11 Certifications to Land High-Paying Remote Roles in 2024

11 Certifications to Unlock High-Paying Remote Opportunities in 2024

12 min readMar 9, 2024

11 High-Paying Certifications for Remote Jobs in 2024

I found 11 high-paying certifications that can help you get a remote job in 2024. All of these certifications are affordable, and some of them are actually going to be borderline free. You’ll see what I’m talking about later in the article. Some of these certifications you can complete in as little as a few weeks, and I’ve got a wide range of different career types.

Whether you’re a creative person, really good with technology, or maybe you’re a business type of person, some of these certifications are going to appeal to you. Let’s jump into it right now with number one on the list, which is the Meta Social Media Marketing Certificate.

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1. Meta Social Media Marketing Certificate

This certificate is offered by Coursera and is a partnership with Facebook (now Meta) and Coursera. It can help you land your first job in the business or marketing industry. Digital marketing is an incredibly valuable skill to learn, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), advertising, promotions, and marketing managers make about $138,000 a year on average. However, you’ll probably start off with a lower-level social media marketing manager job, which, according to Glassdoor, pays about $50,000 to $82,000 a year. You might also become a social media specialist, making about $46,000 to $69,000 a year.

Coursera offers a free 7-day trial, and then after that, it’s about $49 a month (at the time of writing this article). This is a six-course series with a 4.9-star rating from over 15,000 reviews. They say it will take about 5 months if you work on it for 5 hours per week, but honestly, with all of these Coursera certificates, you can usually complete them much faster, probably in a few weeks to two months. Compared to a college degree, which typically takes 5.1 years on average, or a boot camp, which usually takes anywhere from 3 months to an entire year, this is lightning fast.

Taking these certificates is also great because you don’t have to spend a bunch of money to figure out if you actually like the career and the subject. If you’re not sure what career you want to go into or which subjects you like, I always recommend going to Coursera and taking some of these different certificates to see which one you vibe with. AI-powered tools can also help you identify your strengths and interests to guide your career choices.

2. Google UX Design Certificate

This certificate will help you get your first job in UX design. UX, or user experience, is about creating websites and apps that are intuitive and easy to use. This field is often a good fit for creative types. According to Glassdoor, UX designers make about $74,000 to $122,000 a year, often reaching six-figure salaries without needing a college degree or previous experience.

However, I’ll be honest — this is one of the harder fields to break into on this list because lots of artists want to get paid to do art. You’re going to need a killer portfolio and probably several certifications in addition to this one. But that doesn’t mean this certification isn’t valuable — it has great reviews online. Just know that the job market is a bit more competitive, so you’ll need to put in the work to stand out. AI-based design tools are also becoming increasingly popular in the UX field, so familiarity with those can give you a competitive edge.

3. Salesforce Sales Operations Certificate

Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform used by tons of sales teams across the United States and many other countries. It’s a pretty good idea to be familiar with this software in general. Sales operations specialists make about $52,000 to $79,000 a year, and it’s another role that’s relatively easy to get into without a college degree or previous experience.

With many of these Coursera certificates, actual employees at the companies are designing the curriculum. They’re teaching the skills they’re looking for in real-time because there aren’t enough people out there with those skills. This particular certificate has four courses: Sales and CRM Overview, Lead Management in Salesforce, Opportunity Management in Salesforce, and Reports, Dashboards, and Customer Success in Salesforce.

My favorite industry for sales roles is tech sales. I’ve interviewed people on this channel who have gotten into tech sales themselves, and they all use a company called CompsCrage. I have a free training for CompsCrage that teaches you everything you need to know about tech sales and how to get into it. AI is also transforming the sales industry, enabling more personalized and efficient selling techniques, so that’s another area to explore.

4. Google Project Management Certificate

This is probably one of my top three favorite certificates. It’s really, really good, which is why 1.3 million people have taken it and it has a 4.9-star rating. There are six courses in this certificate program:

Foundations of Project Management
Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
Project Planning: Putting It All Together
Project Execution: Running the Project
Agile Project Management
Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World

They say it will take 6 months to complete if you put in 5 hours per week, but again, you can easily finish this in a month or two if you dedicate more time to it. The median entry-level project management salary is $73,000 a year, and 75% of Google certificate graduates report career improvement. There are 479,000 total job openings in project management, and when you finish the certificate, you get connected with over 150 US employers through an exclusive job board.

Project managers typically make $77,000 to $129,000 a year, while a lower-level position like project coordinator still pays $49,000 to $75,000 a year. This certificate has great ratings online, and even the most negative, cynical people have nothing bad to say about it. Of course, there are other certificates you can take to add to your knowledge and make it even easier to land a project management job, but this one is an excellent choice for most people. AI is also being leveraged more in project management to optimize resources, predict risks, and keep projects on track, so that’s a valuable skill set to develop as well.

5. Google IT Support Certificate

This might be my number one favorite certificate. It was basically the first one Google came out with when they partnered with Coursera, and almost 1.4 million people have taken it. Even though it’s a few years old now, it still has a 4.8-star rating. This certificate will help you get into a bunch of different entry-level IT jobs. Some people have commented that they were able to complete it in just a few weeks.

Here are a few jobs you might go into with this certificate:

Help Desk Technician: $47,000 to $69,000 a year
System Analyst: $91,000 to $135,000 a year
IT Director (later in your career): $160,000 to $257,000 a year

There have been countless posts from people who have gotten hired with just this certificate alone. It’s still a good idea to bolster your knowledge with other certificates, online courses, or free resources, but the fact that these certificates give you a chance at a job for only $49 a month is incredible. They offer the best bang for your buck out there. AI is revolutionizing the IT industry as well, with intelligent automation and predictive maintenance becoming increasingly common, so staying up-to-date with AI applications in IT is crucial.

6. Google Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Certificate

To be honest, this is one of my least favorite certificates on the list, but it’s still relatively good. My main issue with it is that there are so many different types of digital marketing, and there’s no way to go deep enough into any one of them if you’re just teaching digital marketing in general.

That said, over 400,000 people have enrolled and it still has about a 4.7 or 4.8-star rating, so people are definitely happy with the value they’re getting for $49 a month. This certificate probably won’t land you a job on its own, but it can help you figure out which area of digital marketing you want to focus on and give you a surface-level understanding of it.

Here are some salaries for different digital marketing roles:

Marketing Coordinator: $48,000 to $72,000 a year
Email Marketing Specialist: $52,000 to $81,000 a year
Digital Marketing Manager (higher-level role): $71,000 to $120,000 a year

So while it’s one of my least favorites, it’s still a solid resource. AI is having a huge impact on digital marketing too, enabling hyper-personalization, predictive analytics, and optimized ad targeting, so familiarizing yourself with AI marketing tools can give you an advantage.

7. Google Data Analytics Certificate

This one might be tied with the Google IT Support Certificate for my favorite, or it might even edge it out for the number one spot. I absolutely love this certificate, and so do many others — 1.8 million people have taken it and it still has a 4.8-star rating.

Data analytics is a job you can get without a college degree or previous experience, but you definitely need to have the skills. That’s where this certificate comes in — it teaches you many of the necessary skills to land the job. You’ll likely need to supplement it with additional skills through other certificates, courses, or free resources, and you’ll need to build a portfolio (which the course helps with).

If you search for “data analyst” on LinkedIn, you’ll see 578,000 entry-level job results. There is a incredible demand for these skills. Data analysts make $66,000 to $103,000 a year, while business analysts (a closely related role) make around $75,000 to $115,000 a year. A higher-level position like principal data analyst pays $59,000 to $247,000 a year.

When I asked data analysts and data scientists (including other YouTubers) what they would do if they were starting over, almost all of them said they would take this Google Data Analytics Certificate first. It’s awesome, probably my favorite certificate alongside the IT support one. But since the IT support certificate is a bit older, I feel this data analytics one may have taken its place as number one, especially with the growing importance of AI in data analytics for automating insights and predictions.

8. Web Design for Everybody: Basics of Web Development and Coding

This is another really good certificate offered by the University of Michigan on Coursera. About 296,000 people have already enrolled. I haven’t looked into this one as deeply as the others (I haven’t made a dedicated video on it), but basically, you learn to design and create websites. Web developers make about $70,000 to $115,000 a year.

Web development used to be one of the easiest tech fields to break into — if you had a pulse and knew a tiny bit about coding, you could get hired. But then it got more saturated as more people started learning online and boot camps popped up. It’s not as oversaturated as some think though — “saturated for tech” really just means you won’t have recruiters constantly banging down your door to hire you. You actually need to have the skills now.

The upside is you can get into web development without a degree or experience. The downside is you have to acquire the skills and prove you have them, usually through a strong portfolio (easier said than done). This certificate has a 4.7 or 4.8-star rating, so the vast majority of people are very happy with it, especially for only $49 a month. Just know that web development is a bit harder to break into than some of the other fields on this list. AI is also automating many aspects of web development, like UI design and code generation, so staying on top of AI web dev tools is important.

9. IBM Data Science Certificate

This is another very solid certificate with a 4.6-star rating and 245,000 people enrolled. The crazy thing is you can actually earn up to 15 college credits from it. It’s an awesome course, but if you’re trying to land a data scientist role, you probably won’t have an easy time doing it with just certificates alone. It’s possible if you’re a borderline genius, but a smarter path is to become a data analyst first, gain experience, take more certificates, and then pivot into data science.

This certificate is pretty extensive with 10 courses. It says it takes about 5 months to complete, but most reports on Reddit and in my comment section say about 2 months. There was one crazy person who did it in 17 days by studying 12 hours a day.

If you can’t afford the $49 a month for these certificates, Coursera does have a scholarship fund you can apply to. They say data science-related jobs pay about $112,000 a year on average. One thing I wish Coursera would clarify is when they say “26% of certificate grads started a new career” — over what time frame, and in what kinds of careers exactly? But overall, this certificate is still really good. AI is central to modern data science, so mastering AI and machine learning tools and techniques is key.

10. IBM DevOps and Software Engineering Certificate

They say this is beginner-level, but in my experience, DevOps is more than beginner — you probably won’t go from zero tech experience straight into a DevOps role. However, DevOps is one of the most valuable and sought-after areas of software engineering. DevOps engineers make $103,000 to $148,000 a year.

This certificate has some impressive instructors from IBM. It’s a 14-course series. Like almost all other Coursera certificates, it includes resume reviews, interview prep, and career support.

DevOps is another field where you absolutely must have the skills. Companies can’t afford to put someone in charge of DevOps if they’re not confident in their abilities. But there is massive demand for people who do have these skills. Typically, you see people going into IT first and then moving into DevOps. It’s rare to go straight into DevOps with no prior tech experience, but some people do it after getting a relevant college degree.

This is definitely a certificate worth checking out if you’re interested in DevOps. AI and machine learning are also transforming the DevOps landscape, enabling intelligent automation, predictive maintenance, and self-healing systems, so staying current with AI in DevOps is critical.

11. IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Certificate

This is another pretty good certificate with a 4.6-star rating and 173,000 people enrolled. You can earn up to 10 college credits from it. There is a ton of opportunity in cybersecurity, but it’s another field where you absolutely must have the skills. Imagine a company putting someone in charge of cybersecurity without being certain of their abilities, and then a breach happens and customer data is stolen. How would they explain that in court? You definitely need to know your stuff.

That said, there is huge demand for cybersecurity professionals. The cybersecurity analyst role is projected to grow 31% over the next decade according to the BLS, which is incredible. This certificate has 8 courses. Many online reviewers say if you study hard, you can finish it in about a month. If you go at a more gradual pace, it’ll probably take two months or so.

As a junior cybersecurity analyst, you’d likely make around $84,000 a year. A higher-level role like security architect pays $176,000 to $278,000 a year, which is ridiculous. Typically, you see people start in IT and then move into cybersecurity. Going straight into cybersecurity with no tech experience is rare, but it does happen if you have a relevant degree. AI is also a game-changer for cybersecurity, powering intelligent threat detection, automated incident response, and adaptive security policies, so cybersecurity professionals need to be well-versed in AI.

In conclusion, these 11 certifications can open doors to high-paying remote jobs in a variety of tech fields, even without a degree or experience. While some are harder to break into than others, they all offer valuable skills that are in high demand. And at only $49 a month (or less with financial aid), the return on investment can be incredible.

The key is to choose a field that aligns with your interests and strengths, commit to mastering the necessary skills, and be prepared to keep learning as technology (especially AI) continues to evolve at a rapid pace. With the right combination of certifications, projects, and persistence, you can launch a rewarding and lucrative career in the tech industry.