As a creative professional, your education never ends. The ever-evolving skills and technologies are one of the exciting facets of the creative and marketing career path.
Opportunities for ongoing learning, enrichment, and personal growth are now more plentiful than at any other time in history. With access to more information than can be absorbed in a lifetime, the challenge is to structure your learning and find the best opportunities for your own advancement. We’ve organized some of the content into categories to help with the selection process:
Virtual and Free
There are numerous free courses and lectures available online. Khan Academy, Coursera, and other established sites devoted to virtual learning offer college-level instruction on almost any topic, including plenty of technical and creative subjects that can aid in career advancement.
If you prefer a less structured approach, you can absorb hundreds of hours of TED Talks, alternatives to TED talks, podcasts, and audiobooks, investing only your time and the cost of an internet connection. There are also free, creatively oriented sites and discussion forums that offer a sense of community and require only your time investment.
Virtual, for a Fee
Some online classes charge a fee for their content by offering added value, exclusivity, personal attention, or access to a members-only networking community or content.
Many reputable institutions of higher learning now offer online classes, and many paid online programs are well worth the price. In order to devote themselves fully to their work, some creators of educational content charge membership fees or offer added perks to followers who donate via sites such as Patreon, which can give you the opportunity to foster a more meaningful relationship with a teacher, mentor, or community.
When you seek a paid continuing education course, seek reviews or communicate with others who have taken these programs to make sure it’s the right investment for you.
Free and In-Person
In most major cities, creative professionals have easy access to a wide variety of free lectures, networking events, and other opportunities to expand their skillsets and meet potential friends and collaborators.
If you’re looking for free events, Meetup.com is the best place to start – it includes groups based on thousands of topics, including many related to design, technology, and other creative fields. Creative Mornings hosts a series of talks in cities around the world, offering top-quality content for free. If you want to attend, register and grab your tickets within the first few minutes they are available, otherwise, they will sell-out very quickly.
In-Person, for a Fee
If time allows, one of the most reliable ways to master a new discipline or set of skills is to set aside a few months and take an immersive class or “bootcamp.” Many bootcamps have sprung up to teach technical skills such as coding and have gained credibility and following.
General Assembly is one example of a private learning institution for those in creative and technical fields. While it is only one of dozens of its kind, it has established a worldwide presence. It offers immersive courses in web development, user experience design, and other fields that offer opportunities for a new or enhanced career. If you’re not ready to take that much of a leap, these schools also offer cost-effective classes that you can take in an evening or on a weekend.
At Artisan Creative, continued education is an important aspect of our business. Contact us today to learn more.
In our 20+ years of connecting creative talent with top clients, we have gained knowledge and built strong networks.
We nurture creative talent at every stage of their careers. Contact us today to discover how we can help. We hope you enjoy the 443rd issue of our weekly a.blog.