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 Enki app in action

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.