In this age of digital media, it is important for professionals to update their skill set and knowledge. Therefore, it’s vital for them to take professional development courses in order to keep up with the fast-paced development of the field. Professional development courses help you to develop skillsets that are in-demand in the job market today. They are one of the most affordable ways to get the education and training you need without spending too much money or taking up too much time away from your job.
What are professional development courses?
Professional development refers to continuing your education and career training after entering the workforce. Some professions that rely on certification or licensure may require taking Continuing Education (CE) or professional development courses from an approved provider. But it’s more than just that. Professional development also refers to any education or training relevant to your work, including courses, seminars, workshops and conferences. These courses are designed to provide you with ongoing skills training so you’re able to adapt to the changing landscapes.
Who would benefit from taking professional development courses?
There are many benefits to upgrading your professional skills. You should consider taking professional development courses if you want to:
- increase your expertise
- get promoted
- increase your earning potential
- change careers
- stay current on industry trends
- have more confidence at work
- boost your credibility
- be more satisfied in your job
- network with other professionals
- take on more responsibilities
- maintain a license or certification
- keep your skills relevant in the changing marketplace
- become more productive
Top Professional Development Courses
Udemy
As a child in a Turkish village, Udemy founder Eren Bali saw that access to online learning had the power to change people’s lives. Udemy’s motto is “Improving Lives Through Learning.” Today, Udemy has the largest selection of classes in the world. With over 155,000 course listings, you will most likely find a course in any topic you are interested in learning.
With 70,000 instructors providing classes on Udemy, quality can vary widely. However, every course is ranked by users with a one- to five-star rating. There is also a wide price range, so you need to shop carefully.
Some instructors provide free mini lessons. These mini lessons are equivalent to taking a car on a test drive. Take advantage of those to help find high-quality selections. The website highlights the bestsellers and highest-rated classes.
Top trending subjects include IT and software, marketing, design and development, business and healthcare, with thousands of course options in each category.
What does it cost to take Udemy Courses?
You can register for a free Udemy account and choose what you want to learn. Classes officially start at $14.99, although many are free if you search for them. Also, there are always a few deals that offer you a 90% price reduction on selected classes. Sometimes referred to as flash deals, these discounted courses You have lifetime access to any course you complete. The maximum an instructor can charge currently is $199.99.
Skillshare
Founded in 2010 by entrepreneurs Michael Karnjanaprakorn and Malcolm Ong, Skillshare is an online learning platform and community headquartered in the heart of New York’s Soho neighborhood.
What type of programs does Skillshare offer?
Skillshare offers over 20,000 classes that provide a learning opportunity by way of creative hands-on projects. Skillshare focuses on building skills in the areas of business, marketing, technology and design. If you consider yourself a hands-on learner, then this is definitely the learning platform for you.
Subjects Offered on Skillshare
Available topics include illustration, graphic design, film and video, photography, creative writing, web development, entrepreneurship, management, and many more. Some skills and applications that you could learn on the Skillshare platform include:
- Video editing with Adobe
- How to create YouTube thumbnails
- Social Media Copywriting
- How to edit iMovie
And the list goes on and on.
What does it cost to take a Skillshare course?
Skillshare gives you a 7-day free trial. After that, you pay $14 per month or you can pay the discounted rate of $118 for the first year. Afterwards, you’ll pay $168 per year for unlimited access to all the classes you want to take.
Skillshare also offers business team plans. These plans give your team an opportunity to upskill so they can continuously improve their skillset, feel empowered and engaged. The plans may include live classes, workshops, and custom learning paths so you can easily track progress and goals. Business plans start at $139 per user/year.
OpenSesame
OpenSesame was founded in 2011 in Portland, Oregon. Its founders recognized that the biggest obstacle preventing e-learning was the difficulty of finding high-quality training course offerings. Addressing this problem, OpenSesame provides a better way to connect purchasers and providers of valuable training.
How does OpenSesame Work?
OpenSesame is slightly different from the other education providers on this list. It doesn’t offer classes directly to individuals. OpenSesame partners with companies to help them establish top-notch online training programs for its employees.
By curating the right high-quality, up-to-date training programs for your company, OpenSesame becomes your company’s e-learning advisor. Their comprehensive catalog contains more than 20,000 training course offerings in various formats and languages. They also sync all training to your company’s existing learning management system.
What does it cost to use the OpenSesame Platform?
Pricing is variable. Contact the company for a quote.
Metis
Kaplan, a long-time world leader in educational services, launched the data science training provider Metis in 2015. Metis focuses only on data science and analytics training because of the exponential growth in data and the resulting need to manage it.
What type of programs does Metis Offer?
Metis offers Bootcamps, short immersive classes and corporate training.
Metis Bootcamps
Bootcamps are full-time, taking six weeks to three months to complete. Admission is highly competitive. After completing the Bootcamp program, a career support team provides you with access to their employment database, workshops and skill development events until you find employment in the data science field.
Metis Short Immersive Classes
Short Immersive Classes are online and live. They can take up to two weeks of full-time commitment to complete. Or, you can opt for Online Flex. The Online Flex option requires 15 to 20 hours over the course of four weeks. Short Immersive Course offerings include data science topics such as Exploratory Data Analysis and Machine Learning Classification.
Metis Corporate Training
Metis also offers corporate training to help companies meet the needs of their employees’ learning and development needs. A company can opt to have in person learning or live online learning.
What does it cost to enroll in a Metis program?
The Bootcamp costs ranges anywhere between $9,000 and $18,500. The cost will vary depending on the specialization you choose
For the Short Immersive Classes, the costs differ between the live online session and the online flexible learning sessions. The Live Online costs $3,500, while the Online Flex costs $2,500.
The corporate training program will vary depending on the company’s needs and requirements.
There is an urgent need for data scientists, data engineers and data analysts. Metis can help you enter these careers quickly through several rigorous options.
Alison
Alison was founded in Galway, Ireland, in 2007. The company has grown to reach 20 million learners in 195 countries. Alison is committed to the ideal of equality and access to education for everyone. Founder and CEO Mike Feerick was inspired by the UN’s 1946 Declaration of Human Rights, stating that education should be free to all.
Signing up for Alison
You can register for a free Alison account using social media or your email address. After you register, you can create a public profile, and you will have unlimited access to the entire website.
What programs and courses does Alison offer?
Alison offers certificate and diploma programs. Alison also offers more comprehensive classes called Learning Path, which is a set of courses that have been carefully put together by subject experts. Learning Path programs are great way for those to upskill where you can expand your knowledge within a particular subject.
Alison offers more than 3,000 free course listings in nine categories: IT, Language, Sales and Marketing, Management, Health, Business, Engineering and Construction, Personal Development, and Teaching and Academics.
Time to Complete Alison Programs
Certificate classes can take two or three hours to complete, while the diploma classes can take up to 8 to 10 hours. The more comprehensive Learning Path classes can take up to 20 hours. All classes are self-paced so you can take as long as you need to complete them. As far as testing goes, you must score an 80% or higher on all assessments. However, there is no limit on how many times you can retake them.
What does it cost to take an Alison course?
There is no cost to take any class. As a graduate, you may choose to buy a certificate or diploma, but you have free access to your learner record to show what you’ve achieved.
Key Takeaways
Because of technological advances, professional development courses and training are available worldwide. Anyone, anywhere who has access to the internet has the opportunity to enhance their job skills. There are many benefits of upgrading your professional skills. Taking the leap to upgrade your skills might be self-driven. Or employers might provide online learning opportunities through a company like OpenSesame.
You can find beginner through advanced job skill training online and train for any career field. Some of the training you find can be vigorous and rapid, like Metis, or self-paced, like Udemy. There is an overwhelming number of options and variables, so shop around.
Be a lifelong learner. It’s now easier than ever to reach your full potential.
