Categories
Technical Training

Self-Paced Learning + Badges

There are a lot of data literacy and data science courses available online. I am sure you have your own favourites! I was impressed today to learn that the courses on CoginitiveClass.ai are both free and grant users Credly badges on completion. Academic students of data science typically don’t worry about certifying their programming skills. However, hiring managers don’t have the time to read through a paper to find out if the author used sophisticated quantitative skills or not. So get certified! And ask probing questions about applicants’ skills profile (if you are hiring)! It takes a lot of work just to find the appropriate online learning resource. Just because applicants don’t have a sticker on their CV doesn’t mean they haven’t taken training in using a program.

Categories
Human Resources Workplace Culture

Digital Skills as Human Capital

Employers need to think about digital skills as a type of human capital that they have to invest in to maintain. This also means that digital skills capital has to be developed in the first place, just like other types of capital. Employers can’t expect to ‘buy’ digital skills capital off-the-shelf. If a business was purchasing a new building or a new IT system from a contractor, they would still be involved at the design phase and have a refit or implementation plan. How can we expect human capital (employees) to have plug-and-play digital skills that employers can secure in bulk on the open market? Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem – WorkLife