All age groups took advantage of LinkedIn Learning courses in 2019, but each generation had a different focus.
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Communication was the number 1 learned topic in all regions of the world in 2019, and coding dominated the main focus areas of two generations, according to data from LinkedIn Learning on Wednesday. LinkedIn is used this year by 93 million people worldwide and offers more than 15,000 subscription-based online courses provided by practitioners, the data found. Through the courses, students can brush up on their current skills or gain new skills.
SEE: Why IT professionals need soft skills to advance their career (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Professionals of all ages have taken advantage of LinkedIn Learning’s online courses, but different age groups had different goals, according to the data.
Top courses for career starters
Career starters, or employees with two years or less work experience primarily focused on becoming skilled developers. These young professionals watched 2x more content about programming languages than the average student, consuming 47% more hours of content and 50% more courses than their peers later in their careers, the data found.
The findings outlined the following top courses career starters viewed in 2019:
However, the younger generation was not the only age group that was interested in content for developers.
Top courses for baby boomers
Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, were also interested in content for developers. However, they were not so enthusiastic about their interest, soft communication and leadership skills complete their other focuses, the data found.
The findings outlined the following top courses that Baby Boomers viewed in 2019:
Top courses for Millennials
The top courses for Millennials, people born between 1981 and 1994, covered the most diverse topics of each generation. Much of the course material, however, focused on becoming more data-driven, the data found.
Millennials viewed 1.2x more content about data-driven skills such as data visualization, statistics and data modeling than the average student. According to the data, both Millennials and Gen Xers spent 22% more time on advanced learning than their Gen Z counterparts.
The findings outlined the following top courses that Millennials viewed in 2019:
Top courses for Gen X
Gen X, people born between 1965 and 1980, took a step away from technical skills and looked at leadership skills, the data found.
According to the data, Gen Xers consumed 1.5x more content about executive leadership than the average student. This generation also did most of their knowledge on mobile devices, surprisingly even 39% more than their Gen Z colleagues.
The findings outlined the following top courses that Gen X viewed in 2019:
Top courses taught by managers and C-suite professionals
Gen X was not alone in their leadership interests. Managers in particular focused on soft skills, with an emphasis on people management 32% more than other colleagues. They also used 2.3 times more content about leadership skills and 1.8 times more about talent management, mentoring and coaching than the average student, the data showed.
The findings outlined the following top courses that managers viewed in 2019:
As for professionals in the C-suite, they represented 64% of the population with LinkedIn Learning. The data made it clear that these C-suite professionals are most likely entrepreneurs who run a company with 50 employees or less.
The C-suite for entrepreneurs was 3.2x more focused on raising capital or raising investors, compared to the average student. This group did many of their lessons even after hours, with 23% more reportedly courses on the weekend compared to the average student, the data found.
The findings outlined the following top courses for C-level employees in 2019:
In all age groups and employee levels, learning was a major presence in 2019, an indication of the efforts made by employees to improve their skills in today’s enterprise.
For more information, see The 20 fastest rising and sharpest falling technical skills of the last 5 years on TechRepublic.
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