5 of the best online learning platforms to kickstart your career

In the past few years, technological advancements and high demand for accessible, low-cost education have led to ridiculous growth in the online learning sector. And, while the coronavirus pandemic didn't launch the online learning boom, it sure didn't hurt its case.

Yet an important question lingers: Can an online education truly replace in-person learning?

It's not a universal panacea, but for many people, absolutely — especially if you want to kickstart a career, move up in your current field, make the switch to a completely different industry, or pursue a new hobby. Read more...

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BEST FOR VALUE

Udemy

With tens of thousands of classes on both hard and soft skills, Udemy lets you curate your own education on a budget.

Accredited: No
Price: Select classes are free; paid courses range from £10 to £150
Free trial: No
Number of courses available: 130,000+
Subject areas: Design, development, marketing, IT and software, personal development, business, photography, and music
Team/enterprise plans available: Yes (Udemy for Business)

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BEST FOR FANS

MasterClass

MasterClass isn't a replacement for a traditional education, but its celebrity video demonstrations make for some fascinating TV.

Accredited: No
Price: £3.26/week (billed annually)
Free trial: No
Number of courses available: 100+
Subject areas: Sports and gaming, arts and entertainment, music, writing, food, design and style, science and tech, business, home and lifestyle, community and government, and wellness
Team/enterprise plans available: No

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BEST FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT

LinkedIn Learning

This subscription-based e-learning platform can help you add to the "professional skills" portion of your CV.

Accredited: No
Price: £24.98/month or £179.88/year; free with LinkedIn Premium
Free trial: Yes
Number of courses available: 16,000+
Subject areas: Project Management Institute (PMI), programming languages, illustration, drawing, leadership skills, spreadsheets, NASBA Continuing Professional Education (CPE), data analysis, design thinking, personal effectiveness, data science careers, creativity, job searching, big data, and web design business
Team/enterprise plans available: Yes

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BEST FOR UNI CLASSES

Coursera

Coursera is your one-stop shop for an online university-level education.

Accredited: Coursera itself is not accredited, but some of its classes are
Price: Free to £70 per course; £7 per Guided Project; £27 to £70/month per Specialisation; £27 to £70/month per Professional Certificate; approx. £1,400 to £4,200 per MasterTrack Certificate; approx. £6,400 to £32,000 per degree; £280/year for Coursera Plus
Free trial: Yes
Number of courses available: 4,600 courses plus 1,000 Guided Projects, 500+ Specialisations, 45 certificates, and 25 degrees
Subject areas: Arts and humanities, business, computer science, data science, IT, health, math and logic, personal development, physical science and engineering, social sciences, language learning
Team/enterprise plans available: Yes (Coursera for Business)

IMAGE: Mashable

BEST FOR TECH SKILLS

Treehouse

Friendly and collaborative, Treehouse is the place to go for a coding education that'll help you land a sweet gig in tech.

Accredited: No
Price: £21.20/month for access to Treehouse's library of courses and tracks; £140/month per Techdegree
Free trial: Yes
Number of courses available: 285 individual classes, 93 practice exercises, 196 workshops, 41 tracks, and 5 Techdegrees
Subject areas: 21st-century skills, Android, APIs, business, C#, computer science, CSS, data analysis, databases, design, development tools, digital literacy, EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion), Go, HTML, Java, JavaScript, learning resources, machine learning, PHP, Python, quality assurance, Ruby, and security
Team/enterprise plans available: Yes (Treehouse for Teams)