11 professional skills training courses if you’re using this time to pivot your career

The working world is changing rapidly before our eyes, and some of us are furiously trying to advance in our careers. Considering the incessant mass layoffs or the fears and risk associated with most essential work, you might be curious about a different and decidedly work-from-home professional life. The best thing we’ve learned in quarantine? If you’re trying to better yourself, there are plenty of classes and professional skills training courses you can take online.

If you’re looking to pivot in a new direction for the new world, we rounded up a few university (and Google!) level courses for you. With them, you’ll learn skill sets that’ll either take you in a new direction or just make your resume stand out when you start job searching again. Below, seven professional skills training courses that’ll teach you how to adapt to our new working world (or at least teach you some HTML 101).

Professional skills training courses you can take online

1. CODING FOR DESIGNERS, MANAGERS AND ENTREPRENEURS SPECIALIZATION

The thing that’s been forever hammered in my brain over the last 10 years is just how important coding is for everything. It is such a viable, all-purpose skill, so taking this crash course with the University of Virginia is worth your time.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Hey, everyone is still scrolling in this day and age! If you already have a knack for making you Instagram sparkle, or you got a marketing degree back in the dark ages, pre-Likes-and-Shares, this specialization from Northwestern University can take you to the next level.

3. GOOGLE IT SUPPORT

Yes, Google! Google offers this certificated course in order to prepare you for an entry-level job in IT, and completing the program can earn you up to 12 college credits in the long run. While it’s definitely a commitment—the site says you can nail it in six months if you dedicate five hours a week—the payoff is big. You’ll learn everything from troubleshooting to customer service to system administration and security. Your resume is about to get a huge, brainy makeover.

4. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION SPECIALIZATION

Really would’ve appreciated a class on this when I was in journalism school; as the industry has shifted from articles to content, knowing how to climb up the Google rungs has become an essential skill. Whether you’re a writer whose learning how to make your articles search-friendly or need your website/social media project/whatever really JUMP, this University of California course can help you out.

5. WEB DESIGN FOR EVERYBODY: BASICS OF WEB DEVELOPMENT AND CODING SPECIALIZATION

For EVERYBODY! That means that even if you haven’t used HTML since the days of Myspace and Neopets, this will bring you up to speed. You’ll learn Javascript, CSS3 and more while building up a substantial web portfolio. Oh, and to that end, you’ll definitely be able to promote yourself easier if you can build homepages with the greatest of ease.

6. PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOUNDATIONS

Why is this one useful? Because whether Zoom becomes our office or not, it’s learning organizational and leadership skills will always, always, always be to your benefit. Consider this if you’re looking to move into a supervisor role, and blossom into the most effective leader you can be.

7. FOUNDATIONS OF VIDEO: EDITING, $35

There’s a lot of directions you can go when it comes to video-editing skills, it’ll make you more hireable or desirable in a pivot-to-video kind of world, but it’s also great if you want to go rogue and create your own content. Been dreaming of starting your own YouTube pop culture essays? That all starts here.

8. GRAPHIC DESIGN SPECIALIZATION

You’re artistically inclined and have an eye for punchy visuals, so why not pick up this strong, six month course from California Arts? As it would turn out, 67 percent of learners started a new career from this one, so what’s the worst thing that can happen? You get overly acquainted with different typography?

9. STRATEGIC THINKING, $35

Strategic thinking is another skill set that can basically apply to any work setting, especially if you’re looking to do something a little more data-driven in your next role. This course will teach you how to look analytically at a variety of factors and wisely plan ahead.

10. REACTIVE NATIVE TRAINING

Huh? It helps to having some coding and programming skills before you jump into (see above) as w this intermediate level course, but probably worthwhile. This will teach you how to develop an app, which almost every company and their mother has these days.

11. ENTREPRENEURSHIP SPECIALIZATION

Maybe you’re coming out of quarantine with the powerful urge to become your own boss. Well, you can’t go wrong with this six month course by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Over a six month span you can get Ivy League guidance in starting whatever business has been on your mind for years now.

12. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO OPENING AN ETSY SHOP

This is basically my dream if I can’t just go to a sleepy little Stars Hollow town and open up my own antique store. Don’t forget that side hustles are always a good option if you, very literally, don’t want to quit your day job. It doesn’t hurt to make a bit of passive income, so time to dust off all of grandma’s old clothes and get to work!