Latest / Career Skills with Fexingo: Hard Skills, Soft Skills, and Future-Proofing Your Career / Why Adjacent Skills Matter More Than Random Learning
Transcript
- Lucas: Let's talk about skill adjacency. It's one of those concepts that sounds academic but actually explains a lot of real career moves. The basic idea: the most efficient way to grow your skills isn't to pick something totally new—it's to learn something that sits right next to what you already know. Luna: So like, a copywriter learning content strategy instead of trying to become a data analyst overnight? Lucas: Exactly. A 2025 analysis by the Burning Glass Institute tracked workers over three years and found that people who added an adjacent skill were promoted internally 27 percent faster than those who learned a completely unrelated skill. The gap is huge. Luna: Why is adjacency so much more effective? I'd guess it's because you're not starting from scratch. Lucas: That's part of it. When you learn an adjacent skill, you're leveraging existing neural pathways and domain knowledge. A graphic designer who learns UX is already fluent in color, typography, and layout—they're just adding interaction logic. That might take three months. Learning data science from zero could take two years. Luna: And your employer sees the value faster too. You can apply it sooner. Lucas: Right. And that's critical in a job market like July 2026, where companies are cautious about hiring and prefer to promote from within. Adjacent skills make you the obvious internal candidate. Luna: I was talking to a friend who's a project manager transitioning into product management. She said the overlap in stakeholder management and timeline planning was massive. Lucas: Classic adjacency. Product management is basically project management plus strategic vision and customer research. She can pick up the new parts in a few months. And frankly, that kind of move is something we explore a lot on the show. Luna: Yeah, it's the kind of practical research that takes time to put together. And we're able to keep this ad-free because a small group of our listeners supports us through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to ensure episodes like this stay focused on what matters. Lucas: Exactly. No sponsors, no fluff—just career strategy grounded in data. So back to adjacency. The key is identifying which skills are truly adjacent versus which are just popular. Luna: What's your framework for that? Lucas: Start by looking at job postings for the role one level above yours, or a lateral move you admire. List the skills that appear in both your current job and that target role. The ones that are new but share a foundation—those are your adjacent skills. Luna: So it's not just about any skill that's close. It's about skills that naturally extend your current toolkit. Lucas: Exactly. And there's a nuance: adjacency can be too close. If you're an Excel expert learning Google Sheets, that's duplication, not growth. The best adjacent skill adds a new dimension, like a teacher learning instructional design or a nurse moving into health informatics. Luna: The nurse example is interesting. They already understand patient care workflows. Adding data analysis and electronic health record management makes them super valuable in the broader healthcare system. Lucas: And it's a faster path than a nurse trying to become a software engineer. Not impossible, but much longer. The Burning Glass data also showed that adjacent learners reported higher job satisfaction. They felt their new skills clicked into place. Luna: What about the risk of getting boxed in? If you only learn adjacent skills, do you ever break into a completely new field? Lucas: That's the right question. Adjacency is a strategy for efficient growth, not for radical pivots. If you want to change industries entirely, you might need to stack several adjacent moves over time. Think of it as stepping stones rather than a giant leap. Luna: So a journalist who wants to go into finance could first move into financial journalism, then into a research analyst role, rather than trying to pass the CFA in a year. Lucas: Exactly. Each step uses adjacent overlap. And that's actually how most successful career changes happen—they look sudden from the outside, but they're a series of adjacent moves. Luna: In the current job market—July 2026—with AI tools changing rapidly, which adjacent skills do you see gaining traction? Lucas: Two big ones: AI literacy for non-technical roles, and data storytelling. Almost every function now needs to understand what AI can and can't do, and then communicate that to stakeholders. For a marketer, learning prompt engineering is adjacent. For a finance analyst, learning to interpret model outputs is adjacent. Luna: Data storytelling is a universal one. I've seen graphic designers pick up data visualization tools like Tableau. That's adjacency—they already know visual communication, they just add a data layer. Lucas: And those moves protect against automation. When your skills overlap in a unique way—like visual design plus data analysis—you become harder to replace. AI might do one or the other, but the combination is rare. Luna: Alright, I'm convinced. So how should someone listening pick their next adjacent skill? Lucas: I'd say three steps. First, write down your top five current skills. Second, look at job postings for the role you want next year—list the new skills they ask for. Third, identify which of those new skills overlap more than fifty percent with your existing ones. That's your adjacency list. Pick one and start a small project this quarter. Luna: And if none of them feel adjacent, maybe the target role is a leap, and you need an intermediate step. Lucas: Exactly. The concept works best when you're honest about where you are and where you realistically can go in twelve months. Adjacency isn't about limiting yourself—it's about being strategic with your time. Luna: I love that. It's a much smarter way to think about learning than just chasing whatever's trending. Lucas: And it's one of those ideas that pays off immediately. You don't have to wait years to see the benefit. If you pick the right adjacent skill, you can often apply it in your current job within weeks. Luna: That's a great note to end on. Next episode, we'll look at skill metabolism—how fast you can absorb new skills and why some people seem to learn twice as fast. Lucas: Sounds good. Until then, try the adjacency exercise. It might change how you plan your learning.