Why professional development is important

Professional development can enhance your competence within your current role and equip you with the skills needed to advance your career. Keeping current with the trends in your desired industry is an important consideration when looking at professional development opportunities. The benefits of undertaking such learning activities could include more interesting work, higher salaries or contracts, and increased job and personal satisfaction.

Professional development can take many forms. The more formal types of development can take the form of courses, conferences, seminars, and workshops. Professional development can also take place in informal contexts, such as collaborative learning, discussions among colleagues, independent reading, massive open online courses (MOOCs), and volunteering within your community.

If continuing your education seems likely to involve significant time and/or financial investment, determine first whether further education is in fact required to meet your goals and, even more important, whether your goal is one that you are truly motivated and interested in pursuing.