LinkedIn Course Syllabus: How to Upskill Yourself

Let’s address the elephant in the room first: LinkedIn is one of the least exciting places to spend your precious internet time. There’s good reason for that: it’s just a mixed bag of self promotion, #humblebrags, and weird nudges from LinkedIn to congratulate people you don’t know on their new job. There is far more interesting content to explore elsewhere on the interwebs.

I get that. I’m not here to convince you that LinkedIn is great. Instead, I want to make LinkedIn more useful for you. Whether you’re scanning LinkedIn because you need an escape from your job or because someone told you to be on LinkedIn because networking, I want people using LinkedIn to learn something tangible that improves their career situation.

For the month of August I’m teaching people how to upskill. Upskilling is the process of learning new skills to improve your professional life. It’ll also help you stay relevant in a rapidly changing workforce. With so many ways to learn new skills, from digital bootcamps to certificates to online courses to YouTube, figuring out how to make it work for your career can be a challenge. I’ll teach you how from LinkedIn.

This will be an experiment on my part. I wrote a book about upskilling and career changes, so I’m bursting with useful content to share. I’ll be using some content from my book, as well as videos, podcasts, and other media I’ve collected about upskilling and career changes along the way.

There’s no homework for this course. But you can still participate. Follow along and if you have a question or want to share your experience, comment on the posts. I’ll answer your questions.

Below is a syllabus for the themes I’ll cover each week.

Week 1

  • Upskilling: Nailing down a definition
  • Not just the robots: Why upskilling matters (hint: it’s less about robots and more about changing business models)
  • How to upskill: Bootcamps, online courses, and DIY learning, oh my!
  • Upskilling for career changers

Week 2

  • Power Skills: The skills employers want most
  • Evaluating upskill options: Online Courses
  • Evaluating upskill options: Bootcamps
  • Evaluating upskill options: DIY Learning
  • Evaluating upskill options: Workplace Learning

Week 3

  • Upskill now: Highlighting interesting courses and opportunities to get you to upskill this year
  • Skill-building bootcamp showcase
  • Online courses showcase
  • Open learning resources
  • How to find workplace upskilling opportunities

Week 4

  • Crafting a personal learning syllabus
  • Using the 2×2 method to keep you relevant in your workplace
  • Embracing career changes and skill building as the new model for career success
  • Wrap up and next steps

I encourage you to send me questions, ideas, programs you like, and more LinkedIn. Feel free to connect with me with a message letting me know you’re interested in following the Upskill Yourself experiment.

And if you’re curious about how to upskill and change careers, I’ve got just the book for you.