Software is eating skills training
Meet EnkiBot! The skills mentor of the future.
TL;DR: On the back of our work over the last two years, Enki is launching the first conversational interface to help assess and build tech skills. EnkiBot can be used by individuals, teams and mentors to level up skills in just a few minutes a day, and shows results instantly. All without having to download or login to any new apps.
Update: Product Hunt featured us today!
“Much to learn you still have…my old padawan. This is just the beginning!” — Yoda
Two years ago we launched Enki with our first product — a mobile app to level up tech skills. The bigger-picture idea was to massively lower the barriers to continuous learning. We started with technical topics like JavaScript and React that are evolving the most in the current environment, and then added must-know topics which nearly everyone in tech would benefit from learning or mastering, like git, CS fundamentals and SQL.
The response to the app was phenomenal. We’ve had almost 1 million developers try our app, with over 95% rating it 4 or 5*. Many developers from Valley companies like Google and Uber love the app, but it’s also been invaluable to those in places like Brazil, Serbia and Portugal to help build their skills and advance their careers. Thousands of our users have signed up to contribute to our open-source content library. We now have a global community of hundreds of thousands of technical professionals that realize that the best way to get ahead is to be proactive in improving themselves.
We did realize that there were two product hurdles to overcome with the app in helping to fulfill our mission of driving true continuous learning. The first is that it’s hard if not impossible to code on a mobile interface. Solving challenges and building things by writing code is one of the most important ways to learn technical skills, especially from scratch. The second hurdle is that our app is perceived as a single-player experience. It was hard to persuade real-world teams to use the mobile app to collaborate and motivate each other to learn even more effectively. Peer pressure and teamwork is the other important pillar when it comes to learning.
This is how we came up with the idea for EnkiBot. We wanted to help people make the most of our bite-sized, personalized content, but allow them to use code and be empowered by their peers and mentors to learn too. EnkiBot is a personalized skills mentor, which can be used by individuals but is even more powerful when used by teams. It assesses and helps to build skills through a bot interface that can serve code challenges, as well as interactions best provided by a conversational interface. The first version of this bot works perfectly for those teams that use Slack.
Here’s how it works. First, the bot asks you what parts of our curriculum you’re interested in — ranging from software development and design, to security, devops and even soft skills like project management. Next, the bot asks a few questions to get an idea of what level you’re at, and in what order it should teach you. Each day the bot gives you daily quizzes and coding challenges, with explanations, links to study materials, and feedback from your mentors if there’s room for improvement. Over time, the bot adapts to you as you answer more and more questions. The bot uses team dynamics to help motivate the whole team as well as provide an easy way to share interesting insights between each of the team members.
To help your mentors and teammates collaborate on learning, the bot collects data you can optionally share with your mentor, manager or team so you can learn faster together. You’ll have control over what you share, and how your team celebrates successes.
Here’s a video with a visual demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eec04IuQa8U
If you’d like to try EnkiBot for yourself, you can install the free version here, or request a demo from us here. We charge for the full version, but if you are an education company or non-profit please reach out for a discount.
As the title of this post suggests, all of us at Enki are excited about this being the next step in data-driven software automating the ultimate skills coach. Current online solutions are mostly videos of people teaching skills offline. We now have the tools, data and open-source materials available to be able to replace digitally the lessons and other interactions the best teachers could offer.
We look forward to your feedback, ideas and thoughts on EnkiBot!
