When you boil it all down, so much of life is about maintenance. We have to maintain our homes so they don’t become dirty and hazardous to live in; we maintain our health so we can live long and fulfilling lives; we maintain our vehicles and machines so they can help us accomplish our goals; we maintain our relationships so the people close to us feel valued and loved. The same is true for our professional ambitions. If you want to advance in your field or pivot to a new career, you need to pop the hood on your skill set and give it a tune-up every now and then.
That’s where going back to school comes in: it’s a chance to “soup up” your brain like a hot rod, equipping it with new skills and upgrading existing ones so you’ll be ready to embrace new opportunities. When people think about continuing their education, they often think in terms of two or four-year degrees but there are also more immediate options available. There are fast track certifications and micro credential programs at Rio Salado College that can help you upskill and/or reskill just by earning a few credit hours (fast track certificates can range from 4 credit hours to over 15, depending on the subject).
What’s the Difference Between Reskilling & Upskilling?
When you hit a professional rut, reskilling or upskilling could help you get your momentum back. Upskilling means learning new skills and competencies that can help you address skill gaps in your field. Technology and best practices are constantly changing, so even the most well-staffed and prepared business can find themselves falling behind on the skills curve at times. Sometimes industries need to retrain workers to help them and the business as a whole keep up with new developments and trends.
If you’re looking to advance to a new position in your field and/or looking to build up your existing skill set to give yourself more job security (after all, if you don’t fill that skill gap someone else will), it’s critical to upskill. It’s also why it’s important to network and keep your ear to the ground on changing trends in your industry. If there’s a relevant professional association you can join, it can be worth the investment of time and membership dues to stay informed about what’s happening in your line of work. If your job offers professional development opportunities, consider taking advantage of those to get a jump start on upskilling and learn how to fill in that skill gap before it becomes a problem for your colleagues. That’s the kind of initiative that gets you noticed.
Reskilling, on the other hand, is about taking a different kind of initiative, the kind that propels you into another position or field. Reskilling involves learning new sets of skills that can either prepare you to enter a different line of work or trains you to take on a new position in your current field. For example: a clerk at an office retrains into web design so they can assume a web role in that same company. Reskilling can be useful when you’ve found that your current skills have an expiration date to them. You can’t upskill on a programming language that your business decides not to use anymore or spend time learning how to be a better at your current role if it’s incompatible with the demands of the new industry you wish to enter. You may also experience life changes that necessitate transitioning to a different kind of work: children, recovering from a debilitating illness, caring for an elderly relative, or coming out of retirement. Reskilling presents an opportunity for reinvention, which can be scary and also exhilarating.
How Can Fast Track Certificates Help?
True to their name, fast track certificates can help get your career moving. Whereas an associate or bachelor’s degree can take years to achieve, a fast track certification can sometimes be completed in just one or two semesters! This means that for a small investment in time and tuition you could walk away with a certification that could improve your standing in your current role and/or serve as an enticing addition to your resume. They’re also a great way to ease yourself back into the groove of higher learning if you haven’t gone to school in a while. Committing to earning a 11-credit fast track certificate can give you a taste of what it’s like to pursue a degree program while giving you a tangible end result that will help you stay competitive in your field.
Two examples at Rio Salado include the Real Estate Prelicensure and the Certified Bookkeeping certificates.
“Both certificates prepare you to sit for exams. They’re perfect examples of where you come to school, you study, you become licensed and you can get working opportunities right away,” said Dr. Lily Davidov, faculty chair for Accounting and Small Business. “There’s flexibility with the timing. You can drop kids off or work on it after your job.”
Depending how quickly students take classes they can be done in a matter of weeks or months.
As for what kind of fast track certificates you can get, Rio Salado and our sister schools in the Maricopa Community College District offer a wide-range of fast track certifications. If you look at the Rio Salado Degrees page, you can see what fast track programs we have to offer. Look for a small black lightning bolt symbol next to the program names: if you see the bolt, that’s a fast track program.
Paying for College
If you need help paying for college, you have options available to help you go after the upskilling/reskilling you need. The MCCCD Foundation offers some fast track scholarships to help eligible students pay for school. If you’ve suffered hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Route to Relief program could offer you funding for going back to school*. There are also workforce training programs that may be able to offer some support. Don’t forget to check with your employer! Some businesses offer back-to-school retraining opportunities, so they may be able to take some (or even all, depending on the program) of this financial weight off your shoulders. Workers who live in Tempe or work for a Tempe employer may be eligible for the Tempe Workforce Skills Accelerator scholarship.
*Note: Route to Relief services is currently paused for all City of Phoenix residents, but we are still serving individuals who live in other cities within Maricopa County.
Article by Austin Brietta
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