Online Certification Programs Are Surging in Enrollment — and There Are Lots of Ways to Get Help Paying Tuition – Money
Stuck at home after being furloughed in April, Norman Laborde had a lot of time on his hands. His position at a Silicon Valley tech company was deemed redundant when the company tightened spending in response to the pandemic. With no return date in sight, he started to think about his future.
“The pandemic opened a lot of time that I usually don’t have for self reflection,” Laborde said. “I started thinking, ‘Why am I in this position right now? I shouldn’t be this worried about my future. I want more security in my job.’”
That’s when he decided to enroll in a UX/UI Design and Research certificate at Springboard, where he’ll learn how to create products that are both valuable and easy for consumers to use.
Laborde isn’t the only one that has turned to online learning in hopes of boosting his career potential during the pandemic. Shravan Goli, chief product officer and head of consumer revenue at Coursera, says that the online learning platform saw a surge in enrollments in mid-March, with 41 million registrations globally — a 400% increase from the same time last year.