Online Learning

Udacity and Google Launch Free Online Career Courses

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/12/18

Google and Udacity have teamed up to offer 12 free career courses for recent graduates, mid-career professionals and those re-entering the workforce. The duo tested out the concept in March, when Udacity launched a "Networking for Career Success" course for 60,000 "Grow with Google" learners in Europe and the United States. The Grow with Google program is an initiative to help students and teachers, business owners, job seekers, startup operators and developers get better at what they do.

Now 12 courses have been produced, and the classes have been opened to everybody. Topics include:

• Refresh Your Resume;
• Craft Your Cover Letter;
• Optimize Your GitHub;
• Strengthen Your LinkedIn Network & Brand;
• Data Structures & Algorithms in Python and Swift for technical interviews; and
• Interview Prep for Data Science, Front-End, Android, VR, Full Stack, and iOS.

While the shortest course ("Craft Your Cover Letter") takes about a day, the longest ones ("Data Structures & Algorithms") call for a four-week commitment. All are self-paced, taught by industry professionals, include interactive quizzes and come with support through a student forum.

"From our industry partners we've heard time and again that mastering career-centric 'soft' skills is a critical part of becoming fully job-ready, and it is these strategies and techniques that often differentiate one job candidate from another when it comes to determining who ultimately gets hired," explained Kathleen Mullaney, Udacity's vice president of careers, in a blog post. The new courses, she added, are intended "to help make certain you land the right opportunity to put your skills to work."