So, you’re looking to land a freelance gig that allows you to work remotely from anywhere in the world? If you already checked out our 10 Most In-Demand Skills for Remote Work in 2019, this is a follow-up piece on how exactly you can develop and hone those skills. Many of the skills required for remote work can be learned in a few weeks or months through engaging and interactive learning platforms. For everything from UX design to digital marketing, software development, writing, and data science, here are the best sites to become a master of your craft.
Lynda.com
Lynda.com is one of the veterans in the space of online learning. You can start with a free month, and it takes the Netflix approach to pricing, pay one fee and have access to over 80,000 courses. The best thing about Lynda.com is how actively they update their content. Check back after a week of completing a course, and often times there’s a subsequent course to further your knowledge.
Skillshare
Skillshare has tons of classes, and it feels more like an academic version of YouTube. Sign up for their monthly fee (which is about $15 or $8.25 if you opt for the annual subscription) and you’ll gain access to classes on everything from copywriting and fine art to photography and business analytics. It’s very democratized with thousands of reputable teachers and over 3 million students. The courses are a bit more amateur (many filmed at home with minimal audiovisual components), but they come with course workbooks and exercises. Courses can last from 30 minutes to over 4 hours, and they’re broken up into digestible chunks.
Udemy
Udemy is a massive database of online courses that seems significantly larger than its competitors. With Udemy you can become a master on any number of topics, and they have a modular format where you can pick courses á la cart starting at 12.99. This is probably the largest and most widely recognized name in online coursework, so feel free to place completed courses on your resume. Take courses on anything from programming boot camps to Excel, drawing, and financial analytics. And if you’re unsure about the remote work you want to jump into, take their survey that will point you in a good direction.
Coursera
Coursera’s approach to online learning is to partner with leading universities throughout the country. Each course is like an interactive textbook that comes equipped with pre-recorded videos, quizzes, projects, and more. Classes are led by teachers from reputable universities like the UC’s, Stanford, the Berkeley College of Music, and Wesleyan. When finished, you’ll have official recognition from a university course that you can show to employers and on your LinkedIn profile.
Udacity
Udacity is one of the most interactive portals on the internet. Much more than simple courses downloadable syllabi, Udacity walks learners through their experience with hands-on training, interactive content, and measurable progress. Depending on your career and specialization, you’ll be working on real-world projects that make your homework look like a polished portfolio. Examples of some of the classes include marketing analytics, data engineering, VR foundations, Google Ads, and front end and full stack developers. What’s more, there’s also an entire career services tab that helps learners with things like resumes, interviews and career guidance.
Codecademy
If you’re looking to take your freelance career in the direction of coding, look no further than Codecadamy. It was once backed by the White House, and it’s available for free. Unlike other platforms that allow learners to progress at their own pace, Codecademy pushes you to stay on task with a gamified points system. Learn a number of languages here including PHP, Python, and Ruby, and be ready to deploy your own projects by the time you’re done. Arguably the best thing about Codecademy is how you can literally start from knowing nothing about coding, and you won’t feel behind at all.
Written by Dillon DuBois