New Year, New Skills: 10 Skills Your Employees Need in January 2019

Safia Abbasi

Senior Product Marketing Manager, Udemy for Business

Happy new year from the Udemy for Business team! With this new year comes new skills that your team can leverage to keep up with change and prepare for what’s next. Udemy for Business adds hundreds of new courses each month, pioneering resources covering the latest technical and professional skills. Here are some of the latest trending topics added to our collection:

Tech skills

1. Python 3

Python is a popular programming language leveraged by programmers to create GUI applications, websites, and web applications. It’s one of the most widely used programming languages across all types of industries. For example, Python powers Google’s web search system, YouTube’s video sharing service, Disney in its creative processes, JPMorgan Chase for financial market forecasting, amongst many other use cases.

Python 3 is the latest version of this technology and will soon be the dominant version with Python 2 expiring in 2020. As a result, many aspects of Python 2 will be deprecated and developers will need to update their websites and applications to Python 3 to avoid any disruption.

In Python 3 Complete Masterclass, developers will learn key concepts within Python 3 from scratch with hands-on quizzes, coding exercises, and assignments to gain real-world practice. Instructor Mihai Catalin Teodosiu is a Python expert with over 30,000 learners on Udemy.

“The lectures were easy to follow and understand, even for beginners like me, the instructor answered all my questions immediately and gave me very helpful answers, and the practice exercises allowed me to get a much better grasp of the material.” — Course Review

2. Java virtual machine (JVM)

Released by Java in 1995, the Java virtual machine is a program whose purpose is to execute other programs. While it was originally built just for Java, JVM has become a prominent part of the development landscape and has evolved to support many scripting and programming languages, including Scala, Groovy, and Kotlin.

Udemy for Business recently released three highly rated courses on this widely used technology. Ideal for programmers, these courses provide an overview of how to leverage JVM to run programs on any device or operating system and to manage and optimize program memory:

Instructor Daniel Ciocîrlan is a software engineering and computer science expert with a passion for teaching.

“Thank you, Daniel, for creating this amazing course! I’ve watched all of your Scala courses, and I can confidently say that your courses totally rock. Your courses are probably the best I’ve ever watched. Keep more coming, and thanks for all the great work!” — Course Review

3. Informatica

As the leader in information technology, Informatica provides software for enterprise companies to establish and maintain data warehouses. One of its most widely used products, Informatica PowerCenter, is a widely used extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tool used in building enterprise data warehouses.

In Complete Roadway to Informatica Powercenter 9 by Packt Publishing, developers will learn the key components within Informatica PowerCenter and how to leverage this innovative technology to extract and transform data from various sources into a target data warehouse. With over 155,000 learners, instructor Packt Publishing is a bestselling Udemy instructor whose mission is to “help developers stay relevant in a rapidly changing world.”

“You just got couple of days to learn Informatica? This is the course!” — Course Review

4. Drools

Created by Red Hat, Drools is a Business Rules Management System (BRMS) that empowers companies to define and maintain the rules guiding a system’s decision workflow in a simpler way. BRMS affect every vertical and industry, and can be leveraged within a number of different use cases: businesses wanting to improve decision making efficiency, companies wanting to reduce exposure to regulatory fines, entrepreneurs who want to respond quickly to market segment opportunities, and more.

Ideal for developers and system architects, Master Drools – Turn Complex Logic into Simple to Read Rules is a brand new course that explains how to use the Drools Rule Engine to decouple complex business decision trees into simple, automated actions. Instructor Juhan Aasaru is an experienced CTO and Java developer with over 14 years of experience.

“Enjoyed the course thoroughly. Excellent coverage by Juhan. Covered almost all the topics that are required to start authoring rules from simple to complex. The materials are well organized, relevant, and well explained with examples. Great work.” — Course Review

5. Apache Maven

Apache Maven is a software project management and comprehension tool and is currently the most popular Java build tool. Companies and Open Source communities around the world consider Apache Maven the ‘go-to’ build tool for their Java projects. This innovative technology can manage a project’s build, reporting, and documentation from a central piece of information.

Ideal for Java developers and DevOps engineers, Apache Maven: Beginner to Guru provides 12 hours of on-demand video on how to configure Apache Maven projects from scratch and use it to build, test, package, and deploy Java applications. Instructor John Thompson is a bestselling Udemy instructor with 20+ years of experience in the IT industry. He has worked with organizations like Visa, Kohls, and Belk Department Stores and currently teaches over 47,000 learners on Udemy.

“I enjoyed doing this course, it was informative, interesting and well laid out. Often technical courses can grate on the listener or be too remedial. I found this just right. I find John easy to listen to and I gained a lot of knowledge.” — Course Review

Business skills

1. Agile project management

According to the Project Management Institute, demand for project management professionals is expected to grow more than any other role over the next eight years–by 33 percent, or nearly 22 million new jobs. Udemy for Business recently added two brand new courses on this growing critical professional skill:

In PRINCE2 Agile Foundation, leading Udemy instructor Jason Dion covers the ins and outs of PRINCE2, the world’s most widely adopted project management methodology. Learners will understand first-hand how to leverage PRINCE2 across small, medium, and large-scaled projects to meet their organization’s specific requirements. Instructor Jason Dion is a professor at University of Maryland University College with nearly 30 years of experience in IT and project management and over 60,000 learners on Udemy.

In Project Management: Master Project Management – PMP/PMI by Chris Croft, learners will gain a comprehensive understanding of the PMP method of project management to deliver exceptional projects on time, on budget, and to spec. With over 36,000 learners on Udemy, instructor Chris Croft is one of the UK’s leading management trainers and a successful author.

“It has been amazing breaking down to simpler forms Prince 2 and Agile. The course has also defined a project and why projects are difficult. The whole idea of Project Management has been demystified.” — Course Review

2. Presentation Skills

Having strong presentation skills is critical for professionals to communicate with confidence and motivate their audience to listen. And, it’s a skill that’s applicable to any role and context: a sales rep providing a product pitch, marketing professional telling a compelling brand story, a product manager pitching a new idea, a technical leader onboarding a customer, etc.

Udemy for Business recently added Effective Presentation and TED like Public Speaking, a highly rated new course that illustrates how to become more confident across public speaking, presentations, and storytelling. Geared towards professionals of all levels and roles, this course provides a hands-on resource on mastering the structure, delivery, and technique to provide memorable and engaging presentations.

Instructor Evrim Kanbur is an experienced TEDx speaker, entrepreneur, lecturer, and consultant who is dedicated to sharing her experiences and knowledge with people around the world.

“I highly recommend this course whoever wants to make power presentations. I enjoyed watching it as it was very interactive and also educational. Thank you; keep good work coming!” — Course Review

3. Sales & negotiation

As the frontline in most businesses, Sales is a critical component to the success of any organization. Sales reps must have a range of professional skills such as communication, customer service, presentation skills, negotiation, influence, and more.

Sales Skills & Negotiation Skills Masterclass Sales Training provides an industry-leading 12 hours of video on how to negotiate effectively, handle objections, manage emotions in a sales situation, and develop an effective sales strategy. Bestselling Udemy instructors Mark Timberlake and Philomena Timberlake collectively have over 120,000 learners on Udemy and bring 15 years of experience in business and passion for teaching to their courses.

“Treat this course as the holy grail and it will pay you dividends in your relationships, loyal customers, sales, and business growth. Well done and thank you to Mark and team for creating such a highly valuable course.” — Course Review

4. Customer service

Businesses around the world are increasingly adopting a customer-centric approach to their business. Providing positive customer service is integral in gaining customer trust, loyalty, and building advocates of your products.

Ideal for customer success managers and sales reps, Customer Service Mastery: Delight Every Customer by Chris Croft provides a practical guide to delighting customers, creating unique customer experiences, and turning customers into lifelong fans. Instructor Chris Croft is passionate about creating courses that are memorable, entertaining and immediately actionable and has trained over 87,000 people with a 94% rate of repeat business.

“Anyone who ever does business (of any kind) should take this course. All of his ideas are brilliant and he is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced instructors on here. Will be back for more!!” — Course Review

5. Career development

Navigating your career can be difficult, and helping your employees navigate their careers can be even more challenging. Studies have shown that employees are much more likely to leave their jobs if they don’t see opportunities to grow within their organization. It’s imperative that managers help lead the discussion on career development with their employees.

Geared towards managers who have one or more direct reports, Career Navigator: A Manager’s Guide to Career Development provides a comprehensive three-step method for talking to employees about their career development. This course covers key topics like introspection, goal setting, and mentorship. Instructor Shelley Osborne is Head of L&D at Udemy and has over 14 years of experience in the education and corporate learning and development sector.