How skill-building through certification courses can help you #MAxYourPotential

Have you wondered what you can do outside of the classroom, clubs, and workplace that can help you develop new skills or polish those you already obtain? Yes, classrooms teach you the necessary skills for your career but all of your classmates are also learning the same thing so what can you do to stand out from the crowd? Well, the solution is certification courses! You can learn a new skill (or get certified for something you learned earlier) and get certification for it to flaunt on your resume and LinkedIn profile.

So what are the benefits of these courses:

1. It increases your credibility for the skills you put on your resume

2. It increases keywords that employers may be looking for

3. Having more skills qualifies you for a wider range of jobs

4. It’s great for personal development as it helps you grow professionally

Here are some popular websites that offer certification courses:

• Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/courses/certification/

• Simplilearn: https://www.simplilearn.com/certification-courses

• Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=certification

• Google Cloud Training: https://cloud.google.com/training/certification

• edX: https://www.edx.org/learn/certification-programs

• LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/topics/certification

• Microsoft Learn: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/

• Cisco Networking Academy: https://www.netacad.com/careers/certifications

There are thousands of free certification courses available online that you should be taking advantage of whenever you get the free time (there are paid ones as well that you can take). These courses are a great way to expand your technical skills and improve in your field.

Personally, I aim to take at least a couple of technical courses a year to increase my knowledge about my major, Management Information Systems. This spring break I have been taking a Power BI course on Simplilearn and a Google Data Analytics course on Coursera. I noticed on Handshake that a lot of internships required having power BI and some sort of data analytics knowledge and I took this as a chance to learn them so I can be eligible for these roles.

Now that you know about the benefits of taking certification courses, hope to see you taking advantage of these resources and #MAxYourPotential!