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Upskill : Your way to success

Upskill meaning 

Upskill is the process of an employee or an individual learning a new skill. As individuals it is important that we learn and unlearn new skills regularly to stay up to date with emerging trends.

Reasons to Upskill

There are new advancements in existing technologies that demand that professionals be aware of all the changes, and some technologies are completely changing the nature of certain professions. To put that in context, the World Economic Forum estimates that 65% of children entering primary school now will be working in jobs that do not currently exist.  

Each working professional is now aware that they need to be constantly learning in order to stay relevant in the work-force and secure their future careers. But what they choose to learn is also very important. Nobody wants to be stuck with a pager when the entire world uses cell phones. This also applies to freshers and early-career professionals, who need to build the right skills so that they don’t waste time working in domains that may soon become obsolete.

At Great Learning, we’ve seen over 10,000 learners who have transitioned to rewarding careers in domains that we are sure would build the future. We’ve specifically chosen to design programs in these domains, after extensive research on long-term growth prospects and employment opportunities that will be made available in the future.

Upskill Courses in 2022

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
The World Economic Forum has estimated that 75 million jobs will be displaced by AI by 2022. But it’s also going to add 133 million jobs in the same time frame. That’s a net gain of 58 million jobs that will be available for qualified professionals.
In addition to the availability of jobs, there’s a massive shortage of AI professionals in India, because 76% of companies say they have trouble implementing AI due to lack of qualified employees , this huge demand is combined with AI influencing every other domain, it’s an obvious choice for anyone wanting to work with a technology of the future.

Great Learning offers 3 programs in this domain:

  1. PGP-Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning – A 12-month comprehensive program that will make you an AI expert.
  2. PGP-Machine Learning – A 7-month program that covers Machine Learning exhaustively with some context about Artificial Intelligence.
  3. Deep Learning Certificate Program – A 3-month certificate program for professionals with experience in AI and ML, to gain an in-depth understanding of Deep Learning.
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Business Analytics and Data Science

Business Analytics and Data Science
No business in the present market place can afford to ignore Analytics right now, because they need data-driven decision making to improve their outcomes. Data Analytics is also now ubiquitous because even domains that seemed impervious to data analytics are now adopting them, such as law, defence, HR, in addition to the increased adoption by analytics-driven industries such as finance, logistics, internet companies and so on.  
This domain also suffers from a similar problem of a lack of qualified professionals, leading to over 97,000 jobs being vacant in India. which can be filled after taking one of these programs:

Great Learning offers 3 programs in this domain:

  1. PGP-Business Analytics & Business Intelligence – This 12-month program requires no prior technical expertise and teaches you all you need to know about Business Analytics in an industry context. This program is better suited for professionals with a few years of experience.
  2. PGP-Data Science & Engineering – This is a program aimed at fresh graduates and early-career professionals to help them launch their careers. This is a full-time program that offers immersive learning in a classroom format.
  3. Business Analytics Certificate Program – This is a certificate program that’s aimed at beginners to learn the basics of Business Analytics. Since this is an online program, learners will have a flexible learning experience.
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Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing and DevOps
Cloud Computing forms the backbone of data delivery and management, as it offers great flexibility and cost-effectiveness to organisations. Cloud computing has grown over the past decade to make data accessible to everyone, and the future of cloud computing hinges on remotely delivering hardware capabilities.
Cloud computing has already phased out CDs, DVDs, Hard Drives and pen drives as the preferred mode of storage, and they’re only getting started. This bodes well for people looking to get into cloud computing to further their careers, because India is poised to see over 1 million cloud jobs by 2022, according to IDC. 

Great Learning offers 2 programs in this domain:

  1. Cloud Computing Program – This is a 6-month online program that will teach you to become a cloud architect. The program comes with an optional Developer track certificate offered to professionals with prior programming experience. Learners can choose to build expertise in AWS, Google Cloud or Azure.
  2. Devops Certificate ProgramThis DevOps program teaches professionals the practice of building and deploying systems in the cloud. At the end of this online program, learns will become competent DevOps engineers.
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Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity

As more systems move online, there’s a larger requirement for keeping all information and services safe and secure. Critical operations such as banking, defence all have cutting-edge security systems, and the same degree of security is trickling down to other domains as well.

In the light of recent privacy concerns, every organisation that holds any data are looking keenly to improve their security measures. This gives rise to an opportunity for professionals to upskill in cybersecurity and launch their careers. The Asia-Pacific region alone has a shortage of 2.14 million cyber security professionals.

Great Learning offers a program in this domain:

Stanford Advanced Cyber Security CourseThis 6-month online program is a program by the Stanford Centre for Professional Development, delivered by Great Learning. It features course content and online videos from Stanford faculty and helps learners transition to a career in cybersecurity.

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Full Stack Development

Full Stack Development
As more companies look to increase their software capabilities, Full Stack Developers and in demand because they can look at a system holistically and troubleshoot any errors that may arise.  Since they are familiar with both the front-end and the back-end they’re well-suited to participate in the end-to-end process of building and managing applications. Reports have estimated a 20% growth in jobs making it an in-demand job profile in India 

Great Learning offers a program in this domain:

Advanced Software Engineering – This online program teaches all aspects of Full Stack Development and is perfectly suited for early career professionals with at least 1 year of experience, who are looking to gain relevant skills set that will set them up for career success.
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Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing certificate program online
With increased online digital ad spending by almost all companies, the digital marketing space has seen explosive growth over the past decade. Every company needs to maintain a digital presence, which increases the demand for Digital Marketing professionals. Digital Marketing has ample growth opportunities in a wide variety of skills such as Email marketing, Social Media Management, Content Marketing, SEO/SEM. 

Great Learning offers a program in this domain:

PGP – Strategic Digital MarketingThis 5-month online program covers a wide range of Digital Marketing skills, and helps learners become a well-rounded Digital Marketing professional.

The skills and domains described on this page are without a doubt the technologies that will build our future and dictate the course of human progress. Depending on your experience, and of these skills will definitely set you up for career success, provided you put in the work to learn concepts and apply them to real-world problems.

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All the programs that listed here use real-world projects to instil the theory you’ve learnt. They also have industry experts who will give you useful insights into how you can apply what you’ve learnt to solve real-world problems. 

Why is upskilling key for the future of work?

Over the past years, Upskilling has become progressively applicable. There are multiple reasons for this but the most important one is the growing (digital) skills gap that many companies are facing; the contrast between what employers want or what they need their employees to be able to do and what the employees can actually do. The main reasons of the current skills gap are:

  • Skills gap due to an aging workforce. Retirement of old workers creates a gap, both in terms of openings that are hard to fill, and in terms of skills and knowledge that get lost in the process. 
  • Skills gap due to digitalization. The difference between supply and demand for technical experience is known as the digital skill gap. Developments in fields like artificial intelligence, robotics, and other technologies are taking over rapidly, hence changing the nature of the jobs by extension and the skills needed to do those jobs is a wise choice. 

7 Ways to upskill your workforce

The different ways to upskill your workforce depending on your organization’s needs are as mentioned below – 

  1. Learning and Development – 

Upskilling your workforce by way of a Learning and Development (L&D) program is probably the most obvious way to go.Depending on the model you use, there are four phases required:

  1. An analysis of training requirements
  2. Description of learning objectives
  3. Design of training content and method
  4. Monitoring and evaluation 

Every organization will end up with a slightly different L&D strategy program. Basically, this means that the learning methods a company chooses to upskill its workforce will vary as well. Some organizations will prefer online courses combined with real-life lectures and seminars, while others will go for peer coaching and an ‘upskill track’ on their LMS (Learning Management System). 

2.  Job rotation – 

Job rotation is the practice of rotating employees between jobs in an organization. It can be an outstanding way to transfer certain skills, knowledge, and competencies. These rotations are mostly lateral, this suggests that this happens between jobs on the same level.  

For example, managers are required to gain experience in different departments before they’re ready for a senior leadership position. Similarly, HR professionals sometimes lack business skills. A better way to build these skills is by rotating them beyond the HR department.

3.  Job enlargement – 

Job enlargement demands to include additional activities within the same level to an existing role. In simple words, it means that an employee will do more or different activities in their current job.  

Job enlargement educates people with a variety of skills and helps them to grow more in their career. Additional job responsibilities require training. In other words, it can be a path to upskill your workforce. 

4.  Job enrichment – 

Job enrichment is a process that is identified by building extra dimensions to the existing job. Examples like adding up your skills, creating more autonomy, and giving feedback. 

While the foremost goal of job enrichment is to make jobs more motivating, it can have the ‘bonus’ advantage by upskilling people at the same time.

5.  Peer coaching – 

Peer coaching is another way to upskill employees. Two or more employees work together to expand, refine, and build new skills, educate and help each other, and solve problems in the workplace. 

Peer coaching exposes employees to a wider range of workplace skills. The interesting fact about this kind of upskilling is that it has a more informal side, which means people have a peer they can talk to directly, ask questions and learn from by admiring them.  

6.  Peer mentoring –  

Peer mentoring is when an experienced employee transfers knowledge and skills to a less experienced employee. 

Peer mentoring can be a beneficial way of upskilling. Most of the knowledge of employees comes from their personal experience and interactions with colleagues. This kind of implied knowledge is hard to transfer.

7.  Hire external experts/specialists – 

Sometimes, you need to upskill people but you don’t have the right man power to do so. Either because you need employees with certain skills as early as possible and training them would take a long time. Or perhaps because the skills needed are new to you, resulting in lack of knowledge and experience to start upskilling people. 

A solution to this might be to hire freelance specialists or experts. These people can deliver the required skills, competencies, and experience you need to kick start a new project. By combining these external experts with the right group of employees  within the company, you  can create an upskilling opportunity.   

0 Source: GreatLearning Blog

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