Generative AI and Professional Tech Certification Courses Continue to Dominate Emerging Skills Demand for Professionals Globally

Udemy Q2 Learning Index highlights technical and professional power skills needed to navigate today’s rapidly changing workforce

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Udemy (Nasdaq: UDMY), a company dedicated to improving lives through learning, today released its Q2 2023 Global Workplace Learning Index, a quarterly report highlighting skills that are growing in demand, as professionals play a crucial role in enabling their companies to maintain their edge and future-proof their workforce.

Analyzing data from nearly 15,000 Udemy Business customers across the globe, the Index reveals the technical and professional power or “soft” skills that saw the biggest increase in course consumption (i.e., minutes spent learning) during Q2 when compared to Q1 2023. Udemy is uniquely equipped to provide data that helps companies understand learning trends and identify the skills their employees should learn, enabling them to grow while achieving critical outcomes for the business.

“We are in the midst of a shift to a skills-based economy where organizations are identifying the skills available within their teams and addressing any gaps,” said Caoimhe Carlos, Vice President of Global Customer Success at Udemy. “Organizations are partnering with Udemy to determine which skills are emerging and strategically upskill their teams — a win-win for both companies and professionals looking to stay ahead in today’s increasingly competitive climate.”

The Index highlighted several emerging themes in professional learning, including:

• Continued spike in certification preparation course consumption. Businesses and professionals continue to value industry certifications. Traditional cloud certifications, such as AWS, have experienced significant growth over time, while demand for other certification preparation topics emerged, such as the Salesforce Certified Associate (130% increase globally), Certified Kubernetes Administrator or CKA (32% increase in Canada), and ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level or CTFL (27% increase in Germany). More than 10 million learners have enrolled in IT Certification courses on Udemy in the past 12 months, demonstrating the breadth and depth of corporate demand.
• Generative AI remains a sought-after skill across industries. Increasingly, the growth of AI is extending into non-technical fields such as marketing, HR, sales and project management. With growth in topics such as ChatGPT (386% increase globally), Generative AI (278%) and Prompt Engineering (190%), companies are diving deeper into role-specific uses of generative AI to tap its transformative potential – improving SEO, streamlining talent recruiting, improving customer support responsiveness, and creating personalized marketing emails. Overall, across the Udemy marketplace and business learner landscape, Udemy has already seen over 1.5 million learners enroll in ChatGPT-related courses.
• There is a huge demand for project management skills by professionals across roles and industries. Project planning courses showed a global increase of 79% and project management was a top skill in the healthcare industry with 7% growth in demand. Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK Guide was the top in-demand skill for government workers with a 62% increase. The PMI Talent Gap Report underscores the global need for 25 million new project professionals and a total of 2.3 million project managers by 2030.
• ESG and climate change courses surge in demand. With 113% quarter-over-quarter growth in demand, corporations and the global workforce are demonstrating an increased interest and prioritization of climate change knowledge and ESG best practices as businesses work to address and avoid the negative consequences associated with climate change.

The Q2 Index also identified a number of emerging skills to watch, such as: