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Free IT Courses for Locked-Down Tech Pros

Free IT Courses for Locked-Down Tech Pros
Several online learning platforms and software manufacturers have made some free IT courses so that tech professionals can exit this crisis better prepared.

It’s probably safe to say that we all have uttered these words at some point in our lives — If I had more time, I would….

With a good part of the world on lockdown to fight the expansion of COVID-19, now it might be the perfect time to put this premise to the test. Even if your effective schedule remains unaltered and you are simply working from home, there’s still a lot that you can do with whatever time you’re saving by not having to commute.With this in mind, several online learning platforms and software manufacturers have made some courses available for free so that tech and IT professionals like yourself can exit this crisis better prepared. These courses add to the already extensive list of free online resources that were already accessible before the quarantine. 

Re-skilling and continuous learning are a must for those looking to advance their career in a field like technology, where skill shortages are a prevalent problem and tools are constantly being updated. Accordingly, we suggest you make the most of the extra time on hand by benefitting from the below resources.

Coursera

The eLearning powerhouse has always offered a multitude of free courses from ivy-league universities and top technical schools across the globe — especially if you didn’t mind not receiving an official diploma for which you had to pay. However, and until May 31, a total of 100 courses will be accessible for free through the platform.

The reviews team at Business Insider has gone through the list of courses and identified 9 of them related to computer science. You will obtain an official certificate upon completion, at no cost and even enjoying access to otherwise premium features like homework grading and expanded reading materials

Hurry up, as most of these courses start today, April 08 – and make sure to add that certificate to your CV and LinkedIn profile once the course is completed. 

The list includes:

Udemy

With a somewhat more of a quick-bite and mobile mentality, Udemy offers a wide variety of courses and tutorials in dozens of topics. These are taught by subject matter experts and eLearning initiatives directly, without requiring the involvement of a third-party institution. 

The portal has made available over 530 courses for free so we can all invest in our education in the upcoming weeks. A lot of these focus on IT-related topics, from data science to videogame design.

Examples include:      

Codeacademy

A household name in tech education and computing, Codeacademy offers free courses on topics spanning from coding to computational theory and web development. The possibilities are almost endless, and you can even choose specific skill paths like building chatbots with Python or creating front-end apps with React.  

CompTIA IT Fundamentals

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), known globally for its reputed certification programs, is offering free 30-day learning licenses for its IT Fundamentals (ITF+) curriculum. The overall course is probably too introductory if you are a seasoned tech expert, but you might find it touches on topics you haven’t had time to explore.

You can also pass the link along to anyone who is considering a career in IT but is not quite sure yet.

SAP and Microsoft

Another career-advancement option for these days of confinement is investing time in official vendor certifications and learning programs. These let you master some of the world’s most ubiquitous software tools and validate your skills in front of the community.

Leading ERP provider SAP is providing free access to a total of 35 courses to prepare for its official certifications. You even get a free first attempt at the official exam. The courses cover areas including building bots with SAP’s RPA or the business migration to S/4HANA – a course that can give you a great competitive edge given S/4HANA’s growing momentum.  

Additionally, Microsoft Learn offers a comprehensive host of learning resources for Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, or the Power Platform. among others. Just keep in mind that, to protect its staff from the virus, Microsoft has implemented some changes in its user policy, as well as extended certain courses and deadlines. Here’s a full list of changes.    

Don’t forget your soft skills

Last but not least, think of dedicating some time to develop your soft skills. In IT, it is becoming increasingly vital to possess a strong set of soft skills to complement your technical ones – from interpersonal communication to adaptability and creative thinking.

Or perhaps you should focus on your mental health and resilience? LinkedIn Learning is providing free mindfulness courses to help people cope with lockdowns.

Also discover our guide: IT Job Hunting Done Well: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Press review Tech Magazine

Weekly News Digest #10

IT News Digest

You can bet Alan Turing didn’t see this one coming when he cracked the Enigma machine. 

Pixar pioneers Edwin Catmull and Patrick Hanrahan have won this week the prestigious Turing Award, the highest distinction in computer science. 

The two men invented many of the 3D computer graphics techniques used to make animation films and special effects. If you liked the following movies, you now know who to thank: 

  • Toy Story
  • The Lord of the Rings
  • Finding Nemo
  • Titanic
  • Avatar
  • Jurassic Park

Speaking of working from home…

Many organisations including the World Economic Forum have stressed the importance of ensuring enterprise networks remain safe as more and more people shift to telework. 

Keeping cybersecurity in mind shouldn’t be a problem for IT professionals like you, but it’s always a good idea to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding the proper use of company resources and tools.  

A quick reminder can save you a great deal of pain. Here are some tips.

Finally, one for developers —

Microsoft has released this week the first developer preview of .NET 5. The new iteration, set for release this November, brings unified development across desktop and mobile thanks to its integration of mobile-app building platform Xamarin. 

The first preview includes support for Windows Arm64 and the .NET Core runtime, whereas the second one will include SDK and ASP .NET Core.

We recommend you look into it. 

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Press review Tech Magazine

Weekly News Digest #4

Weekly News Digest
Weekly News Digest

Good morning! So… Thursday. Quite the week, right?

The UK is officially no longer part of the EU. The Wuhan coronavirus is spreading almost as quickly as the xenophobia it has sparked. Oh, and Trump finally managed to turn the State of the Union address into a full-blown reality TV show.

We have prepared a whole new batch of resources and interesting reads for you to explore this week. But, first things first. Let’s see what the tech world has been up to.

A week in retrospect…

In case the Iowa caucuses weren’t complicated enough, the app designed to collect and share the vote results for the US Democratic Party went absolutely bonkers. It wasn’t hackers, though.

Apparently, someone was so excited to implement new voting technologies that they went ahead with an untested app developed by the aptly named company Shadow. No training for volunteers either. Because, you know — why. They spent the rest of the week manually counting the results. Oh, blessed be paper backup.

Meanwhile, somewhere over the rainbow…

The Cloud Wars wrapped up this fiscal year’s offensive as the big players announced Q4 earnings.

AWS retains its leadership, with Microsoft on second place and narrowing the gap. In third place, Google Cloud, which released its first official cloud earnings report earlier this week.

The FY2019 revenue table for the top 3 cloud divisions stands as follows:

  1. Amazon — $35 billion (37% more than in 2018)
  2. Microsoft — $16.4 billion (39% yearly increase)
  3. Google — $8.9 billion (53% spike from last year)

Also —IBM recently changed CEOs, promoting its head of cloud to the top position in an effort to catch up with the competition.

Let the 2020 race begin.

Big news for the SAP community this week — The company is extending free ECC support throughout 2027, with optional maintenance until 2030.

Looks like SAP has finally accepted an extension as inevitable if it wants more of its customers to migrate to S/4HANA. The ERP vendor has vowed to support the new iteration until 2040.

Finally, human trials of the first AI-designed drug will soon start in Japan.

Targeted at patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the new compound represents a major technological and medical achievement. While the average drug development takes about 5 years to get to trials, AI did it in just 12 months.

Let’s hope it actually works. That would mean better, faster, and cheaper medicine for all.

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Press review Tech Magazine

Weekly News Digest #2

Weekly News Digest #2
Weekly News Digest #2

A week in retrospect…

Recently got a dog although you “don’t really have the time” for it?

Do not fret, irresponsible dog owners — AI’s got your back.

Now you can leave your pet unattended for hours, possibly days, and not have to deal with the slightest remorse. Go enjoy that weekend at a ski resort without leaving your apartment keys with a friend. When you return home, this AI-powered dog trainer will have your pet obedient and ready for a flawless Instagram photo session.

I guess the important question here is whose orders your pet will obey. Good news, Skynet — Now you have dogs on your side.

On a more serious note…

This week, the Swiss town of Davos hosted the annual World Economic Forum. This year’s edition put, again, much of its focus on technology.

As the meeting marked its 50th anniversary, the organisers wanted to reflect on how much technology has changed everything in the past half century. Experts at the Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution called for careful and ethical use of emerging technologies, while outlining 9 reasons to be optimistic about tech in 2020.

Taking advantage of the media spotlight ahead of the event, Microsoft made a pledge to remove all of the carbon it has emitted since the company was founded in 1975. All that by 2050. That goes way beyond Amazon’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2040.

Ha! Take that, Jeff. The cloud wars keep raging — Ironically, this time the battle is over actual (CO2) clouds.

Meanwhile, in another part of Europe…

The EU is considering a 5-year ban on the use of facial recognition technology in public spaces, citing concerns over data privacy and the potential nefarious uses of a technology that’s not yet fully understood. Caution is good. At least as long as it is to allow for enough time for companies and governments to establish regulations and protocols that protect us citizens.

Google and Microsoft are already wrangling over the proposed ban. Microsoft, which happens to sell this technology to governments and state agencies, is, not surprisingly, against the ban. On the other side of the ring, Google is advocating for the ban, in a clear effort to get on the good side of the EU after growing signs of the Union’s mistrust of the Internet giant.

Taking a more subtle approach to AI, Apple has paid $200 million for the AI start-up Xnor.ai, a company specialising in on-device AI. The acquisition reinforces Apple’s strategy to build an AI that operates within the device, rather than in the cloud, to achieve greater levels of privacy and security.

All in all, this has been the week of AI. Even Davos jumped on the AI bandwagon by making available an AI toolkit for corporate boards.

Oh, and —

Remember last week’s service cut for Windows 7 and its potential security ramifications? Well, not even a week later, Microsoft is announcing a patch for an Internet Explorer security bug that is already being targeted by attackers.

The problem? You guessed it. MS doesn’t offer support for Windows 7 anymore, so the old OS won’t get the patch. Oopsie!

And so it begins….

Categories
Press review Tech Magazine

Weekly News Digest #1

Weekly News Digest #1
Weekly News Digest #1

A week in retrospect…

Surprise, surprise! It has been another busy week in the world of tech. Elon Musk seems to have put his flamethrowing days behind and is now set on making his Teslas talk to nearby pedestrians. He didn’t go into much detail about what they’ll actually say, though he did confirm they will be able to fart in people’s general direction.

Classic billionaire joke.

On a more serious note — and in what effectively proposes a major shift in how we approach AI — U.S. researchers announced this week that they have successfully created the first biological robot. The Xenobot is made from frog stem cells and powered by evolutionary algorithms. It can also heal itself. Potential applications are certainly sci-fi worthy: micro-plastic cleaning bots, highly targeted drug delivery…

However, the researchers are hoping to use these robots to understand the interaction and communication between cells. After all, the human body as a whole is one of the most developed and effective forms of collective intelligence known to us.

Just imagine what could be achieved by uncovering its secrets and applying them to the advancement of robotics and AI.

RIP Windows 7….

Nothing new here — As of Tuesday, Microsoft is finally discontinuing support for what some consider the company’s best OS to date. Beyond such considerations, the phase-out leaves a good chunk of Windows users vulnerable to security breaches and other nasty hassles. Aware that some business-critical applications only run on Windows 7, Microsoft is offering to continue support for the old OS iteration until 2023. At a cost, of course.

Ironically, this happened the same week we discovered that the NSA alerted Microsoft of a security bug involving CryptoAPI that affects millions of Windows 10 computers.

We’d be curious to hear what you cybersecurity experts think could be the worst potential complications following the Windows 7 service cut. What are your thoughts?

Well, guess who’s not going to be happy with Google’s decision to end third-party cookies by 2022. Here’s a hint: our blue, furry friend above is not alone in this one.

As Google wrestles with Chrome user demands for greater privacy, it risks compromising the advertising-based revenue model that has served as the foundation of its empire. Folks at the Internet giant are already rushing to calm down advertisers while proposing they all work together to build an alternative that meets both privacy and profitability concerns.

What do you think could substitute third-party cookies and increase user privacy at the same time?

Last but not least — New developments coming straight from the front lines of the cloud wars.

Microsoft unveiled new ad tools for retailers at New York’s NRF, one of which Home Depot has already been using for the past year. The result of Microsoft’s acquisition last August of NY-based PromoteIQ, the new Microsoft PromoteIQ will allow retailers to promote products by combining intent-based data with audience insights.

The immediate goal is clear: to help MS customers increase sales at scale. The main goal? To grab some of Amazon’s cloud market share by pushing services to retailers who’d rather not deal with Mr. Bezos and his e-commerce monopoly.