18 Most Valuable Skills to Learn Online in 2023

According to a recent report by LinkedIn Learning, the economy is undergoing an upskilling and reskilling revolution. We are already seeing many of the highest-paying jobs in the modern economy turning into “super jobs,” requiring a broad swath of employee skills. And skill-based recruitment is already overtaking the old credential-based hiring methods we’ve grown accustomed to.

As a result, traditional credentials such as Ivy League degrees are being disregarded by employers. Puzzlingly, though, university degree costs continue to skyrocket. Degrees in Ivy League universities such as Columbia University cost an average of $59,430, and the overall cost of college has increased by 25% in the last ten years.

Jason Wingard himself, the dean of professional studies at Columbia University, admits that credentials and Ivy League degrees don’t matter as much as they used to. According to him, nowadays, “it’s all about (the) competencies that you possess. “

Instead of evaluating college degrees and GPAs, employers nowadays focus on checking whether applicants have the necessary competencies to thrive at their job. Or – in other words – whether applicants have learned the skills needed to succeed in their role.

Virtually all the most sought-after skills in the modern economy are skills you can learn online. Through video tutorials and free online courses, any online certification program can turn your career path in whichever direction you desire. By doing so, you can reap the benefits of the upskilling and reskilling revolution.

These are the 18 most valuable skills to learn online.

1. Speed reading

I’ll start this list with a skill you already possess – reading.

While I’m sure all of you know how to read on a basic level, it’s likely you have never mastered reading quickly and efficiently–a practice called “speed reading.” Many of the world’s thought leaders, business owners, and researchers are masters of speed reading, and it’s clear why.

Take, for example, Bill Gates, an avid book reader. He reads 150 pages per hour and 15 books weekly while maintaining a 90% retention rate. He has also stated that reading remains his primary way of learning new things and testing his understanding. Bill Gates is an excellent example of speed reading skills being used with maximum efficiency.

His reading speed seems out of this world to the average person. However, speed reading is a skill that can be learned and developed, just like learning a new language or cooking. It requires time, dedication, and effort – but anyone can do it. And everyone who does benefits tremendously.

Here are a few great speed reading classes worth taking a look at:

2. Blockchain

In a nutshell, blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that enables the verification of transactions between two parties in an unhackable, transparent, and permanent way. The word “blockchain” was popularized by the explosion of cryptocurrencies in the 21st century. 2022 saw a dramatic crash of many of these virtual currencies with the meltdown of the FTX exchange. However, the practical uses of blockchain technologies stretch far beyond virtual currencies.

A wide range of industries has already adopted the usage of blockchain technologies. According to Business Insider Intelligence, global spending on blockchain in the healthcare industry is expected to grow at a 7-year CAGR of 70.5%. And the World Food Program is using blockchain technologies to track food distribution among tens of thousands of refugees.

Blockchain has the potential to disrupt virtually all modern industries. Businesses across all industries will be hiring blockchain developers sooner or later, which is why it’s another one of the most essential and valuable skills that can be learned online.

If you’d like to learn the ins and outs of blockchain technology, I recommend taking a look at the following online courses:

3. Data Science & Data Analysis

Data science, the “sexiest job of the 21st century“, is one of the most future-proof and lucrative career choices one can make. All corporations nowadays require a team of data scientists to keep up with the competition. As the rise of “big data” continues, data scientists that can make sense of all this data will be more necessary than ever.

With a median salary of $63.22 per hour ($131,490 per year) and projected 10-year growth of 15%, data science & analysis is a no-brainer when it comes to picking up a new skill.

There are two main career paths you can take if you want to take a deep dive:

Data Science
Data Analysis

Data Science

This career path involves deciding what questions need to be asked regarding the available data. More often than not, data scientists possess programming experience and are experts at mathematical modeling.

Here are some of our favorite online data science courses:

Data Analysis

This career path involves answering those questions that the data scientists put forth. Data analysts identify trends in the data through broader statistical analysis, and they help make conclusions in the bigger sense.

Here are some of our top-rated online data analytics classes:

4. Productivity

Productivity is a skill that can support any industry and life path.

One of my favorite mental performance coaches, Jim Kwik, teaches in his “Superbrain” online course that small changes in your daily life can achieve remarkable results in the long term. Instead of setting goals and dreams for yourself, focus on building a system around you that naturally enables productivity to thrive.

Learning to be productive in the digital age will enable you to achieve remarkable results in less time and without sacrificing your personal life. Productive work, coined “deep work” by author Cal Newport in his book of the same title, is a skill that is becoming highly sought-after in today’s economy. Those employees who can stay focused and productive for extended periods are becoming increasingly rare. Naturally, this also means that these same employees get rewarded accordingly.

If you’d like to learn productivity online, I recommend the following free online resources and productivity courses:

5. Search engine optimization (SEO)

Although search engine optimization (SEO) has been around since around 1997, it’s a skill that has evolved and changed multiple times since its inception. At its core, it involves improving a website’s organic (non-paid) search engine traffic. It sounds simple enough, but with over 200 assumed search engine ranking factors (“assumed” because no one really knows), optimizing websites becomes a complicated task.

However, it’s a complicated task worth undertaking. That is because well-optimized websites can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in income. And skillful SEO experts can offer their optimization services to an ever-growing list of clients on the internet as more and more businesses enter the digital realm with their websites and e-commerce stores.

That is why SEO continues to be one of the most valuable skills you can learn today. Whether you’re looking to establish an agency, create websites for yourself, or offer optimization services as a freelancer on the internet – learning this skill will pay for itself tenfold, especially if you combine it with some expertise in Google Analytics, web development, and marketing.

If you’d like to add SEO to your set of skills, consider enrolling in one of the following online classes:

6. Digital marketing

“Digital marketing” is a rather broad term. This term could technically encompass any marketing efforts done through electronic channels. Yet, it’s THE most discussed form of marketing of the 21st century.

The global spending on digital ads was over $500 billion in 2022, and digital marketing outside of ads is approaching $100 billion, and those numbers will continue to grow. Fast. Social media marketing budgets, in particular, have grown at a breathtaking pace. In the U.S., social media marketing spending has grown from $15.63 billion in 2016 to US$48.94 in 2021 (and a projected $56.85 billion in 2022).

It’s clear why this is happening. The never-before-seen levels of personalization achievable in digital marketing (particularly social media marketing) make advertisements much more impactful. Digital ads tend to reach the right customers at the right time, place, and mindset – and that’s why companies are willing to shell out billions of dollars to get their ads out there.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has recommended businesses spend 50% of their marketing budget on digital marketing. But as the widespread adoption of the Internet continues, you can expect intelligent companies to focus even more of their avenues on digital means specifically.

If you’d like to develop digital marketing skills, you have numerous online class options to choose from:

7. Affiliate marketing

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing involves promoting other people’s products to earn a commission from each sale. And affiliate marketing spending in the United States is due to reach 8.2 billion dollars by 2022.

This gives marketers a unique window of opportunity to earn vast amounts of income without ever having to spend time and money on developing a product.

Combined with SEO, affiliate marketing truly becomes a force to be reckoned with. Some of the highest-earning affiliate marketers earn tens of thousands of dollars of passive income per day, and they do so year after year.

To learn affiliate marketing online, enroll in one of our favorite affiliate marketing courses:

8. Email marketing

Email marketing – are we back in the 1990s?

Here’s a quick fact: the first email marketing campaign was done in 1978 by Gary Thuerk, a computer salesman. Through an email sent to 400 recipients, he brought in $13 million in sales.

Quite the return on investment!

Replicating his results might be difficult in the 21st century, but email marketing is not going anywhere anytime soon. Nowadays, half of the world’s population uses email, which continues to provide a large window of opportunity for marketers.

A well-functioning email marketing campaign can achieve remarkable results in a short period of time. And it requires a relatively small amount of time, money, and effort to do – at least when compared to traditional marketing campaigns such as TV commercials or billboards.

If email marketing sounds like a skill you’d like to acquire, enrolling in an online class is an excellent way to go about doing so:

9. Programming

Similarly to “digital marketing,” “programming” is an ambiguous term. Sorry about that.

However, considering the vast number of coding languages that exist today, it became necessary to bring them all under the umbrella of “programming.” Otherwise, this article would’ve ended up being bloated into nothing but “the best programming language skills to learn.”

But which coding language should you learn?

In 2020, HackerRank polled more than 100,000 software engineers to find the answer to this question. They wanted to know what language resulted in the best salaries. They found that Perl had the highest average global salary at $84,025.50, followed by Scala and Go.

Programming is one of the best skills for online learning, as online programming schools have the unique benefit of being able to use in-browser coding editors for teaching lessons.

Here are some of our recommended online coding courses:

10. Copywriting

Copywriting has always had an important role in the business world.

Yet, with the widespread adoption of the Internet and all businesses becoming publishers in one form or another, the skill of copywriting has increased in demand. Every company nowadays requires a blog post now and then, an industry white paper, or someone to send out a promotional email once per week.

Copywriters can cover almost anything, but in the world of copywriting, the most challenging part can be getting your foot in the door. While experienced copywriters with many years of experience behind their backs can earn a lucrative income, it’s not always so easy to get started.

Developing top-notch writing skills takes time and effort, and if you have no writing portfolio or resume to show for yourself, you might find it difficult to find writing work.

Yet, despite that, I consider copywriting to be another highly sought-after skill in today’s world – a skill anyone can learn online (but one that not everyone can master).

Here are a few excellent options for learning copywriting through online courses:

11. Public speaking

Public speaking skills are one of the most valuable abilities one can develop. Not only are public speaking skills valuable for employers, but they are also indispensable in daily life. Having clear articulation, engaging people, communication skills, and mastering body language – all these skills are crucial to anyone hoping to succeed in both the personal and the business world.

If you have a partner or close friend, I suggest taking an online course and practicing public speaking with each other. You’ll soon find that as your communication skills improve, people around you will start to treat you with more respect. People love listening to someone with a logical, authoritative, and clear manner of speaking.

If you want to add something to your skill set that will improve all aspects of your life, from business to romance, consider learning public speaking.

Here are some of the top-rated public speaking courses on the Internet:

12. Graphic design

Graphic design continues to be one of the most desired design skills teams are looking to hire. As more brands get started on improving their online presence, one of the first things they require is a strong visual identity.

That is where they often realize they need a graphic designer. Someone who knows how to use creativity and design thinking to see far beyond a business logo and to see the bigger picture of a cohesive visual brand strategy.

Through graphic design, companies can improve their brand messaging, drive conversions, create marketing materials, and more. Brands tend to lack a cohesive visual identity without an in-house graphic designer. That is why graphic design continues to be a great skill to learn and improve upon going into 2021 and beyond.

When it comes to learning graphic design, there are numerous creative directions you’ll have to choose from. Logo design, product design, font design, animation – all of these skills can be learned online with the help of an online course.

If you’re interested in learning graphic design online, I recommend you check out Skillshare. Out of all online learning platforms, they have the best selection of creative courses to choose from. And, with the Skillshare extended free trial, you can use the platform to take online courses for free as long as you finish them before your trial runs out. And that’s relatively easy as Skillshare courses tend to be short and content-packed.

Here are some of the best graphic design courses you can take online:

13. Grant writing

Grant writing, on a high level, is a skill that is highly sought after and that has led to numerous major success stories.

At any point in time, you can expect to find thousands of available grants online. It’s only a matter of writing grant proposals for the ones you or your organization are eligible for.

Yet, writing grant proposals is not as easy as ticking boxes – it requires expertise, experience, marketing knowledge, and even a touch of creativity. That is why only a select few grant writers can master the skill set needed for writing top-quality grant proposals.

And those able to learn this skill can reap the benefits. Experts in grant writing can work full-time as grant writers, writing grants for businesses, non-profits, and various other organizations. Or, you can apply this skill to start your own organization. Either way – the possibilities are immense.

Here’s a selection of good online grant writing courses:

14. Photography

In the age of social media, good photography skills have become entangled with social status. The more “likes” and “follows” you have – the higher your social status. While that’s probably an overly simplistic statement, there’s no doubt that social media posts have a direct impact on one’s social status. And perceived social status has been proven to impact one’s success (or failure) in searching for jobs.

Therefore, I would argue that in today’s day and age, photography skills can make or break a career – even if your area of expertise has nothing to do with taking photos.

Yet, professional photography goes far beyond social media posts. Those who can take captivating and unique photos can make a killing in the industry. Take Annie Leibovitz, for example. She is a world-famous portrait photographer with a net worth of US$20 million, and she’s taken photos of artists such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Bob Marley.

Photography is a skill that can benefit your life and career in various unforeseen ways, and it can be learned online with relative ease through online classes, ebooks, and videos.

If you’d like to brush up on your photography skills online, take a look at the following online photography courses:

After you’ve finished taking your professional-looking photographs, you might think, how can I take them to the next level?

Adobe Photoshop (and Adobe Lightroom) are the obvious answers here. I use Adobe Photoshop daily to create image content for E-Student. At this point, I can’t imagine what my content production workflow would look like without Photoshop.

If you, too, are interested in digital content production in any way, shape, or form, then learning Photoshop is a no-brainer. It’s critical software for web developers, graphic designers, photographers, and virtually any creative professional. By being proficient in Photoshop, you can create your own photo editing business or market T-shirts, or

If this sounds like a skill you’d like to develop, enroll in any of our top-rated online Photoshop courses:

15. Video editing

YouTube, the most popular video platform, has two billion monthly active users. Not only does it function as a social media platform, but it’s also a search engine. A search engine that is growing in popularity unlike any other.

More and more people are relying on videos as their primary source of information, creating remarkable opportunities for content creators and video editors. Videos are overtaking text and image-based media, which is why professional-level video editors are becoming increasingly in demand.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the employment of video and film editors is projected to grow by 12% within the next ten years. Considering many video editors work as freelancers rather than salary-based employees, that projection from the BLS becomes even more impressive.

If you’d like to dip your toes into video editing through a free online course, I recommend checking out Taran Van Hermert’s YouTube channel. Taran is the leading video editor for the massively popular Linus Tech Tips channel, and he creates one-of-a-kind video editing tutorials for aspiring video editors. Here’s one of his most in-depth free tutorials.

But, his content is primarily focused on teaching advanced editors. Therefore, if you’re a beginner, check out the following online courses that are more suited to beginner video editors:

16. Accounting

Accountants in the U.S. earn a median of $37.14 per hour or $77,250 per year.

It’s one of the more ancient skills on this list, as even in medieval times, people higher up in the food chain required accountants to keep track of their financial records, incomes, and spending.

The job of an accountant is unlikely to disappear in the future. If you want a safe and steady career choice, then taking an online class in accounting is one sure way of going about that.

If this sounds like a skill you’d like to learn, then consider taking an accounting course:

17. Investing

Investing is likely one of the most financially wise skills you can learn online. If you think you don’t have enough savings in your bank account for investment purposes, then you’re thinking about investing in the wrong way.

Investing is not only about buying and selling stocks, bonds, or options.

Once I learned the value of investing, it changed my entire outlook on finances. Every penny in the “present” seemed more valuable than ever before. And for the first time in my life, investing got me thinking about the future 20, 30, or even 40 years ahead.

Investing is all about planning for the future – everyone can learn something from it. That’s why I consider investing one of the most valuable skills you can learn online.

If you’d like to learn to invest, there are excellent real estate investing courses and options trading courses out there:

Here’s a selection of some of our favorites:

18. Computer Vision

Computer vision – the field of study that tries to understand and replicate parts of the human vision system – is revolutionizing a range of industries as well as having an impact on our everyday lives. Everything from facial recognition systems to innovations in traffic control and self-driving cars relies on computers being able to make sense of visual data.

With the astounding breakthroughs in artificial intelligence technologies in recent years, there is a large demand for engineers in computer vision, and it is also increasingly important for non-specialists to have an understanding of this area.

While becoming a computer vision expert is quite a long and demanding journey, it can be undertaken completely online.

Here’s a selection of some of our favorite online courses: