Hart, who previously served as a technical advisor to Jeff Bezos at Amazon and took over as president and CEO of Coursera in February 2025, told CNBC Make It that students need to go beyond traditional degrees to stay viable in a rapidly changing employment landscape. “The advice that I give to my sons... is one of the best things that you can do is to augment your university degree with micro credentials specifically,” he said according to CNBC website. Micro credentials, short, targeted courses that certify specific skills, are gaining traction as companies deploy AI to handle more tasks traditionally assigned to junior employees. Hart said these add-ons are becoming critical as firms increasingly cite AI when laying off workers. Amazon cut 14,000 jobs this year as it doubled down on AI development. Salesforce eliminated 4,000 customer support roles, saying AI can handle roughly 40 percent of tasks performed at the company.
