LinkedIn Learning
A condition of my new lease on life is that I continue making myself better: socially, personally, and professionally. One way I’m engaging that drive is with LinkedIn Learning certificates.
When I lost my job, I was devastated. I made a pact that I would never let myself get put back into that situation. The biggest problem was that my skills were too dated to be relevant for most employers. Obviously, the fix for that is to refresh my skills and learn new languages and architectures.
Fortunately, I did get a great job, and my new position does allow me the opportunity to grow and learn. That’s fantastic, but it takes time. What happens if the company suddenly takes a negative turn and they have to terminate some employees? I’m the low man on the totem pole, and I’m almost definitely going to be the first person cut. I can do my best to modernize my skills quickly, but I can’t affect market trends, and I would be helpless to combat that.
My best option, after some analysis, seemed to be classes and certifications. I’m actively investigating tuition reimbursement through my employer. As soon as I can line that up, I’ll jump right back onto graduate classes, and finish my master’s degree as quickly as possible. However, that’s at least a year out, plus any sort of overhead before I get started again. That doesn’t work for the short term like I’m trying to address.
One superb resource available to me is PluralSight. My team at work does provide access to PluralSight, and that’s fantastic for learning new things. It has given me some beginner level experience with the languages I’ll be using for my duties, which allowed me to hit the ground running. There is a duality to this, because it helps me do my job, but it also gives me some exposure that I can cite should I need to pursue another job soon. Unfortunately, this exposure isn’t really public or quantifiable. Sure, I could tell someone that I’ve taken some classes and performed some exercises, but I can’t truly show the fruits of those labors.
By a fortuitous coincidence, my employer just recently gave us access to the LinkedIn Learning platform. The original purpose was to provide us a means to view company-specific material, such as high level training on various products. Coupled with that functionality, we also received access to the entire catalog of courses available on LinkedIn Learning. This includes everything from software development, to customer service, and even self help material. The kicker: they actively encouraged us to use our own personal LinkedIn account, and add the courses to our achievements if we wanted to.
There was my answer. The courses on LinkedIn Learning are surprisingly varied, and honestly really good. I could genuinely learn things. Even better, there are tests and assessments to check my understanding of a subject. But wait, there’s more! If I pass those tests, I can add certifications to my LinkedIn profile. If I fail, I can study more and watch the course again, and try the test again in three months.
This platform gives me the opportunity to accelerate my own efforts to make myself relevant. I can watch courses on tons of development related topics, and get certifications that I can show to any recruiters who might find me on LinkedIn. Since I’m still in a learning phase at work, I can watch relevant material to improve my contributions to the team there. Beyond that, I can take other courses in my own time at home, classes that may help me out externally.
One caveat to certifications on LinkedIn Learning: they expire after a year. I don’t know exactly what happens after they expire, whether they immediately disappear from your profile, or display a note that the certification is no longer current. Honestly, I’m not very concerned about it. By the time my certifications begin expiring, I should have worked in this position for a full year. I will have actual, professional experience in the languages that I am just now learning. Real experience looks a lot better than some certification tests. I may try to renew them periodically, just to keep some of the most relevant ones current. The longer I work here, though, the less necessary they are.
Ultimately, I’m not trying to leave the company any time soon. I just want to prepare in case the worst happens again. So far, I really like it here. I hope to spend a number of years here, at least until I find some other opportunity that seems like a better fit for me. But as I discovered through firsthand experience, you can’t always choose when or how you’ll leave a company. I want to be as prepared as possible, just in case.
When I lost my job, I was devastated. I made a pact that I would never let myself get put back into that situation. The biggest problem was that my skills were too dated to be relevant for most employers. Obviously, the fix for that is to refresh my skills and learn new languages and architectures.
Fortunately, I did get a great job, and my new position does allow me the opportunity to grow and learn. That’s fantastic, but it takes time. What happens if the company suddenly takes a negative turn and they have to terminate some employees? I’m the low man on the totem pole, and I’m almost definitely going to be the first person cut. I can do my best to modernize my skills quickly, but I can’t affect market trends, and I would be helpless to combat that.
My best option, after some analysis, seemed to be classes and certifications. I’m actively investigating tuition reimbursement through my employer. As soon as I can line that up, I’ll jump right back onto graduate classes, and finish my master’s degree as quickly as possible. However, that’s at least a year out, plus any sort of overhead before I get started again. That doesn’t work for the short term like I’m trying to address.
One superb resource available to me is PluralSight. My team at work does provide access to PluralSight, and that’s fantastic for learning new things. It has given me some beginner level experience with the languages I’ll be using for my duties, which allowed me to hit the ground running. There is a duality to this, because it helps me do my job, but it also gives me some exposure that I can cite should I need to pursue another job soon. Unfortunately, this exposure isn’t really public or quantifiable. Sure, I could tell someone that I’ve taken some classes and performed some exercises, but I can’t truly show the fruits of those labors.
By a fortuitous coincidence, my employer just recently gave us access to the LinkedIn Learning platform. The original purpose was to provide us a means to view company-specific material, such as high level training on various products. Coupled with that functionality, we also received access to the entire catalog of courses available on LinkedIn Learning. This includes everything from software development, to customer service, and even self help material. The kicker: they actively encouraged us to use our own personal LinkedIn account, and add the courses to our achievements if we wanted to.
There was my answer. The courses on LinkedIn Learning are surprisingly varied, and honestly really good. I could genuinely learn things. Even better, there are tests and assessments to check my understanding of a subject. But wait, there’s more! If I pass those tests, I can add certifications to my LinkedIn profile. If I fail, I can study more and watch the course again, and try the test again in three months.
One caveat to certifications on LinkedIn Learning: they expire after a year. I don’t know exactly what happens after they expire, whether they immediately disappear from your profile, or display a note that the certification is no longer current. Honestly, I’m not very concerned about it. By the time my certifications begin expiring, I should have worked in this position for a full year. I will have actual, professional experience in the languages that I am just now learning. Real experience looks a lot better than some certification tests. I may try to renew them periodically, just to keep some of the most relevant ones current. The longer I work here, though, the less necessary they are.
Ultimately, I’m not trying to leave the company any time soon. I just want to prepare in case the worst happens again. So far, I really like it here. I hope to spend a number of years here, at least until I find some other opportunity that seems like a better fit for me. But as I discovered through firsthand experience, you can’t always choose when or how you’ll leave a company. I want to be as prepared as possible, just in case.
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