8 Skills Your Employees Need in June 2018

Safia Abbasi

Senior Product Marketing Manager, Udemy for Business

Each month, Udemy for Business adds ~100 new courses to help your employees prepare for what’s next. Here’s a look at some of the new courses that will help employees stay up to date on emerging technologies and the latest soft skills:

1. Flask

Founded in 2010, Flask is a micro web framework leveraged by developers who want to build web applications. Flask has become extremely popular among Python enthusiasts for its light framework and few requirements related to security bugs. Flask is one of the most popular Python web development frameworks on GitHub.

To help developers learn about this innovative framework, Python and Flask Bootcamp: Create Websites using Flask!, is a comprehensive Udemy course featuring over 15 hours of on-demand video on the ins and outs of Flask. Best-selling Udemy instructor Jose Portilla has taught over 623,000 learners on Udemy and provided in-person training for leading companies like General Electric, Cigna, the New York Times, Credit Suisse and more.

“After taking this course, I am comfortable using Flask and will apply my new skills to future projects. The instructor was very knowledgeable and provided opportunities to code along; as well as exercises that you are able to do on your own. The exercises and code along activities allow you grasp core concepts. This is a comprehensive Python and Flask course. Highly recommended.” — User Review

2. Storytelling with Data

We live in a world increasingly dominated by data. Data plays a critical role within companies, helping to drive strategic vision, build the right business processes and operations, and analyze customer behavior. However, data can be incredibly complex and difficult to understand. The ability to communicate and tell a story with data that is comprehensible and memorable is more important than ever.

Storytelling with Data is a brand new course on Udemy that provides a framework for presenting data that is engaging for your audiences, both live and visually. Designed for professionals of all levels who want to improve their data-storytelling skills, this course is taught by neuroscientist, author, and Udemy instructor Dr. Mike X Cohen who has over 17 years of experience teaching programming, data analysis, signal processing, statistics, linear algebra, and experiment design.

“This course was amazing to come across. It’s comprehensive and covers many of the basics that I was lacking at a great pace. The examples Dr. Cohen uses are easy to follow, the scripts are well written, and his conversation style is easy-going and informative. I definitely recommend this course.” — User Review

3. Strategic Planning for HR

Human Resources plays an integral role within businesses, responsible for building the foundation of company culture and setting employees up for success through recruitment, onboarding, professional development, benefits, and compensation. With this large responsibility, it’s crucial HR professionals align their goals with the strategic initiatives of their companies.

Geared towards HR professionals looking to build their strategic planning skills, Strategic Planning Basics for Human Resources provides an overview of how to conduct external and internal analysis and develop a plan that aligns to their organization’s mission, vision, and goals. Udemy instructor HR Jetpack is an official SHRM Educational Partner, providing resources for HR professionals, small business owners, and managers on topics like cybersecurity, labor relations, change management, and more.

“Strategic Planning Basics for Human Resources is a course for every human resource professionals to undergo. The instructor was quite explanatory and interesting.” — User Review

4. Advanced Blockchain

Blockchain is taking the world by storm, and is set to disrupt business as we know it. A blockchain is a ledger that keeps a permanent record of all the transactions that have taken place in a secure, chronological, and immutable way. Currently, blockchain is successfully being implemented and tested for various financial service offerings such as recording the transfer of land and property titles, digital identity management, and managing voting records to help eliminate voter fraud.

Blockchain Advanced Level: Uses Beyond Bitcoin 2018 taught by George Levy and Blockchain A-Z™: Learn How To Build Your First Blockchain taught by Hadelin de Ponteves and Kirill Eremenko are two new courses on Udemy for Business that provide an understanding of blockchain technology and how blockchain is being used across multiple use cases. These courses are ideal for professionals and entrepreneurs looking to stay ahead and identify which areas to pay attention to as blockchain develops.

George Levy is an award-winning instructor on blockchain, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and currently teaches over 36,000 learners on Udemy. Udemy instructors and data science experts Hadelin de Ponteves and Kirill Eremenko collectively teach nearly 500,000 learners and have numerous bestselling courses on innovative technologies like artificial intelligence, data science, deep learning, and more.

“It is a really comprehensive course that starts with the basics and covers them succinctly and clearly. Looking forward for the advanced courses!!! I am looking to learn about blockchain and smart contracts use cases in advanced transactions such as concessions and public private partnerships and if there are none yet, potentially learn how to build one.” — User Review

5. Communication

Communication is undoubtedly one of the most important soft skills needed in business to be a confident, influential leader, create productive and positive work environments, resolve roadblocks, and work cross-functionally to move projects forward.

We recently published a number of courses on communications by Adam Piandes, a leadership mentor with over 20 years’ experience working with professional athletes, CEOs, and celebrities and TJ Walker, a bestselling public speaking and presentation skills instructor with nearly 100,000 learners on Udemy, including:

Professionals of all levels who want to become more comfortable and confident in their communication and presentation skills and influence their audiences would benefit from these courses.

“Adam does an amazing job communicating the need to understand your own emotional state, ride your energy wave, listen, trust and lead. Super helpful in a world filled with infinitely complex communication. Highly recommend!!” — User Review

6. Project Management

Delivering projects on time, on budget, that meet requirements is vital to ensure expectations are met and aligned to business goals.

Practical Project Management for Managers and First Time PMs taught by Dr. Mike Clayton and Project Management Professional: the PMP in Four Weeks Business Analysis: Developing Requirements taught by Marcos Garcia provide an in-depth and hands-on overview of how to clearly define project scope, leveraging project planning tools, motivate your team, deliver your project on time and on budget and prepare for the PMP exam.

With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Mike Clayton has helped professionals, managers, and leaders excel in their roles within management and leadership, and worked as a project management professional at leading management consultancy Deloitte. Udemy instructor Marcos Garcia is a PMI Certified Project Manager who has completed complex projects for Federal Express and trained hundreds of employees at Delta and American Airlines.

“An excellent beginners course. Covers all the aspects that would be required for first time project managers to succeed. The descriptions and explanations of the various tools and techniques are precise and easy to understand. Dr. Mike Clayton is an excellent speaker who keeps the audience engaged throughout the lecture. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to learn how to manage projects.” — User Review

7. MATLAB

MATLAB, a high-level programming and simulation environment for scientific computing, enables developers to visualize and analyze data in real-time. Advanced math skills used to be necessary for this kind of complex data visualization, but with programs like MATLAB, you no longer need to be a math whiz.

To understand MATLAB’s scientific programming language and its uses, Master MATLAB through Guided Problem Solving is a comprehensive resource for learning MATLAB and gaining real-world application experience on signal processing, matrix decompositions, spectral analysis, linear and nonlinear model-fitting and statistics. With an industry-leading 38 hours of on-demand video, this course is taught by popular tech instructor Tim Buchalka, a software developer with over 35 years of experience and over 320,000 learners on Udemy.

“Great course and a brilliant instructor! I feel like the instructor’s approach to the material will make it useful to learners of all experience levels.” — User Review

8. Strategy

Though most business professionals agree strategy is an incredibly important skill to develop in the workplace, there’s a lot of confusion around what strategy even means.

Strategy Unplugged is an engaging and dynamic new course that explains what strategy is—and what it isn’t. Featuring 24 video lectures and 3 hours of on-demand video, this course provides a new perspective on strategy and explains how to embrace strategy more fully while enjoying the process.

Taught by Udemy instructor Sid Peimer (a popular speaker and trainer for both the private and NGO sectors), this course is ideal for business unit directors and technical professionals who want to provide value to their function and produce impactful work.

“What I appreciated about the course is that the writer didn’t just supply you with information, he gave insight into real world application and I think this made the course really understandable and highly engaging. I NEVER got bored or lost with perspectives or explanations that were new to me. I really really enjoyed this course. I highly recommend it!!!” — User Review