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The Five Best
Tech Education Resources.
Below is a list of some of the best educational resources for learning or using technology that I have found to be the most helpful. There are many more options to choose from but in a real production or work environment I have found these the most helpful ranking up to what gives the most quality and valuable education in opinion. Hopefully you find some inspiration from one of these to check them out or if you disagree, please comment below, we would love to hear from you or your thoughts.
YouTube
Yes, good old YouTube is a very common and great resource to learn any and all technical know-how you might need. From the popular professor Messer, to any niche video from a good Samaritan there is something for any
situation. The issue with YouTube however, is that you have to be careful about the information you are receiving and it’s source. Cross referencing is always a good practice when sourcing from the internet and a visual of what you are trying to learn on a video can help verify the info as well. Aside from just using google to search the world wide web, YouTube is the next best resource in size of information when trying to find that one special proprietary piece of software or equipment that you need more understanding on in the large world of technology.
Udemy
When you need a course on technology, be it a networking concept or a programming language, Udemy has it. Driven by user generated content from professionals Udemy has a large array of educational courses for a more traditional online course format. The best part is, you can take any course at your own pace when you have the available time.
Now, if you just have that odd question or curiosity about a specific topic, Udemy might not be the resource for you, but if you are looking to master a subject with a designed video course made specifically for it, then it is a great place to be. Learning a new programming language on Udemy is especially efficient because the more advance coders can skip to the stuff they need to know like syntax or specific tools and packages in the language. The courses can range in price but are usually much cheaper than a traditional college course.
Pluralsight
Top sites to learn tech definitely includes Pluralsight which is Udemy’s younger but more vetted sibling. It has the classic online course format just the same, but with one course per topic from Pluralsight instead of from multiple different teachers via user submitted content. Pluralsight has tech certification educational paths you can follow to prepare for the exam day. All for a subscription fee to access whatever class you want to go through. The strengths of Pluralsight are for anyone looking to take multiple courses for one fee or looking for a more organization ran course from Pluralsight themselves.
Pluralsight has options for entire work teams to use in order to keep your IT employees on their toes with the latest and most quality online education tools. This can be a great option for employers looking to train rather than hire out for new skills. A newer feature is the addition of hands-on labs or simulations on the website for a more real-world type of education on each subject, be it IT or software development. Pluralsight brings a solid value for its subscription and if you are willing to pay, would be a great addition to any IT workers educational tools.
Stack Overflow
Now this website is mainly for the coders out there. I am sure if you have ever had a programming issue in your life and looked to the internet to help solve it, you have come across this site. While there isn’t as much to offer here in terms of networking or traditional IT help, any and all coding issues have probably been mentioned here at some point. Stack Overflow is a programming help powerhouse and almost essential to a programmers daily help sources, student and employee both.
One of the best parts about Stack Overflow is that is an entirely free and open-source place for information. New and experienced programmers will find help here for an array(“”programming pun laughs”) of issues. If you go to the home page, it is no stretch when they say every developer has a tab open to Stack Overflow, that is just how staple it is to todays coders and software engineers alike.
A Cloud Guru
Last but definitely not least is Cloud Guru. A personal favorite, Cloud Guru has excellent features for IT professionals. Similar to Pluralsight’s subscription payment model, Cloud Guru provides its services for a monthly fee. The thing that sets this top site to learn tech apart, from the rest, is their amazing sandbox feature for cloud platforms.
Modern IT infrastructure has heavily become, and is becoming, more cloud based. The heavy hitters that support that are AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. ACloudGuru.com provides a sandbox simulation service where you can log into each one and create your own networks or virtual devices and experiment with them at your own desire. Once you are done you can destroy or wipe the sandbox and start again with no cost per use or risk to an actual network. It is the perfect tool for self-pace learning and educators alike. Cloud Guru is very popular in IT college classes as a tool to pair along with courses and works great getting someone’s feet wet with anything new without risk.
Cloud Guru has so much to offer with its simulation labs as well. Learning Linux? Just search for some courses on how to perform any Linux functions. When you are done it will give you a completed status so you can strive to master them all. Cloud Guru also has learning paths just like Pluralsight if you want a guided direction to go along with, as well as business plans and the prementioned individual subscription plans. Cloud Guru is an essential tool in any aspiring IT worker to be a little better than they were yesterday.
Honorable Mentions
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