As the cost of living seems to spin out of control, your once acceptable salary is starting to feel like starvation wages. You could sit around angry-eating cake and blaming the 1% for siphoning all the money out of the economy. That’s legit. It is their fault. A recent study found that the top 1% took $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of earners in the world in the last few years.
But that cake – especially after you eat it — won’t help you pay the rent.
By all means, get angry. (And vote because politics for the rich has a lot to do with this.) Meanwhile, though, a little more money would help. And to get more money, you need a skill that pays more. You don’t necessarily need to go back to school to get that skill. Sometimes, adding a new skill set to the work you already do can go a long way to boosting your paycheck or adding a side gig to the mix.
Here are 6 best online classes to help earn more money.
Artificial Intelligence
While there is a lot of hand-wringing going on out there in the world around AI. Is it amazing? Is it evil? Will it take my job? Will it destroy artists? One thing is certain: Understanding it and being able to use it will improve your job options. According to the University of Oxford, AI skills can boost your earning potential by as much as 40%.
Whatever you do — even if it’s not technical — you should learn some AI skills. This course on AI fundamentals for non-data scientists from the University of Pennsylvania is a great place to start. Or go even lighter with an EdX class on Google AI for Everyone. If you want to build a skill that will be in high demand as the world starts to adopt AI to streamline customer service, get into this class on building AI-powered chatbots without programming.
SCALA
How strange is it to live in a world where if you learn something tomorrow that you hadn’t heard of till today, you could earn 22 percent more money next year? SCALA is a programming language that runs on the Java platform.
It’s popular with just about everyone who builds software that handles large amounts of data. If you already know Java and programming is – or could be – your jam, consider adding SCALA to your skillset and you could bring down up to $200,000 a year. (Tell that to your mom who wanted you to put the computer down and become a doctor.) There are dozens of classes at Coursera. You could take an intro course at DataCamp.
Project Management
According to Research.com, Project Management is a profitable gig. With salaries often well over $100,00 a year, it might be worth considering a career change or a willingness to take on this role where you work now. It’s not easy, though, as you know if you have ever tried to herd kittens.
Passing the test that gets you the official certificate is a challenge you’ll want to study up for. At EdX.org, you can earn a MicroMasters in the topic. At Coursera, you can get the official Project Manager Certificate after taking a 6-month specialization or just find out what it’s all about by taking the Introductory class. Google also offers a professional certificate in a six-course series that costs only $49 a month.
Data Science
A few years ago, Data Science didn’t exist as a job. But now every company is drowning in data so every company needs people to make sense of it. People with the requisite skills are hard to define and harder to come by. Those who can both do data science and explain what it is, often command enviable salaries — with the median salary clocking in at over $100K but earnings at over $300K are common.
If you have a background in any kind of science or math, upping your skills to fill this role and redefining yourself as a data scientist could jump your earnings considerably. At EdX.org, you can earn a Micromasters in the subject. Or check out Dataquest.io, which offers a range of courses that can help you add data science to your current skillset to earn more money.
Many data science jobs are remote so this might turn out to be your dream job.
Digital Marketing
In the digital age, everyone needs to market what they do online. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling a book, a class, a restaurant meal, or your embryonic project management skills, you have to manage Google ads, search engines, social media, and everything that goes with reaching customers that reach for their Internet-connected phones every two seconds. If you are the one at work who can do this, you will rule. Fortunately for you, you can get a certificate from Google in this valuable skill entirely online.
Learn a Language
Learning a language can increase your earnings in just about any field. And, if you are addicted to Duolingo, you have been building core skills that can help boost your earnings. You are unlikely to get fluent from a game, though it certainly makes studying fun.
So consider pairing that gameplay with a more serious course in the language of your choice at Pimsleur, which teaches you to speak. You could be speaking — and thinking — in another language just by spending a few minutes a day with your phone.
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A version of this article, by this author, appeared originally at The Week