We are well acquainted with the fact that technology is changing at its peak pace. Along with technology and automation, globalization, urbanization, and a drastic change in the lifestyle of the people are some of the factors affecting today’s job scenario.
Now you have apps for reminding you to drink water. We can clearly see the advancement that technology has brought in our lives.
It is important to note that the concepts that you work on today may no longer be working after a few days. There is a strong need to upgrade yourself to stay relevant in the job. Growing innovations have the potential to change the employment landscape.
The technological change has reduced the need for mechanized work and increased the demand and stipend for high skilled and analytic work. So the need for professionals who consistently upgrade themselves and are always willing to learn and innovate new things is growing dramatically.
According to Financial Express, 40% of India’s workforce(professionals, recent graduates, and experienced workers need to upskill over the next five years; the reason is the advent of automation and changing industry demands.
A survey conducted in 2016 shows that reskilling and online certification made $93million out of $250 million market size that prevails throughout the different categories within the online education market in the country. Around 40% of the existing market share comprises of reskilling services among professionals.
Keeping the need for upskilling in mind, the trend of online education started. Short term courses were introduced online, which the professionals could take and upgrade themselves without any location constraints. This article throws some light on why upskilling is important and how to do it.
Why is Upskilling Important for Your Career?
Digital innovations and technology have affected every company and nearly every employee. New skills have found their way, and automation has reduced routine jobs. They are now replaced with new jobs for people with upgraded skills. Not just in the IT sector, but across all industries, finding and developing people with digital business skills has become a priority. In today’s constantly evolving workplace, employees need to learn new skills continuously.
Providing training and development programs to your employees not only upskills them, but they become beneficial to their organization, motivated and loyal. Also, companies get their employees advanced with time and technology.
It is a good idea to upskill current employees than to hire a new one. But if you do not keep yourself updated with the technical advancements, the company is going to make another choice for sure.
How to upskill yourself?
With the growing use of the internet, it has become flexible and easy to upgrade yourself. There are a number of ways available; some of them are mentioned below:
Online training:
Online training provides flexibility to people for learning at their own pace. Though it needs to be executed properly to be effective. There are a lot of online training providers that provide effective training with the time slot that best suits the candidates.
Short term courses (lunch and learn):
There are people who cannot manage the time for training besides their workload. So the training is converted into bite-sized learning. The short term courses help them to upskill themselves along with their work and don’t feel exhausted. Also, they learn only what they wish to.
Mentoring and shadowing:
Inhouse mentoring can be a great help for professionals who are seeking to upgrade themselves. Firstly, the inhouse mentors will always be in favor of the company. Second, they may always be available whenever the candidates need their help or wish to learn something new in work time.
Corporate learning:
Instead of providing the same training to a number of candidates just to certify them, a survey should be conducted on what the candidates wish to learn and provide them the required training sessions. Corporate learning identifies the capability gaps in the teams and work out on them.
Reputed corporate training providers can provide high quality, budget-friendly solutions by leading experts at a time and place that suits you.
Virtual learning:
When people are not working together remotely, they can still have learning sessions at the same time. Virtual training refers to the sessions that are carried out at the designated time, and the candidates can log in at that particular time to take the sessions. Quizzes, videos, and many such things are available to make it more interactive.
Some Popular Online Courses to Take
There are various fields in which popular training providers like Udemy, Simplilearn, EdX, Coursera, Udacity offer their courses. You can find courses ranging from project management, cloud computing, cybersecurity to artificial intelligence, big data, digital marketing, and more.
There are some globally-recognized certifications for which you can pursue these online training courses. Like in the field of project management, you have:
- PMP- Project Management Professional
- CPMP- Certified Project Management Practitioner.
- CAPM- Certified Associate in Project Management
In the field of cloud computing, some of the popular certifications are:
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect
- AWS Developer Associate
- Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Associate
In the field of cyber security, some of the sought-after certifications include:
- CISSP – Certified Information Systems Security Professional
- CISA – Certified Information Systems Auditor
- CompTIA Security+
Final Words
By now, you know how crucial it has become to upskill midway of your career, or at the start or even if you are an experienced professional. Above mentioned are some of the ways an employee can upskill themselves. Whatever be your domain, you can learn the latest trends from the industry experts and apply them in your career to stand out from your peers.
