What the credential signals to employers
Curious about how the courses are taught and what is specifically taught, I enrolled. I signed up for the Expedite – Skills for Industry: Future of Industry, and I found it remarkably useful for my own career, which is decidedly not in the early stages. What I found was an innovative way to learn in bite-sized chunks that easily fit into my day. But more importantly, I gained deeper insight into the changes coming to the industry as AI expands across facilities and automation tools.
I learned how it will impact sustainability and why human-centered innovation is coming to the workflow. In many ways, this training is giving my skills a useful boost and keeping my knowledge current.
Not surprisingly, this fits with what Dora Smith, senior director of global workforce strategy at Siemens, is hearing from customers and individuals; there is broad appeal among mid-career professionals. The technology and realities of manufacturing, including the supply chain and business around manufacturing, are changing rapidly.
Mid-career workers want to keep up on the latest technology and developments, and are finding value in the microcredentials offered. Adding these skills to their resumes keeps them relevant. Companies that offer programs in-house in a workshop format also see a broad range of employees open to participating and improving their skills.
The trainings can be seen as career-building blocks, relevant not only to early-career engineers but equally valuable for mid-career engineers and professionals working in the periphery or orbit of engineers.
The program has attracted the attention of major corporations in the United States and Europe, such as a U.S.-based aerospace and defense company, which had this to say: “Our pilot with new hires and interns showed the microcredential saves significant time in onboarding, addresses knowledge gaps that new employees feel uncomfortable asking about, and boosts engagement through recognition badges.”
It's also attracting attention from countries like Egypt and India, which have expressed interest in adapting and using the program to upskill segments of their workforce and equip their STEM students with the skills to participate in the global technology and manufacturing space.
The skills gap is proving a universal challenge across global manufacturing. Those who close the gap through investing in the training of early-career engineers and also upskilling mid-career engineers — beyond just one-off tools or equipment training — will reap the benefits.
From door-opener to standard operating practice
Early results and feedback are showing microcredentials are the way forward. Dora explained that she and her team are hearing that, at this point, the program is a door-opener for those who add it to their resumes. However, they anticipate that, in two years’ time, it will become an ingrained feature of corporate learning and development offerings — something companies can take in-house. Additionally, participating companies could use agentic AI to comb through their content and work with subject matter experts to pinpoint missing skills and corresponding content to build a training module.
Microcredentials won’t solve the skills gap on their own, but organizations that treat them as a core capability rather than a perk will onboard faster, upskill continuously and out-execute competitors.
And if you're one of those companies that says your people are your greatest asset, it's worth investing in them.
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