You don’t need to sit in a classroom to learn stuff anymore.

I don’t know how anyone learned things outside of school settings before the internet was around. I think maybe correspondence courses were a thing back then? You know, send self-addressed envelope and some cash, some professor sends you a textbook and some dittos? Not the most efficient way to learn, especially if you’re already an adult with a full time job. Welp, that’s just another reason to be thankful for the digital age, I guess.

Nowadays, it’s much easier to get a lead on learning new skills thanks to the variety of digital development tools and services floating around. There are lots of online courses you can take, both free and paid, that include not just textbooks and dittos, but full recorded presentations, examples, and even opportunities to directly interact with instructors. I took a basic coding course a few years ago, and now I can make simple stuff with HTML and CSS.

These resources are handy for developing yourself personally, of course, but they can also be a boon for developing professionally. You can pick up all kinds of skills that look fantastic on a resume with just a few simple courses. For example, do you know how SEO works? Neither did I! Then I took a course, and now it makes much more sense. You can even learn skills that help both in and out of the office like learning new languages. Have you ever tried Duolingo? It’s a free series of language classes that can teach you the basics of multiple major worldwide languages like Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and more.

So if you feel like your professional repertoire is a bit lacking, you don’t need to go sit in a desk in a classroom, just do some Googling and you’ll most definitely find what you need.