Working in social media means constantly being up-to-date with the latest digital trends and playing the role of copywriter and art director. With a degree in PR, I have to admit, my education did not include photography or graphic design classes, so learning on my own time has been essential to working in this industry. There’s two resources that I highly recommend if you’re like me and didn’t learn these skills in school or just want to brush up on your skills.
Adobe Creative Cloud
I have a Creative Cloud subscription, which gives me complete access to all Adobe programs—Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, you name it. There are various videos for each program that range from tutorials for beginners to projects for developing your skillset. I like to take advantage of the community forums for troubleshooting and figuring out how to do specific application actions.
Photo Credit: TechSoup
Lynda.com
My latest obsession has been the LinkedIn-acquired online learning database Lynda.com. The site is organized by different learning paths— design, IT, photography, web, etc.— where you can watch nearly 5,000 videos and complete “assignments” with downloadable exercise folders specific to each course. If you’re new to any of these disciplines or need someone to tell you the basics of what to learn, then Lynda.com is perfect—it’s just like taking an online course, but at your own pace and with no grades. The videos are also extremely high quality and very clear to follow. As an added bonus, you can receive Lynda.com certifications for the courses you take, which is a great feature to use at a company for continuing education.
The best part about each of these resources is that I can use them at my own convenience to work around my work and personal life. Economically, I’m spending about the same or even less on a yearly subscription of each of them than I would by just taking a single class at a college.
