One of my intentions in writing is to showcase valuable resources I’ve discovered within my own professional development. For the first of these features, I compiled a list of recommended online courses for those interested in fostering understanding of data and programming. This next post highlights my experience completing a sequence of content marketing coursework through a program offered within my community earlier this year, whose material you can access free courtesy of providers HubSpot and SEMrush Academies. Happy learning!
My professional journey has led full circle toward arenas of digital content development explored previously in my career. As I’ve sought to focus on opportunities within marketing and consumer analysis, I’ve realized a need to refresh my knowledge of how such domains have been and continue to be shaped by online platforms like Facebook, Twitter and countless others that continue to emerge. Like many Millennials, I was an enthusiastic early adopter of social media but a combination of security concerns, polarizing content and overall fatigue led me to largely abandon these channels in subsequent years. As I’ve reentered these online spaces with professional intentions, I’ve sought to do so with the guidance of best practices for navigating these often murky waters.
It was with these aims that, upon learning of a month-long Content Marketing program provided free by my city, I jumped at the opportunity to complete the four-week curriculum outlining the inbound marketing framework and its applications within social media, email campaigns and search engine optimization. The material we covered is available for free to anyone via the HubSpot and SEMrush Academy programs and I highly recommend it to anyone working in or seeking to work in these arenas. If the thought of completing four courses feels overwhelming, start with the Inbound Marketing course to develop a conceptual framework and focus subsequently on material related to the tools of most relevance and interest to you. You can even complete an exam at the end of each course to earn credential-enhancing certifications.
The coursework was immensely beneficial for the knowledge gained, much of which I’ve utilized in developing this site and within my role at MSEINT. The TechFWD program provided added benefits of a shared learning environment and opportunities to network and build relationships, which I’ll expand upon further in future posts. For these reasons, I hope communities worldwide will launch similar initiatives and find this perspective valuable in pursuing such endeavors.
Sarah Noonan 
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