More and more online resources are becoming readily available to help your skill set. The job market is extremely competitive and it’s important to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Especially if you’re in an industry like technology.

If you compare two people with the same experience, the recruiter will have to look at other identifiers. If one candidate is constantly learning and actively retaining this information, then their chances may be higher than somebody who is acting passively.

Going out of your way to complete courses and gain more skills will demonstrate more initiative to your potential employer.

There are a ton of courses available that can help you do this. Earning a Google Certification could be the gateway to your success.

What Is a Google Certificate?

Google offers a whole variety of learning resources that can help you get certified in a specific area.

The best platforms to find these courses are Skillshop and Coursera.

Skillshop

Skillshop is a free Google-managed site where you can complete courses in Ads, Marketing, and Analytics. Depending on your area of technology, these can be useful to you. However, they don’t carry the same amount of weight or depth of skill as Coursera’s courses.

Coursera

Coursera is an external learning platform that offers Google Professional Certificates in Data Analytics, Project Management, UX Design, IT Support, and IT Automation.

You can start with a 7-day free trial period. After this, you’ll have to pay a fee monthly. We’ll go into more detail about this later on.

After finishing the course, you’ll have to take an exam. If you pass, you’ll receive a Google certificate.

Is a Google Certificate Worth It?

Honestly, it can’t hurt. Even if you don’t end up using it for any reason, it’s reasonably priced and it’ll teach you a ton of transferable skills that you could implement in your chosen career path.

You can take up to 6 months to complete the course, and, therefore, can work around your schedule. Degrees normally cost a fortune and take approximately 3 years to complete. Gaining a Google certification is a much more convenient way to learn.

Once you’ve passed the exam, you’ll then be able to claim that you’re Google-certified. So, why does this matter? Google is one of the biggest technology companies in the world, so if you’re Google certified, your skillset sounds a lot more impressive.

You can offer your services on Freelance sites like PeoplePerHour, Upwork, or Fiverr and charge per hour or project. It’s unlikely to be instant cash, but becoming Google-certified may increase your chances of earning more money—U.S. News.

Clients want to build up a relationship and ensure that they can trust you. If you’re Google certified, clients feel more confident in you and your likelihood of contracts may increase. As you start to build client relationships, you’ll get more feedback.

The more feedback and experience you get, the higher you can charge for your services. Sounds cool, right? So, how do you get started?

Coursera – Google Professional Certificates

Here, we’ll go through the Google Professional Certificates that are available on Coursera. All of these courses cost the same amount but offer different skills and opportunities. After the initial 7-day free trial, the courses cost $39 a month.

Therefore, the total cost of your cost will depend on how long it takes you to complete it. As you can take up to 6 months to complete the course, the maximum price that you could be charged is $234. A kickstart to your career for less than $300!!

Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate

If you’re interested in a career in Data Analytics, then this course will prepare you for an entry based role.

In less than 6 months, you’ll understand the practices and processes used by a Junior Data Analyst, learn key analytical skills (analysis, data cleaning, and visualization) and tools (SQL, Tableau, spreadsheets, R Programming), and how to visualize and present data.

To become fully certified in Google Data Analytics, you’ll need to complete 8 courses.

Google Project Management Professional Certificate

This course will prepare you for an entry based role in Project Management.

You’ll learn the practices and skills of a project management role, learn how to create effective project documentation and artifacts, learn the basics of Agile project management, and practice vital skills like problem-solving and strategic communication.

To become fully certified in Google Project Management, you’ll need to complete 6 courses.

Google UX Design Professional Certificate

Complete this course to understand the basics of UX design and increase the likelihood of your career prospects.

With this class, you will understand user decisions, define pain points, ideate solutions, design wireframes, and test designs, know the basics of UX research, like conducting interviews and usability studies, planning research studies, and synthesizing research results, be able to apply basic UX concepts and create a professional UX portfolio based on projects.

To become fully certified in Google UX Design, you’ll need to complete 7 courses.

Google IT Support Professional Certificate

This course will help prepare you for an entry IT role.

Coursera will help you perform routine IT support tasks, including customer service, installing programs, computer assembly, and wireless networking, how to provide customer support and identify key problems like debugging and troubleshooting, and how to use common systems like Command-Line Interface, Binary Code, Domain Name Systems and Linux.

To become fully certified in Google IT Support, you’ll need to complete 5 courses.

Google IT Automation Professional Certificate

This course will help prepare you for a role in Automation.

In a few months, you will be able to automate tasks using Python scripts, manage IT resources at scale, analyze, strategize and solve real-world IT problems, and use Git and Github for version control.

To become fully certified in Google IT Automation, you’ll need to complete 6 courses.

Conclusion

Choose one of these courses to better the chances of career progression. While it may not be an immediate source of income, earning a Google certification will likely help you in the long run.

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