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Eight Years at Coursera, Always a Courserian 

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Eight Years at Coursera, Always a Courserian 

Hi! I’m Currin Berdine, one of Coursera’s longest-tenured employees, and I’m thrilled to celebrate our 10th birthday with you.   

Since 2014, I have witnessed our team’s incredible accomplishments: from offering hundreds of courses to thousands, expanding our partners to include industry giants and Historically Black Colleges, winning prestigious awards, passing 194 million enrollments, and growing our team from dozens in a tiny office in Mountain View, California to over a thousand employees connected around the world.

So many parts of Coursera remain steadfast. First is living our principles to always learn and grow, as instilled in us continually by our founders Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng. In the last eight years, I went from being the team’s first marketing hire to being the marketing team’s first full-time web and email developer. My managers have always encouraged me to grow and they’ve trusted me. I took courses on Coursera to build my skills, learning alongside the people I serve. 

Another part of Coursera that remains unchanged is—as if by some magnetic force—our ability to attract the most caring and talented teammates. Every day, I am impressed by my colleagues’ beautiful work, impressive smarts, heart, and genuine kindness for each other. To any Courserian reading this: you are amazing, and I love working with you! 

~

The most important value that has remained a bedrock: the tenet “Learners First.”

I remember, in my first couple of weeks at Coursera, I was in a meeting that became a heated debate over a product feature. 

Ideas and opinions flew: “What about this way?” and “Hm, I like this other way.” 

“Folks, let’s ask,” a manager paused the conversation, “which way provides the best learner experience? Whichever way is ‘Learners First’ is the answer.”  

Since then, I’ve heard “Learners First” win the debate countless times, and it still always points us to the right answer. 

I’m incredibly proud and grateful to work at Coursera, and I look forward to the years ahead, as we continue to fulfill our mission to deliver the world’s best education to everyone.  

Now, a look back on the early days of Coursera! 

My first official photo at Coursera, taken in December 2013, with managers Lila Ibrahim and Yin Lu. They invited me to the holiday party before I’d even started; I remember how incredibly warm, kind, and welcoming they were. I knew Coursera would be the right fit! 

Meetings at our first office often ended up in some corner, on the floor, because we only had a few conference rooms available in our small startup space. 

Team photo from the last day at our first office. A bittersweet goodbye, but we were very much looking forward to amenities like lots of conference rooms.   

First day at the new office–construction was still in progress. The building was so big that I’d often get lost finding the meeting rooms. 

Once we found the right conference room in our huge new office, the team (monkey included) would get to work brainstorming and prioritizing how we would make education accessible to everyone in the world. 

If you missed a meeting (maybe because you got lost in the building), we’d follow up with the notes. 

While our “technology” was humble, we had big goals! 

Working at Coursera was (and still is) so much fun and energizing. This picture is in front of the “Learner Wall,” a massive photo collage of our learners. 

I can’t recall the topic of this meeting … but I’m sure it was important, whatever it was!

This was one of my favorite team activities. We were each given a white canvas, and on each canvas, there was a pencil outline of a portion of Coursera’s original infinity symbol logo. Our instructions were to paint the canvas, which is what we started doing. After a couple minutes, we were surprised with an instruction to shift to a neighbor’s canvas! This process continued until we’d all worked on each other’s pieces, at which point, we put them all together to create a new and collaborative expression of our logo!

It was a major accomplishment when the marketing team grew to 12 people. Now, we are hundreds strong! 

This was back when we could fit the entire company into one close-up photo. If we took a photo of the company today, the photographer would need to move back a bit to fit in over 1,000 people. 

Happy Birthday, Coursera! 

3 Ways Social Media Influencers Can Use Code To Grow Followings & Create Popular Content

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3 Ways Social Media Influencers Can Use Code To Grow Followings & Create Popular Content
How social media influencers can use code

For lots of social media influencers, creating content isn’t just a hobby — it’s a profession. Whether an influencer is sharing cooking videos or pictures of their outfit-of-the-day, there’s often a lot of strategy that goes into posting something that appeases the algorithm and shows up in people’s feeds.

While you don’t need to know how to write code to post a photo, understanding some basic coding skills can help influencers who treat their platform like a business, explains Maya Bello, a full-stack software engineer who makes TikToks and YouTube videos about coding and working in tech.

There are so many types of influencers out there — from TikTok beauty gurus to computer science content creators — but they’re all essentially marketers who have “the power to affect the buying habits or quantifiable actions of others,” as WIRED put it.

Of course, coding has plenty of other benefits that have nothing to do with making money or marketing yourself. “I feel like learning how to code has given me a lot of problem-solving skills that I use in all areas of my life,” Maya says. “So, if I’m having a problem with a certain [social media] platform, I think about all the different ways I could solve that problem.”

Here are some specific technical skills that social media influencers might want to learn to grow their audience and make more engaging content.

Data analytics

Influencers have to pay attention to the number of followers they have or the amount of likes and comments that a certain post gets. These stats affect how much money an influencer makes on a sponsored post, and the size of brands that they can attract. “Understanding your analytics is extremely important,” Maya says.

Maya uses YouTube’s built-in analytics tool to track granular information (like what keywords people type in the search bar to find her videos) and audience retention (which is how long people watch a video before leaving the page). “From there, you can make informed decisions on the type of content you could make,” she says.

For example, Maya discovered through her analytics that people really like to watch “Day In The Life” videos, so she started making more. “I love making those videos, so that’s kind of a win-win,” she says.

Getting comfortable reading and interpreting data opens tons of possibilities. There’s a whole field called data science that involves translating data into information of value using probability and statistics, software engineering, and domain knowledge. If you’re curious, Codecademy has lots of beginner-friendly data science courses to explore, like Learn SQL or Learn R.

Or, if you’re ready to take your skills to the next level, our Data Science career path will teach you everything you need to know in order to get a data analyst or data scientist position, including how to use SQL to manipulate data and Python to make data visualizations.

Basic web development

Though influencers primarily use their social media profiles to promote themselves and share updates, lots of people also have a personal website, too. “Coding your own website could be fun,” Maya says.

Joanne Paquin is a social media associate at Codecademy, so she’s in charge of posting everything you see on Codecademy’s social media accounts. “Something I’ve found helpful is having some familiarity with HTML,” Joanne says.

For example, in other social media roles, Joanne recalls tweaking a website’s code in order to embed Facebook posts. “It was nice being able to make those adjustments without having to reach out to WordPress’ support center every time I wanted something to look a little bit different,” she says.

If you want to learn how to build a personal website, check out our pro skill path Build a Website with HTML, CSS, and Github Pages. Codecademy also has a Front-End Engineer career path that covers everything from how to build dynamic web apps to the fundamentals of UI/UX design, and gets you ready to apply for jobs.  

No sweat if you’re not interested in coding a website from scratch; there are lots of drag-and-drop website builders that can do it for you, like Wix or Squarespace, Maya says. To master Wix and get hands-on practice making a resume website, try our course Create a Professional Website with Velo by Wix.

Design

Beyond having an eye for the most flattering Instagram filter to use on a photo, social media influencers can benefit from learning design principles. On YouTube, for example, creators often use custom banners on their channels and video thumbnails, Maya says. It’s a small tweak that can “help curate a beautiful feed” that looks cohesive and professional, she says.  

Joanne agrees that design is big in social media: “I took a graphic design class in college for fun, and it ended up being one of the most helpful courses for my career,” she says.

If you have an understanding of HTML and CSS, but want to beef up your design knowledge, check out our Learn Color Design course. You’ll get plenty of practice using CSS and learn important color theory and accessibility principles. Our new course Introduction to UI and UX Design is another great beginner-friendly option if you’d like to learn how user interface and user experience affect development.

Catalog Home | Codecademy

If you’re not sure where to begin or what to learn next, this is a great place to start. Check out our top coding courses, Skill Paths, and Career Paths.

What’s Going On in This Graph? | April 6, 2022

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | April 6, 2022

4. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, April 6, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

5. By Friday morning, April 8, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that includes this graph, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.

We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!


More?

See all graphs in this series or collections of 60 of our favorite graphs, 28 graphs that teach about inequality and 24 graphs about climate change.

View our archives that link to all past releases, organized by topic, graph type and Stat Nugget.

Learn more about the notice and wonder teaching strategy from this 5-minute video and how and why other teachers are using this strategy from our on-demand webinar.

Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live-moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.

Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, Census in the Schools student-generated data, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Vocabulary in Context: How Balloons Blew Up

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Vocabulary in Context: How Balloons Blew Up

On the brink of 40, Gev Danielian could have gotten a Porsche; he could have gambled or had too much to drink. Instead, in June 2021, he planned a prudent celebration at his home in Los Angeles and allowed himself one mild regression. He blanketed his lawn in several hundred balloons.

Dozens and dozens of balloons in a of matte neutrals; several accent balloons streaked to mimic Carrara marble. At first, Mr. Danielian had been skeptical when his event planner, Edgar Hay, proposed them. “I was hesitant — I’m not a child,” he said.

Smiling

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Smiling

What do you know or think you know about this image and where it is from? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.


Want more Picture Prompts? Find them all in this column.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Word of the Day: idyllic

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Word of the Day: idyllic

The word idyllic has appeared in 140 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 17 in “How a Stunning Lagoon in Spain Turned Into ‘Green Soup’” by Raphael Minder:

The Mar Menor, a saltwater lagoon on the coast of southeastern Spain, was long renowned for its natural beauty, drawing tourists and retirees to its pristine warm shallows and the area’s gentle Mediterranean climate.

But over the past few years, the idyllic lagoon has come under threat. Tons of dead fish have washed ashore as the once-crystalline waters became choked with algae.

Can you correctly use the word idyllic in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how idyllic can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try one of our monthly vocabulary challenges.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

Weekly Accessible Learning Activities: Spider Friends, ‘Firefall,’ Grief Camp

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Weekly Accessible Learning Activities: Spider Friends, ‘Firefall,’ Grief Camp

Each Wednesday we shine a spotlight on five student activities that support a broad range of learners. In this week’s roundup of accessible activities, we invite students to learn about a new species of spider, think about something amazing they’ve seen in nature, watch a film about young people dealing with grief, share how they feel about mask mandates ending and look closely at a photograph.

Note: To learn more about this new weekly feature, read our introductory post. Please share your thoughts in the comments section or by emailing us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.


1. Learn about the joro spider.

This Lesson of the Day focuses on a species of spider that has invaded the East Coast of the United States. Students will take a quiz to test their knowledge about spiders, read a short article and then create a new Spider-Man character based on the joro spider.

2. Reflect on natural wonders.

In this Student Opinion, students learn about a waterfall in Yosemite National Park that appears to transform into a “firefall” every year in February. Then, students think about something in nature that amazed or wowed them. They can share their memory in the comments section of the article.

3. Watch a film about young people navigating grief.

In this Film Club, students watch an 18-minute film about a camp for kids who have lost someone important. As they watch, students will see how Yaren, age 10, who lost her mother at six, finds community with other young people who have also lost a family member. Then, students will share how they deal with grief and what they learned from hearing Yaren’s story.

4. Share: Have you been reluctant to ditch your mask?

This Picture Prompt features an image and related article about teenagers who are feeling anxious about taking off their masks in public. Students can share how they feel about mask mandates being lifted in the comments section and read what other young people around the world have to say.

5. Make observations about a photograph.

In this week’s What’s Going On in This Picture, students will analyze a New York Times photograph without its caption. They will make observations and evidence-based guesses about what they think is happening. Then they can read what other students, along with moderators from the organization Visual Thinking Strategies, have to say about the image.

69 leading organizations across EMEA choose Coursera for Business to accelerate skill development 

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69 leading organizations across EMEA choose Coursera for Business to accelerate skill development 

Anthony Tattersall, Vice President of EMEA at Coursera

With the pace of technology adoption accelerating, nearly 80% of business leaders believe building the right capabilities will be important to an organization’s long-term growth. We are seeing strong evidence of this among enterprises in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as enterprises rapidly double down on skill development to stay ahead in the digital economy.  

In the second half of 2021, 69 new businesses across EMEA adopted Coursera for Business and 90 companies renewed or expanded their Coursera for Business partnership. These include companies from a range of industries such as retail, banking, media and consultancy, with household names such as Trivago, Orange, Siemens, and Bosch. 

“Digital technologies are transforming our industry at an ever-faster pace. Coursera is helping us rapidly build critical digital skills that our employees can apply in their daily work to help our business evolve”, said Steve Jarett, Senior Vice President, Data and AI at Orange. “Being able to track, measure, and benchmark skill development, internally as well as against industry peers, gives us the insights we need to adapt and guide our transformation.”

“Our partnership with Coursera will help us take our skill development efforts to the next level through role-based learning, effectively matching learners’ roles to the exact skills and courses they need to succeed in their jobs”, said Stefania Stoian, Talent Development & Engagement lead at Trivago. “Coursera’s expansive catalog will give our employees access to high-quality content, for the required depth and breadth of learning we need to address existing skill gaps.”

 For many companies, skill development continues to be an important engagement and retention strategy. To help employees grow in their existing roles, our new LevelSets offering allows employees to quickly determine their proficiency in key skills and identify areas to focus on moving forward. By providing learners with a clear development path based on their specific goals and existing proficiency levels, they are more motivated and better equipped to build job-relevant skills fast and effectively. 

Coursera for Business now provides over 3,100 companies across the globe with role-based skills development featuring world-class content, hands-on learning, and the ability to track, measure, and benchmark skills through a single, unified platform. In addition to LevelSets, recent platform innovations such as SkillSets are helping employees develop skills for specific jobs. These SkillSets are the building blocks for our portfolio of Academies. Using underlying skills data, these Academies – including Leadership Academy, Marketing Academy, and Tech Academy – offer a packaged learning experience based on the depth of skill needed for specific roles across an organization. 

For example, Leadership Academy enables employees to build essential human skills such as change management, emotional intelligence, innovation, and resilience, while Tech Academy offers training for both these human skills, and in-demand technical skills – from Python and Javascript to GCP, AWS, and Tensorflow.

As momentum around our Coursera for Business offering grows throughout EMEA, several important trends have emerged. Coursera for Business learners in the region are building in-demand skills in technology and data science.Top courses for employees during the second half of 2021 include Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) from the University of Michigan, What is Data Science from IBM, and AI for everyone by Deeplearning.ai. 

Companies are also emphasizing the development of human skills to build high-performing teams capable of adapting through change. Top enrolled courses by employees in EMEA included Learning How to Learn from Deep Teaching Solutions, Work Smarter, Not Harder from University of California, Irvine, and The Science of Wellbeing from Yale.

Technological change is outpacing human adaptability. To adjust, we need to engage in smarter learning, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. We are therefore thrilled to be partnering with leading companies in the region, helping them equip their teams with the skills to innovate faster and accelerate business transformation, for long-term growth and success.

Unleash Your Creativity with New Hobbies

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Unleash Your Creativity with New Hobbies

We all need hobbies. Having an enjoyable hobby brings us pleasure and brightens our lives. It offers us something entertaining to do in our spare time while also providing us with the opportunity to pick up new skills. Not mention, it’s always fun to show off a little every now and then. We are really quite lucky to have so many choices available to us today. Are you thinking of how you can unleash your creativity with new hobbies? Alison has a wide range of Courses, Diplomas and Certificates you can complete online for free. In this article, we are going to highlight a few of them, but be sure to browse through any kind of creative outlet in our Hubs for more.

 

 

When regular life becomes too intense, your hobbies might help you unwind. Outside of work, doing something you like might be good to your mental health. Hobbies can help you cope with depression by lowering your anxiety and stress levels. Hobbies enable you to build a life outside of work.

Art and Design Courses

Alison’s Art and Design hub is chock-full of free online Art and Design Courses, including Digital Design, Art, Anime, Working in Design, Fashion and Brand, and Logo Design. We also offer free courses in learning some of Adobe’s most popular programmes, such as Photoshop and Illustrator.

If you just want to learn to draw for fun, we have a course for that. The best part is that you can get started right now. Simply create an Alison account, choose your first course, and begin studying! All of our courses are accredited, and you may retake the examinations as many times as you like.

How to Draw 101

Discover new talent and learn how to draw realistically with portrait artist Ethan Moran. This free online drawing course teaches you how to draw realistically. The course will guide you on the best materials and use classic artistic concepts like proportion, perspective, and depth to bring your drawings to life. We utilise speed drawings to demonstrate the principles covered in this simple video course that may result in discovering your new gift.

Creating Anime Characters

Suppose you love watching and reading anime. Go behind the scenes of the world of anime, where a single motion line may convey a thousand words. First and foremost, whether you want to produce your manga with black and white images in that characteristic Japanese comic book style or aim for full-colour animated films, you must master the fundamentals. Learn how to draw the essential head and face for close-ups, bringing your characters to life with rich features and emotions before moving on to full body drawings.

The Art of Photography

Anyone can take a good photograph, but there’s much more to photography than a quick Instagram snap. Say you want to learn how to capture the beauty of nature, create a shot worthy of being enlarged and framed, or apply effects to enhance an image. You will benefit from our free online photography classes.

We begin with a spotlight on the art of photography, covering everything from the equipment to composition to editing the picture you’ve shot. Our digital photography category offers new insights and techniques. Whether you want to pursue a photography profession or simply shoot better selfies, our Photography Hub has the aspect you’re searching for.

Beginner Digital Photography

This free online beginner’s photography course will teach you how to use the many capabilities of your digital camera and how to take the perfect photo for every situation. as well as your digital camera. Many individuals own digital cameras, but only a tiny percentage know how to use them.

 

The Beauty of Literature

There’s nothing like settling down with a good book. The term “literature” refers not to just books, but poetry, short tales, and other works of written fiction. Studying English literature is an excellent approach to enhancing your English and enjoyment of literature. Alison provides free courses on renowned writers such as William Shakespeare and historical periods such as the Romantic, Gothic, and Postcolonial movements. In addition, we can give you feminist and postmodern writing programmes.

An Introduction to the Gothic Novels

This course provides an overview of Gothic fiction, focusing on significant storylines from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Frankenstein ring any bells?). You will learn about the essential characteristics of Gothic literature, the distinction between Gothic dread and horror, and the modern worries expressed in Gothic storytelling. In addition, patriarchal domination, women’s property rights, feminine concerns, scientific monsters, and eerie landscapes are all addressed.

English Writing Skills

This free writing course will walk you through the most fundamental English writing styles, show you how and when to use each one, and help you improve your knowledge of punctuation and grammar usage. These abilities may help you express yourself clearly and successfully in your writing, whether you strive to be a professional writer or simply wish to better your creative writing.

New Hobbies Can Help You Unleash Your Creativity

Aside from our everyday tasks, we all need something to focus our efforts on. Sometimes, by picking up a new hobby, you can get yourself out of rut that you have been stuck in. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to transform your hobby into a full-time job by unleashing your creativity with new hobbies.

 

Choosing a Career That is Right For You

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Choosing a Career That is Right For You

Choosing a career that is right for you is no small task, whether you are just starting out with your professional career, looking for a change or returning to work after being away. Today, we will explore how you can go about choosing the right career for yourself. With so many options to choose from, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, and most people often are. If you don’t know what you want to do, the task may seem impossible. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re one of them. Even with thousands of Courses, Certificates and Diplomas to choose from at Alison, we know you’ll need a little help in selecting the right ones for your career path. No matter what stage of your career you are at, with guidance, organisation, and knowing your strengths, making the right career choice won’t seem scary. 

 

The Alison Career Guide

As you all know by now, here at Alison, we are all about 100% free education, with 23 Million learners over 15 years. We also know that learning for the sake of it (unless you’re into it, in which case we say, awesome!), doesn’t yield the best results when studying towards a career goal. 

Thankfully, we have a solution. The Alison Career Guide will help you make the right decisions when it comes to your career. Designed by experts to help you find out what you need to succeed From planning, the courses you’ll need to succeed, and finally, to get that certificate. The Career Guide will help you. 

 

 

Know Thyself 

Before you can choose the right career, you must learn about yourself. Your values, interests, soft skills, and aptitudes, combined with your personality type, make some occupations a good fit for you and others completely inappropriate.

Use a self-assessment tool, such as our Workplace Personality Test to gather information about your traits and generate a list of occupations that are a good fit.

Make a List of Occupations to Explore

You probably have lots of potential occupations in front of you, keep yourself organised, and combine them into one list. Title it “Occupations to Explore.” Your self assessment will have ​indicated they are a good fit for you based on several of your traits, so they’re worth exploring. Next, find the occupations on your lists that appeal to you. They may be careers you know a bit about and want to explore further. Also, include professions about which you don’t know much. You might learn something unexpected.

Explore the Occupations on Your List & Narrow Them Down 

Once you managed to narrow your list down, you can get more information about each of the occupations on your list. Look at public sources, you will find job descriptions as well as educational, training, and requirements. Discover your options for growth. Use market statistics to learn about salaries and career opportunities.

Now that you have the information, narrow down your list even further. Begin eliminating the occupations you don’t want to pursue further based on what you learnt from your research. 

If the reasons for you not wanting to persue a particular job are non-negotiable, check it off your list. Remove everything that has tasks that you don’t want to do. Careers with poor employment prospects should be avoided. Remove yourself from any career if you are unable or unwilling to meet the educational or other standards, or if you lack any of the soft skills required to succeed in it.

Set Your Goals & Action Plan 

Once you’ve made a decision, define your long-term and short-term goals. This assists in planning a path toward finally getting job in your desired area. Long-term goals normally take three to five years to accomplish, but short-term goals may usually be completed in six months to three years.

Allow your research on necessary education and training to serve as a guide. Do extra research if you don’t have all of the information. Set your goals when you’ve gathered all of the necessary information. Examples of long and short term goals are; completing your education and training is an example of a long-term goal. Applying to college, apprenticeships, other training programmes, and internships are all short-term objectives.

Create a career action plan, which is a written plan that lists all of the actions you will need to do to achieve your goals. Consider it a road map that will take you from point A to point B.  ist of all your short- and long-term goals, as well as the steps you’ll need to take to achieve each one. Include any potential roadblocks to reaching your goals, as well as plans to overcome them.

This may appear to be a lot of work—and it is. However, it is much easier to carve out a professional path when you know what you want. Taking these actions now can save you a lot of trouble and confusion later on.

Make Your Career Choice

Finally, after completing all of your research, you are most probably ready to start choosing a career that is right for you and go about landing your dream job. Based on your research, choose the career that you believe will provide you with the most satisfaction. Remember that you have the right to a second chance if you change your mind about a decision at any time in your life. Many people change jobs at least a few times throughout their lives, so don’t fell bad if the one you are currently in isn’t the right one for you.