Tech Skills You Should Learn from Online Courses

By Brittany Loeffler on August 1, 2018

Technology rules our world, which means having tech skills are more important than ever. There are thousands of jobs that involve computers and a basic knowledge of certain programs and how to use a computer in general. Having a number of different and useful tech skills will separate you from other job candidates when starting your career.

These tech skills won’t be taught to you as you earn a degree from a college or university. Rather, it’s up to you to take online courses to learn these essential skills. We’ve come up with just a handful of important tech skills that will separate you from other job applicants and will make you more valuable.

tech skills

via Pixabay

Microsoft Excel

Everyone has heard of Microsoft Excel. It’s a program where you can make spreadsheets and graphs and use formulas to calculate numbers. It’s probably one of the most underestimated and underused computer programs ever.

With tech skills in Microsoft Excel, you can manage large amounts of data and create visual representations of data. This is a major program that everyone should learn because it can be used in virtually every industry. Whether you are keeping track of receipts and invoices or collecting data on a population, Microsoft Excel is one of the many tech skills you should know.

Google Suite

Collaborating on projects has never been easier thanks to Google Suite. With every Gmail account, you have access to Google Suite, which includes programs like Docs, Sheets, and Presentations. Here, you can collaborate in real time with your coworkers or project partners on documents and spreadsheets.

This is one of the best organization tools out there. You can keep everything in one place, under one email without sending documents back and forth to your coworkers.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

Making a website can be a daunting task. There has to be an easy way to do it; there are millions of websites out there! Learning tech skills such as content management systems will allow you to create websites in no time.

Programs like this include WordPressWeebly, and Squarespace. They come with themes that you can customize and provide easy platforms for adding blog posts, e-commerce stores, and products, and any other need you may have for a website.

tech skills

via Pixabay

Coding

Do you ever wonder how computers and webpages work? It’s because of coding! There are different coding languages that are best for different things. You can learn HTML, CSS, Java, Python, and much more for free at Codecademy.

Coding will let you create programs or apps that will be useful to complete projects. For example, with tech skills like coding you can create a program that will automatically post advertisements to Craigslist. This is useful if you are in the business of reselling products or work in real estate.

Photoshop

Graphic design is more popular than ever. Every advertisement, flyer, or brochure you see has been created by a graphic designer, probably with Photoshop. You never know when you will have to manipulate a photo or create a flyer for a project. Knowing Photoshop will put you ahead of others because you can create graphics and do some other pretty cool things with this program.

Ad Buying

The future of online marketing is here with ad buying! Thanks to Facebook and Google, companies are able to target their audience down to their age, location, life stage, and interests. Have you noticed when scrolling through your Facebook’s newsfeed that the advertisements that pop are things you are probably interested in?

If you are in the marketing industry or starting your own business, ad buying an inexpensive and useful way to promote your brand or product. You can learn about ad buying with Facebook Blueprint or Google Adwords.

tech skills

via Pixabay

Google Analytics

Know everything there is to know about a website with Google Analytics. Analytics will tell you how many people have visited a website, where they came from, how much time they spent on certain pages, and much more. This is especially useful if you are in marketing, starting a business, working at a startup company, or business development.

If you know Google Analytics and Microsoft Excel, you can compare multiple months and put together presentations about progress or lack of progress for customers and clients.

Videoconferencing

Nowadays, you do not have to be in the same location to have a meeting. Knowing how to use video conferencing programs such as Google Hangouts and Skype is one of the most essential tech skills you should learn. While they may seem easy and straightforward, if you take an online course you’ll find out there is much more than you can do with these programs than just video chat. This is a great skill to know if you are work freelance or have satellite offices in your company.

Essential Tech Skills 

Advance yourself in your career and put yourself ahead of other job applicants with these useful and important tech skills. The best way to learn these skills is through online courses and practice. Learn how to manage large amounts of data with Microsoft Excel, create programs with coding languages and websites with CMS, digital advertising with ad buying, and manipulate photos with Photoshop. You’ll be impressed at just how much you can do with a computer.

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