Cheap (Or Free) Online Courses For Higher-Paying Work at Home Jobs

No matter how good you are at something, you can always get better. And no matter how much you know, you can always benefit from learning more.

The more you know and the more skills you have, the more likely it is you'll qualify for and land better-paying work at home jobs.

Luckily the internet has made it so easy for us to learn new skills. There are some very good free and paid resources online that enable you to learn skills employers are looking for.

No doubt when skimming through work from home job descriptions, you've seen requirements that include superior typing skills, writing skills, knowledge of WordPress, Microsoft Word, Excel — the list goes on.

And it's either stuff you simply don't know, or stuff you know, but you're not good enough at to feel confident applying. As a result, you just bypass those jobs leads and look for something you are qualified for.

Well guess what? You can learn those skills — don't think for one minute that you can't. And the internet has made it so easy to do!

Below I've listed some online resources for cheap online courses to help you land some of the higher-paying work at home jobs.

I've been very impressed with that you can use to learn all kinds of new things:

Udemy

The other day, I took some time to really browse the courses that are currently posted at Udemy and I was beyond impressed with what I found.

There are more than 18,000 courses available across all kinds of subjects, and they range in price from FREE to about $300. You can use Udemy to learn most of the skills many employers are looking for — WordPress, typing, writing, various software, and more.

Another thing that I find super appealing about Udemy is that you can really use it to learn anything — even things that you just want to be good at.

For example, if you want to learn to sing or play guitar, you can probably find a course posted there to teach you by an expert. Or if you want to learn how to apply makeup like a professional, there is likely a course you can get put together by someone who already is a professional. It's just a fun site.

The courses are all created by people who are experts in various subjects, and each course description page explains in detail the credentials of the person who created the course so you can decide if this is someone you want to learn from.

People who have taken the courses before might also have posted feedback so you'll get an idea of what others thought before signing up.

Note that these courses are all done at your own pace. If you purchase one, you will immediately have access to all the course materials and you can get through it when it's convenient for you.

The course materials are usually made up of video, audio, and possibly Powerpoint presentations. Most of the courses have several hours worth of material, and again, many are free!

You can go here to check out Udemy.

Skillshare

Skillshare is similar to Udemy with a wide variety of classes available you can enroll in — all self-paced and taught by experts.

With Skillshare, you can learn take courses from experts in business, design, fashion, film & video, photography, technology, and music. There are many, many classes available to help you learn skills employers are looking for like WordPress, Microsoft Office, etc.

With Skillshare, you can sign up either free or as a premium member. As a free member, you can take any of their free classes and participate in community discussions.

You can also buy select classes individually which, according to Skillshare, usually costs $20 each. If you sign up as a premium member, you pay $9.95 a month for unlimited access to hundreds of classes as well as all the benefits of a free membership.

You can go here to check out Skillshare.

GCF Learn Free

I have written about GCF Learn Free before, but I definitely think it's worth bringing up again for this post.

As the name implies, the courses you can take are all free and they have many available that would be helpful for landing jobs.

You can go here to browse those courses, but just to summarize for you, you can use GCF Learn Free to learn most versions of Microsoft Office as well as computer and typing basics, internet basics, how to use different internet browsers, and they even have courses for career planning that include tips for filling out job applications, creating resumes, cover letters, and more.

I want to point out that the site has been a little buggy and many of the courses I click on aren't showing up for some reason, but keep tabs on it — hopefully they'll get it fixed if something is wrong.

You can go here to check out GCF Learn Free.

Lynda

This is another one similar to GCF with loads of self-paced learning tutorials and cheap online courses.

They have a massive library of video tutorials that are all taught by experts, and they are meant to either help you learn new skills or sharpen up your existing ones.

Courses range from less than an hour to over 20 hours, and you can learn everything from web development to photography, although most do seem to be business or tech-related. Lynda is not free, but you can do a 7-day free trial. If you decide to become a full member, it costs $25 monthly.

You can go here to check out Lynda.

Obviously, you're not going to get any sort of official certification for the things you learn through the resources listed above like you would if you took courses through an accredited college or university.

Still, not all employers want you to have the certification — they just need to know that you're familiar with certain things. The resources listed above can help you in that regard, and you'll be able to apply for jobs honestly and confidently knowing that you have those skills.

Reader Recommended

I've had a few readers chime in with some sites I didn't know about. You may also want to look into these as well:

  • Aquent Gymnasium – Free courses for skills that are in demand right now.
  • Coursera – This one offers completely free online courses offered by top universities.
  • Alison – Over 600 free online courses at certificate and diploma level.
  • Edx – Free online courses from the world's best universities.

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work at home ebook bundle

It includes the following e-books ($1 each if you buy them individually):

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You will get an email with a link to download the PDF files after your purchase.

Thank you!

17 thoughts on “Cheap (Or Free) Online Courses For Higher-Paying Work at Home Jobs”

  1. You might also want to check out www.FutureLearn.com. They’re based in England, but have a network of top universities around the world.

  2. This is a great article that you posted. Im trying to switch career feilds but I have not been hired due to my outdated forgotten computer skills. I heard of GCF free learn but are these in depth courses or just beginner courses for Microsoft office? It makes a difference. I checked out Alison courses but they are office 2010 and below and I want to learn 2013 and 2016. Udemy is impressive and are taught by professional in the field. Any input let me know.

  3. Thank you so much for these links! I had no idea about these places to learn. Going back to school is not an option for me, but many of these courses are doable money wise and I’m also checking out the free ones! Hopefully, this will increase my chances of finding a home based job. xx

  4. Good Information Miss Anna,
    I just wanted to suggest if someone hasn’t already to check out Alison, they have some great information all self paced and you can get some great skills. Another one would Saylor.org you can earn college credits and certificates of completion on this site. Thank you for a great website please keep up the great work it is very much appreciated.
    Heather

    • When it comes to learning languages for free online, I use www.memrise.com and www.duolingo.com. Both are great.

  5. I would like to add that a lot of libraries have self paced courses. But you have to finish within a window of time. But you can miss a week or two as long as you finish on time. It seems that you do have to have a library card/number.

  6. While waiting for your email alerts and even when you’re working, not enough people know about https://www.edx.org. Harvard, Wellesley and MIT are just a few of the Universities that offer totally FREE courses. Whether they help with your resume or not, these classes will expand both your mind and your universe. edX rocks!

  7. I totally agree with you listing Lynda.com–I LOVE that place! I am a full time college student and I wouldn’t be doing so well in my classes without Lynda. Very high quality tutorials on just about every piece of well known software (and lots of other stuff!) you can imagine. You can give yourself a phenomenal education on their website. Too bad it isn’t accredited! You can earn completion certificates, tho.
    I haven’t checked out the other sites you have listed, but I certainly will! Thanks for always having great content Anna. This blog is a wonderful resource 🙂

  8. There are a lot of sites that you can use for free courses. I personally use Alison.com, this one can go a little slow because of the ads but its free!
    and I also use coursera….
    I love love love https://www.coursera.org/ !! The classes are taught through major colleges and are free. Some of the classes you can get a certificate of completion (you have to pay for the certificates).

  9. As the title says Learn something new….I have really learned something new. I have been using other ways to earn money but these are the great sites. I started looking into these sites and learned lot of new things.

  10. Great article Anna, very informative. Another idea is to check locally for adult courses though local park districts and high schools. Most have evening classes offered a few days a week that will fit most schedules with a variety of course offerings. Usually depending on what course you pick up they are not that expensive and run a predetermined number of weeks.

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