{"id":2097122,"date":"2024-05-02T11:44:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T15:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/article\/2097122\/udacity-offers-laid-off-us-workers-free-access-to-its-courses-for-30-days.html"},"modified":"2025-03-26T16:51:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T20:51:29","slug":"udacity-offers-laid-off-us-workers-free-access-to-its-courses-for-30-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/article\/2097122\/udacity-offers-laid-off-us-workers-free-access-to-its-courses-for-30-days.html","title":{"rendered":"Udacity offers laid-off US workers free access to its courses for 30 days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Citing the surge in layoffs nationwide, particularly within the IT workforce<\/a>, online technology learning platform Udacity is offering a free trial to access its entire catalogue of courses for the next 30 days. The courses includes certifications in skills such as programming, data science, artificial intelligence, digital marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Layoffs have affected hundreds of thousands of people in the United States in the past year,”  Udacity COO Victoria Papalian wrote in a blog post<\/a>. “Unfortunately, the unsettling trend continues. According to the Challenger Report<\/a>, US job cuts in March 2024 were the highest since January 2023, up 7% over February.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udacity<\/a>, which was founded as the outgrowth of free computer science classes offered in 2011 through Stanford University<\/a>, said its free courses are part of its “Nanodegree” credential program<\/a>. They’re available to anyone laid off over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its announcement, the company placed a particular emphasis on highly desired industry skills, such as generative artificial intelligence (genAI). According to a recent study<\/a> led by the Oxford Internet Institute, “AI skills are particularly valuable as they have high levels of skill complementarity, increasing worker wages by 21% on average,” the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To capitalize on the [genAI] opportunity — for business as well as individual benefit — learning about various genAI techniques is not sufficient; professionals must be inspired by the many use cases for genAI in the business, and must gain experience in putting that knowledge into practice within organizational contexts,” Papalian said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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