SkillForge

What SkillForge Is

SkillForge is a training company that teaches software and business skills in live, instructor-led classes, either online or on site at the client's location. Its home page says it "delivers instructor-led training courses in software applications, business skills, leadership development, and professional certifications" and that it has been "delivering expert-led training since 2010." Microsoft software is the core of what the site shows: a catalog of 33 live Microsoft courses covering Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, SharePoint, Teams, Project, Power BI and Microsoft Copilot.

It serves two readers. An office worker, analyst or project scheduler can enroll in a public online class to learn a specific tool. A company, public agency or university can book private training for a whole team. The home page says "From small businesses to governmental agencies and Fortune 500 companies, thousands of organizations have trusted us to train their staff," and describes them as organizations across North America.

How the Classes Work

Every class is live. The Microsoft catalog page states that "Every class is taught live by a certified expert" and that "Every class is capped at a small number of students so you get real attention from the instructor." Learners "work through hands-on exercises in the actual software, ask questions in real time, and leave with skills you can apply the same day." Courses are "structured as multi-day deep dives or focused single-day workshops", available "as open-enrollment public sessions or as private on-site training tailored to your team's specific needs and software version."

After class, the home page says "Many of our classes come with support from an instructor after class, as well as access to a recorded version of your class to review," and the catalog page specifies that select courses include six months of follow-up instructor support; the Copilot in Excel for Finance Professionals course carries a "6-mo support" tag. Enrolled students sign in through a Student Portal, and private training is offered as custom team sessions. Learners receive a SkillForge certificate of completion to share with an employer or add to LinkedIn. That is SkillForge's own certificate; for formal credentials, the Word courses help students prepare for the Microsoft Office Specialist exams MO-100 (Word Associate) and MO-101 (Word Expert).

The Microsoft Catalog and Prices

SkillForge publishes a duration and a price for each course. The catalog runs from half-day AI workshops to four-day SharePoint courses:

• Excel: Introduction, Intermediate, Advanced and Dashboards are each 1 day at $295; PowerPivot is 1 day at $325; Excel VBA is 2 days at $695; Data Analysis and Visualization with Excel is 2 days at $590.
• Copilot and AI: Using Copilot in Excel, Copilot in Excel for Finance Professionals, Using Copilot in PowerPoint, and Using GenAI with Microsoft PowerPoint are each half a day at $245. Draft, Analyze and Present with Microsoft Copilot (MS-4018) is 1 day at $495.
• Access: Introduction and Advanced are 2 days at $590 each; Access VBA is 2 days at $695.
• Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Teams: introduction, intermediate and advanced levels, plus Microsoft Office 365 Online and Microsoft Teams, at 1 day and $295 each.
• Power BI: Microsoft Power BI Training is 2 days at $800; Power BI Dashboard in a Day is 1 day at $695.
• Project: Microsoft Project Training is 2 days at $795; Microsoft Project Advanced Training is 1 day at $490.
• SharePoint: Site User, Site Owner and Advanced Site Owner are 1 day at $495 each; SharePoint Online for Administrators (55238) is 3 days at $1895; SharePoint Online Power User (55215) is 4 days at $2495.

What Some Courses Cover

The course descriptions are specific. Copilot in Excel for Finance Professionals is for analysts comfortable in Excel who have never used Copilot for "variance reviews, month-end reconciliations, budget tracking"; it moves from what Copilot can and cannot do to plain-language questions about your own ledgers and budgets, writing and debugging formulas, and finance workflows such as forecasting sanity-checks and month-end close support, all within four hours. Microsoft Access Introduction assumes little or no experience and builds a database from scratch with tables, forms, queries and reports. Microsoft Project Advanced is "A focused one-day advanced workshop for experienced Microsoft Project schedulers" covering critical path analysis, resource leveling, earned value management, custom fields and VBA automation. Microsoft Power BI Training takes professionals "from first data connection to finished, shareable report" and needs no prior Power BI experience. SharePoint Online for Administrators suits on-premises SharePoint administrators and administrators new to Office 365 who need to set up SharePoint Online.

Some courses have practical prerequisites. Microsoft Teams Training notes that "students do need an active license for Microsoft 365 to participate in the exercises in class." For Using GenAI with Microsoft PowerPoint, which teaches using Copilot, Gemini and ChatGPT to brainstorm topics, generate slide text and images, and write presenter notes, students "will create ChatGPT, Gemini and/or Copilot accounts if they don't already have one" and need an email address and cell phone for authentication. Power BI Dashboard in a Day is "primarily self-directed", with an instructor available for questions.

Free Videos and Reviews

Before enrolling, learners can watch free course previews and walkthroughs on the SkillForge YouTube channel, which the home page lists as 18 Microsoft Excel lessons, Microsoft Copilot 365 tips and 4 Power BI videos. The site has a blog of short tutorials, such as creating SmartArt in PowerPoint and adjusting bullet lists in Word. Student reviews on the home page are rated "5 of 5 stars on Google" and come from learners at organizations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Fitchburg State University and Washington County; one praises an instructor who gave "several hours of one-on-one training" on PowerPivot.

Who SkillForge Suits

SkillForge suits professionals who learn best with a live instructor and want a focused class on one Microsoft tool, whether a one-day Excel or Outlook course or a half-day Copilot workshop, at a listed price. Finance teams moving into Copilot, SharePoint site owners and administrators, and Microsoft Project schedulers will find courses aimed squarely at their work. Managers can book private on-site training matched to their team's software version. Learners who want self-paced video courses on demand, or a broad catalog well beyond Microsoft tools, will find the site's free YouTube videos useful but the main product built around scheduled live classes.