Online Google Career Certificates through Purdue offer accessible, flexible way for learners to expand their professional horizons
Sara Wink’s “day job” is teaching writing as an associate professor for Purdue Global, but she doesn’t just teach writing, she writes — a lot. That includes two novels in the young adult fantasy fiction category with another on the way.
When Purdue began offering Google Career Certificates in hot tech fields, including Digital Marketing & E-commerce, Wink saw it as an opportunity to explore new ideas on how to promote her writing beyond her website and podcast.
“It’s been very helpful to look at a completely different professional field through the Google certificate program,” Wink said. “I got some information that has helped me revise and rethink my marketing plan down the line for my work in progress.”
A big takeaway for Wink was the importance of understanding the demographics of her audience and the best places to reach it online. She also gained familiarity with analytical tools that can enable her to generate such information.
“I never had thought about the importance of studying demographics for marketing purposes, or how certain demographics utilize certain branches of social media more than others” Wink said. “That was an eye opener for me. I really appreciated the Google certificate breakdown on that.”
Purdue and Google announced in November 2023 that they were partnering to offer the certificates to Purdue faculty, staff and students as well as the public. In addition to Digital Marketing & E-commerce, certificates are available in Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, Information technology (IT) support, and Project Management.
The Google Career Certificates are self-paced and can be completed fully online in under six months of part-time study. There are no prerequisites and no experience is required. Learners earn a certificate and a digital badge upon successful completion, providing validation of their newly attained knowledge and skills. Wink completed Digital Marketing & E-commerce in about three months over the summer, when she had more time.
Purdue graduate students Sonali Sinha Roy and Kush Patel opted for Google’s Project Management certificate, which both saw as a good fit for augmenting their education and future careers in engineering.
Sinha Roy is a recent doctoral graduate in aeronautics and astronautics who expects to work on engineering megaprojects for the U.S. Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory.
“I believe it is important for engineers to understand the management aspects of the projects they work on,” Sinha Roy said. “This makes communication and collaboration easier and helps everyone align their work with the project goals. I hope that the lessons and techniques I learned through this certification will help me become a better engineer and prepare me for future leadership roles.”
Patel, a master’s student in industrial engineering, likewise figured that having some background in project management techniques and tools would be useful in his career.
“The course modules were informative and helpful for me,” Patel said. “They were also interesting. I got to know many terms in project management and of course have a better understanding of some technical concepts. The certificate helps me show that I know project management.”
Kaley Mumma, a doctoral student in agriculture, completed the Project Management and Data Analytics certificates.
Ultimately, I found the certifications were spectacular as they offered so many resources,” Mumma said “It wasn’t that the certifications expect you to memorize tons of information, rather they were aiming to equip you with tools and skills that you could then take with you. It was also a very helpful refresher of using Google platforms that I don’t always work with.”
For more information on Google Career Certificates through Purdue, visit the program website.