Level Up
Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once quipped, “The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play.” Until then, however, to remain competitive in the modern workplace, you must upgrade your skills and never stop learning.
According to a Pew Research Center study, U.S. employment is rising faster in fields that require a higher-than-average level of education, experience, and training—especially occupations with specialized social and analytical skills. Fifty-four percent of working Americans surveyed acknowledged that they’ll need ongoing training to keep up with a changing employment landscape, and 35 percent revealed that they don’t have the skills they need to get ahead. Overall, sixty-three percent felt that U.S. workers have less job security than they did 20 to 30 years ago.
Media literacy, creativity, critical thinking, and technological know-how are all expected to be increasingly in-demand. These detailed career guides, DIY skill-building maps, and other resources can help you keep ahead of the obsolescence curve…at least until the day we all can play.
Degree Programs
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Applied Statistics
Within the statistician field, several career and educational paths have evolved that focus especially on working well with Big Data. Some are in the area of data science, which generally deals with making sense of available information; and others focus on statistical analysis, which can involve creating the frameworks and parameters for effective qualitative and quantitative research, a field generally referred to as applied statistics. People with training in the latter area are in especially high demand.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Degrees in Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is an allied health profession in which daily activities of living, or occupations, are pursued for a therapeutic purpose. The ultimate objective of occupational therapy is to improve a patient’s level of independence. Individuals seeking to enter the OT profession often will become occupational therapists or occupational therapy assistants.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Intelligence Analysis & Studies
While intelligence analysts can enter this career from many different paths, most complete an intelligence analysis and studies program. Many of these programs are offered in online formats, allowing busy professionals the chance to balance their careers, family, and education without having to relocate or even attend classes at a set time.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Pre-Veterinary Programs
Pre-vet programs can prepare graduates for various roles, including certified veterinary technicians (CVTs), veterinarians, laboratory technicians, fish and wildlife biologists, or zoologists.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence is the new electricity. Data is the new oil. You would be forgiven for thinking these statements were hyperbolic, but they’re not as far off as they might first appear. The applications of AI-powered analytics reach across practically every sector. Over a third of organizations have already deployed AI-based processes, and analysts forecast global spending on AI to more than double in the next three years, to $79 billion.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Genetic Counseling
Genetic counseling is a unique medical specialty that combines the disciplinary fields of clinical healthcare, education, and psychology. Genetic counselors provide support beyond the borders of traditional medicine to individuals and families facing the risk of genetic and inherited health conditions and diagnoses.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in UX, UI & HCI
In a world increasingly powered by technology, skills in user experience (UX), user interface (UI), and human-computer interaction (HCI) have never been more important. UX, UI, and HCI professionals are experts in the relationships between people and technology. Utilizing skills in design, communication, and sociology, they help craft the experiences that users have with both software and hardware, and make them feel both efficient and intuitive.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Financial Advising & Planning
Financial advising and planning are important services for companies, organizations, and individuals. Restaurants, families, hospitals, government offices, and Fortune 500 companies need trained professionals for keeping track of their cash flow, managing debts, identifying investment opportunities, or monitoring finance-related transactions.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Behavioral Finance
A blend of psychology and business, behavioral finance has major applications in marketing, management, and policy. It also has an important intersection with sustainability: why do consumers choose one product over another, and how can they be best motivated to choose the more sustainable option?
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Design Engineering
Design engineering is almost as broad as engineering itself, with applications in aerospace engineering, automotive engineering, environmental engineering, and more. Their work has never been more important: increasingly, design engineers are being called upon to introduce ideas of sustainability and product lifecycle into engineering processes.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Financial Engineering
As the name suggests, financial engineering makes use of mathematical techniques and principles to solve problems in the world of finance. It combines principles from different fields such as computer science, economics, statistics, and applied math, to develop financial products and also analyze financial problems.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the study of biology to make products. While the most common field for biotechnology is in medicine and pharmaceuticals, biotechnology is also heavily utilized in agriculture and clean energy.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Entrepreneurship
Online degree programs in entrepreneurship allow professionals to complete their studies while still working, raising a family, or starting their own business. There are several different degrees students can earn, including a bachelor’s or a master’s. For students who do not have the time to dedicate to a degree program, there are certificate programs or online boot camps that can provide targeted education in a shortened format.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Small Business Management
One exciting aspect of small business management is that anyone at any level of education can gain the training they need to successfully start and manage a small business. There are programs for those who never graduated high school up through those who are seeking academic degrees in the upper echelons of academic attainment.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Degree Programs in Climate Science & Engineering
While professionals can enter climate science and engineering careers with a bachelor’s degree, most have earned a master’s degree or higher. The most commonly earned degrees include a master’s of science in environmental engineering or civil engineering. Aspiring professionals in this field should look for engineering programs that include a concentration in climate, natural resources, or sustainability.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Degree Programs in Business & Design
Earning a master’s of science or business administration in design gives students more than just a basic business education. The majority of these programs are interdisciplinary and work across multiple campus departments.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Financial Analysis
If money makes the world go round, then financial analysis keeps that money moving. Financial analysts examine the details of a business’s financial performance and assess investment opportunities that may improve it.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Enterprise Architecture & Business Transformation
Enterprise architecture and business transformation are different roles within a business that require similar skills and challenges. They each have a unique approach to management and their own stakeholders, goals, organization, and more. However, the two commonly work together to help businesses operate effectively and successfully grow.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Urban Planning
Urban planners work with public, private, and nonprofit agencies to help determine how urban systems should develop or function. This may include transit and transportation, water, economic development, affordable housing, or even land use.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Mathematics
A mathematics background prepares you for work in practically every fast-growing field, with major applications in data science, computer programming, biology, economics, and statistics. And, with the growth and maturity of online education, it’s never been easier to get started.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Solar Energy & Installation
Solar energy has math on its side: the cost of solar energy drops by approximately 22 percent for every doubling of cumulative capacity. As a result, there’s been an increase in demand for solar energy and installation experts, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the number of jobs in this field will more than double between 2016 and 2026.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Information Security
According to a study sponsored by IBM Security, the average data breach costs a U.S. company $7.9 million and takes 196 days to detect. With numbers like that, it's clear why the jobs for information security analysts is expected to grow by 28 percent between 2016 and 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Medical Assisting
Online learning platforms, distance-learning opportunities at universities, and do-it-yourself professional development sessions are all available to aspiring medical assistants. Geography and time are hardly the barriers they once were.
Degrees Without Borders: Online Programs in Software Development
The job market for software developers is expected to grow 31 percent between 2016 and 2026, making it one of the fastest growing sectors in the nation. It’s also one of the highest paying. Most software developers begin work with just a simple bachelor's degree. And, conveniently, there are a wealth of resources for prospective software developers—boot camps, certificate programs, and collegiate and graduate-level degrees—many of which are offered online, and some even available for free.
Skill-Building Guides
Leveling Up: How to Build Prompt Engineering Skills
Though still an emerging field, prompt engineering allows everyday users to tap into the vast potential of artificial intelligence through carefully crafted instructions. The more detailed prompts are, the more customizable and useful the capabilities of large language models like ChatGPT can become.
Leveling Up: How to Build Skills in Communication
Clear, concise, and effective communication skills are the cornerstone of successful personal and business relationships. In professional contexts, strong communication skills enable us to share information accurately, foster healthy collaborations, and build trust with clients and colleagues.
Leveling Up: How to Build Medical Billing & Coding Skills
A skilled workforce that can nimbly work with information within the immense variety of healthcare sector settings will continue to be in demand for the foreseeable future. Professionals seeking to work in the medical coding and billing profession can enter the industry through several pathways.
Leveling Up: How to Build Cybersecurity Skills
The Information Age has precipitated the explosive development of the cybersecurity industry. As the world conducts more and more of its economic, political, and social life online, the need to efficiently and reliably protect these activities has become an increasingly pressing one. The ubiquitous nature of the online world means people of varied educational and professional backgrounds can advance their careers by learning cybersecurity skills.
Leveling Up: How to Build Math Skills
From discovering the theory of everything, to teaching first graders how to add and subtract, the career possibilities for those who love math are as expansive as the universe. And in the era of tech and remote work, math skills can also be the key to transitioning from nine-to-five work into more time- and location-flexible employment.
Leveling Up: How to Build Artificial Intelligence Skills
Artificial intelligence is not just sci-fi anymore. It is big business—one with billions of dollars in global funding. And despite what dystopian fiction might have you believe, AI is expected to create more jobs than it eliminates. Computers and their algorithms are adept at analyzing vast pools of data and unstructured information, while humans have the necessary intuition, imagination, and pattern recognition to point those algorithms in the right direction.
Leveling Up: How to Build Bicycle Repair Skills
America’s love of bicycles keeps wheeling forward. We spend more than six billion dollars on bicycles every year, and the number of Americans riding bicycles has risen to 47.5 million.
Leveling Up: How to Build Home Health Aide Skills
For people who want a rewarding, high-growth career in healthcare but don’t yet have the time or money for a nursing education, becoming a home health aide may be an excellent choice. Read on to learn how to level up and build home health aide skills.
Leveling Up: How to Build Operations Research Skills
Operations research analysts use advanced techniques to solve high-level operations and supply chain problems. They use optimization, statistical analysis, data mining, and mathematical modeling. In the business world, operations research analysts ensure that organizations and businesses operate as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible. Capable operations research professionals devise advanced solutions to complex problems.
Leveling Up: How to Build Massage Therapy Skills
Since massage therapy skills are desired worldwide, massage therapists can choose to work in a diverse range of exciting domestic and international locations as employed professionals in day spa clinics, health and wellness centers, and more.
Leveling Up: How to Build Business Leadership Skills
True leadership includes employees of all levels who support the growth of their colleagues and company, from department heads who oversee teams to project managers who are ensuring the success of a project. Business leaders tend to be those who know the people, the processes, and the overall culture of a company best, which is why many companies invest in and value them.
Leveling Up: How to Build Web Development Skills
Web development skills can empower workers to escape from behind a cubicle wall to discover new opportunities, including working from home, finding employment as a freelancer, or even creating one’s own business.
Leveling Up: How to Build Financial Planning Skills
Many people around the world find it difficult to save money and plan for their financial futures; the United States is no exception. By one estimate, one-third of Americans have nothing saved for retirement, and 78 percent live paycheck-to-paycheck to make ends meet.
Leveling Up: How to Build Data Analytics Skills
Since the internet went public in 1995, there’s been an explosion in data creation. In 2013, there were 4.4 zettabytes of data in the world and this is expected to increase tenfold by 2020. This figure is only growing exponentially, fueling a global demand for people with strong skills in data analytics.