9 Top courses to jump start your week

Hi there!

I looked through the latest course data and trends this week and found some amazing courses that will help boost your career and expand your knowledge. Check them out, and start learning today!

Courses to boost your tech career

#1.SQL for Data Science

This course is designed to give you a primer in the fundamentals of SQL and working with data so that you can begin analyzing it for data science purposes. You will begin to ask the right questions and come up with good answers to deliver valuable insights for your organization. This course starts with the basics and assumes you do not have any knowledge or skills in SQL. It will build on that foundation and gradually have you write both simple and complex queries to help you select data from tables. You’ll start to work with different types of data like strings and numbers and discuss methods to filter and pare down your results.

#2.Introduction to Meteor.js Development

In this course, you will learn how to create a complete, multi-user web site using the Meteor.js framework and MongoDB. You will implement user authentication, security features, reactive templates and routing using iron router. You will carry out key database operations such as inserting, removing and updating data as well as sorting and filtering. You will see how a complete application can be built, line by line.

At the end of the course, you will be able to:

1. Install the Meteor.js system and create a web application
2. Work with the Meteor.js packaging system
3. Write Meteor.js templates that can reactively display data
4. Use insert, remove and update operations on MongoDB
5. Write MongoDB data filters to search for and sort data
6. Add user authentication functionality to a website
7. Control what is displayed on the page using iron:router 8. Implement basic security features

In this course, you will complete:

• 1 server install assignment taking ~1 hour to complete
• 1 programming assignment taking ~8 hours to complete
• 4 quizzes, each taking ~20 minutes to complete
• multiple practice quizzes, each taking ~5 minutes to complete

#3.Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure

The first course in the original Specialization, GCP Fundamentals, will remain as a standalone course offering a broad introduction to GCP.

This course covers the fundamentals of Google Cloud Platform. This course introduces you to important concepts and terminology for working with Google Cloud Platform (GCP). You learn about, and compare, many of the computing and storage services available in Google Cloud Platform, including Google App Engine, Google Compute Engine, and Google Container Engine.

Notes:

• You’ll need a Google/Gmail account and a credit card or bank account to sign up for the Google Cloud Platform free trial (Google is currently blocked in China).
• There is a known issue with certain EU countries where individuals are not able to sign up, but you may sign up as “business” status and intend to see a potential economic benefit from the trial. More details at: https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/6090602
• More Google Cloud Platform free trial FAQs are available at: https://cloud.google.com/free-trial/

Courses to help you become a better leader

#4.Business English for Cross-cultural Communication

This course aims to prepare you for working in an cross-cultural Business setting. We’ll learn about common cross-cultural theories and how they are relevant to everyday business practices in a globalised world. By combining all of your vocabulary, reading, speaking, and writing skills that you acquired in the previous three courses, you will learn how language plays an important role in cross-cultural communication. You will also enhance your cross-cultural understanding and will be able to use vocabulary, tone and style, and spoken and written communication skills within a cross-cultural Business context. Skills learned in this course help prepare you to deliver the professional business presentation in the Capstone project.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• identify possible cross-cultural issues and misunderstandings in communication
• apply strategies to overcome possible cross-cultural issues and misunderstandings in communication
• produce documents with an appropriate style for business communication purposes within a cross-cultural situation
• deliver a speech with an appropriate style for business communication purposes within a cross-cultural situation

#5.Be a Leader, Develop a Leader

The objectives of this MOOC are to enable you to learn from applying concepts, exercises and learning from the four other MOOCs in this specialization. Learners involved in our programs over the decades have repeatedly told us that going over the material several times helps them progressively delve into the meaning and application of the ideas and experiences. As a result, we have designed this capstone so that it would be the third iteration of working with the ideas and experiences about effective leadership and inspiring its development in others.

The first iteration was during one of the other MOOCs in terms of the videos, readings, Forum chats and reflective exercises. The second iteration was doing one of the personal learning or action learning assignments in one of the MOOCs that involved talking to others and writing an essay about the experience. If you had not done the Action learning assignment, then one of the two projects for this MOOC would involve doing it. The third is reviewing and revising your analysis of the experience as the Capstone project to show evidence that you can Be a Leader and help another Develop as a Leader.

#6.Engineering Project Management: Initiating and Planning

The goal of the course is to give you the tools to initiate a project plan, manage both stakeholders and relationships, organize their team, develop a project charter, and build a business case for a project.

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Perform a project assessment using information from previous projects and lessons learned
• Identify key deliverables based on business requirements while managing customer expectations
• Perform a stakeholder analysis and create a management plan
• Analyze and develop a project organization
• Create a project charter
• Explain the business case for a project and calculate Net Present Value
• Inform stakeholders of the charter and ensure all parties know the deliverable and expectations

This course is geared toward practicing engineers who are early in their careers, especially those who are either in or approaching their first leadership role. It will provide the basic information required to understand how a project is authorized and organized. And, give leaners a better understanding of their role in enhancing project performance.

Courses to expand your mind

#7.Introduction to Public Speaking

This course gives you a reliable model for preparing and delivering effective presentations.

In business, in school, and in public life, we are often called upon to “make a few comments.” Often, people tasked with such speeches become flummoxed. They might not know what to talk about, or ramble without making a point, or simply be confusing to listen to. This course is designed to help you shine where others falter.

We’ll learn how organize talks clearly, write them memorably, and deliver them confidently. By the end of the course, you should be able to significantly reduce your fear of public speaking, use rehearsal techniques to develop a strong, vibrant speaking voice, and perform speeches with dynamic movement and gestures. The speech model that we’ll practice is useful for briefings, elevator talks, interviews, and even as a structure for hour-long presentations.

#8.Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential

Mindshift is designed to help boost your career and life in today’s fast-paced learning environment. Whatever your age or stage, Mindshift teaches you essentials such as how to get the most out of online learning and MOOCs, how to seek out and work with mentors, the secrets to avoiding career ruts (and catastrophes) and general ruts in life, and insights such as the value of selective ignorance over general competence.

We’ll provide practical insights from science about how to learn and change effectively even in maturity, and we’ll build on what you already know to take your life’s learning in fantastic new directions. This course is designed to show you how to look at what you’re learning, and your place in what’s unfolding in the society around you, so you can be what you want to be, given the real world constraints that life puts on us all. You’ll see that by using certain mental tools and insights, you can learn and do more—far more—than you might have ever dreamed!

#9.Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects

This course gives you easy access to the invaluable learning techniques used by experts in art, music, literature, math, science, sports, and many other disciplines. We’ll learn about the how the brain uses two very different learning modes and how it encapsulates (“chunks”) information. We’ll also cover illusions of learning, memory techniques, dealing with procrastination, and best practices shown by research to be most effective in helping you master tough subjects.

Using these approaches, no matter what your skill levels in topics you would like to master, you can change your thinking and change your life. If you’re already an expert, this peep under the mental hood will give you ideas for: turbocharging successful learning, including counter-intuitive test-taking tips and insights that will help you make the best use of your time on homework and problem sets. If you’re struggling, you’ll see a structured treasure trove of practical techniques that walk you through what you need to do to get on track. If you’ve ever wanted to become better at anything, this course will help serve as your guide.

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