5 Best Online Programs To Improve Your Skills and Future Career

Have you ever looked at all those fancy CV’s of your colleagues and wondered ‘how do they do it’? How is it possible to get valuable experience, participate in courses, improve and evaluate skills, and …. at the same time, have time for life?

The answer is obvious – now, it is possible to do it all online!  Lengthy weekend courses are now passé – they can be done anywhere at any time you wish. 

Once you get access to an online platform, you can study as much as you want and gain new skills at your own pace. It seems to be a perfect solution in the busy world of business, but also for academic scholars. If you’re planning, for example, to get a Ph.D., you might want to find the shortest doctoral program online.  

Self-learning is so convenient that it’s gaining more and more popularity, and online platforms are becoming more and more professional. Below, you’ll find five of the best online programs that will help you gain new skills and boost your career. 

1. Coursera

Coursera is an online platform with plenty of courses that are available just with one click. The lessons are prepared by well-qualified tutors who are top specialists in their field. You can find courses in finance, management, art, psychology, marketing, and many others. 

They differ in length and the level of advancement, but what’s good to know is that some of them are completely free of charge. Others do require a financial investment, but if you want to boost your CV with a new course certificate, it’s definitely worth it.

You can check out some courses available on Coursera here.

2. Skillshare

Skillshare is another online platform that has plenty of varied courses and tutorials. It’s made for people who want to learn a new, sometimes unusual, skill, but can’t commit to regular individual lessons.

Skillshare meets the expectations of those who want to improve their skills by offering various lessons on, for example, drawing and painting, but also more technical topics like programming and IT. 

What’s interesting, on Skillshare you can become both a learner and a tutor. If you’re an excellent painter, for example, you can decide to share your talent with others and create your online classes.

A platform that’s similar to Skillshare is Teachable.com. It allows you to share your knowledge with others by creating and selling various online courses and classes – now, it gathers around eighteen million online students around the world and offers a variety of lessons. It’s a great option to broaden your knowledge or share your expertise with others. 

3. Academia.edu

Academia.edu is a platform that allows scholars, students, and everyone involved in an academic career to present and share their research papers. There are around 131 million scholars involved in exchanging research.

The mission of Academia is to popularize scientific knowledge and make it more accessible all over the world. If you’re a researcher, having your ideas on Academia is a great way to gain valuable feedback and accelerate your career.

You may also just read the articles available there, which will also contribute to broadening your general knowledge and skills. 

4. The Muse

If you already have satisfactory skills and experience and want to find a well-suited job, you might want to browse through the positions in your country or region.

Sometimes looking for individual positions on companies’ web pages is problematic, so it’s better to do it in a more general way, for example, on The Muse. It’s a platform that allows you to search for companies and job offers in the targeted region.

Apart from finding a job, you can also read about some coaching advice or get some tips on how to create an outstanding CV. To see some examples of good CVs, click here. 

5. JSTOR

If you’re interested in broadening your horizons by reading, you can check out JSTOR. It’s an online library where you will find various books, articles, and research papers. 

It provides access to more than 5 million academic materials from various fields, such as humanities, social sciences, and sciences. 

Some of the papers are free, others require paying an access fee. To see some of the material and categories available on JSTOR, have a look here. 

A great plus of JSTOR is the fact that it contains a lot of sources that are grouped in thematic fields, which makes it easier to browse.

As you can see, there are plenty of resources for those wishing to learn more.

Abhisam has some really good courses that’ll help improve your skills, especially in the technical field.

If you need ideas on how to style your CV to apply for new positions, there are various tools, such as online CV makers, that can help you with all needs for free.

Conclusion

Learning has never been easier and more accessible than it is now, in the digital era. By using online tools, you can boost your competencies, create an outstanding portfolio, or get valuable certificates to include in your CV. 

The good news is, that sometimes even the employers give their workers time and funds for self-development – team members are able to take part in various courses and read valuable books within working hours.

So, if you are still hesitant, don’t be afraid to invest in your self-development. It’s a great choice, as it will be beneficial for your whole life and career.