These courses may not contain code — but will help your career as a software developer
We live in a time when it is very easy to acquire knowledge on any subject desired. I got encouraged at work to expand my knowledge with LinkedIn learning courses. Many companies give their employees free access to online courses so they could learn and develop their career.
I personally prefer taking courses that aren’t about programming, for these main reasons:
First, because I learn coding best while at work. I am at the stage in my career that I would rather master the programming languages I use daily before expanding to other fields.
Second, hard skills courses require sitting in front of a computer — and 100% of your attention. The other kind can be done “on the go”.
Third, soft-skills development shouldn’t be underestimated. There is more to a position or a workplace then the job itself.
And fourth — I find them very interesting!
Since joining the platform I have finished multiple courses, and these are my top 3:
1. Universal Principles of Design
Instructors: William Lidwell and Jill Butler
Duration: 5 hours and 29 minutes
Link: a link can be found here
What: This course is based on William Lidwell’s award-wining books, illustrates one design principle, ranging from the tried and true (the 80/20 rule) to concepts that you may not have ever heard in a design context (Ockham’s razor or crowd intelligence.) These principles are critical to successful design — no matter what the discipline.
Why: Because I want to share each and every video I watch! They all start with a very interesting real-life example, which shows the importance of the given principle.
This course has the most direct benefit for the professionalism of the developer — You will be aware of design principles, and you’ll program better code.
When: I tried listening in the car but had to watch the videos.
The content is in a high language and the video is necessary for fully understanding, especially for non-native English speakers. These videos are good for watching on the treadmill or while eating.
One of my favorites: The second video talks about the importance of alignment, which may look negligible, but effected the U.S Presidential Election of 2000 significantly!
How? Because the voter’s eye was unambiguously lead to the incorrect punch hole.
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| Al Gore’s voters accidentally punched the second hole instead of the third (Source) |
The separating line above Al Gore’s name led their eyes right to the second punch hole on the ballot, which represented Patrick Buchanan.
No doubt many Gore voters accidentally punched the second hole.
After detecting their error they would try to correct it by punching the third hole, not realizing that this would invalidate their vote.
A simple tweak to the ballot design, presenting the candidates on the same page, would have fixed the problem.
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| A simple tweak to the ballot design, presenting the candidates on the same page, would have fixed the problem (Source) |
2. Career Clinic: Developer Insights
Instructor: LinkedIn Learning Developer Instructor
Duration: 4 hours and 48 minutes
Link: a link can be found here
What: In this course, you’ll get career advice and insights from practicing developers. They provide relevant, targeted advice for those entering the tech industry and those who want to progress to the next stage in their careers.
Why: Because experience is the best teacher. The variety of speakers and subjects touched make it very interesting, valuable, and relevant to all developers: From self-promotion to learning new skills to starting a business. They even made a video called “Star Wars or Star Trek”
When: This course doesn’t require the video part: audio is more than enough. Very good for listening while walking outdoors or commuting.
One of my favorites: The video that was the inspiration for this blog post is the one called “Favorite projects”. It is very encouraging to hear them talk passionately about the projects they are working on, or how they got to programming.
3. Success Habits
Instructor: Chris Croft.
Duration: 3 hours and 18 minutes
Link: a link can be found here
What: Chris Croft delivers valuable and practical success tips. He covers topics such as the relationship between success, money, and happiness; emotional intelligence; goal setting; organization; purpose; and creativity.
Why: This was the first course I took and my favorite as well. There are so many great tips there, that I’m definitely going to take this course again.
When: This course doesn’t require visual attention, which is perfect in your commute to work. It teaches you the correct response to common work-related situations and there were times where it really connected to my experiences.
One of my favorites: Wow, on this one I can’t stop just at one. I managed to narrow it down to three:
- “Three benefits of great listening”
- “Set up a mastermind group”
- “How to add a delight factor”
I tried to summarize them, but it doesn’t do justice with the content.
That's it!
These were my three recommendations for Lynda courses. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Are you gonna take these courses? Do you have any online courses you think I should take? Let me know in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and found it useful. I would love to hear your thoughts, here in the comments or in a private message:
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