There are few hard rules when it comes to traveling. Obviously, the point is to get from one place to another using a map. However, the map is useless if you don’t know where you are right now. This is also fairly relative to hard skills in a web design career.

A lot of things change quickly in technology and business needs in 6 months. The hot framework (Javascript or other front-end) a few months ago gets passed over for whatever is popular right now. Doing a professional audit on your skills is a great way to keep tabs on how your skills relating to web design are progressing, what you’re curious about and decide if you’re still on the right track. Here are some simple criteria I’ve gone by:

• Current specialties
• Topics I don’t know much about
• Realms where I can improve
• Things I could care less about

This exercise gives a good lay of the land for where you are and where you want to go. For instance, I’m skilled at CSS, don’t know enough about React (at least have enough awareness for how things work anymore), can improve on SEO tactics and I don’t care much for learning about Angular. It helps to know where to allocate time for goals especially when you know what not to waste time doing.