Are you thinking about new career opportunities for 2024? Maybe a promotion?
The Denver Public Library has free resources to help you reach your goals!
No matter the time of the year, it’s always a positive practice to think about upskilling your talents or consider a job or career change.
The library has many resources available to help you explore a new career and even take coursework to gain professional certifications. Certifications often are a lower-cost alternative to an advanced degree and a great way to prepare for a promotion or switch companies for a better opportunity.
For example, according to CIO Dive, the top five paying IT certifications are:
- Google Cloud: Professional Cloud Architect
- Google Cloud: Professional Data Engineer
- Project Management Institute: Project Management Professional
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect: Professional
- ISACA's Certified Information Security Manager
Additionally, Denver Public Library offers FREE Udemy courses that can help you learn about and prepare for the certification tests for ALL of the above. Udemy also has preparation classes for other professional credentials, including Lean/SixSigma Blackbelt, SHRM HR Certifications, Salesforce Admin, Microsoft Certifications, CompTIA+, and more! To use Udemy, you will need a permanent library card, which is also free!
Udemy's free courses are also helpful if you already have these certifications but need continuing education credits to maintain/renew the certificate.
If some of these terms seem like alphabet soup, you are not alone! A great way to figure out what certifications are important for career growth in your field (or in a new field you are interested in) is to look at job postings and see what is listed under the Minimum Qualifications and Preferred Qualifications.
And then you can use Udemy (useful for many professional certifications and learning new areas such as Customer Success, Social Media Marketing, and Presentation Skills), Learning Express Library, which has GED and HiSET prep classes, practice exams and more, Mango Languages, which offers more than 70 language courses (and multiple ESL options), or any of our other free learning databases to help you prepare for the certification exam in your area of interest.
Some examples of additional certifications the library’s resources can help you obtain (look in Learning Express Library under Career Preparation):
Air Traffic Controller
Commercial Drivers License (CDL)
Cosmetology
Culinary Arts
Dental Assistant
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Firefighter
Food Handler Certification
Medical Assistant
Nursing Assistant/Nurses Aide
Pharmacy Technician
Teacher
So take a look at these treasure troves of learning and reap the benefits of learning a new skill!
Happy Learning and Happy 2024!!