The launch of the courses was announced back in June. Paid trainings have not yet been launched , while you can already sign up for free courses .
“The new Google Career Certificates build on our existing programs to pave the way for non-college IT support careers,” explains Kent Walker, senior vice president of global communications at Google. "Launched in 2018, the Google IT Certification Program has become the most popular certification on Coursera, with thousands of people finding new jobs and increasing their income after completing the course."
The company promises to help graduates find work, and it itself is not averse to adding to its staff. "When hiring, we are now going to consider these new career certificates as the equivalent of a four-year degree for the respective positions," - he wrote in the "Twitter" Kent Walker.
Google is not alone: it is not in vain that experts talk about the formation of the education and skills market of the future with the code name EduNet . Shortly before the search engine, a similar educational program was launched by Microsoft to train up to 25 million peopleand “to facilitate access to digital skills for the people most affected by job loss, including the poor, women and minorities.” The emphasis is on the fact that the acquired skills will be useful in the era of COVID-19. Other IT giants have similar programs, for example, IBM . Someone launches courses on their platforms, someone on platforms like Coursera or Udemy . In total, there are more than 11 thousand popular educational programs in the world. The volume of the online education market in 2019 was estimated at $ 205 billion (according to Global Market Insights). By 2023, the volume of the global online education market may exceed $ 282 billion (with an average annual growth rate of 7-10%). There is only one caveat: Online course students are terribly undisciplined. According to statistics , from 5 to 13% of students undergo training until the end, maximum 15% of students . According to Harvard University (analyzed using Coursera programs), this is an even more modest figure - 4%. The fact that online course graduates are difficult to rely on is bad news for employers and society at large. Is there a danger that the market will be flooded with ignoramuses? However, for each individual, this is a great opportunity to get good training at an affordable price. If the motivation for hard study is enough for six months, you can be head and shoulders above the half-educated competitors.