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One of the most enduring appeals of taking an online class is the simple, affordable gateway it can provide to a new, better-paying, and stabler career. An additional perk of finishing an online course or program is gaining a professional certificate: A recognition you can add to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV to show future employers your proficiency and initiative.
Unlike master’s degrees or bootcamps, online professional certificates are usually shorter-term, more flexible, and a fraction of the cost of traditional continuing education. Entry-level certificates also don’t usually require prior knowledge or degrees to sign up for.
Coursera, one of the most popular online platforms, offers a number of professional certificate programs through top employers such as IBM, Meta (f.k.a. Facebook), Google, and Amazon Web Services, often taught by experts at those companies.
Most Coursera programs are self-paced and cost from $39-$49 per month, so the faster you finish, the more you save. (If your goal career requires you to take multiple programs, or you plan on really taking your time to complete the coursework, you may also want to consider a Coursera Plus subscription if it saves you money.)
Below, you’ll find the 18 most popular entry-level certificate programs on Coursera. Class objectives range from getting job-ready for data science roles to successfully passing the Intuit Certified Bookkeeping Professional exam. Some programs even give students who’ve completed the programs access to an exclusive careers network that connects them with dozens of employers.
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Learn how to tackle the day-to-day responsibilities of a junior or associate data analyst by gaining key skills like data cleaning, data analysis, and data visualization using tools like Tableau and programming languages like R and SQL.
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For those looking into entry-level project management roles, this program explains the basics of Agile project management, focusing on Scrum events, artifacts, and roles. Students also learn strategic communication skills through real-world scenarios.
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This program covers a broad overview of the design process before going into the fundamentals of UX design and having students complete a UX portfolio of three projects: A mobile app, a functioning website, and a cross-platform experience.
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Learn the skills necessary to apply to entry-level IT jobs, from completing IT support tasks like computer assembly, wireless networking, program installation, troubleshooting, debugging, and customer service.
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Develop career-relevant skills in data science and machine learning. Note: You don’t need prior knowledge of computer science or programming languages.
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This early career program teaches students marketing analytics skills to take them from beginner to job-ready.
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To advance your IT career, learn skills in Python, Git, and automation, including managing IT resources in the cloud, writing Python scripts, and troubleshooting IT problems.
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Build the skills needed for entry-level data analyst roles through the course of eight classes. You’ll gain practical experience with data manipulation and analytical techniques and use data analysis tools including Excel, SQL, Python, Jupyter Notebooks, and Cognos Analytics.
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This five-course professional certificate program is designed to make social media marketing beginners equipped for entry-level roles. You’ll create and analyze an effective advertising campaign for your target audience, make a creative brief, establish and manage a social media presence, and use Facebook Ads Manager to perfect your ads.
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Over eight courses, students gain the technical skills to be job-ready for a cybersecurity analyst role. You’ll gain skills for incident responses and forensics using real-world cybersecurity case studies and build knowledge in data protection, endpoint protection, and SIEM, as well as systems and network fundamentals.
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Gain the skills you need to launch a bookkeeping career — whether it’s in public accounting, private industry, government, or a non-profit organization — and ace the Intuit Certified Bookkeeping Professional exam.
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This course prepares you for the SAS Base Programmer certification, including learning the fundamentals of the SAS programming language, accessing and preparing different types of data (SAS, Excel, Text), and applying SAS programming principles in practical examples.
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Learn the foundational Salesforce skills needed to launch a sales operations career, including building reports, charts, and dashboards in Salesforce; using Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning to manage accounts, and explaining how CRM works in appropriate contexts.
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This five-course program helps students build job-ready skills for entry-level Sales Development Representative (SDR) positions.
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This program will teach you how to master Cloud Native and Full Stack Development through hands-on projects utilizing HTML, JavaScript, Node.js, Python, Django, Containers, Microservices, and more.
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Master the data analysis and visualization tools needed to transform data into information and insights with Excel and R.
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This six-course program is designed to build the skills and portfolio you need for a career as an AI or ML engineer.
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This AI program is a good jumpstart for an AI career. Among other things, you’ll learn to build AI-powered solutions using IBM Watson AI services, APIs, and Python with minimal coding, as well as develop custom image classification models and deploy them to the Cloud.
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