SortMySkills is now live on Datagene.io! Check it out here.

Update: API discontinued to save on cloud cost.

A very simple UI so you can focus on the cards.

What is SortMySkills?

It is a card sorting game to help users discover their passion by sorting skills into what they like and dislike using.

Users sort 50 general skills into a 5-scale rating, ranging from “Love using (energizes me)” to “Neutral (has little or no effect)” to “Hate using (depletes me)”. However, only five skills can be sorted into “Love using”, making you decide which skills you truly enjoy—and should focus on.

After sorting all the cards, it should provide a clearer picture of the skills you enjoy or dislike. Hopefully, this provides insight as to why certain aspects of your current role energizes or drains you. This also provides guidance on the role you should be in—one which allows you to apply skills you love a majority of the time.

How did SortMySkills come about?

SortMySkills is a collaboration between Ken and me. Back then, we were both in IBM and a few years into our careers. We observed that our peers were not getting satisfaction from their careers and wondered how we could help them find clarity on jobs they would love.

I shared about how I experienced similar dissatisfaction while in my previous role at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). To figure out the next step of my career, I reached out to my career counsellor at SMU, Tracy, and she introduced me to a similar card game.

After sorting the cards—which took less than ten minutes—it became clear to me that there was poor skill alignment in my current role. My role in MTI required me to take verbatim notes (maintain records), budget and make arrangements for frequent overseas trips, sometimes taking up more than 75% of my time. These happened to be skills that severely drained me. In contrast, the skills I enjoyed such as analysis, working quantitatively, and forecasting were seldom applied. Thus, I decided to make a career switch to work closer with data.

Ken and I spent our free time and weekends conceptualising and designing the game. Ken was the coding wiz, making the game easy and beautiful to navigate through Ruby while I researched on the skills to cover, game mechanics and concepts, and website copy.

How do you play SortMySkills?

It’s easy. There are 50 general skill cards with descriptions. Read the descriptions and click on the options below to sort them between 5 (love using) and 1 (hate using). Remember, you can only have five skills under the “Love using” column. If you would like to re-sort a skill, click on the skill card and it will appear back in the deck.

Okay I’ve sorted my skills. What next?

Take some time to reflect on the skills you love and hate, and whether it matches your experience at work. How much do you get to apply the skills you love and like at work?

If there’s a good fit, congratulations! You have a great role with opportunity to apply and hone the skills you love. (In my opinion, it’s a good fit if your job allows you to apply the skills you love more than 60% of the time. It’s unlikely to have a role where it’s puppies and rainbows all the time).

If there’s poor skill alignment between your current role and you, don’t fret. Now you have better clarity on the skills you are passionate about, and can focus on applying and improving them in your free time—this provides an outlet for those skills. As your skills improve, opportunities that allow you to apply them at work will arise.

Questions? Want to follow my journey? Reach out on Twitter @eugeneyan!

If you found this useful, please cite this write-up as:

Yan, Ziyou. (Oct 2016). SortMySkills is now live!. eugeneyan.com. https://eugeneyan.com/writing/sortmyskills-is-now-live/.

or

@article{yan2016sort,
  title   = {SortMySkills is now live!},
  author  = {Yan, Ziyou},
  journal = {eugeneyan.com},
  year    = {2016},
  month   = {Oct},
  url     = {https://eugeneyan.com/writing/sortmyskills-is-now-live/}
}