10 Skills Your Employees Need in November 2018

Safia Abbasi

Senior Product Marketing Manager, Udemy for Business

Udemy for Business adds hundreds of new courses each month on the latest technical and soft skills to help employees keep up with change and prepare for what’s next. Here are some of the latest trending topics added to the Udemy for Business collection.

Tech skills

1. Cloud certifications

Companies across the globe are increasingly moving their infrastructure to the cloud in an effort to reduce costs, increase stability, and build applications in a faster way. We recently added new, highly rated courses to Udemy for Business on three key cloud certifications: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Cisco CCNA.

AWS is is a secure cloud services platform by Amazon that offers database storage, content delivery, analytics, and deployment services to help organizations move faster and scale. In his course, Ultimate AWS Certified Developer Associate 2019 – NEW!, top-selling Udemy instructor Stephane Maarek offers the essential skills needed for developers to demonstrate expertise in one of the most challenging AWS exams. This course offers 15.5 hours on the fundamentals of the AWS Certified Developer exam as well as key topics such as Beanstalk, AWS Lambda, Serverless, CICD, AWS CloudFormation, and more. With nearly 40,000 learners on Udemy, instructor Stephane Maarek is an expert in Apache Kafka and AWS Certified Developer (and, he only missed 1 question on the AWS Certified Developer exam!)

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service for building, testing, deploying applications on a global, trusted network. Microsoft recently released the new Azure Administrator certification which now requires passing the AZ-100 exam. Ideal for systems administrators and engineers, Microsoft AZ-100: Azure Infrastructure and Deployment Exam by Nick Colyer explains how to pass the AZ-100 exam, implement and manage Azure Storage, deploy Azure virtual machines, and more. Instructor Nick Colyer is has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry and currently leads the Azure practice at AHEAD, LLC, a leading cloud services consultancy.

CCNA is an information technology certification created by Cisco. It validates the ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot controller based architectures. Cisco CCNA Security 210-260 (IINS) by Matt Carey is a new course focused on all core CCNA Security exam topics, such as Secure Access, VPN, Secure Routing and Switching, IPS, and more. With demand for network security appliances continuing to grow, network administrators and systems engineers would benefit from this course as they upskill across essential CCNA Security skills. With nearly 30,000 learners on Udemy, instructor Matt Carey is a senior systems engineer and Cisco CCNA and CCNP expert.

2. Deep Learning & Autonomous Cars

Autonomous car technology is already in advanced testing stages by major car producers such as Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Tesla, and technology companies Apple and Google. With so much investment and interest in driverless technology, driverless cars will hit the roads sooner than we think. Companies would benefit from upskilling their employees in deep learning and related skills, particularly those in the automobile and technology industries.

Autonomous Cars: Deep Learning and Computer Vision in Python by Frank Kane and The Complete Self-Driving Car Course – Applied Deep Learning by Rayan Slim are two brand new Udemy for Business courses that teach developers how to build and train a fully functional self-driving car to drive on its own. These top-rated courses also provide hands-on learning for how to use computer vision techniques to identify lane lines for a self-driving car and how to leverage convolutional neural networks to identify various traffic signs.

3. Containers

Containers are a method of operating system virtualization that allow companies to easily package an application’s code and ensure it deploys quickly and reliably. Two of the most commonly used tools to deploy containers are Kubernetes and Docker.

Ideal for software engineers looking to deploy their apps easily and quickly, Docker and Kubernetes: The Complete Guide by Stephen Grider, offers an industry-leading 21 hours of on-demand video how to build, test, and deploy Docker applications with Kubernetes from scratch. This course explains CI+CD workflows, AWS deployment, Kubernetes in production, and Docker fundamentals to build and deploy complex multi-container applications.

Instructor Stephen Grider is a leading Udemy instructor with over 280,000 students and has spent years mentoring software engineers at all levels.

4. Cyber security

With 80-90% of people logging into a retailer’s e-commerce website with stolen data, data breaches are becoming increasingly common. In the wake of recent data breach scandals involving Facebook, T-Mobile, Equifax, and others, companies are placing more importance on ensuring security around their own and their customers’ data.

Udemy for Business has published a number of top-rated courses on essential cyber security skills such as Linux Security, CISSP certification, and CCNA security. Professionals of all levels can upskill across these essential IT security skills to keep their data and networks secure.

Linux Security: The Complete Iptables Firewall Guide by Andrei Dumitrescu
Cyber Security: Network Fundamentals & Network Layer Attacks by Muharrem Aydin
CISSP certification practice questions for Domain 3 & 4 -’18 by Thor Pedersen
CISSP certification practice questions for Domain 5 & 6 -’18 by Thor Pedersen
CISSP Certification: CISSP Domain 7 Video Boot Camp 2018 by Thor Pedersen
CCNA Security – 7 Days till your Cisco 210-260 exam – Labs by Marious Kuriata

5. Java EE

Java EE is is a server application for the Java platform that provides an API and environment for developing and running scalable, reliable, and secure network applications. Java EE will take care of system-level services like concurrency, transaction, security, and naming, and is used by companies like IBM and Oracle.

Taught by Ocho Tech, a team of full-stack developers with over 20 years of experience, Introduction to Java EE provides an overview of Java EE, how it compares to the Java language, and which applications would benefit from it.

Soft skills

1. Interview training

A company’s success is determined by the employees who make up its workforce. Interviewing effectively and hiring the right people are essential when it comes to building a successful team to help companies reach their business goals.

In Optimized Interview: For Hiring Managers & Recruiters, instructor Ryan Lecour provides a practical step-by-step interviewing guide to provide structure for effective interviews. Ideal for HR professionals, recruiters, hiring managers, and those who want to understand the approach of the interviewer, this course helps uncover potential ‘red flags,’ identify good candidates through objective evaluation and assessment, and create highly targeted and effective interview questions. Top soft skills instructor Ryan Lecour is a hiring expert and career coach with over 24,000 learners.

2. Body language for business

Often overlooked but essential to communication in the workplace is body language. Understanding and conveying effective body language is a crucial form of nonverbal communication and can be leveraged within business negotiations, meetings, and public speaking.

The Complete Body Language for Business Course by TJ Walker provides over 10.5 hours of content on how to master body language in all business situations, project confidence, and move with poise when speaking and presenting. Ideal for executives and professionals of all levels, this course is a hands-on resource on how to leverage effective body language when interacting with customers, colleagues, and superiors in the modern workplace. Instructor TJ Walker is a bestselling soft skills instructor with over 120,000 learners and 30+ years of experience.

3. Facebook Chatbots

A “bot” is a generalized term used to describe any software that automates a task and is a type of artificial intelligence. Chatbots, which anyone can now build into Facebook Messenger, automate conversation. With over 1.3 billion monthly active users worldwide using Facebook Messenger, Facebook Chatbots offers an incredible marketing opportunity for businesses worldwide to reach their target audiences at scale and a low cost. Businesses can leverage Chatbots to automate conversations regarding their product lines, answer support questions, or fill order requests.

Facebook Marketing – Build Facebook Messenger Chatbots by Isaac Rudansky and Facebook ChatBot Marketing: The Smart Way To Use ManyChat by Krisztina Rudnay are two new courses on Udemy for Business that provide an overview of how to design, launch, and optimize complex, personalized Facebook Messenger Chatbots without writing any code.

4. Mental health in the workplace

In July 2017, a woman named Madalyn Parker sent an email to her team that quickly went viral, being liked over 44,000 times and retweeted over 15,000 times. The email was in regards to taking two days off to focus on her mental health, to which her CEO responded in an incredibly positive and supportive way, stating, “I can’t believe this is not standard practice at all organizations. You are an example to us all, and help cut through the stigma so we can all bring our whole selves to work.”

Often overlooked and disregarded—but incredibly critical—is the concept of mental health in the workplace. Many individuals see their mental health and professional lives as separate entities. This stigma must be broken, and employees should be supported in developing their “whole selves” at work.

Managing Mental Health Issues in the Workplace by Skill Boosters is a great resource for business leaders, HR professionals, managers, and individual contributors to learn how to support their own mental health and the wellbeing of colleagues around them. This course provides strategies for managing stress, understanding the risks associated with mental illness, how to promote good mental health in the workplace, and how to spot early warning signs of those experiencing mental illness.

5. Language learning

The growth of multinational companies, diverse teams, and use of technology have brought individuals of all backgrounds and native languages together at work.

For professionals looking to spruce up their language skills out of personal interest or to better communicate with customers and team members in other languages, Udemy for Business has recently added a number of language learning courses on French, Spanish, and English: