Level up your digital skills in 2021 through these online courses

Here are my top picks for digital skillsets that are hands-on courses that will not only advance your digital know-how but result in certification to prove it. The below options are available online and are largely self-guided allowing you the flexibility to do the courses when it's convienient for your schedule. Bonus: these courses are either free or reasonably priced so that you won’t need to take out a student loan to learn new skills or advance your skills.

1.    SheCodes – The introductory course is around $149 CDN to purchase and is a three-week intensive course with interactive step-by-step lessons and live support to teach females how to code. By the end of this course you will master the basics of html, java and CSS. This course is ideal for digital marketers, communicators or anyone who may do website updates or have a need of technical coding language without it being their full-time occupation.

There are also three and four month intensive courses to take for more advanced coding for those who are interested in potentially pursuing a career as a developer.

SheCodes (free overview) https://www.shecodes.io/express/?gclid=CjwKCAiA57D_BRAZEiwAZcfCxbETXutpAO1yIkawtRqi8J42JfP89FTbg_YDaIok3pE3UhghzcJQSxoCDTAQAvD_BwE

2.    Google Skillshop & Facebook Blueprint – Both Google and Facebook offer free learning platforms to help develop mastery in their products such as Google Ads and Facebook and Instragram Ads. Learn how to in-depth set up an Ads Manager campaign with targeted campaigns and retire the ‘boost’ button from your marketing strategy to bring your marketing ROI to another level in 2021.

Google Skillshop - https://skillshop.withgoogle.com/googleads

Facebook Blueprint - https://www.facebook.com/business/learn

3.    Social School – Although not free these courses are very reasonably priced and the suite can be tailored to meet your learning needs.

I took their Social Media Marketing Certification course which covered a wide variety of topics including photography and video for web and in-depth digital ad training.

Each course features videos with visual explanations along with a pdf guidebook and exercises to complete to ensure that you are being engaged and learning through every medium.

During non-COVID times their courses can also be taken at their headquarters in Calgary for people who prefer a classroom environment or can be taken as a 100% online option.

Social School - https://socialschool.io/