The Top Learning Trends for Latin America in 2021

What does learning and development look like in Latin America in 2021? We dug into Udemy for Business course consumption data for the region, which includes South America, Central America, and Mexico. Below you’ll find a brief overview of the trending skills in Latin America and what this suggests about learning trends in the region.

Top 3 trending skills in Latin America for 2021

Communication skills 

The high demand for communication skills shows that Latin American employees are learning to adapt to the remote work environment. They’re discovering how to exchange ideas and become better listeners even when not in-person with colleagues. With conversations occurring behind screens keeping all team members aligned can be challenging. 

Trending skills include listening, business communication, business writing, and conflict management.        

Google Flutter 

Google Flutter is a fast-growing software development kit created by Google. It’s used to develop applications for both mobile and web from a single codebase. Technologists appreciate Flutter’s flexibility and ease of use for creating both iOS and Android apps.

Learners in Peru showed strong interest in Google Flutter over the last year. In fact, Flutter was the number one trending skill in the nation, leading over popular development tools like TypeScript and Node.js. 

Personal productivity

Personal productivity skills help employees manage their workloads and avoid burnout while they’re “living at work.” The blurring of the personal and professional have a big impact on how engaged Latin American employees feel in their work. 

Popular Udemy courses in the region include time management, motivation, and focus mastery skills.

What these skills tell us about learning trends in Latin America

Communication and personal productivity power remote work

With the shift to remote work, employees are facing several new challenges. Instead of face-to-face conversations, they rely on video conferencing, chat messaging, and many emails. This makes it much harder to read body language or non-verbal cues. As a result, listening and written communication skills are more important than ever.

Working from home also means dealing with distractions. On top of challenges like caring for family members throughout the workday, employees say they feel stressed about the pandemic. The popularity of personal productivity courses like motivation and time management show how employees in Latin America are trying to overcome the difficulties of remote work.

Interest in Google Flutter indicates growing role of hybrid tech

“Since the launch of version 1.0 in December 2018, Flutter has grown from strength to strength, winning the hearts of software developers around the globe,” writes Udemy instructor Andrea Bizzoto. One of the major advantages of Flutter? Developers only write code once and can then run it across multiple platforms. This saves time and money throughout the development process.

The growing popularity of a skill like Google Flutter indicates another trend — the growth of hybrid tech roles. Many technical teams are moving employees away from single domain expertise. Instead, hybrid roles are becoming the norm. Leaders are encouraging employees to build their expertise in more than one subject related to their job function. Developing familiarity with a framework like Flutter gives developers more flexibility. They’re no longer limited to web versus mobile apps and can take on a wider range of projects.

Explore the trends in more detail

What do these Latin American learning trends mean for your local workforce? Consider ways to support the transition to remote work. Explore your employees’ desire to improve their communication and personal productivity skills. For technical teams, encourage employees to move beyond single domain specialties. Frameworks like Google Flutter will allow them to step into more hybrid roles.  

Want to dive into country-specific data? Download the 2021 Latin America Workplace Learning Trends Report.