LinkedIn Learning Review

Today, almost everyone who can be titled as a white-collar or a student has an account on Linkedin. It can fully replace your CV and serves as a tool to build a professional network. Why are we mentioning this social media here? It is done to reveal one of the top e-learning providers, Linkedin Learning (formerly known as Lynda). 

About Linkedin Learning

It is a platform by Linkedin for online learning. It includes more than 16 000 courses with having over 50 new courses added each week. Generally, those classes are almost on any topic that can be taught online, from photography to coding.

The content is available in 7 languages.

As a feature, Linkedin Learning is connected to your Linkedin profile; this way, its algorithm finds and offers you courses that match best your professional profile.

Additionally, Linkedin has a separate Learning Linkedin app that allows watching videos at any time.

How does Linkedin Learning work?

It works as a common e-learning provider: you sign up, pay for the subscription, choose a course, and learn by watching videos and practicing.

Linkedin Learning Courses

All the courses fall into 3 categories:

  1. Business
  2. Technology
  3. Creative

Additionally, there are certification preparation programs that are focused on preparing for professional exams.

Each category includes courses with different levels of complexity (beginner, intermediate, and advanced).

Also, each category consists of three possible types of content:

  1. Courses (a set of videos which together take on average 2-3 hours to watch and complete a course).
  2. Videos (single short video from courses).
  3. Learning path (a kind of long programs with a duration of about 10 hours on average).

Business courses

This category is the biggest in terms of the diversity of the topics and seems to be the central one on Linkedin Learning. It includes such subcategories as finance and accounting, online marketing, project management, human resources, business software, career development and many more topics covered.

To illustrate the variation, there are over 340 marketing courses, almost 230 courses on project management and more than 160 courses on finance and accounting.

Best Linkedin Learning Business Courses

Writing a Resume by Stacey Gordon. During 2.5 hours, you will learn what is the best basic structure of a resume and how to customize it, best approaches to its design and even how to find the jobs to apply for.

Excel 2016 Essential Training by Dennis Taylor. This course is good for beginners and intermediate-level students. The course starts with covering very basic topics like formatting but then comes to the core functions like IF, COUNTIF, VLOOKUP etc, building pivot tables and ends with showing how to work with macros. Its duration is almost 9 hours.

Online Marketing Foundations by Brad Batesole. This is a beginner-oriented course that includes 13 topics from developing a digital marketing strategy and creating content that sells to learning different marketing channels (like SEO, digital advertising, SMM). This one takes almost 5 hours to complete and is very good to dive into online marketing as a job.

Project Management Foundations by Bonnie Biafore. This course covers what project management is and where to start, how to build a project plan and tips on running the project and tracking the progress correctly. It also explains what Agile methodology is and how to work with teams most efficiently. The duration is 3.2 hours.

Technology courses

This category includes 11 subtopics like data science courses, web development, database management and others. If we narrow down to the Software Development subtopic, we will see more than 700 courses inside. Those are classes on different programming languages, from Python to C++.

The average duration of such a course is 3 hours. 

Best Linkedin Learning Technology Courses

Programming Foundations: Algorithms by Joe Marini. This course is a must for every future or beginner software engineer as knowing algorithms is the basic for writing effective code and solving technical tasks in the shortest possible way. It includes information on data structures, sorting and searching data and others. This course is short – 1 h 45 m, so it serves only as an introduction for you to dig into this topic more deeply later. 

Python Essential Training by Bill Weinman. Python is a universal and simple programming language; thus, it’s really popular and widely used. This course is good for beginners to grasp all the basic concepts like values, operators, conditions, loops, functions classes and others. It uses the Python 3 version and starts with installing it. The duration is almost 5 hours. 

Creative classes

Inside this category, you can find 11 subtopics like Web Design, Animation and Illustration, Audio and Music, and others. 

To be more specific, Animation and Illustration comprises 875 courses and 12 learning paths. Among them, you can find some really long classes like ‘Deke’s Techniques’ which lasts for 152 hours!

Best Linkedin Learning Creative Classes

Creativity Bootcamp by Stefan Mumaw. The instructor is sure that creativity is a skill, so this short class reveals 5 interesting techniques on how to develop creative thinking.

Introduction to Web Design and Development by James Williamson. This course for beginners starts with showing what web design is and helps you to figure out whether this field is a good match for you. During the course, the instructor explains what the main tools and main concepts are. It covers such programming topics as HTML, CSS, Javascript from the design perspective. It lasts almost 4 hours.

Drawing Foundations: Fundamentals by Will Kemp. This 2-hour course discusses the theory behind drawing and then goes to practice with topics like tone, composition, perspective, and others. 

Linkedin Learning Cost

Linkedin offers two options:

  1. Monthly ($29.99/month)
  2. Annual ($19.99/month)
how much does Linkedin Learning cost

The company also has a free trial for one month.

As for the special offers, Linkedin Learning doesn’t have a student discount or any other type of cutting the price.

Linkedin Learning Benefits

There are many courses to choose from, especially related to business, career and personal development. Some of them are unique, like classes on resume writing.

You pay per month and get unlimited access to a huge range of materials for a fixed price.

It is convenient to use if you have a LinkedIn account and you can also download its app to learn from any place.

Drawbacks

As for the negative aspects, this platform is not so good for learning technical subjects like programming. The reason behind is a lack of practice and also many classes are too short to fully grasp the skills. Moreover, there is no special interface for coding like on DataCamp or Codecademy. 

Also, the price is a bit higher compared to some competitors 

FAQ

Is Linkedin Learning free?

No, it’s paid with the price of $29.99 / $19.99 per month.

Is Linkedin Learning the same as Lynda?

Yes, it is the same. In 2019, Lynda was merged with Linkedin Learning and now it’s officially one platform.

How long are Linkedin Learning courses?

It varies. The average duration is 2-5 hours; however, there are videos for more than 100 hours long.

How to cancel Linkedin Learning?

Click on your photo in the upper right corner -> Settings -> ‘Manage’ (account type -> Learning section) -> ‘Manage Premium account’ (after you will be redirected to the MY PREMIUM page) -> Cancel subscription.

How can I tell if I’ve already tried the free month on Linkedin Learning?

7 days before your free trial ends, you have to get an email as a reminder. So, check out your inbox.

Does Linkedin Learning give certificates?

Yes, upon completion.

Where are Linkedin Learning exercise files?

Go to the course homepage; there, under the course video, you will find the Exercise Files tab.

Now, let’s check on the competitors.

Linkedin Learning vs Udemy

Those providers offer a wide range of classes, especially short ones, and this is what they have in common. Udemy has plenty of great content but some, at the same time, is of poor quality. Meanwhile, the quality of LinkedIn Learning content is more on the same level.

What differs is also pricing, as Udemy has a course-based payment model (usually it’s up to $20 per course) and LinkedIn has a monthly-based subscription with access to all classes.

Linkedin Learning vs Skillshare

Those providers are similar when looking at the creative classes. However, while it is a major focus for Skillshare, for Linkedin Learning it is just one of the branches. Also, Skillshare provides cheaper services (monthly subscription costs $15) and also has some free classes while all content on Linkedin Learning is paid.

Linkedin Learning vs Coursera

Coursera’s main feature is that it provides the content delivered by universities or people who work for such institutions. Thus, it’s more academically formatted. Although the subject diversity of Coursera is wider, it’s also more costly (the price is about $39 per month but it’s course-based). Moreover, Coursera’s approach is more about curated online learning and their courses can be very long (up to a year). 

Is Linkedin Learning worth it?

In a nutshell, yes, this e-learning service is good enough to pay for. This provider offers a huge list of topics with business subjects as central ones. So, especially if you are interested in something related to career development or business, you should give it a try as there are many unique options. However, the best decision we suggest would be to start with the monthly subscription to check whether it works for you.

7 Total Score
Good one, especially if you are interested in courses related to business or career development

This provider offers a huge list of topics with business subjects as central ones. So, especially if you are interested in something related to career development or business, you should give it a try as there are many unique options.

PROS
  • Many courses to choose from
  • Convenient if you have a LinkedIn account
  • Many unique courses like ones on resume writing
  • For one fixed price paid per month/year, you get unlimited access to a huge range of courses
  • Dedicated app
CONS
  • The price is high compared with competitors like Udemy
  • Not the best choice for learning technical skills like software development
  • No accreditation
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Nancy
Nancy

I am a marketer and a coach who loves to share my knowledge with those who are only starting their career path.

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