My 3 Favourite Career Development Course Sites

Introduction

For those of you who are looking for career development courses, I’ve rounded up my 3 all-time favourites. 

These are ones I’ve personally used myself, and ones I’ve recommended to my team when I was in leadership. Of course, I point my coaching clients here too so they can boost their development in between coaching sessions. 

And unlike other blogs reviewing these sites, I don’t use affiliate programs so you can be 100% sure that I’m not benefiting from you using them. You can read my external link and non-affiliate policy here. 

Coursera 

Summary

Coursera is one of my absolute favourites for continuing education. They’ve partnered with universities and industry-leading companies to offer high quality courses that you can either take just for learning or to earn a degree or certificate. 

All courses come with a clear learning objective, structured timeline and exams and assignments to test your knowledge. 

Best for

Coursera is best for:

• Learning concepts, process and best practices
• Earning a degree or certificate on your own time (no scheduled classes to attend)
• Earning a degree or certificate without the cost and administration of enrolling directly with a college or university 

Pricing

Many courses are available for free or can be audited if you don’t require a certificate of completion. Coursera also offers a financial aid program.

At the time of this writing, Coursera certifications and specializations start at $49 USD, their MasterTrack(r) Certificates start at $2,000 USD and degrees start at $9,000 USD. You can find Coursera’s current pricing details here. 

They also offer Coursera Plus, which offers access to a curated subset of courses for $59 USD/month or $399 USD/year. Both pricing options include a 14-day trial.

Udemy 

Summary

Udemy is a premium learning marketplace offering online courses at accessible prices. Unlike Coursera or LinkedIn Learning, anyone can become an instructor and sell their course through Udemy. Think of it kind of like Amazon for online courses. 

There is a wider variety of topics available on Udemy, including personal-interest topics. Because anyone can become an instructor on Udemy, their user student ratings are a valuable tool when trying to find the best course for you.

Best for

I typically recommend Udemy when people:

• Want to learn how to use specific software (e.g. Excel, MS Project, Salesforce)
• Are focused on development and don’t need certification
• Prefer more hands-on learning (more of their courses offer practice activities)

Pricing

Udemy offers free courses, a monthly subscription starting at $20USD/month (with a 7-day trial), and individual courses starting at $11.99 USD (with a 30-day guarantee). Note that their subscription does not give you access to all courses available (only a curated subsection). You can find the Udemy pricing details here.

LinkedIn Learning 

Summary

LinkedIn Learning is a curated collection of career-focused courses. Here, you can find everything from short lessons to entire courses, with a blend of technical and soft-skill topics.

Similar to Coursera, they offer both certificate and non-certificate options, although access is typically through payment only (i.e. no “audit” feature, but read on for pricing alternative options). Instructors need to go through LinkedIn’s vetting process to be accepted onto the platform.

Best for

I typically recommend LinkedIn Learning when people:

• Already have access to it (see pricing–you may already have access!),
• Are looking for courses on practical topics, and
• Like the option to share their development progress on LinkedIn.

Pricing

LinkedIn Learning is part of premium (paid) LinkedIn tiers, and not available on it’s own. As of the time of this blog post writing, their paid tiers start at $29.99 USD/month

If you’re not looking to upgrade to a paid LinkedIn membership right now, you do have other options for accessing LinkedIn Learning:

1. A free, one-month trial.
   LinkedIn often offers its members free, one-month trials of paid membership tiers. This is a good option if you want to try LinkedIn learning to see if you get the full value before switching to a paid subscription.
   
2. Through your employer
   Some employers offer LinkedIn Learning as a development resource. Check with your Learning & Development or HR department to see if this is something available to you.
   
3. Through your library
   Some local libraries also offer LinkedIn Learning as an educational resource. Check with your local library to see if this is available to you.

Summary

There are many career development resources out there, with different ones to suit your learning objectives and your budget.

I recommend Coursera for college/university courses, Udemy for technical skills and LinkedIn Learning for practical topics. 
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