Specializing in the ELearning Industry

By: Justin Ferriman • November 17, 2016
Filed Under:

seoIf you are reading this then there is a good chance that you are either already involved in the training & elearning indstury, or at least have an interest in getting involved.

I may be biased (okay I am definitely biased) but I strongly believe that this industry has something to offer for anyone.

For instance, if you consider yourself more of a “techy” person then there are learning management systems and course authoring tools at your disposal.

If you enjoy teaching others then live instructor training would be a perfect career choice. Consider yourself a good planner and organizer? Then you will have no shortage of opportunities as an training coordinator or even learning program manager.

I could go on about the different disciplines available to you in this field. The point is, you probably won’t have to find too long for one (or multiple) areas that are interesting.

Jumping into this industry is easy but it also means that it is easy to get “lost” in the crowd. Whether you are a consultant, selling online courses, an LMS administrator, or instructional designer, you have to position yourself for success. This means finding a niche and then becoming the “go-to” person/service/business for that area.

To do this you should avoid being a generalist for too long. It’s perfectly okay to be a generalist as you get your feet wet trying to figure out which area of the industry you like best, but once you have established your interests you need to dedicate yourself to that niche.

Instructional designers do well to be the specialist provider for a specific type of training. Or maybe a specific tool. I recall one instructional designer that I worked with who specialized in Oracle UPK. He was compensated very well.

If you are selling courses, pick an area where there is a serious lack of education and provide the most comprehensive training program.

As a learning program managers you should have your value proposition down to a science. Satisfaction ratings, completion rates, and effectiveness scores across the projects you have done. Your projects should all have something in common as well (i.e. industry).

You will do your career a favor if you specialize. You’ll make more money and you will see more opportunities come your way as you build your niche reputation.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter