Whether you are still studying or a recent graduate, and no matter what your major is, there are some digital skills you need to learn as a student. Because in this fast-paced digital world, multiple arenas have opened up for you to try on. Learn any digital skill and get paid for it.
We have listed 6 digital skills in this article, that students should try learning to engage in productive fulfillment or to try to support themselves financially. You don’t need a degree for it, although you should take a course to get familiar with digital skills.
However, an important component for getting started on learning these skills and then finding a paying gig means you need to stay connected to the internet. Need a recommendation? Go for Xfinity internet for its super-fast speeds and reliable connectivity. Dial the Xfinity phone number for more information. A reliable internet connection will get you sorted in your internet connectivity needs.
Now that you have figured out how you are staying connected to the digital world, here are some of the digital skills you can try learning:
Try Graphic Designing
Unleash your creativity by taking some graphic designing courses. You get the best of both worlds: you can explore your creative talent and also get paid for it!
Graphic designing skill is high in demand. You can learn to use software programs, specifically made for graphic design to create a button, background picture, logo, poster, and whatnot. Some of the most popular skills you need to learn in graphic design are:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- InDesign
- Creative Cloud
You can try Photoshop, Udemy, Canva, etc. as reliable websites for taking a graphic design course online. Being an expert in graphic design skill will get you jobs like:
- Selling stickers to online stores like Etsy, RedBubble, Society6, etc.
- Creating and selling designed templates
- Designing logos and templates for websites, flyers, etc.
Go For Content Writing
The essence of content writing lies in how interesting, thorough, and user-friendly content can you curate. You don’t even need a degree or certain sets of credentials to pursue content writing. All you need is strong writing and research skills.
Do you have a firm grasp of the language required for any material? Then you should definitely go for this one. Doesn’t matter what kind of academic background you have, you can find profitable gigs in content writing as a freelancer, part-time worker, or even full-time employee.
Here are the skills you need to pursue content writing:
- Strong grasp of the language
- Good content structuring
- Detailed research
- Good time management
You can prepare written material for blogs, websites, videos, or any content that can be shared on digital platforms.
Data Analytics for the Numbers
Some people enjoy manipulating numbers and solving puzzles. If you are one of those, you can get paid for that by analyzing data. Not only do you need to be good at understanding how numbers work, but you also need to know how you can convey it to your audience i.e. employers, investors, clients, etc.
Here are some of the skills for being a data analyst:
- Cleaning/preparing data
- Analyzing data
- Expertise in statistics
- Designing visualization of data
- Finding solutions
- Preparing reports
One way to get started with learning this skill is through a popular certification course being offered by Google called Google Data Analytics Certification.
Design Websites
This is one of the best skills you can have for earning money online. Because this digital world is advancing quickly and there is more demand than ever for designing a website.
However, web design is a very complex skill you can acquire. Because you need to get familiar with different aspects of web designing i.e. graphic designing, prototyping, and coding. These are the skills you need to be a good web designer:
- Learning to code
- Being familiar with the rules of UX design
- Learning the basics of SEO rules
- Testing design ability daily
- With web designing skills, you can work as:
- Freelance web designer
- Web design writer
- Managing a web design firm
- Building and then selling websites online
Website Development
If you don’t already know, website development skills are completely different from web design. Because website development focuses on coding and programming to underpin any website’s operation i.e. the non-design aspects of building websites.
Skills you’ll learn for web development are:
- Front-end coding
- Responsive design
- Back-end web programming languages
- SEO
- UX and UI Design
- Testing and debugging
- Being attention to detail
You can find courses for web development at sources like Khan Academy, Coursera, A List Apart Coding, Dojo Algorithm Prep, HTML5 Rocks, etc.
Go for Social Media Marketing
Social media is the most popular tool to be used for online advertising and marketing these days. For this, you need to have a strong social media presence before you can sign up with any clients because they want to know that you have some influence over social media users.
The social media marketing gig consists of:
- Writing content to post
- Blogging
- Displaying ads
- Addressing your large following
- Making graphical content
You also need to get knowledgeable about graphic design, email marketing, and SEO.
Final Thoughts
Students must adopt a growth mindset in this ever-changing digital world and the list given above can serve as a good starting point for you. No matter what your academic background is, digital skills will make you more relevant than others in terms of finance, experience, and skills.