What Is A Portable Skill?

By portable I mean “can you relocate from one country to another and get a job without having to retrain yourself”?

If you are living in the 21st century you’ll have heard an earful by now of the global phenomenon known as outsourcing which is the relocation of projects or work to geographic locations where the work can be done cheaper or better.

Another global trend similar to outsourcing is the migration of computer programming and business analysis professionals to cities outside of their country of birth. For example, currently there is a migration of foreign nationals from developing countries to developed countries including the United Kingdom (UK), Canada and US.

Are Your Skills International, Borderless and Cross-Cultural?

Which brings me to my question, are your skills really portable? If you have to move to a country other than your country of birth, will you be able to do the same work you are doing now without having to go through extensive re-training, certifications and examinations?

Not All Programming Skills Are Portable

I’ve worked with software developers and business analysts who migrated from other countries and where able to get a job within a week of landing in the US, doing exactly the same work they were doing back in their home country. I’ve also worked with foreign nationals who had good jobs back in their home country but on landing in the US were unable to find suitable employment because there are software development languages and business analysis tools that when mastered, you become instantly employable in China, UK, Canada or India. There are also technologies that are so specialized or limited in their usage that you may not be employable or may find it hard to use your skills once you leave your current employer.

Not All Careers Are Portable

If you happen to be a medical doctor you may appreciate the fact that you cannot migrate from just any country to the US and immediately find employment as a medical doctor without having to pass some qualifying examinations which sometimes may take years to complete.

Also, in my first career as a Chemical Engineer employed in Proctor & Gamble, I realized that working on a manufacturing line, I couldn’t get up and migrate to South Africa, Canada, UK, Singapore or Kuwait for example and find employment within a few weeks. This is because my technical skills were specific to the type of manufacturing plant I was working on. These manufacturing plants cost millions of dollars to setup and where not available in a lot of cities. So my future employment prospects where dim except I stick-it out with the same employer or a handful of employers round the world that use the same manufacturing plant.

Bringing It Home to Business Analysts and Computer Programmers

Frequently, I come across business analysts and computer programmers who invest a lot of time studying obscure technologies, learning skills that are not portable, without thinking it through.

So, why you go about your learning, ask yourself this question; Are you learning a tool, technology or skill that will be useful to just a handful of employers or are you mastering technologies and skills that make you instantly employable across the globe?

To Your Career,

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