When Bonginkosi Biyela wanted to transition from a job to a career, he turned to Coursera and found a crucial resource in the AI-powered guide Coach.
Transitioning from a job to a career may require expanding your skill set and investing in additional education. Bonginkosi Biyela—or Bongi as he typically goes by—knew that learning would be an important bridge to shift his role from UPS supervisor to the product space.
Biyela went back to school to earn his bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in entrepreneurship, but he also supplemented that higher education with Coursera. Bongi initially enrolled in the Google Project Management Professional Certificate and appreciated its self-paced structure. “It took me six months to complete because I was working and also going to school,” he explained.
When he sat down to work through his Professional Certificate, Biyela would use Google to clarify topics and concepts he was learning. In recent months, though, he’s been turning to Coursera Coach—the AI-powered guide available in paid offerings on Coursera. “It was a game changer,” he said.
professional certificate
Learn About Value-Based Care. Learn the fundamentals and real-world application of value-based care that has become integral to improving outcomes in health care. Explore the power of effective communication between healthcare professionals and patients that leads to a partnership focused on quality care.
4.7
(214 ratings)
8,290 already enrolled
Beginner level
Average time: 1 month(s)
Learn at your own pace
Skills you'll build:
healthcare, Leadership, value-based care, social determinants of health, Population Health, Health Education, Patient Care, Public Health, Health Care, value-based healthcare, Quality Improvement, Communication, Reflective Practice, Receiving feedback, interviewing, Office Processes, Healthcare Quality, Healthcare Management, Organizational Structure, Health Insurance, Quality Measures
Coach is a friendly blue avatar with glasses that provides learners with on-demand, interactive assistance. Once you’ve enrolled in a Professional Certificate, Specialization, or course on Coursera, Coach helps ensure you get the most out of the program you’ve selected. Before you get started, it can explain what you’ll learn and give you advice for succeeding. And once you begin moving through each lesson, it can summarize lectures and readings, provide practice questions, and relate learning to professional scenarios so you more firmly grasp real-world applications.
Biyela turns to Coach as he’s beginning a new module. “It helps me to get the basic background of ‘What am I approaching here?’” Once he feels like he has a comfortable foundation, he then goes to Coach for simple explanations. “It will break it down for me,” he said. “As I get that understanding, then I go back and watch the video. Now I can make the connection.”
Once he completed his first Professional Certificate on Coursera, Biyela felt prepared to pursue the roles he wanted at major companies. “The Google Project Management Professional Certificate opened up opportunities for me to get interviews with Fortune 500 companies,” he said.*
Having made the leap from supply chain management supervisor to product analyst, Biyela has his sights set on advancing toward a digital product management role. “It's about understanding the processes and then having those processes help me to solve my customer problems and also drive business value,” he explained about what drew him to that path.
To keep building the skills he’ll need in management, Biyela has been working his way through the IBM AI Product Manager Professional Certificate. “It’s a nice opportunity for me to leverage this course and upskill on the artificial intelligence side of things,” he said. “It combines traditional product management with AI and it's not overly technical.”
professional certificate
Advance your career in health care management. Develop business skills and understand the American health care system to improve cost and quality.
4.7
(1,406 ratings)
23,617 already enrolled
Beginner level
Average time: 1 month(s)
Learn at your own pace
Skills you'll build:
Insurance, Health Economics
Biyela is still a big fan of the self-paced learning on Coursera, even though he has more time in his schedule now that he’s completed his bachelor’s degree. “This is the nice thing with Coursera, it’s not just about getting the certificate,” he said. “It's actually getting yourself involved because you have capstone projects and all that. That's why I like it. I take my time to consume and understand—it's actually getting that well-rounded experience.”
With Coach, you can learn more effectively and progress with confidence through your chosen program. A great place to start is a subscription to Coursera Plus, where you’ll get access to over 7,000 courses from over 325 leading universities and companies.
*Individual experiences and outcomes can vary and Coursera does not guarantee job interviews or job placements upon completion of its courses.
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