T-Shaped Skills: Do you have the skills to be a growth hacker?
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 8:28 am
The idea of becoming a growth hacker is something that has become increasingly present in today's job market, and those who are attracted to the possibility wonder: what does it take to be a growth hacker? First, you need to understand and follow the T-Shaped Skills pattern of knowledge and professional learning evolution.
This term was originally coined by David Guest in 1991. He described the individual who follows this methodology as “someone who specializes in being a generalist, but who also has one or two areas of specialization.” It was later saudi arabia cell phone number by Tim Brown of IDEO, who mentioned that “many people come out of college and develop their learning in an ‘I’ shape,” that is, focused only on their area and blind to all others, whereas being multidisciplinary can be an asset and a differentiator in any job, as well as bringing more speed, flexibility and the ability to switch roles with others within a team.
As technology evolves, the market demand for a marketing professional with the profile of someone who thrives according to the T-Shaped Skills method grows. It is increasingly important to have professionals on the team who know how to stay relevant in accordance with new technologies, as well as with new trends, new tools and also with new ways of working.
T-shaped skill development in business is a recent trend, and growth hackers who use this method have become experts in demanding that they develop themselves. They understand that it is necessary to have broad exposure to a variety of skills that may be interesting for their respective careers, and more: they understand that it is necessary to choose an area to take ownership of and have in-depth knowledge. Therefore, experienced and young professionals who transition into a career as growth hackers face the same question: what skills and tools do they need to acquire in order to become successful?
A growth hacker is part marketer, part programmer, and part data analyst. Considering the skills one might need in this domain, a growth hacker can be compared to a Swiss Army knife – versatile and fast. However, unlike a Swiss Army knife, in addition to being good and practical at a number of tasks, a growth hacker must excel in at least one area.
Explaining T-Shape Skills in an image and a few words, the skills that are in the first level are those that you need to have at least an intuitive understanding of – represented by the horizontal bar at the top. In level 2, there are the skills that you actually have some practical experience and much more in-depth knowledge of – represented by the vertical bars. In the third level, both on the right and left, there are the skills that you need to have a very in-depth understanding of, and you can choose some to become an expert in – later, who knows, you might become an expert in all of them?
First level – skills you need to have an intuitive understanding of
The flat horizontal part at the top of the T represents all the various skills and disciplines that a growth hacker needs to be familiar with – they need to know a little bit of everything. In general, growth hackers are proficient in several disciplines, but it’s important to excel in a few of them to do their job effectively.
Front end codes
Front-end codes are the languages that combine to create the interface for the consumer and user of the internet. While there is no pressure to become a programmer, to be an accomplished growth hacker you need to have at least a basic understanding of programming, coding and web languages – HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby and Python. This will allow you to create things on your own, and it will also be a skill that will facilitate more effective communication with the company’s engineering team. Additionally, having a programming background will also help you adjust product features and marketing campaigns in real time.
Service Design
As consumers are bombarded with choices and experiences, service design – or experience design – teaches how to create products that people actually need and want. To do this, it is important to develop empathy with the customer, understand real pain points to be solved, understand the consumer journey and build solutions for these pain points.
Wireframing
Marketing professionals are increasingly involved with the entire customer journey (and not just generating traffic to a product), and understanding Wireframing becomes important for developing projects as well as archiving customer flows.
Behavioral psychology
A growth hacker must be a mind reader. He or she must understand the customer, know what their pain points are, what their behaviors are, what their personalities are, as well as what triggers will make these individuals convert into sales.
This term was originally coined by David Guest in 1991. He described the individual who follows this methodology as “someone who specializes in being a generalist, but who also has one or two areas of specialization.” It was later saudi arabia cell phone number by Tim Brown of IDEO, who mentioned that “many people come out of college and develop their learning in an ‘I’ shape,” that is, focused only on their area and blind to all others, whereas being multidisciplinary can be an asset and a differentiator in any job, as well as bringing more speed, flexibility and the ability to switch roles with others within a team.
As technology evolves, the market demand for a marketing professional with the profile of someone who thrives according to the T-Shaped Skills method grows. It is increasingly important to have professionals on the team who know how to stay relevant in accordance with new technologies, as well as with new trends, new tools and also with new ways of working.
T-shaped skill development in business is a recent trend, and growth hackers who use this method have become experts in demanding that they develop themselves. They understand that it is necessary to have broad exposure to a variety of skills that may be interesting for their respective careers, and more: they understand that it is necessary to choose an area to take ownership of and have in-depth knowledge. Therefore, experienced and young professionals who transition into a career as growth hackers face the same question: what skills and tools do they need to acquire in order to become successful?
A growth hacker is part marketer, part programmer, and part data analyst. Considering the skills one might need in this domain, a growth hacker can be compared to a Swiss Army knife – versatile and fast. However, unlike a Swiss Army knife, in addition to being good and practical at a number of tasks, a growth hacker must excel in at least one area.
Explaining T-Shape Skills in an image and a few words, the skills that are in the first level are those that you need to have at least an intuitive understanding of – represented by the horizontal bar at the top. In level 2, there are the skills that you actually have some practical experience and much more in-depth knowledge of – represented by the vertical bars. In the third level, both on the right and left, there are the skills that you need to have a very in-depth understanding of, and you can choose some to become an expert in – later, who knows, you might become an expert in all of them?
First level – skills you need to have an intuitive understanding of
The flat horizontal part at the top of the T represents all the various skills and disciplines that a growth hacker needs to be familiar with – they need to know a little bit of everything. In general, growth hackers are proficient in several disciplines, but it’s important to excel in a few of them to do their job effectively.
Front end codes
Front-end codes are the languages that combine to create the interface for the consumer and user of the internet. While there is no pressure to become a programmer, to be an accomplished growth hacker you need to have at least a basic understanding of programming, coding and web languages – HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby and Python. This will allow you to create things on your own, and it will also be a skill that will facilitate more effective communication with the company’s engineering team. Additionally, having a programming background will also help you adjust product features and marketing campaigns in real time.
Service Design
As consumers are bombarded with choices and experiences, service design – or experience design – teaches how to create products that people actually need and want. To do this, it is important to develop empathy with the customer, understand real pain points to be solved, understand the consumer journey and build solutions for these pain points.
Wireframing
Marketing professionals are increasingly involved with the entire customer journey (and not just generating traffic to a product), and understanding Wireframing becomes important for developing projects as well as archiving customer flows.
Behavioral psychology
A growth hacker must be a mind reader. He or she must understand the customer, know what their pain points are, what their behaviors are, what their personalities are, as well as what triggers will make these individuals convert into sales.