Professionals keen on taking up online certification courses this year: Simplilearn study

Candidates are looking to take up online certification courses as their career wishlist in 2018. According to a survey by edtech firm Simplilearn, 62 percent of the respondents plan to accomplish their 2018 career wish by taking up online certification courses, while 30 percent will rely on social learning, leaving the rest opting for peer learning.

The survey said that with the entire automation saga continuing to dominate the IT industry, re-skilling and learning new and emerging technologies have become the most sought after priorities for professionals.

The 2018 Career Wish survey showed that continuous upskilling and res-killing is a prerequisite to stay relevant in the career. In this context, about 92 percent of the respondents surveyed are setting new career goals in order to remain employable and relevant in this digital age.

With regards to the kind of career impact most wish for, close to half of the respondents (45 percent) desire for a new job, while 21 percent seek a complete career shift. Interestingly, factors like pay increases (18 percent) and promotions (16 percent) are secondary to working professionals today.

When asked about skills that will help their careers this year, 41 percent of the respondents want to build skills in artificial intelligence and machine learning, while 24 percent of the professionals surveyed believe that cloud computing skills are indispensable to the growth of one’s career today. Adding to this, 18 percent respondents said that cyber security will be the next frontier for a successful career in 2018.

The survey also reveals, learning new and emerging technologies has become a trend among working professionals. Apart from this, however, 36 percent of the surveyed working professionals wish to hone their communication skills this year, while 35 percent are looking at working on their leadership skills and 29 percent wish to achieve entrepreneurial-related skills.