If there’s one thing about the pandemic that brought anxiety to the students, it’s their friends completing online certifications. Not just students, but people of all age groups: managers who want to gain new skills, coders who want to try a new language, marketers who want to learn the all new marketing; there are people who want to update and upgrade themselves.
What are Certificate Courses?
Basically, Certificate courses are for those students who are either not able to avail degree programs or for the ones who are interested in learning additional concepts/skills from their regular degree. These courses give in-depth knowledge on the selected subjects that help people in current jobs/employment opportunities.
Eligibility Criteria for Online courses
There is generally no eligibility criteria to do these courses, but a prior knowledge and certain level of interest is essential to undergo these.
List of In-Demand Online Courses
- Artificial Intelligence
- Deep Learning
- Mobile development
- Machine learning
- Web development
- Digital Marketing
- HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification
- Alison’s Certification in Supervision Skills
- Advanced Google Analytics course
- FEMA certifications
- Coursera IBM Data Science Professional Certificate
- edX Entrepreneurship
- Google Ads Search Certification
- Skillshop & many more
How do I select the right certification for my CV?
REMEMBER: The most important consideration when choosing your course is asking yourself why you are looking to study it. It’s really important to think about what you are interested in, and what course you want to study.
It’s better to follow the these steps:
- Spend some time to reflect on your interests and skills.
- Consider prospective career options and employment opportunities.
- Create a list of courses to explore and research each course. (You can get some help from above courses)
REASON: Employability Vs. Interest in learning new things
Why not both?
The reason completely depends on each individual and on his/her perspective of the field. Some people will be motivated by the learning itself, while some want to add a few more feathers to their cap. Getting a certification may help someone to break into a new field. So, a certification or a diploma is a stepping stone to a focused endeavor.
However, obtaining a certification or a diploma is for most often people is secondary-learning and self-improvement.
Skills without Certificate: is it Impressive?
According to a recent survey from Global Knowledge, annual salaries for IT professionals are on average $8,400 higher for those who hold one or more IT certifications.
Certificates act as evidence for the employee’s experience and knowledge. Employers actually won’t care what certifications you have, but be interested in your portfolio. Most of the IT companies are interested in your skills and your ability to face challenges. Earning a certificate might help you in getting a job, but skills are absolutely necessary for the job to continue for long term.
Certifications certainly can make a difference, but not all certifications are created equal. So, please do focus on skills.
Does Online Certifications really enhance our knowledge?
Online courses prove to be effective for generation Z, engaged in multiple gigs and managing them along with formal education.
A. Online learning is so effective because students can finish their homework quickly
B. Online courses allow you to be more independent.
C. The Open University in Britain has found that online courses equate to an average of 90% less energy and 85% fewer CO2 emissions per student than traditional in-person courses.
D. By taking an online course, you can really focus on the subject you are interested in and choose from the variety of online courses and programs.
E. Some of the online course providers are:
- Udemy
- LinkedIn Learning.
- Pluralsight Skills.
- HubSpot Academy.
- Coursera.
- A Cloud Guru.
- Udacity.
Do Online Course Certificates have value?
Answer: Online certificates have value only if they are legal and recognized. Many platforms provide accredited courses
A certificate course from an online platform is very useful in providing the exact, specific knowledge you may be looking for.
Some of the best online certification courses:
Unaccredited learning: Udemy
Accredited learning: University of Phoenix Online
Certificate courses.
Unaccredited learning: Coursera
Accredited learning: Kaplan
University certificate programs.
Unaccredited learning: SkillShare
Accredited learning: eCornell online certificate program
Pro Tip – If you really want to do certifications, get some from well-known industry leaders like Amazon, Salesforce, CISCO etc.
Do employers care about online certifications?
Now the most important question, do employers really care about online certifications while selecting a candidate for a job.
The recruiters or employers will consider you/prefer you over other candidates only if the certifications you have are relevant to the position applied. It is worth noting that the companies only consider skills, and the certifications are just proof of your skills. The most important thing to keep in mind is to have practical skills and knowing how to apply them.
How to apply for Free Online Courses?
Some platforms like Udemy, Linda, BitDegree provide free courses and provide certifications whereas some platforms like Harvard University, Coursera allow you to audit their courses. In this way, you can get courses for free.
Steps to apply for free courses
- Go to the official website ( Ex : www.coursera.org › courses › query)
- Sign up with your Google account/Register
- Search for courses you are interested in.
Swayam: Indian platform With Thousands of Online Courses
SWAYAM ( Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is India’s national MOOC platform started by our Former President Pranab Mukherjee of India to facilitate education to all or any.
The Swayam program offers digital classrooms with the assistance of internet and satellite connectivity to the remotest corners of the country. It offers over 2,150 courses taught on the brink of 1,300 instructors from over 135 Indian universities. The platform offers free access to everyone and hosts courses from class 9 till post-graduation. It enables professors and school of centrally funded institutes like IITs, IIMs, IISERs, etc to show students comfortably.
One aspect that sets it apart from other providers is that it allows students in India to earn academic credit online. Since the platform was launched in 2017, over 10 million learners have taken courses on SWAYAM. consistent with SWAYAM there are 203 partnering institutes, 2,748 completed courses, 12,541,992 student enrollment, 915,538 exam registrations, and 654,664 successful certificates.
All the courses launched via SWAYAM are accepted and valued in our country. the speed at which it’s growing, during a few years, SWAYAM could become the world’s largest MOOC provider.
Procedure To Login On The Portal:–
- First of all, attend the official website of the Swayam portal.
- The homepage will open before you.
- On the homepage, you’re required to click on sign-in/register.
- Now you’ve got to enter your username and password.
- After that, you’ve to click on sign up.
Remember, most important thing is: ” If you’re happy in your life, you’ll be happy in your study.”
Akshatha, Gunjan Mittal and Lubna Naaz – Team Alpha