The digital economy is expanding rapidly and transforming businesses and organizations across the board. No longer the reserve of the IT specialist, everyone is now expected to keep up with trends as companies and recruiters employ new working tools and techniques. Yet as technology quickly outstrips our educational and training systems, a digital skills shortage is taking its toll on the global economy. Research by US tech specialists IDC suggests that inadequate digital skills could be reducing overall productivity by a fifth. And in the UK, according to government data, the skills shortage is costing the economy £63 billion a year.
Companies need employees who are digitally proficient and adaptable to change. Brushing up on your digital skills will make you more attractive to prospective employers and increase your chances of furthering your career.
Business owners can’t afford to be behind the game either. From sales generation and marketing, to production and distribution, you need to be able to manage all the tools that your company has at its disposal to keep competitive.
Fortunately, we’re in Barcelona, a renowned Smart City, home to countless startups and packed with digitally savvy folk who are happy to share their skills with you, sometimes at a price and sometimes for free.
Of course, you won’t need everything. Your first step is to understand what you do need to reach your own personal and business goals and get ahead of the rest of the field, whether they are competing businesses or prospective candidates. Know what tools are used in your industry and focus on getting those up to scratch.
Read on to find the resources that best suit you.
FREE
Meetups: Barcelona has several Meetup groups that meet regularly to discuss specific digital themes, such as Wordpress, SEO and coding. You’re likely to meet professionals as well as people just entering the field. For interesting events try Flylancers, CODINO, Wordpress & Marketing Barcelona, and Barcelona WordPress English.
Coworkings: There are numerous coworking spaces in the city, many of which hold regular free seminars and get-togethers for people interested in improving their digital skills. Two of the best for regular activities are Cloud Coworking (Sardenya 229) and Valkiria (Pujades 126).
Barcelona Activa Cibernàrium: The Cibernàrium is part of Barcelona Activa, the city council’s scheme for the promotion of business skills and entrepreneurship. Housed in the state-of-the-art Media-TIC building in Poblenou, it offers programs for IT skills acquisition at all levels. The courses are short and practical, focusing on a specific topic and lasting between three and four hours. Courses may be from one to three sessions long and cover numerous themes, from using tools for project management to SEO, coding with CSS, and social media for marketing.
SHORT COURSES
Barcelona Code School offers a number of short courses on setting up WordPress websites. For €79 you can join the four-hour ‘Create a website from zero’, which gives you the knowledge to build your own WordPress site.
Learn everything you need about social media marketing, Adwords and Google Analytics on Seeway’s monographic courses. Seeway also holds an online course for people looking to improve their LinkedIn profile and online reputation. Longer professional courses are also available.
Espai offers four-hour workshops on Google Adwords, LinkedIn, SEO and Google Analytics. All are suitable for people with no previous experience. Longer courses are also available.
You can get up to speed on all aspects of social media at one of these intensive morning courses courtesy of The Social Media Company. Courses include LinkedIn branding, YouTube marketing, Google Analytics and creation of WordPress sites.
PRO COURSES
From retraining as a community manager to becoming a big data specialist, growth hacker or SEO expert, Barcelona is home to a number of excellent business schools that offer Masters and Postgraduate courses in aspects of the digital economy.
CODING BOOTCAMPS
If you fancy yourself as a coder, why not try out a coding bootcamp? These full-immersion courses last around 10 weeks and will set you up for getting a foothold in the tech industry. There’s a reason they’re called bootcamps, so expect long hours and total dedication. The following schools offer bootcamps and shorter courses.