7 Free Online Courses For High-Income Skills With Certificates In 2024
In the midst of inflation, are you looking for a raise so you can easily support your family and yourself? Then, Coursera’s “7 High-Income Skills Worth Learning In 2024” report, which identifies these seven essential abilities, should be your first stop.
It’s no secret that acquiring new skills can help you advance in your career—not just when looking for a new position, but also when starting your own side project or freelancing business.
However, acquiring a high-income expertise is preferable.
A High-Income Skill: What Is It?
High-income skills are a set of soft and technical talents that are highly sought after in the workplace, as well as in specific industries and marketplaces, when compared to other skill sets (soft skills and technical skills included).
Because these talents are rare, employers—or clients, if you work as a freelancer—are ready to pay more for talent that possesses them (at least for the time being, until this piece and the Coursera report become widely known). Because they understand how essential these abilities are to the smooth operation of their organization, they are also willing to offer greater salaries.
For a fairly obvious example, a CEO typically receives far higher compensation than any other executive, manager, or worker for that matter. This is partly due to the fact that fewer professionals possess the skills and potential necessary for a CEO position than there are middle managers or other workers, and partly because the CEO is vital to the needs of the company and must lead it forward.
When looking to retrain or upskill yourself, these two factors—the lack of competent talent and the role’s crucial nature—are important priority to take into account and keep an eye out for.
Generally speaking, if you possess a high-paying expertise, your career will be more adaptable and able to endure outside stresses like job losses or shifts in the market because you will be able to pivot when necessary.
7 High-Income Skills
Intriguingly, Coursera’s analysis did not include artificial intelligence (AI) among their list of high-paying, in-demand talents to acquire in 2024. Could this be a sign that the excitement surrounding AI is beginning to fade? Do professionals and employers still see the benefits of incorporating AI into their work environments and use AI technologies across their workflows? Or do they already know everything that’s necessary? Maybe that’s a question best left for another day.
However, it is interesting to note that some of the skills listed in the report relate in some way to AI integration and development—such as data analysis and software development, for example.
Back to the point—the seven high-income skills Coursera listed are:
- Data analysis
- Software development
- User experience
- Web development
- Project management
- Account management
- Content creation and management
7 Free Online Courses (With Certificates)
Here are seven online courses that are not only free (meaning you have no excuses to not start a course today), but also come with certifications and/or badges—which gives you a sense of pride and adds a stamp of validity to all your hard work and studies:
1. Free Data Analysis Courses With Harvard
Harvard University might be viewed as an Ivy League school out of most people’s pocket range, but they do offer a range of free data science and data analysis courses accessible to anyone, that you can study online. While the courses are free, you may need to pay if you want the certificate—but this is much cheaper than paying for an entire course and is well worth it if you wish to prove your skills to employers or business clients.
2. Google For Developers Platform
Google has a platform dedicated to aspiring developers which includes a vast list of developer education, helpful if you wish to be a software developer, especially for Android. While they may not provide a certificate per se, they give you a quiz at the end of their courses and you receive a badge on your developer profile. With parental consent, learners can start as early as 13 years old.
3. Google UX Design Certificate
Google offers a free course and certification via its educational arm, to help aspiring user experience professionals learn the skills they need for the workplace. This UX Design certification is offered via Coursera.
4. HTML, CSS, and Javascript for Web Developers by Johns Hopkins University
Provided by Johns Hopkins University, this introductory course also comes with a free certificate, and its content is available free if you require and are eligible for financial aid.
5. Google Project Management Certificate
When it comes to project management certifications, we often think about industry-leading certificates such as those offered by the PMI (Project Management Institute). But when it comes to the world of free project management certificates, Google’s career certificate in project management tops the rest.
6. Customer Relationship Management Certification by Great Learning
Provided by Great Learning, this CRM course covers the fundamentals of relationship management as a sales professional handling business accounts, and also comes with a free certificate.
7. Digital Marketing Course: Get Certified in Digital Marketing, by HubSpot
HubSpot offers an extensive range of free certifications via its HubSpot Academy, and one of the courses with certificates that it offers for free is its digital marketing certification. It covers topics including SEO and social media.
This list of free courses and certifications proves that anyone can learn a high-income skill. Even if you have no desire to work directly within these fields, you can still learn these skills and apply them to your work function.
For example, if you work as a manager, gaining a project management certification may not be necessary, but may help you stand out from other employees, enabling you to be well-recommended for promotions or a pay raise, as you have more niche skills.
A skill set within digital marketing can come handy if you’re a freelancer seeking to market your services effectively. Ultimately, not only is it the case that everyone can learn a high-income skill, but everyone should learn a high-income skill if they wish to have a thriving career.
