These days, employers aren't always looking for someone with a four-year degree or master's-level education to fill certain critical positions. Often, they are looking for a professional with work experience and the specific skill set they require. Employers will go to great lengths to fill this role, sometimes offering "upskilling" programs to train employees in these skills.
But veterans don't need to look for an upskilling program or wait to get into one just anywhere. There are some career-friendly certification programs that will train them in the skills that will help get them one of the most in-demand jobs today. Most can be completed within a year, at a low cost and all of them can be finished entirely online.
1. IBM Data Science Professional Certificate
These days, companies are looking for data experts, analysts and scientists to harvest and manage data. IBM's Data Science Professional Certification will not only train you to become a data scientist; it teaches related skills like SQL, Python and building machine learning models for the Coursera subscription price of $39 per month.
According to Military.com parent company Monster, data analysts earn a median salary of around $77,000 while data scientists can make around $108,000 per year. Rolling enrollment in this certification program happens throughout the year, is 10 courses long and can be completed in 11 months. The first seven days of instruction are free, and you can roll 12 credits over into an applicable degree program.
2. HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Course
Even if you don't currently know the difference between outbound and inbound marketing, industry leader HubSpot can teach you how valuable inbound marketing can be. Inbound marketing is the strategic use of social media, digital content and events that drive sales around a brand or product, and the HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Course teaches you how to be an expert.
It's a free certification program that teaches students how to create content and optimize marketing strategies using the latest marketing tools. Over the course of seven lessons and less than four total hours, vets can be on their way to earning a median salary of $56,000 as a digital marketing specialist.
3. Google Project Management: Professional Certificate
Professional project managers are in demand. There are currently 479,000 open project manager jobs in the United States right now, making between $54,000 and $106,000, but the best jobs require some kind of professional certification. For those without a degree, a project management certification from Google is as good as gold -- but Coursera offers the class for $39 per month.
The program is six courses, over 140 hours long and takes about six months to complete, but an entry-level position as a project manager can take home as much as $73,000 per year. Students are tested through practice-based assessment based on real-world projects in areas like budgeting, risk management, team dynamics and various related software applications.
4. Harvard University CS50 Introduction to Computer Science
Veterans looking to go into a career as a computer scientist, web developer or software engineer but aren't looking for the four-year commitment can still get a comprehensive education from Harvard through its CS50 Introduction to Computer Science course. The free course is 12 weeks long, demands 6-18 hours per week and is self-paced.
Without any prerequisites or previous instruction necessary, this certification trains users in web development, cybersecurity and computer structures while providing an introduction to the most common computer languages used today: HTML, CSS, C, JavaScript, SQL and Python.
With Harvard as a foundation, web developers can earn upward of $118,000 per year. Continuing education as a software engineer can boost the earning potential to $127,000.
5. Aquent Gymnasium UX Fundamentals
UX means user experience, and familiarity with the fundamentals of the user experience are a must for anyone working in digital design, be it for mobile apps or the web. Aquent Gymnasium's UX Fundamentals course is unique on this list, because it requires takers to be familiar with design and design software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign, but they will be certified UX professionals by the end of the course.
In around six lessons over the course of six hours, designers can learn everything they need to know to sell their skills to the corporate world of end-user design. UX designers also make a median annual salary of around $97,000. Not bad for a free course.
-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.
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