Looking To Upskill? Here Are 4 eLearning Courses To Boost Your Career Options
Competition for jobs is getting tougher, technology keeps evolving, and in-demand skills are changing. When machines take over jobs from humans at an increasing rate and schools churn out new graduates eager to find employment every year, it makes sense for employed professionals to upskill and avoid the misfortune of being replaced. However, not everyone has the luxury of going back to school full time to learn new skills or brush up on old ones. Just as professionals need to stay employed to pay for their education, employers seeking to upgrade their employees’ skill levels want them to remain productive at work. For such situations, eLearning becomes the most logical choice. If you want to boost your career options, here is a compilation of four in-demand online courses:
1. Coding And Other Computer-Related Courses: edX
When 52-year old Cheryl Troell got laid off from her job of almost 20 years in what she referred to as a “brutal, eye-opening experience”, she welcomed the challenge and immediately began a new career. Her game plan: Update her skills through eLearning. While job hunting, she took up web development courses in a community college, earned her diploma, and took in-depth, hands-on classes online through edX. She now works as a web developer.
edX is an online learning platform that provides access to courses affiliated with top universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Princeton. Students can finish the courses for free, but pay for certificates.
If you plan to go into coding, edX has a wide selection of courses from the best universities, such as Harvard’s popular Introduction to Computer Science, as well as HTML courses and other courses from Microsoft, MIT, and Linux Foundation.
2. Digital Marketing: Simplilearn
Simplilearn goes by the tagline “online certification training courses for professionals”. They offer courses in digital marketing, project management, cyber security, Salesforce, Big Data, and cloud computing. Their courses are offered in two models – self-paced training and Flexi-Pass, which allows learners to study through self-paced and instructor-led online training.
Flexi-Pass also gives you unlimited access to batches of self-paced and instructor-led training sessions for 90 days and up to 180 days for eLearning content. To date, the platform has trained more than 400,000 professionals from around the world.
For professionals looking to acquire in-demand digital marketing skills, Simplilearn’s digital marketing specialist master’s program covers 5 modules: Digital Marketing Certified Associate, Advanced Web Analytics, Advanced SEO, Advanced PPC, and Advanced Social Media.
Gail Gardner, a digital marketing consultant, is personally taking some of the modules and recommends the course to both new and expert marketers. “If you have advanced marketing skills, some of the training modules may be a review for you. If you are new to any part of digital marketing or are managing marketing personnel, these courses will provide the foundation you need to fully understand digital marketing”, she says.
3. Project Management: Career Academy
Many project management professionals credit Career Academy for helping them pass their PMP certifications. The site offers 1,400+ video courses in project management, IT service management, business, IT networking, cyber security, and office productivity. Career Academy has a total of 131 courses in project management. They range from introductory to more specialized training programs such as Project Management Professional, Agile Certified Practitioner, PRINCE2 Practitioner, and Scrum Development. You earn certificates of completion when you finish each series of courses.
4. Mobile App Development: Udacity
Khang Vu never thought he’d be an iOS developer, but right after he completed Udacity’s iOS Developer nanodegree program, which includes several hands-on projects such as Pitch Perfect and MemeMe, a company contacted him regarding an open iOS developer position. He thought he had nothing to lose and applied for the job, and nailed it.
Udacity’s online courses have the backing of prestigious tech companies such as Google, AT&T, Facebook, MongoDB, and Tableau. Both free and paid nanodegree programs are available. If you complete a nanodegree program within a year, you get 50% off your course tuition. Nanodegree Plus courses include a job guarantee, meaning you get a full refund if you’re still jobless within six months. You can get into a program and start learning even without prior experience.
Final Word
With the multitude of courses and platforms to choose from nowadays, no doubt, eLearning is a godsend for busy professionals looking to update their skills.
Which online courses are you planning to embark on next to boost your career options?
