Hello,

If you are looking to enter a dynamic business environment with your CSE degree, I would highly recommend Design Thinking. It will give you an extra edge over other candidates because employers across domains value the solution-oriented mindset that design thinking enables.

Having a background in Design Thinking would also make you a better candidate for leadership positions within your organisation once you get some experience with them. Again, this is because it trains you in being solution-oriented with your approach to solving problems. There is a reason that Design Thinking has been tried and successfully tested by companies such as Apple, IBM, GE and Nike among many others.

Design Thinking adopts a solution-based approach to complex business problems. It has become highly popular and adopted by companies such as Starbucks, Apple, IBM, Nike, Colgate, among others for various new projects.

Design thinking is not a clear-set formula that can be applied to a certain business problem to generate a solution.

Rather, think of it as a change in mindset. Design thinking implies a shift from traditional ways of thinking of how to run a business to a creatively confident one.

Its steps are: Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, Implement

In terms of qualifications, people from any domain - IT, Manufacturing, HR, Management, Consulting among others - can reap the benefits of becoming adept with design thinking.

To truly gain the expertise required to properly utilise design thinking to your business, it is always recommended to take a short, immersive course in its theory and applications.

This is a 12 week online course, requiring 3-5 hours of time commitment per week. As a learner, you will have live sessions with faculty from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, as well as weekly feedback and live interactive sessions with an experienced course facilitator. To ensure you have actually gained knowledge, this course has 10 assignments and a final reflection to test for your understanding.

Given that most people looking to learn design thinking are already employed full-time, an online course from an accredited institution may come in handy.