Have you applied for a job lately? If you have, you might have noticed that “necessary computer skills” section. Without specific tech skills, it’s hard to land most office jobs. Unless you have a boss who’s willing to pay thousands to teach you the latest computer skills, though, you’ll likely have a hard time keeping up with new technology.

That’s where Lynda.com comes into play. This website offers thousands of tutorial videos for all kinds of software. In addition to tutorials, Lynda.com also offers the option to practice what you’ve learned. Complete with an intuitive interface and plenty of user-friendly options, Lynda.com is a job seeker’s best friend.

Lynda.com Account Membership Plans

Four membership options are available through Lynda.com. Monthly memberships begin at $25 per month and stretch to $375 per year for the Premium Package. With the basic monthly membership, you will gain access to the Lynda.com site and as many tutorials as you need. If you bump up that membership to the Monthly Premium package ($37.50/month), practice exercises are included with the offered tutorial. Since it seems somewhat necessary to practice what you’ve learned, I’m not sure that the $25/month membership makes much sense (unless, of course, you have a way to practice on your own). Regardless, Lynda.com is full of excellent course options.

A Variety of Courses Offered

The goal of Lynda.com is to offer hundreds of different software tutorials. For example, say you want to land a graphic design job, but you need to know how to use Photoshop. Purchasing Photoshop would cost roughly $195. After purchasing the program, you would then have to spend hours trying to figure out how to use the program. Or, you could just spend $35, head to the Lynda.com site, and take a class on the basics of Photoshop. See how handy this site is?

As far as the types of courses available on Lynda.com, the site does include most popular software programs. If you happen to work in an industry that’s extremely specific, you may not find what you’re looking for on this site. But, the good news is that you can take a good look at the Lynda site before you sign up for any kind of membership. So, if the course you want isn’t listed, no money will be wasted.

Course Teachers and Compatibility

The Lynda.com site states that “high quality instructors” teach each course. Presumably, these instructors are skilled in the courses that they teach. Otherwise, Lynda.com wouldn’t have achieved the success that the site has seen since its inception. As far as compatibility goes, all of the courses offered on the Lynda.com site can be accessed using a Mac, smartphone, PC, or tablet. You can also use the Lynda.com app to ask questions and find fast answers when you’re a member.

The next time that you come across a job listing that requires some software skill you don’t yet possess, remember Lynda.com. This is one helpful site that comes at a fraction of the cost (and time) of trying to learn complex software on your own.