As roles and industries are being rapidly reshaped by digital transformation, so are the skills and educational experience that roles will require. Now, those interested in computer science can prepare for a high-growth career in tech by building job-ready skills through Google and the University of London with the Google IT Support Certificate being recognised for credit within the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree.
Learners of all backgrounds are discovering new pathways to digital skill building and career opportunities: With Google’s flexible IT Support Professional Certificate, individuals can gain practical technical skills like computer assembly, wireless networking and debugging with guidance from Google’s own experts and earn degree credit for the University of London’s cutting-edge BSc Computer Science programme.
Individuals can prepare for a thriving tech career in a variety of industries in this competitively priced degree programme. Plus students can benefit from the pay-per-module fee structure meaning students will only be charged for the modules they choose to take. Career starters, switchers, and advancers alike can master critical programming, mathematical, and computing skills in hands-on ways—building a portfolio of practical research and applications. Students can specialise in one of seven in-demand areas: ML and AI, data science, web and mobile development, physical computing and IoT, game development, VR, or UX.
Hear from Caroline who completed the Google IT Support Professional Certificate before enrolling in the BSc Computer Science degree program:
“If you take a professional certificate, you gain practical skills and learn things that are not taught in university. The Google IT Professional Certificate changed my life. It opened so many doors for me and I am proud to have progressed from working as a general worker at a research company to being a University of London student.
From studying the BSc Computer Science programme, my career has taken off! I have been able to make new connections which have led to further opportunities, such as joining the Space Generation Advisory Council. I can now see a positive future for myself in which I hope to go on to achieve master’s and PhD-level studies.”
—Caroline C, Zimbabwe
Get a head start on your skill building today: Gain free access to the Google IT Support Professional Certificate when you enroll in the spring cohort by February 26, 2024. Learners have six months to redeem this offer. Get the details.
Welcome back to our high-impact workplace skills series. We really enjoyed the conversations happening in the comments section of last week’s top skills of 2023 issue, so be sure to check those out for perspectives and insights from fellow members of our Career Chat community.
One comment that’s been on our mind came from Kendra Vivian Lewis, who asked some thoughtful questions about the comparative importance of workplace and technical skills and if there’s a way to forecast which skills will be important in the coming years. This week’s topic—analytical thinking, the number one skill on the list—is a great example as we explore both questions. Be sure to read to the end to discover a special offer that we’re running on Coursera Plus subscriptions through September 21.
What it means to think analytically
Analytical thinking involves using data to understand problems, identify potential solutions, and suggest the solution that’s most likely to have the desired impact. It’s similar to critical thinking skills, which are the skills you use to interpret information and make decisions.
In order to succeed as a strong analytical thinker, you also need to have strong technical skills in your field. Remember: technical skills describe the things you do, while workplace skills describe how you do them. So your workplace skills, used effectively, enhance your technical skills. That’s why we consider them to be high-impact—they stand to make your work more impactful than it would have been had you only used your technical skills.
To illustrate, suppose you just started a job as a data analyst for a think tank focused on climate change, and you’ve been tasked with raising community engagement in future climate action efforts.
You might start with your technical data analysis skills as you gather data from a few sources. Then, you’ll use your analytical thinking skills to determine the validity of each data source. Perhaps you’ll discard one source when you learn the research was funded by a firm with a financial stake in fossil fuel consumption. Your technical skills lead again as you clean data, and then you’ll return to your analytical thinking skills to analyze and interpret your findings, ultimately leading to your recommendation to start a transparency campaign to display water and energy use in the community.
Tell us in the comments: How do you use your analytical skills alongside your technical skills in your day-to-day work?
Why analytical skills top the list
To develop the skills list, the World Economic Forum surveyed 800+ global employers on their views of skills and jobs over the next five years, so this list is forward-looking. According to the Future of Jobs Report, employers believe analytical thinking skills will grow in importance by 72 percent in this timeframe.
The reason employers are keen to hire employees with strong analytical thinking skills is informed by trends in automation and technological advancements. While technical data analysis becomes easier with automation, reasoning and decision-making automation is advancing at a much slower pace—meaning employers anticipate that, within the next five years, we’ll have a wealth of data at our fingertips and too few people to interpret what that data means.
Where to begin
For a crash course in critical thinking, try the University of California, Davis’s Critical Thinking Skills for the Professional course. You can finish this beginner-level course in about 7 hours.
For a technical process to guide your analytical thinking, try Google’s Data Analytics Professional Certificate. Ground your analytical thinking skills in technical know-how in this eight-course series.
Interested in multiple programs? Don’t miss this special offer!
Through September 21, we’re offering $100 off annual Coursera Plus subscriptions for new subscribers. With this offer, you’ll pay less than $25 per month for one year of access to 6,100 courses, Specializations, and Professional Certificates with flexibility to start new courses and move between programs at your pace.
This offer is a great choice if you are frequently tempted to enroll in multiple courses at once or plan to complete a Specialization or Professional Certificate within the next year. If that sounds like you, take a closer look at the offer and the Coursera Plus course catalog.
That’s all for this week! Join us next week to talk about motivation and self-awareness skills.
Learning to code so that you can land a job in tech can feel daunting. That’s why we’re sharing inspiring stories from Codecademy’s community — to show how people like you (yes, you!) can embark on a learning journey and end up with a totally new career. We hope these stories serve as a reminder that there’s no single path to a more fulfilling work life.
Today’s story is from Eng. Omar Elsayed, a 23-year-old iOS Developer, living in Cairo, Egypt. Omar is hosting a community workshop where you can learn how to build an OpenAI chatbot mobile app for iOS. It starts on January 30, sign up for the three-part workshop now!Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here.
Why I chose to learn to code
“After finishing high school, my goal was to be an [electrical] engineer. My uncle bought me an iPad as a reward for my good grades, and there was an app called Swift Playground that came pre-downloaded with the device. I opened it and coded with Swift for the first time. It was a playground designed to teach children how to code with Swift in a game format. The goal was to move the avatar, collect friends, and I enjoyed it so much.
Join our workshop with Omar
At first, I started by opening YouTube, watching videos, downloading Xcode [Apple’s integrated development environment for macOS], and playing around with it. My initial project involved creating magic effects for people. It was a playful experiment, but then I decided to take it seriously. I committed to the iOS Developer career path offered by Codecademy, marking the most serious phase of my journey. I was fully determined to pursue this path and continue my learning.”
How I made time to learn
“I learned between my classes, incorporating quick lessons on new codes or structures used to create elements within an app. Sometimes I continue my learning after finishing my classes and, on occasions, very early in the morning. I have a routine of waking up at 5 am every day.
I really dislike it when people claim they don’t have time. When you observe successful individuals, like Steve Jobs — who I greatly admire and is one of the reasons why I became an iOS developer — you see their dedication. He worked tirelessly every day until he achieved a certain point, and even when faced with setbacks, he didn’t give up; he persevered.
With dedication and hard work, you can accomplish your goals. Many constraints are self-imposed, like the excuses of not having enough time, finding it too challenging, or lacking resources. You have the choice to either accept these excuses or create your own path, define your own values, and live on your terms.”
How I saved up money to switch careers
“I had a conversation with a friend about an app idea. We decided that I would handle the iOS part due to my passion for it, with the plan for her to create the Android version. She mentioned a course on Codecademy, and since she had an account, I used it for the course, progressing until the last few modules. I wanted the certificate, so I asked if we could change the name to complete the course on my own account. She said no, so I contacted Codecademy explaining that I had progress on another account. They were able to transfer all my progress to my account. Then, when I joined Code Crew, the rest of Pro was paid for me.”
Want to join Code Crew?
Code Crew is all about creating supportive and inclusive environments for the Codecademy community. Members initiate discussions, help answer questions, organize events, facilitate discussions, and maintain Docs. Learn more and apply to the Code Crew.
How I got in the door
“There was a post on LinkedIn written by someone named Aleksa discussing why you shouldn’t hire Junior Developers. I came across this post and decided to leave a comment, intending it purely as a joke. In my comment, I asked if there was a place for me because, at that time, I considered myself a Junior Developer. It was all in good humor.
Surprisingly, the owner of the company where I currently work, responded to Aleksa mention of me and asked for my thoughts. Aleksa suggested in a comment that I reach out, so I did, and that’s how I landed the job.”
“The next day, I had an interview with them, and we discussed details about the app, its purpose, and the impact it aimed to have on people’s lives. I found the concept of the app appealing, and I agreed with their vision. I moved on to the next stage, a technical interview with Adam and Alexa. Following the interview, I successfully secured the job.
If you’re passionate about your work, you won’t find the need to study before an interview because you’re constantly applying your knowledge — it’s a top priority in your mind. If you’re working solely for the money and lack passion for your job, then you’ll be afraid of interviews.”
How I evaluated the offer
“I didn’t want to reject the offer, because at this point, I was eager to start [working]. The one thing that was a deciding point for me is that there was no salary. This was a moment where I had to make a decision on what to do. I talked with my father, though I already knew my answer. Before discussing it with him, I had made up my mind to say yes. I couldn’t turn down this opportunity. I accepted the offer, and they granted me a 1% stake in the company. Currently, the percentage doesn’t have a significant impact because they’re a startup, but I am optimistic.”
How day one and beyond went
“To be honest, the first day was a bit overwhelming because there wasn’t a formal technical onboarding that guided me through the code and its flow. I had to navigate the code on my own, which initially came as a shock. The architecture was different from what I was accustomed to. This left me a bit confused, but I tried to control it by looking at the code, trying to understand it, and asking questions.
The first task I was given involved localizing the app to different languages, specifically English and Arabic. I got to know a little bit more about the app, because I had to change every string to a specific key, so it could automatically translate. In doing so, I had to navigate throughout the code, changing each string to a designated key. This made me very familiar with the codebase and more comfortable.”
What I wish I knew before I started learning
“You can’t let the past decide what you’ll be in the future. I wasn’t very good in school; I failed so many subjects and it was a mess. In Egypt, the last year of high school determines where you go to college. If I let my past decide who I would be I couldn’t become an iOS developer. Don’t look at the past hour, or the future hour — just look at the hour that you are in right now. The future is an unknown and you cannot predict it. So the only thing you have control of is this moment, so enjoy it and do your best in this moment.”
Not sure where to start? Check out our personality quiz! We’ll help you find the best programming language to learn based on your strengths and interests.
Want to share your Codecademy learner story? Drop us a line here. And don’t forget to join the discussions in our community.
True crime entertainment seems to be everywhere these days. Are you a fan? Do you listen to podcasts, read books, or watch documentaries, TV shows and movies that tell the stories of real-life victims and perpetrators?
If so, have you ever wrestled with whether your consumption of this content is ethical?
In the 1990s you would have been hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know the name of my sister Polly Klaas. I was 6 years old when a stranger abducted 12-year-old Polly from our bedroom on the evening of Oct. 1, 1993. Her face quickly became a fixture on nightly news, her name featured prominently in headlines alongside fearmongering about crime rates. News crews broadcast from our living room and remained camped in front of our house during the two-month search before her body was found.
Though the media frenzy should have ended there, it only intensified, fueling a political climate primed for reactionary reprisal. Polly’s kidnapping from our middle-class, white, suburban community triggered a national outcry for punishment and retribution.
In the next few years, true crime began to morph into the media obsession it is today. Last year, The Hollywood Reporter alerted its readers to “30 True-Crime Series to Binge Right Now.” As I write this, nearly half of Apple’s top 20 podcasts in the United States are devoted to true crime, and the internet is saturated with recommendations for the best new true crime books to read.
One might argue that this genre honors victims and those who solved or sought to solve the cases. However, as a survivor whose tragedy continues to be exploited by creators of true crime stories, I know the personal pain of this appropriation, as well as how coverage of these high-profile cases can contribute to broader injustices. The exploitation of victims’ stories often carries a steep cost for their families as their tragedies are commodified and their privacy repeatedly violated for mass consumption.
In 2022, for instance, the release of “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” on Netflix caused profound distress among many family members of Dahmer’s victims, who felt that the show was profiting from their pain, misrepresenting actual events and retraumatizing those who had lived through the horror of Dahmer’s crimes.
On top of those harms, the stories that don’t fit with true crime’s cultural emphasis on white female victimhood too often go untold.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
What is your reaction to Ms. Nichol’s essay? What in it surprised, moved or resonated with you most?
Does her story make you think any differently about your own consumption of true crime? Why or why not?
What do you think explains the media obsession with true crime?
What, in your opinion, are the biggest issues with true crime as a genre?
What good, if any, do you think can come from true crime entertainment? Can you think of any examples?
When you weigh the positives with the negatives, do you think true crime as entertainment — whether books, documentaries, movies, TV shows or podcasts — is ethical? Do you think it’s possible for people to create and consume true crime content in a responsible way? If so, how? If not, why not?
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 and may appear in print.
The romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce has dominated social media, but some football fans have complained that N.F.L. games have focused on the pop star too much. This is despite the reality that she is typically onscreen for less than 25 seconds over the course of broadcasts that run longer than three hours.
But with the Chiefs — and possibly Ms. Swift — headed to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl on Feb. 11, some vocal N.F.L. fans are complaining.
What do you think? Has there been too much television focus on Ms. Swift during these games? Why do you think some football fans believe coverage of the pop star has been overwhelming?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to see the related Times analysis.
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 and may appear in print.
The word oneiric has appeared in six articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 2 in the book review “Daniel Clowes Dreams of the Apocalypse” by Junot Díaz:
If, as the poet Nayyirah Waheed writes, our mothers are our first country, then for Monica it’s a country whose calamities she has never gotten over. Unwilling (or unable) to form real attachments, bereft of all past and without much of a future, a 40-something Monica finally resolves to locate her mother and uncover the truth of her abandonment — and, in the process, discover who her father was.
Because this is a Clowes story, Monica’s quest for origins — for a stable self — takes her on strange and twisting paths. She traces her mother through the decayed revenants of the counterculture, ending up at a bizarre cult whose leader might or might not be her father. There are oneiric interludes: In one, Johnny is a hard-boiled private detective in a city that’s being engulfed by a mysterious disaster; in another, a young man saves his hometown from a supernatural invasion only to be rewarded in the worst way possible. The Gothic, noir, war comics, even a glimpse of William Hogarth — all appear, and all are made very weird indeed.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word oneiric 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.
If you want a better idea of how oneiric can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.
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.
Are you constantly texting? How much of your time do you spend in group chats? How would you describe the role those chats play in your life?
In “How Group Chats Rule the World,” Sophie Haigney writes about her own experience, but she also looks at the purposes these “digital rooms” have come to serve in our culture.
Here is how she begins:
I am texting all the time. I am, at the very least, receiving texts all the time, a party to conversations in which I am alternately an eavesdropper and an active participant. This is because I am in a lot of group chats — constant, interlinked, text-message-based conversations among multiple friends that happen all day long. I dip into and out of these conversations, on my phone and on my computer. Sometimes I will put both away for two hours and return to find 279 new messages waiting.
Some people might consider this a nightmare, but I am not one of them. I am a person under the age of 30 with a computer job and a Twitter habit (lately, I guess, an X one) who generally prefers to have plans most nights of the week and whose attention has long been divided, if not at times entirely shattered, by the constancy of digital communication. So I am texting the chat.
You might ask: What are we even talking about? Well: Someone sends a link to an article, or a life update, or a joke, another joke, a dumber joke, a reading recommendation, a funny photo. There is a heated back-and-forth concerning some controversy online that we are back-channeling about in private, or else something happening in one of our real lives that needs unpacking and cannot wait until we all meet in person. There might be a rundown of a night out. Serious news, easier to give to two or three friends at once, about the decline of a parent’s health. A meme about a Bill Simmons podcast. What else do people talk about? Many things, I’m sure, but this is the particular stuff I am talking about. The texture of my whole life experience is colored by the sense that I am talking to all my friends, all at once, almost all the time — or at the very least that I could be talking to them all, always, and that if I am not talking to them, then they are talking anyway, without me.
She continues:
To me, the most notable thing about all these group chats is their essential constancy. Types of communication that were once limited by the human capacity for having actual conversations now flow at unprecedented speed, in many directions at once; we are strangely perma-linked to specific subsets of our friends and family, ceaselessly co-processing everything that happens. We feel as if we are endlessly whispering in our friends’ ears at a distance. We can pick up the conversation at any time, from anywhere. My brothers and I are not the kind of siblings who keep in daily touch — a phone call from one of them would put me on edge instinctively. Still, every few weeks, one of us might say “siblings check-in” in our shared chat and give a few basic updates. Conversely, my friends Charlotte and Mack and I will spend an hour going back and forth about someone we knew in passing when we all lived in Boston; we will say nothing about ourselves, really, and in fact our dynamic is such that “updates” would feel trite and forced. We are used, instead, to the idea that the conversation can just continue wherever it was we left off, or didn’t.
The group chat can sustain indefinitely this thin wire of connectedness. Some might argue that this feeling is a deception, another screen-based way to stave off loneliness; I would say instead that it glows with potential. Because there is no practical end to the group chat, it can be a means of keeping the lights on, constellating a set of people who would otherwise be entirely separate. The nature of the messages is such that they may only require a glance, a quick scroll before you return to whatever you were supposed to be doing. I might let a conversation go and then pick it up again the next week. The conversation in a good group chat sometimes pauses, but it never really dies. And this constancy has consequences that we might not recognize, that stretch beyond the little enclaves that we have created for ourselves.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
How many group chats are you a part of? Do you enjoy them?
What function does each serve in your life? Choose one or more and, as this writer did, tell us about who is in them, what kinds of things you send one another, how often you text, and why you think those chats are — or aren’t — useful or fun for you.
What do you like about group chats in general? What do you dislike? How are group chats different from other ways of communicating — whether on social media, in person, via a phone call, or any other way you interact with others?
Has a group chat ever served as a “lifeline” for you? When and how?
“Group chats necessarily exclude even more than they include,” Ms. Haigney writes. Have you ever had an experience where inclusion or exclusion from a particular chat was an issue?
Ms. Haigney describes a group chat as “a live document that is also a web of social dynamics.” What do you think your “live documents” would show someone who found your phone and didn’t know you? What do you think your group chats say about you, your relationships, and what’s important to you?
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 and may appear in print.
Max Hollein, the Met’s director and chief executive, said that he and the museum’s curators cultivated a relationship with the television producer over the last three years; however, he stayed away from giving advice on the market.
The article continues:
Hollein characterized Wolf’s donation as one of the most meaningful gifts to the museum in recent memory.
“The collection reflects Dick Wolf’s excellent connoisseurship and enduring dedication to the diverse artistic media of the periods,” he said. “Furthermore, the substantial financial contribution will provide critical support for the Met’s collection displays and scholarly pursuits.”
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word connoisseurship 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.
If you want a better idea of how connoisseurship can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.
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.
1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:
2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.
4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?
The Reveal
We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!
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.
