Next Steps on Completing an Online Course

So, you just finished an online course or bootcamp? Congratulations!

You have successfully proved yourself as a go-getter, self-motivated individual who owns his/ her own professional development. It takes focus and dedication to eroll and finish an online course, since these typically have abysmal competion rates.

You definitely must have shared the certificate on LinkedIn, correct? And now you feel you are done? And off to celebrate? Right?

You could not be more wrong!

There are several more things you can do and should do after that brilliant accomplishment. Though I would say, first pause, pat yourself on the back, reward yourself, and wrap up that celebration.

But once done, please do follow the simple but extremely useful steps to truly leverage your hard work so you can extract even greater value from those online course(s) you painstakingly completed. The steps listed here are simple, not very time consuming (mostly) but also highly under utilized. In my experience, this is what will really help maximize your hard work. Trust me, I have done it myself and shared with my bright mentees as well.

Wthout further ado, let's dig in:

- Always keep a write up of the objectives of the course.What did you exactly master in those weeks of study? The course write up will serve you well in shaping this. Were there any techniques, algorithms or concepts that you can use at work? Underline those. Keep this handy. Because you can and should use it in your networking spiel, interviews when asked about the course or even to your boss (especially if you are trying to get that refund from the learning budget).

- Since you already have tried to analyze how you can apply and translate that knowledge into the role you are at or possibly, even applying for, it makes it easy to chalk out ways for execution. Do it! (Only caveat: be careful about how much you can realistically do. Stretch, don't lie!)

- Try to follow up the course with a project, paper or a blog post. Add this to your blog or website. You can always write a Lessons Learned article and publish on LinkedIn if you lack said blog or website.

- If you are on GitHub or a similar portfolio platform, add any projects or papers created to a new repository with appropriate tags. At least add a pdf of practice assignments that you tried on your own. [NO homework or reproducing course contents!]

- Actively participate in the course forums during and after the course. Most courses have an active community outside the course platform on LinkedIn, FB, Twitter and Google+. Join the discussions and stay in the loop.

- Dedicate efforts to make valuable connections from the course participants and convert them into real contacts. They can connect you to all sorts of resources [other contacts, job opportunities or at least great groups and discussions to follow] or add endorsements on LinkedIn or you can collaborate on new projects together. These are often overlooked but extremely useful advantages of these courses. Ensure that you extend the same value for your peers as well and share your resources and expertise with others too!

These are typically steps that we follow in a class or college but find difficult to achieve in the absence of physical interaction and soft deadlines of an online course.

However, you have already proven you are super smart and dedicated. (you did finish that course after all!) So, continue to stay focussed and motivated even after the class ends, and continue to reap the benefits of your commitment to learning and personal growth.