I was a lucky case, as the new skills ended up being immediately required.