The Skill Trees Project

Maker Skill Trees are printable templates that can guide and track hands-on skill progression. Colour in the boxes as you go and get inspired to try new things. This repository is always growing and aims to include a large variety of skills, see full list below. Everyone's journey is different and you can interpret the goals flexibly. Not everything needs to be completed. Print your own in A4 or A3 size.

Each skill tree has 73 skill or experience hexagonal tiles, ordered in a spectrum of basic skills at the bottom to more advanced skills at the top. This includes 5 set your own goal tiles for you to tailor to your own interests. Under the templates section, there's also a smaller Mini Skill Tree template with only 40 tiles. Maker Skill Trees are released under the Creative Commons Licence, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 . You are free to share, adapt, remix or transform the printables or templates for non-commercial purposes. However, you must do so by giving credit to Steph Piper / Maker Queen (or leaving the credit at the bottom of the page) and if you release a remix it must be under the same licence. I'm looking at releasing a book with all these compiled when all trees are complete.

Open Educational Resource (OER) – CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Header font used: Hansief
Other fonts used:

• Uniform Condensed Regular
• Open Sans
• Icons from Icons8, and some self-made

Templates include Adobe Illustrator and PDF files.

Skill Tree Generator

You can now make your own skill tree templates with the web app designed by the talented @schme16. It's now a lot easier to make your own templates for personal use or adding to the repository.

Visit the Web app here

How to use:

• Heading text is editable
• Click and drag to move the tiles
• Right click a tile to edit the text
• Save will download an SVG of the skill tree
• Left click to edit credit at the base to add your own name, or remove my name if you're just using for personal use (or don't want me to proof read/edit it).

Usage Ideas

• Individual goal tracking and upskilling, identifying skill gaps #skilltreechallenge
• For makerspace members to upskill on a variety of tools
• For training new staff members on skills
• For school students working on self-directed activities (See Kids STEAM Skills tree)
• For recruitment / competency checking

It's encouraged to customize these base skill trees around your own interests and goals. You may edit these PDFs to suit or use tile stickers to cover the boxes on a printed template. You can cut your own tile stickers with a vinyl cutter using the Tile Stickers Template SVG (in the templates folder).

Skill Seeker Book

I'm working on a book with an expansive range of skill trees, plus great tools to track your progress, earn achievement badges and calculate your life XP score across all areas. Get notified when the book is available.

Yet to Make (44/60)

Classic Skills (17/20)

✅ Automotive
☐ Blacksmithing
✅ Boating & Fishing
☐ Ceramics
✅ Crafting
✅ Crochet
✅ Dance
✅ Embroidery
✅ House Building
☐ Jewelry Making
✅ Knitting
✅ Metalworking
✅ Moulding and Casting
✅ Music
✅ Photography / Videography
✅ Reading & Writing
✅ Renovation & Repair
✅ Sewing
✅ Visual Arts
✅ Woodworking

Tech Skills (17/20)

✅ 3D Modelling ✅ French Translation
✅ 3D Printing ✅ French Translation
☐ AI & Machine Learning
✅ Amateur Radio
✅ CNC & CAM
✅ Coding ✅ Mini Coding Tree
✅ Computing
✅ Dev Boards
✅ Electronics
✅ Embedded Systems
✅ Game Dev
☐ Gaming
✅ IT Security
✅ Laser Cutting ✅ French Translation
✅ Linux
✅ PCB Design
✅ Mobile App Dev
☐ Research Skills
✅ Robotics
✅ Website Building

Life Skills (10/20)

✅ Adventure
☐ Animal Care
☐ Backyard Science
✅ Baking
✅ Civics & Community
✅ Cleaning
✅ Cooking
☐ Drinks
✅ Entrepreneurship
☐ Environmentalist
☐ Finance
☐ Fermenting & Preservation
✅ Gardening
✅ Language
☐ Life Admin
☐ Self Care
✅ Sports & Fitness
☐ Survivalist
✅ Travel
☐ Volunteering

Other Niche Areas & Suggestions

✅ STEAM Skills
✅ Explore a Makerspace
      ✅ Makerspace w/ 3D Printer, 3D scanner, Vinyl Cutter and Electronics Bench
      ✅ Makerspace w/ 3D Printer, 3D scanner, Vinyl Cutter, Laser Cutter and Electronics Bench
✅ 3D Printing and 3D Modelling (Now split to individual areas)
✅ Roller Derby
✅ Dungeons and Dragons
✅ Comic Artist
✅ Cocktails
✅ Kubernetes
✅ Scratch
☐ Tabletop Games
☐ Video Games
☐ Leatherworking
☐ Bushcraft
☐ Foraging
☐ Biology Experiments
☐ Vintage Computing
☐ Social Skills
☐ Climbing
☐ Weaving
☐ Cooking Skills: National Cuisines
☐ Mushroom Cultivation
☐ Insect Breeding
☐ Urban Gardening
☐ School Summer Camp Planning
☐ School Event Organization
☐ Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards/graduate)
☐ Minecraft (See open issue #19 to submit ideas)

Got a suggestion for a new skill tree, or feedback on an existing tree? Use the suggestion box form. None of the info in these was compiled by AI, but rather through working with experts. These trees are currently not final and I'm actively seeking feedback and peer review to polish and refine the content.
Interested in helping put one of these together? Or even something that's not on the list? Send through your draft and I can put it in the template, or we can do a brainstorm hour to fill it in. If you're an expert and help me put something together a skill tree for the repository, or can assist in translating the sheets into different languages I'd love to hear from you. Let me know if you're interested, email: steph@makerqueen.com.au

How to Make Your Own

Use the template pack in the files, including PNG / PDF and AI files to fill in with your software of choice. If you've filled it in, I'm happy to polish it with custom icons and release it in this repository.

My aim with the skill trees is:

• Modern, relevant and ordered correctly from basics at the base to advanced at the top
• flexible with goals rather than too specific, everyone's journey is different
• Inspiring to try new things rather than completionist
• Include options for tools that aren't cost / availability restrictive
• Ideally, globally applicable - I am not based in the USA

With a total of 73 skill tiles, there's a lot of boxes to fill in! To help prompt ideas, I usually include the following:

• What's the first few things you do in this skill?
• What materials might you use at a basic / intermediate / advanced level?
• What tools might you use at a basic / intermediate / advanced level?
• What techniques might you use at a basic / intermediate / advanced level?
• What might go wrong and how would you fix it?
• Where might you visit to learn more / get involved in a community?
• What interskill / interdisciplinary techniques could you try? Eg. Electronics + Textiles = Wearable Tech
• Gifting a friend something made from x skill
• Teaching a class or friend on x skill
• Releasing an online tutorial on x skill

Skill Tree Bug Bounties

If you've spotted something that could be improved in a Skill Tree, I'd love to send you a holographic ｒａｒｅ contributor sticker in the mail to say thanks. We've each got our own great unique experiences and perspectives in our skill areas and I'd love to draw on our collective knowledge to polish these skill trees into their best versions. Bug Feedback form: https://forms.office.com/r/eemK9VhJFm

FAQ

Were these made with AI?
No, these were made in collaboration with experts or using my own expertise, without any AI usage. You can see the author credits at the base of each tree. Every expert has different experiences and I'm hoping to build a community on here and get many experts to proofread and peer review these trees to polish them into their best versions.

Will you keep the 'Skill Trees' name when they aren't really traditional skill trees?
While these templates are skill tree inspired, I'm working on some new name ideas, potentially 'Skill Trackers' or something else. Any suggestions appreciated!

Support the Project

Get skill tree poster digital downloads on my website for free or on the MakerQueen Shop if you wish to support the project.

Skill Trees In the Media & Community

Skill Trees Asynchronous Presentation at the Open Hardware Summit 2024

Watch my talk on the Skill Trees Project

Hackaday Article - Maker Skill Trees Help You Level Up Your Craft

Adafruit Blog - The Maker Skill Trees Project

Skill Tree Web App by the talented @amalmathewtech

Example Skill Trees