The Hidden Costs of Not Upskilling: Why Developer Training Matters

Diversity Declines

Despite attempts by many organizations to encourage diversity, a PwC report reveals that disparities in access to training remain. Those who most need digital skills are still the least likely to get them.

Consider the stats:

• 50% of workers say they’ve faced discrimination at work, which led to them missing out on career advancement or training.
• 22% were passed over because of their age — with younger workers just as likely as older people to be affected.
• 14% of workers have experienced discrimination on the grounds of gender, with women twice as likely to report gender discrimination as men.
• 13% report missing out on opportunities as a result of ethnicity.
• 13% report discrimination on the basis of social class or background.

Part of addressing workplace inequality involves giving everyone access to the same opportunities. If you’re interested in tapping into talent — no matter where it comes from or what it looks like — training is the first step toward reaching that goal.

Now that you’ve taken a look at the hidden costs of not upskilling, its time to think about the benefits your organization will receive from investing in your dev teams.

How Upskilling Your Dev Team Pays Off Long-Term

Many companies today recognize that investing in upskilling benefits both the company and its developers. But is it really worth the money you have to pay for training?

Here are some ways that investing in developer training pays off financially, along with real-life examples of companies that prioritize training.

By upskilling your team, your company can:

• Build better apps by attracting top talent.
• Encourage productivity by building team relationships.
• Increase profitability by staying on top of latest tech.
• Reduce hiring costs by retaining and promoting developers.

Now, you’ll find out how.

Build Premiere Apps by Attracting Top Developers

Training opportunities play a significant role in how top developers respond to your job ads or recruitment outreach. Sure, your perks and benefits are great, but will they help the applicant become a better developer?

Google is a company that attracts great devs by offering training opportunities. During onboarding, Nooglers are equipped with online learning materials like checklists, codelabs and codewalks. Google then assigns new devs a two-week starter project. This gives new devs the training they need to dive into Google’s technologies and processes right off the bat.

When top developers flock to your company, you can offer better and more profitable products.

Teams With Stronger Relationships Are More Productive

Training can improve relationships and collaboration inside the team and between team members and managers. When developers have a shared understanding of best practices and techniques, they work together more effectively and produce scalable, higher-quality code.

This also results in more satisfaction at work. For example, a Training Industry report revealed that trainees from companies who provided effective team training were also more likely to rate their managers more positively.

The managers at Greenhouse, an HR tech firm, clearly understand the benefits of training.

Greenhouse fosters an engineering learning culture by encouraging continuous improvement. Team members contribute to each other’s growth through regular lunch-and-learns, grassroots learning initiatives and yearly individual learning budgets for resources such as books, workshops and conferences.

Dev teams who have strong relationships with team members and management are more likely to work well together to create top-notch code in less time.

Well-Trained Teams Are More Profitable

New tech forces dev teams to revisit their processes and procedures. For example, AI is currently disrupting how developers work (see CoPilot), and dev teams that fail to adapt will get left behind. Training developers on the latest tech keeps them at peak productivity.

There’s a direct line between productivity and profitability. Trained developers work faster, complete more projects and allow the business to take on more clients or offer more features.

Developer Training Saves Money on Hiring

Hiring new employees is grueling for everyone involved — and no matter how robust your hiring processes are, you can never be sure that a new employee will be the great fit you’re hoping for. Investing in training reduces hiring costs by promoting managers from within the company and by reducing the amount of turnover in your dev teams.

48% of employees feel they don’t have enough growth opportunities at work. When developers feel valued and supported, they are more likely to stay with the company long-term and to see a clear career path within the organization. This helps reduce turnover while increasing job satisfaction.

Shopify understands this and addresses it through its four-year DevDegree. Students can earn a computer science degree through Shopify’s work-integrated learning program, which offers hands-on experience, mentorship and support. Spotify covers the tuition and pays a salary while the developer learns valuable new skills.

Training has a direct impact on your hiring prospects. LinkedIn research reveals that people mostly hear about their next new job through referrals. An upskilled employee is more likely to mention your company to someone who’s looking to make a move.

PwC confirms this trend, with 45% of employees whose jobs require specialized training being more likely to recommend their company as a place to work. Put another way, top specialists usually tell other top specialists to come work for organizations that train them.

The result is a capable pipeline of future leaders trooping into your organization and improving their skill set continuously.

Investing in upskilling your development team provides numerous financial benefits to both the company and its employees. By attracting top developers, improving team relationships, increasing profitability and reducing hiring costs, companies gain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing technological landscape.

How to Build a Developer Training Plan

As you now know, continuous learning and development are vital for your dev team. And to do it right, it’s crucial to have a well-defined training plan. To get started, you’ll need to:

1. Assess your team’s skill gaps.
2. Determine your training approach and budget.
3. Administer the training and measure the results.