Good courses to do, books to read, and websites to visit 📚
If there's one thing I've learnt since graduating from University is that technology is constantly changing. It's important to read and learn not just for keeping up to date with the latest technologies, but for the opportunity to also take your learnings and use them in your career. I'm pretty sure that some of the modules that I studied at University have been updated to be more relevant to the current IT landscape.
I'm constantly reading and doing courses myself. I've bought plenty of courses on platforms such as Udemy.
Even though my role is a software tester, the approach to solving problems, testing software is changing. Having the appropriate digital skills is now more important than ever before. Digital skills is a life skill. It is now more important than ever before.
Over the past year, I've been taking several courses, reading books and just doing research into many different things. And so on this blog post, I wanted to share some books and courses that I've done or used in the past.
Books
This book by Mike McGrath is a really good way to learn and to take your first steps in C#. It has good examples and is very easy to follow. Good price as well!
Probably one of the best books on JavaScript out there! Written by Marijn Haverbeke. It also has a fantastic website as well!
The one and only! Now in it's sixth edition, with over 100 problems, it's a highly suggested book!
This is another book I own! Also has some good problems to solve!
Online courses
When it comes to online courses, there are plenty to choose from. Here are some that I've taken!
2021 Complete Python Bootcamp From Zero to Hero in Python
This is a fantastic course. If you want to start learning Python, this is the course for you. Introduces you to key Python concepts as well as other techniques such as web scraping. The instructor, Jose Portilla, is excellent. Give this course a go! Wait until a sale is on to buy this course, Udemy often runs promotions several times a month.
Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp
I'd like to think of this course as a follow up from the Python bootcamp course. This course is also done by Jose Portilla. This offers a great introduction to Python packages such as Pandas.
Python and Flask Bootcamp: Create Websites using Flask!
If you want to go into web development then this is a good course to do after the Python bootcamp course. Another awesome course by Jose Portilla!
The Complete SQL Bootcamp 2021: Go from Zero to Hero
A great course by Jose Portilla. This course focuses on PostgreSQL but you can apply what you've learnt to other major SQL DB's MySQL and Amazon's Redshift. Wait for a sale!
The Complete 2021 Flutter Development Bootcamp with Dart
This course is created by Dr. Angela Yu and is a really good course to learn about Flutter and Dart. Frequently updated with plenty of resources.
Websites
There are lots of websites about programming/technology out there. Here a few that I use!
A nonprofit organisation that has some very good courses on HTML and CSS, JavaScript, machine learning and more! Has some great articles as well. Free to use!
A free to use, open source curriculum. Offers courses on full stack Ruby and full stack JavaScript.
For those who are interested in front end development, this is an excellent website to try ideas and see what other people have made. Also has support for Vue and Flutter! Free to use with a paid subscription available.
A website that offers interactive courses that was founded in 2011. Free to use but a lot of courses are locked behind a subscription.
A handy website that combines API documentations into a single interface. Has support for many different languages and frameworks. Take a look, it's free and open source!
An in browser IDE! Connects to your GitHub repo which is handy. Free to use with paid options available.
A blog written by Jeff Atwood, the founder of Stack Overflow!
This is worth mentioning as it gives an insight onto the changing landscape of working life. Some great articles on there about working from home and hybrid!
Wrap up!
And that's my list of books, videos and websites of resources that I use!
I highly suggest that you take some time from your day and do a little bit of learning, even if it's an hour a day it will help you with your career and personal projects.
Thanks for reading! 👏
