What’s so great about Microsoft Teams? Why 2020 is the year to learn about it.

The way we communicate and do business changes constantly. With the start of a new decade, 2020 promises some exciting changes and transitions. This year we say goodbye to Skype for Business and hello to Microsoft Teams. Read on to find out all about Microsoft Teams and what it can do for you and your business.

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration tool that provides teams with the ability to work together and share information via a common space. Its features include document collaboration, one-on-one chat and team chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. A Microsoft spokesperson described it as a “digital translation of an open office space”.

Microsoft Teams is also fully integrated with many other Office 365 services, such as Skype, SharePoint, Exchange, and Yammer. Microsoft is still leading the way with Office 365 and because of this market leading position, their newer tools such as Teams are becoming widely used. Microsoft added Teams to its suite of Office 365 services in 2016.

You may also like to read “The top 5 benefits of Office 365 for Business”.

Microsoft has said that Teams will be the central tool for what it calls “intelligent communications”. Plans for new features include sourcing documents ahead of a meeting, recording and transcribing discussions, and adding notes and recordings to relevant Teams channels for review.

Go Courses Blog Learn Microsoft Teams

What is Microsoft Teams good for?

Microsoft Teams is perfect for global, remote, and dispersed teams. The modern way of working has become more diverse, with team members working from different locations. It’s easier than ever for companies to build their teams internationally, and some may never meet their fellow colleagues in person. But Teams makes it easier for these distant team members to work together, communicate and collaborate effectively.

Teams provides versatile options for communication so you’re not limited to one communication method. You can choose between group chat rooms with threaded conversations, or send private messages between individuals. Users can also easily jump from instant messaging to a video call at the push of a button.

Teams naturally integrates with the rest of Office 365 tools, and OneDrive documents can be accessed and edited without leaving the app. Teams also integrates well with various third party bots and applications including project management tools like Trello, Smartsheet and Wrike. 

Go Courses Blog Learn Microsoft Teams

What can Microsoft Teams do for you and your business?

Enrich your communication 

Microsoft Teams is a newly developed application without any legacy, and it’s been designed with the present workforce in mind. A more modern form of communication is offered, with support for “likes”, gifs, emoticons, live link previews, etc. All of which enriches your communication.

Focus more on what matters

Teams nicely categorises your conversations so it’s easy to find relevant information and ignore everything else. Unlike your permanently cluttered inbox, you can simply look at the relevant channel to find what you’re looking for.

Encourage transparency 

Unlike private emails, everyone can see everything on Microsoft Teams. If someone hasn’t been copied in or tagged in a message, they don’t have to feel left out as they can simply find the conversation and info. No more FOMO!

There also doesn’t need to be any language barriers with your international team members, as Microsoft Teams has nifty translation functions. So everyone can be on the same page, and contribute equally. 

Make onboarding speedy

When a new team member enters, it’s easier than ever to bring them up to speed on what’s been happening. They can simply access the Teams app and dip into all the information needed. Onboarding becomes easier than ever, and your new team member can take control of their own learning.

Increase your productivity

Microsoft Teams has about 24 bots with a variety of functionalities to help increase productivity. There’s the T-Bot, which can answer most basic and frequently asked questions about Teams, Polly Bot for polling co-workers, Statsbot for delivering scheduled reports via sources, such as Salesforce and Google Analytics, and Growbot, which allows the exchange of kudos with your co-workers. Read more about the bots HERE.

Increase your engagement

All organisations are different, so it’s incredibly useful that Teams can be customised to meet your unique business and cultural needs. Teams has been designed to allow the addition of new capabilities or functionality, and you can create and customise the applications and other intelligent services to integrate with Microsoft Teams.

Improve your security

Security is an area that Microsoft excels in. Microsoft Teams can ensure your peace of mind, as your data is encrypted while in transit and at rest. As with all of Office 365’s services, you can be sure you’ll be provided with cutting-edge security and compliance capabilities.

Protect your employees health

2020 has brought with it a new epidemic, in the form of coronavirus, or COVID-19. Where there’s disaster however, there’s also opportunity, and Microsoft has been promoting Teams as a means to have meetings online, instead of in person, to address the COVID-19 situation.

With the coronavirus being thought to have originated in China, it’s important to note that Teams use has recently spiked in China. Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, stated: “Since January 31 2020, we’ve seen a 500 percent increase in Teams meetings, calling, and conferences there [in China], and a 200 percent increase in Teams usage on mobile devices”.

Go Courses Blog Learn Microsoft Teams

Is Microsoft Teams replacing Skype for Business?

The short answer is yes, Microsoft Teams is replacing Skype for Business. Skype for Business is being phased out and will cease to exist from July 31st 2021. Since September 2019 new Office 365 customers have been redirected to Microsoft Teams. 

James Skay, a senior product marketing manager in Microsoft’s Intelligent Communications Product Marketing Group, stated: “we’ve worked closely with customers to refine Teams, and we now feel we’re at the point that we can confidently recommend it as an upgrade to all Skype for Business Online customers”.

The idea is to create a “single hub for teamwork”. Lori Wright, general manager for Microsoft Teams, said “We quickly moved from Teams as the chat-based workspace to the hub for teamwork, and what we saw was that collaboration and communications are inextricably linked: you can’t have true collaboration if you don’t have the ability to communicate, to have unified communications, to make a phone call, to have a voice or video meeting. All of these things are core to the collaboration experience.” 

Does Microsoft Teams replace email?

The short answer to this question is no, Microsoft Teams doesn’t replace email. 

While Teams is seen as an upgrade that can do everything Skype for Business could and more, the need for emails will still remain. You still need Outlook or email to send external communications, such as client emails. 

 

There may be certain features and tools from Outlook that will someday appear in Teams, but email will be needed for communicating outside of your team. Email is great for 1-1 communication, whilst Teams is great for communicating to many.

It’s also worth noting that at the moment you still need Outlook to view your group calendars, and to view a shared doc. Teams doesn’t currently support Group calendars, so to see your Team/Group calendar you have to switch to Outlook. And if you are editing a document in Word, there is currently no option to send a sharing link via a Teams chat, so the link is sent via email.

Email is an important verification tool as well as a communication tool. Think password resets, app support and account information – you’ll still need email to do all of this.

Is Microsoft Teams better than Slack?

There’s no short answer to this question. Microsoft Teams is similar, but different to Slack. While Slack focuses on group chat, Teams is also about group file-sharing and content collaboration.

Microsoft reportedly considered acquiring Slack in 2016, before the plans were vetoed in favor of Microsoft building its own application. Since early 2019, Teams has already overtaken Slack in popularity. To strategically position Teams in the market, Microsoft offered it free of charge to existing Office 365 users.

Both Slack and Microsoft Teams offer similar conversation threads for messages including plain text and tagging. Both support GIFs, but Teams makes it easier and quicker to insert a GIF into your message than Slack does. Teams also has far superior web conferencing capabilities to Slack. Teams additionally offers the ability to record meetings, while Slack does not.

Go Courses Blog Learn Microsoft Teams

Why do I need training in Microsoft Teams?

For users to embrace something as important as online meetings, they need to feel extremely comfortable with the tool.

When you start working in Teams you won’t have the structure ready from start. You don’t know which channels you need, and you might not know exactly what Teams you need to create. This will evolve over time with the work that you do, but if you have training you can set it up correctly from the beginning and save yourself plenty of time and hassle. Currently, the building blocks of Teams aren’t very flexible – you can’t move channels or replicate Teams. This could potentially lead to time wasted doing manual replications. With the right training, you can avoid these problems before they happen. 

With training plans in place you can aid migration. Create pilot groups, find enthusiastic adopters and power users who can happily pass on their knowledge. This will speed up and smooth the transition and ideally result in everyone in your team understanding how to collaborate and communicate effectively using Microsoft Teams.

You can browse all of our Microsoft Teams courses HERE or contact us to find out more.

 

At Go.Courses our mission is to bring you the world’s best IT courses. Our aim is to make it easy for you to book training and learn new skills. All our courses are trainer-led by experts in their field and available all over the UK and Europe.

What we can learn from the 2020 Linkedin Learning Report?

What is the Linkedin Learning Report?

LinkedIn Learning was founded as Lynda.com in 1995. Linkedin bought Lynda.com in 2015 and Linkedin is now famously owned by Microsoft. For the last 4 years, Linkedin Learning has been conducting an annual in-depth survey about learning trends. In their fourth annual survey released in early 2020, they revealed the priorities, challenges, and inspirations of 6,607 professionals spanning 18 countries. There’s a lot to learn from these findings, so we thought we’d share a summary of the 2020 Linkedin Learning Report.

Read the full Linkedin Learning Report here.

What’s the main focus of the 2020 Linkedin Learning Report?

The 2020 Linkedin Learning Report focuses on answering four main questions:

1. How are learning leaders resourced to scale learning and engage executives to create a culture of learning?

2. How do L&D pros measure the impact of learning and define learner engagement?

3. What can talent developers do to transform managers into learning champions?

4. How are your peers upskilling and reskilling employees to prepare for what’s ahead?

The L&D department used to focus on compliance training. While this is still an incredibly important type of training, there’s now a lot more to consider, including: 

  • Leadership and management development. 
  • Employee onboarding. 
  • Being a master of Instructor-Led Training (ILT). 
  • Scaling learning across the organization with online learning programs. 
  • Career trajectories and meaningful business impact.

The struggle for L&D budget and resources has diminished over the last few years. More than a third of L&D pros globally are expecting their budgets to grow year over year.

Talent developers wear many hats but building and sourcing content is proving to take the biggest percentage of their time. 

  • 29% of their time is spent on building or sourcing learning programs and content.
  • 17% of their time is spent building and delivering compliance training.

79% of CEOs worldwide are concerned that a lack of essential skills in their workforce is threatening the future growth of their organization. This has risen from 63% in 2014, confirming that concern over skills has risen alongside the advent of new technologies over the past five years.

 Companies of all sizes are leveraging their executives to cultivate a culture of learning.

You may also like to read “How to develop a continuous learning culture”.

What are the top focus areas for Learning & Development in 2020?

Globally, the top focus area for L&D in 2020 is measuring the impact of learning. However, the UK’s top focus in 2020 is identifying, tracking, and closing skills gaps.

Linkedin Learning Report Globally

Top strategic areas of focus globally:

  • Evaluating the impact of learning 
  • Increasing learner engagement 
  • Enabling self-directed learning with online learning solutions 
  • Tracking skills gaps and development 
  • Activating managers to encourage employees to make time for learning 
  • Integrating learning into other talent programs

“94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.”

How to measure learner engagement and identify an engaged learner:

1. Course completions 

2. Learner satisfaction surveys 

3. Minutes learning per month 

4. Repeat visits (2x) per month

The key to driving higher learner engagement and creating a culture of learning is transforming managers into learning champions. The top challenges for talent developers globally in 2020 are:

  • Getting managers to make learning a priority for their teams
  • Creating a culture of learning
  • Increasing employee engagement in learning 
  • Teaching their employees to use technology more effectively
  • Scaling learning across the organization
  • Understanding what skills to build or courses to recommend 
  • Making sure that learners know where to find learning resources
  • Demonstrating the value of learning
  • Identifying skills gaps
  • Getting executive buy-in

Driving engagement is an ongoing challenge for talent developers and this was the #1 trend that will impact learning programs in 2020. 

How can L&D professionals raise awareness about learning offerings available to employees?

Employee intranets are the best way for employees to discover learning programs, followed closely by email. Chat platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Slack are working better than expected, while lunch and learns and physical signage are proving to be less effective. 

Why do managers recommend learning to their team members? 

54% Grow their career 

32% Get better in current role 

6% Learn a new skill 

3% Solve a problem 

5% Other

What makes managers and their team members motivated to learn? 

Both managers and employees are inspired to learn for the same reason – career growth. 

Linkedin Learning Report Group Training

Over half of learners said that they would spend more time learning, if managers recommended specific learning opportunities and courses.

Learners are craving a highly personalised learning experience that provides the right learning at the right time. Interestingly, learners across all generations also want to learn with their colleagues to exchange ideas, share insights, and ask questions. 

Go Courses Blog 2020 Linkedin Learning Report AI

What impact is technology having on Learning & Development in 2020?

Talent developers and L&D pros want to help strengthen the skills that employees already have, but the rapid pace of business and technology changes is putting upskilling and reskilling front and centre. Nearly half of them plan on reskilling a portion of their workforce this year, to prepare their organisations for what’s ahead. The top question on people’s minds is which skills will be most in-demand in the next 3-5 years?

The era of upskilling and reskilling has arrived.

Linkedin Learning Report 2020 Upskilling Reskilling

What’s the difference between upskilling and reskilling? 

Upskilling is learning new skills within the same job function.

Reskilling is learning new skills for a different job function.

“In the age of robots, soft skills will reign supreme.”

Go Courses AI Blog Robot

Despite fears of robots eliminating jobs and a looming economic downturn, L&D professionals globally aren’t worrying about this much.

Only 15% of talent developers globally believe that the economy will impact learning programs this year, except for the UK. Over half of L&D pros in the UK are concerned about how Brexit will impact their learning programs.

On a positive note, technology advancements have always created more jobs than they destroy, and this remains true today. According to the World Economic Forum, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics will create almost 60 million more jobs than they will eliminate by 2022. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are also expected to make more of an impact on learning in the near future. While only 24% of L&D professionals believe that AI will impact learning programs in 2020, their perspective is very different when they look ahead to the next 5 years. 

Impacts of technology that L&D pros are considering include:

  • AI/machine learning to drive more accurate personalization 
  • Virtual/augmented reality 
  • Social learning 
  • Better company data on learner habits and preferences 
  • Gamification 
  • Lives streaming/live video 
  • Learning embedded within business applications (Microsoft Office, etc.)  
  • Better industry data on essential skills  
  • Chatbots

You may also like to read “How AI can help your training and your business”.

79% of learners said that they would use personalized course recommendations based on their career goals and skills gaps. With personalized recommendations driven by AI and machine learning freeing up more time, L&D pros could spend that time on strategic initiatives including promoting learning programs to help drive higher learner engagement.

Virtually every talent developer surveyed agreed that if critical skills gaps aren’t closed in the next few years, their organizations will be negatively impacted in the following ways:

1. Future growth 

2. Customer experience and satisfaction 

3. Product or service quality and delivery 

4. Ability to innovate

Go Courses Blog Header 2020 Linkedin Learning Report Changes from 2019

What are the most in-demand skills in 2020?

Top 5 Soft Skills in 2020

1. Creativity 

2. Persuasion 

3. Collaboration 

4. Adaptability 

5. Emotional intelligence

The top soft skills in 2020 are more human-centric than in 2019. Soft skills are foundational and every professional should be working to build them. All the skills topping this year’s list focus on how you work with others and bring new ideas to the table. The more task-oriented skill of ‘time management’ which was in last year’s list, has been replaced with emotional intelligence. These results indicate that companies are gravitating more towards talent with strong people-oriented skills.

Top 10 Hard Skills in 2020

1. Blockchain

2. Cloud computing 

3. Analytical reasoning 

4. Artificial Intelligence 

5. UX design 

6. Business analysis 

7. Affiliate marketing 

8. Sales 

9. Scientific computing 

10. Video production

Perhaps the most surprising addition to the list of top hard skills in 2020 is blockchain, which not only made the list of skills for the first time, but topped the list. Clearly blockchain is in demand for 2020 and an important area to watch.

What generational differences are there in learning new skills?

Naturally those who are at the beginning of their careers are interested in developing different skills to those 20 years ahead. The youngest generation, “Gen Z”, is most interested in building their creativity and tech skills more than any other generation. “Millennials” and “Gen Xers” are focused on developing their management and leadership skills. Generally everyone wants to build their leadership and management skills.

Go Courses Blog 2020 Linkedin Learning Report Main Learnings

What are the main learnings from the 2020 Linkedin Learning Report?

Creating a culture of learning has been a notable takeaway from this year’s study. 

You may want to read our previous article “How to develop a continuous learning culture”.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are playing an ever more important part in learning and development. You may want to read our previous article “How AI can help your training and your business”.

Communication skills and blockchain are important skills to invest in over the coming years. You may like to browse our Communication Skills training courses and our Blockchain training courses.

If you’d like to read the full Linkedin Learning Report you can find it HERE.

 

At Go.Courses our mission is to bring you the world’s best IT and personal development courses. Our aim is to make it easy for you to book training and learn relevant and important new skills. All our courses are trainer-led by experts in their field and available all over the UK and Europe.

The benefits of Kafka and why it’s so popular

Kafka is a popular, publish-subscribe messaging system that enables you to build distributed applications. With its scalability, fault-tolerance, and many other benefits, learning how to use Kafka is a wise idea. While plenty of small-scale open-source projects come and go, Kafka seems to be going from strength to strength in 2020. 

So what are the full benefits of Kafka? Why is Kafka so popular, and should you learn how to use it? Read on to find out all you need to know about Kafka.

What is Kafka?

Kafka is an open-source stream-processing software platform developed by LinkedIn and donated to the Apache Software Foundation. Written in Scala and Java, Kafka was named after the author Franz Kafka because it is “a system optimized for writing”.

Many developers begin exploring messaging when they have to connect lots of things together. When other integration patterns such as shared databases are too dangerous or simply not feasible, Kafka solves this problem.

Apache Kafka was originally created to connect different internal systems at LinkedIn. LinkedIn needed to reimagine capabilities like data integration and real time stream processing, so to break away from outdated approaches to these problems, Kafka was born. Within the Apache Software Foundation ecosystem of products, Kafka is a popular piece of the puzzle.

Read more about Kafka HERE.

What is Kafka used for?

Kafka’s main use is for streaming data in real-time into other systems. Kafka was designed to be the ultimate platform to handle all the real-time data feeds a large company might have. 

Kafka can connect to external systems (for data import/export) via Kafka Connect and Kafka Streams, a Java stream processing library. 

With Kafka, users can subscribe and publish data to any number of systems or real-time applications. Some examples of this include managing passenger and driver matching at Uber, providing real-time analytics and predictive maintenance for British Gas’ smart home, and performing numerous real-time services across LinkedIn.

While Kafka is mostly used for real-time data analytics and stream processing, you can also use it for log aggregation, messaging, click-stream tracking, audit trails, and much more. Kafka is also used for website activity tracking, metrics collection and monitoring, log aggregation, real-time analytics, CEP, ingesting data into Spark, ingesting data into Hadoop, CQRS, replay messages, error recovery, and more.

Why is Kafka so popular?

Kafka’s excellent performance makes it extremely popular. Kafka is fast and efficient, and with the right training, it’s easy to set up and use. One of Kafka’s main features is fault tolerant storage which makes it stable and reliable. It has a flexible publish-subscribe/queue that scales well. Kafka is optimized for efficiency and naturally groups messages together to reduce the overhead of the network round trip. 

With the right developer talent creating the consumer code, Kafka can support a large number of consumers and retain large amounts of data with very little overhead. 

Data science and analytics are an extremely important part of businesses today, so using Kafka to capture data to feed into your data lakes and real-time analytics systems is incredibly important. 

What are the alternatives to Kafka?

Kafka’s popularity has unsurprisingly resulted in similar systems being developed. For example, Amazon Kenesis is modelled after Apache Kafka. Other popular alternatives and competitors to Kafka include ActiveMQ, RabbitMQ, Apache Spark and Akka.

Kafka is used in cases where JMS, RabbitMQ, and AMQP may not even be considered due to volume and responsiveness.

Apache Kafka has recently added Kafka Streams which positions itself as an alternative to streaming platforms such as Apache Spark, Apache Flink, Apache Beam/Google Cloud Data Flow and Spring Cloud Data Flow. 

While Apache Kafka and AWS Kinesis Data Streams are both good choices for real-time data streaming platforms, Kafka has a slight edge. If you need to keep messages for more than 7 days with no limitation on message size per blob, Kafka is your best choice. However, Apache Kafka requires the right skill level to set up, manage, and support. 

If your organization lacks Apache Kafka experts or Kafka skilled employees, then booking onto a Kafka training course HERE is your next move.

You can browse all of our Kafka courses HERE or contact us to find out more.

 

At Go.Courses our mission is to bring you the world’s best IT courses. Our aim is to make it easy for you to book training and learn new skills. All our courses are trainer-led by experts in their field and available all over the UK and Europe.

All the programming languages worth learning in 2020

It’s 2020 and programming languages are continuing to evolve, with new languages springing up and gaining traction all the time. There are plenty to choose from. Whether you’re new to programming, or looking to add another language to your skillset, it’s hard to know which language is a good choice to learn and which programming languages are old news. Read on to find out ALL the programming languages worth learning in 2020.

Go Courses Blog Python Programming

1. Python

Why is Python worth learning in 2020?

Python tops the list of most comparison articles about programming languages. Why? Because it’s extremely accessible and easy to learn, plus it’s a versatile language used for a wide range of applications. If we’re sure of anything in 2020, it’s that Python is not going anywhere (other than up). Read more about Python HERE.

You may also like to read our various comparison articles featuring Python HERE.

So how do I learn Python?

You can attend an instructor-led 3 day training course at various locations around the UK and Europe, where you’ll learn the major parts of the Python language thoroughly. Alternatively you can book an expert instructor to conduct training in your own office, for any number of team members.

Browse our Python training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog Java Logo

2. Java

Why is Java worth learning in 2020?

Java is one of the oldest and most popular programming languages, and is used for web apps, desktop apps, operating systems and more.

As well as proving popular and standing the test of time, Java skills pay well and there’s no sign of Java declining in use as it seems to constantly evolve. Read more about Java HERE.

You may also like to read “Which programming language pays the most in 2019? Scala vs Java vs Python vs Ruby” and “What’s the most popular programming language in 2019? Python vs Java vs C”.

So how do I learn Java?

The fastest way to learn Java to a high standard is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for Java will consist of 30 hours of training in total over 5 days.

If you’re booking training for your team you can also have the Java training delivered in-house at your own office.

Browse our Java training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog C Programming Language

3. C/C++

Why is C or C++ worth learning in 2020?

C is a legendary and extremely popular programming language which is still heavily used all around the world in 2020. Because C is the base language of most advanced computer languages, if you can learn and master C programming you can then learn a variety of other languages more easily. 

The popularity and versatility of C has resulted in a range of spin-off languages, including C++ and many of the other languages included in this article. C++ is a more modern version of the original C, and in techie terms it is object oriented, unlike its predecessor C. 

You may also like to read “What’s the most popular programming language in 2019? Python vs Java vs C”.

So how do I learn C or C++?

You’ll likely find it easier to learn C++ once you’ve mastered another language. For example, if you already know Java, you can take THIS COURSE to learn C++.

The best way to learn C or C++ is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. 

If you’re booking training for your team you can also have the Java training delivered in-house at your own office.

Browse our C and C++ training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog C Sharp Programming Language

4. C#

Why is C# worth learning in 2020?

C# is a versatile language, created by Microsoft as a rival to Java. It’s used for console and PC games development, web apps and websites, desktop software and mobile development, amongst other things.

Despite its name, C# has far more in common with Java than C or C++. If you’re interested in developing Windows applications and web applications then C# is a brilliant language to learn. It’s a natural language to learn if you’re already skilled in VB.NET, because they both run on Microsoft’s .NET framework.

So how do I learn C#?

The best way to learn C# to a high standard is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for C# will consist of 30 hours of training in total over 5 days.

Browse our C# training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog JavaScript NodeJS

5. JavaScript & Node.JS

Why is JavaScript worth learning in 2020?

JavaScript is widely used for front-end website development, to make websites and web apps interactive. But with the introduction of Node.JS, JavaScript is set to become an even more popular language as it can now be used for back-end development too. 

If you’re looking to become skilled at web development, JavaScript is an excellent language to learn. As web apps and websites continue to thrive and grow in popularity, learning JavaScript in 2020 is a wise choice. 

Having JavaScript in your skillset also gives you a good foundation to then learn more complicated programming languages such as C++ and C#, if you fancy it. 

You may also like to read “5 essential web skills you need to invest in”.

So how do I learn JavaScript?

The fastest way to learn JavaScript to a high standard is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for JavaScript will consist of 30 hours of training in total over 5 days.

Browse our JavaScript training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog TypeScript Logo

6. TypeScript 

Why is TypeScript worth learning in 2020?

TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript, extending the capabilities of JavaScript. TypeScript helps developers to create larger applications faster and with fewer errors.

The language was developed by Microsoft and it’s worth noting that the lead developer of C# language has also worked on the development of TypeScript. It’s expected to supercede JavaScript in 2020, so if you’re already skilled in JavaScript it would be worth learning TypeScript too. 

So how do I learn TypeScript?

The best way to learn TypeScript is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for TypeScript will consist of 30 hours of training in total over 5 days.

Browse our TypeScript training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog PHP Logo

7. PHP

Why is PHP worth learning in 2020?

PHP is considered to be a beginner-friendly language designed for the web. PHP is certainly a popular language for web development – in fact PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page. 

WordPress is more popular than ever and is notably built using PHP, so if you’re interested in being a WordPress web developer, PHP is the language you’ll want to learn.

You may also like to read “What’s the easiest programming language to learn for web development? Python vs JavaScript vs Ruby vs PHP” and “5 essential web skills you need to invest in”.

So how do I learn PHP?

The best way to learn PHP is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for PHP will consist of 24 hours of training in total over 4 days.

There are also plenty of free resources from the PHP community, such as https://phptherightway.com/ 

Browse our PHP training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog Ruby Logo

8. Ruby

Why is Ruby worth learning in 2020?

The Ruby on Rails framework has tools to make common development tasks easier, making it a perfect programming language for beginners. Ruby is used for back-end web development and is likely to be a relevant language for a while. 

Ruby is considered to be a fun language to work with, and has been popular with startups in particular. There are likely to be plenty of companies hiring Ruby on Rails developers, so even with basic experience you’ll likely land a well-paid job doing back-end web development using Ruby.

You may also like to read “What’s the easiest programming language to learn for web development? Python vs JavaScript vs Ruby vs PHP” and “Which programming language pays the most in 2019? Scala vs Java vs Python vs Ruby”.

So how do I learn Ruby?

Learning Ruby is considered to be easier than many other languages because you don’t need to learn loads of commands. The fastest way to learn Ruby to a good standard is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for Ruby will consist of 12 hours of training in total over 2 days.

Browse our Ruby training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog Golang Logo

9. Go (also known as Golang)

Why is Go or Golang worth learning in 2020?

Go is a relatively new language built by Google and released in 2012. It’s also known as Golang to help to distinguish between the Go language and the general word, which helps with search queries.

Google is using Go as the primary language for new projects, replacing other languages with it. As Google continues to become a more important part of everyone’s daily lives, it makes Go a language certainly worth learning, and it’s been gaining popularity recently. 

So how do I learn Go or Golang?

It’s relatively quick and easy to learn Go or Golang. The best way is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for Go or Golang starts from as little as £599 with 6 hours of training over 1 day.

Browse our Go/Golang training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog R Programming Logo

10. R Programming 

Why is R Programming worth learning in 2020?

R programming is a popular language for machine learning, which is becoming a popular area of technology at the moment. If you’re already skilled at another programming language, such as Java, C#, Python or JavaScript then you’ll find it easy to learn R. 

If you’re interested in programming for machine learning or data analysis then learning R is a good choice.

You may also like to read “How AI can help your training and your business”. 

So how do I learn R Programming?

It’s relatively quick and easy to learn R Programming if you attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for R Programming starts from as little as £1,800 with 18 hours of training over 3 days.

Browse our R Programming training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog Swift Logo

11. Swift for iOS

Why is Swift worth learning in 2020?

Due to Steve Jobs’ feelings towards Java, iOS apps tend to be built using Objective-C. But this is a tricky language to master, and the demand for iOS apps has skyrocketed due to the popularity of iPhones and iPads in recent years. 

This prompted Apple developers in 2014 to create Swift as an alternative programming language to Objective-C. Swift has already established itself as the main programming language in iOS app development. It’s also gaining popularity in other domains too. 

Swift is a much easier language to learn than Objective-C, and Apple built this language with education in mind.

So how do I learn Swift for iOS?

It’s relatively easy to learn Swift to a high standard if you attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for Swift for iOS contains 30 hours of training over 5 days.

Browse our Swift training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog MATLAB Logo

12. MATLAB®

Why is MATLAB® worth learning in 2020?

MATLAB® is short for Matrix Laboratory and is a language used primarily for numerical computing. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB® is a great collaborative language to learn. With MATLAB® you can reuse legacy code written in another programming language, create responsive websites or generate error-free embedded C-code to program hardware. MATLAB® makes it easy for teams using different programming languages to work together. Rather than waste time re-coding in another language, you can spend more time developing products using MATLAB®.

So how do I learn MATLAB®?

You can attend an instructor-led 3 day training course at various locations around the UK and Europe, where you’ll learn basic coding in MATLAB®. Alternatively you can book an expert instructor to conduct training in your own office, for any number of team members.

Browse our MATLAB® training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog Kotlin Logo

13. Kotlin

Why is Kotlin worth learning in 2020?

Kotlin has been declared the official programming language for Android app development by Google, which has resulted in Kotlin soaring in popularity since its launch in 2015. Kotlin is an easy-to-learn, open-source language which runs on Java Virtual Machine. 

Kotlin is much simpler than Java, and many feel that Kotlin addresses many of Java’s shortcomings. As well as Android app development, you can also use Kotlin for web development, desktop development, and server-side development.

As one of the fastest growing programming languages in recent years, Kotlin is a very wise choice for programmers and Android app developers to learn in 2020.

So how do I learn Kotlin?

It’s relatively quick and easy to learn Kotlin. The best way is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for Kotlin starts from as little as £599 with 6 hours of training over 1 day.

Browse our Kotlin training courses HERE.

Go Courses Blog Rust Programming Logo

14. Rust

Why is Rust worth learning in 2020?

Rust is a systems programming language which combines the power of C and C++ with the safety of Java. If you’re an experienced programmer in C or C++ you’ll appreciate the safeguards that Rust offers, as it protects developers from self-inflicting pain.

Rust was released in 2015 and sponsored by Mozilla with active contribution from the creator of JavaScript, among others. As it was developed by Mozilla, Rust focuses on high performance and fast code which can be directly converted to WebAssembly to run on browsers. Rust offers the speed of C++ without the need for garbage collection or a virtual machine. 

So how do I learn Rust?

It’s relatively quick and easy to learn Rust, especially if you’re already experienced in C or C++. The best way to learn Rust is to attend a face-to-face training course. These are available all over the UK and Europe in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Oslo. An instructor-led course for Rust starts from as little as £599 with 6 hours of training over 1 day.

Browse our Rust training courses HERE.

Go Courses All Programming Languages to Learn in 2020 Blog Summary

What’s the summary of all this?

The most popular programming languages in 2020 are focussed on efficient development. The overarching need in the world of programming in 2020 is to remove or reduce the likelihood of mistakes and errors happening, and create code quickly. 

It’s all about rapid prototyping – being able to develop a proof of concept quickly. Ideas are common, but turning ideas into a reality is what sets successful companies ahead of others. Build for the future, not the past. In 2020 you need to be able to build things that can be added to on an ongoing basis. Futureproof your work. Technology never stops, and software is never finished. Just like your learning and personal development.

 

Still unsure which is the right training course for you? Drop us a message and let’s chat.

New Year + New Decade = New Office + New Skills

New Year, New Decade

January is almost over and it’s not uncommon for many of those New Year’s resolutions to have faded into the background by now. But 2020 marks the start of a whole new decade and with this brings a heap of possibility. If you haven’t already, it’s worth conducting a skills analysis of your team members. Now is the best time to plan and book your training for the coming year. Browse the full range of training courses online at Go.Courses or feel free to drop us a message to discuss your training needs.

Go Courses London Office Blog

New Office

Here at Go.Courses we like to connect to people, rather than leave everything to automation and technology. Our office in Bath is in a lovely convenient location and we welcome you to visit us (although let us know in advance so we can pop the kettle on and give you our full attention). But many of our customers are based in London. While Bath is a lovely city, we understand that it’s not as convenient as being in the heart of the UK, in the capital of London itself. So we’ve opened another shiny new location in London, where we can connect even easier with our London-based customers.

You can find us on Google maps here: Kemp House, 152 – 160 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX

New Skills

With each year there comes new challenges, and the world of technology particularly brings considerable changes each year. We’ll be writing more about this soon but we’ve got our eyes open and instructors on hand to deal with emerging technologies, new trends and important skills to develop in 2020 and beyond.

At Go.Courses our mission is to bring you the world’s best IT courses. Our aim is to make it easy for you to book training and learn new skills. All our courses are instructor-led by experts in their field and available all over the UK and Europe. Drop us a message to discuss your needs.

How to develop a continuous learning culture

The need for ongoing learning and development in 2020 is greater than ever before. One of the biggest threats to business growth is a shortage of key skills. And our modern workforce of millennials are driven by continual personal development. Gone are the days where most employees are happy to remain in one job role for their entire career. With the world of technology evolving so quickly, everybody has to constantly adapt to keep up with the ongoing changes. Read on to learn how you can develop a culture of continuous learning to help your organisation thrive.

What is a continuous learning culture?

Personal development is important for each and every one of us. Continuous learning can be defined by the actions taken by someone everyday which keeps increasing their knowledge. These can be simple actions such as asking for help when something is not understood, observing experienced colleagues, and enrolling on a training course.

Adapting to changes in a business environment and expanding our skill-set in response to new developments is important. Everyday there are changes and new challenges to respond to. Creating a culture of continuous learning means that your employees and team members are actively encouraged to adapt and grow their skills and areas of expertise.

Why is it important to develop a continuous learning culture?

Developing a continuous learning culture offers a range of benefits to a business or organisation. Investing in your people and helping them to broaden their skills will not only improve employee morale, but will also increase efficiency, productivity, and profit.

With a continuous learning culture the turnover of your staff will decrease and your employee satisfaction will increase. Your team members will feel more connected to the business, gain a sense of ownership and accountability and will ease into transitions faster. Your business becomes more flexible, equipped with versatile team members to help your business to thrive, grow and adapt.

How do you create a culture of continuous learning?

With continuous learning you can close a specific knowledge gap in a current role, as well as develop the abilities and behaviours needed for future roles. But how do you create this culture?

Offer formal training on an ongoing basis. 

Informal learning should be encouraged, but formal, structured training should be offered consistently. Formal training should not stop after the first few weeks of onboarding. It should be offered continuously, multiple times a year, to achieve the best results. Find a good learning provider that you can trust to deliver the variety of courses you’ll need easily and affordably.

Create customised learning paths with your employees’ help.

When an employee helps to create a learning path for themselves, their sense of accountability improves. And as mentioned in our previous article, employee-led training will more than pay for itself.

Hire individuals who love to learn.

Some people love to learn, and some don’t. Someone who isn’t very open to learning probably doesn’t belong in a company that is actively building a continuous learning culture. When recruiting, consider evaluating your candidates’ interest in learning.

 

Have a question? Drop us a message to find out more about building a culture of continuous learning and find the right training course options to suit your business.

How AI can help your training and your business

AI is a hot topic for 2020. Technology is becoming more advanced and we’re seeing AI enriching our daily lives more and more. Artificial Intelligence is also playing a larger part in business environments, and you may feel fear or excitement towards the latest advancements in AI technology.

On the plus side, AI can save you time, mimic your own processes and help your business to thrive and grow. And no matter how much technology takes over, there will always be skills that humans exclusively have. In fact, AI can bring out the best in your “humans”, and can play an important part in your staff training. Read on to find out how AI can help your business and your staff training going forward, and how to understand AI better.

What is AI?

AI is short for Artificial Intelligence, and it is technology that enables a computer to behave in a more “human” way. AI technology takes the information from its surroundings (or external data) and learns to respond accordingly, in a way that would mimic a human’s. AI will learn from external data and will flexibly adapt to achieve specific goals and tasks.

Go Courses AI Blog Robot

AI devices are now found in many of our homes with the rise of home assistant devices including Alexa, Google Home, Siri and Cortana. From personalised recommendations on entertainment apps including Netflix or Amazon, patient diagnosis in healthcare, through to flight simulation and driverless cars, AI boasts an impressive array of beneficial uses already, and the future has much more in store. Excited?!

But is AI something to fear or embrace?

Many people have fears that AI will eventually become more intelligent than humans, as they “learn” from mistakes and change how they approach the task next time, perhaps more efficiently than humans do. Researchers are already attempting to teach robots about feelings and emotions. There are also fears that AI will remove vast amounts of human jobs, for example if the robot outperforms the human in a certain task. Arguably this has already happened in many industries such as manufacturing and banking.

But AI technology was developed to enrich our lives, and it is already improving the way we live and work, perhaps without us realising. Instead of looking something up in a book, we can now simply “ask Alexa” or “ask Siri”, and get an instant response with the (sometimes) relevant information.

Another reason to embrace rather than fear AI is that as with all technology, skilled programmers and engineers are needed to make it work. Artificial Intelligence programmers and engineers are definitely in demand as this technology keeps evolving, so it’s a brilliant area to move into if you’re looking for a future-proofed career that pays well.

Browse AI training courses HERE.

How does AI help business?

AI can be a chatbot that pops up at the bottom of your website or social media page to guide your customers or prospects through the most effective support or sales process. AI could be a learning management system asking your employees if they need any help. 

Without realising it, we’ve been using AI in business for a while already. Spam filters, automated responders, sales and business forecasting, security surveillance and many, many more handy tools have been saving us time and effort with AI technology for many years. 

But in 2020 we’re seeing greater advancements with technological capabilities. This can be terrifying and exciting at the same time. But it CAN help businesses. Your employees can use all that extra time saved by automation tools to focus on people-focussed activities. Doing more human stuff. Doing more of what they enjoy doing, and more of what they’re good at doing. If they’re not good at doing enough, get them booked in for some training! They’ll have time to attend, and can even attend training online from any location these days 😉 

Go Courses AI Blog Robot and Human Hands

How does AI help learning?

AI can have a huge impact on Learning & Development. A huge amount of data is now available, which can be analysed and used to optimise training programs and learning curriculums.

Employees’ needs are varied and training no longer needs to be delivered as a “one size fits all” solution. With AI it’s become much easier to personalise training content to suit an individual’s needs. You can focus on your employee’s weakest areas and avoid teaching them about areas they’re already experienced in. 

A person’s learning style will affect their learning journey and this may be influenced by their age, ethnicity, cultural background and many other factors. Millennials in particular value training and personal development as an extremely appealing job benefit. So the ability to tailor learning and development programs to their learning styles and needs with AI is an extremely valuable tool. It will help you retain staff, and boost morale and job performance, which all undoubtedly affect the bottom line. Everyone wins, including the business.

Of course, human skills are still needed and the rise of AI means it’s ever more important to develop soft skills such as communication skills. Read more about this HERE.

How can I learn more about AI?

We’ll be sharing some more insights into the world of Artificial Intelligence soon. But if you want to dive right in why not book onto an AI training course? Our top 3 courses for AI learning are: 

  1. BCS Essentials in Artificial Intelligence, a 1 day training course available in several locations in the UK and Europe, or delivered in-house at your own office.
  2. Intelligent Automation, UI path, Level 1 Developer is a 5 day training course. Also available in several locations in the UK and Europe, or delivered by an expert instructor in-house at your own office.
  3. Optimization Concepts for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, is a 1 day training course. Delivered by an expert instructor at several locations in the UK and Europe, or delivered in-house at your own office.

If you really want to go deeper and learn more about Machine Learning, this 4 day training course on Understanding Machine Learning is for you. 

 

Go.Courses offers hundreds of different courses with our mission to bring you the world’s best IT and business skill courses. We want to save you time, hassle and money while providing you with the skills to be the best you can be.

6 challenges of being a CISO – and which training courses will help?

What is a CISO?

A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is the person responsible for an organisation’s information and data security. As cyber security has become increasingly more important to businesses, there are many other roles that you’re likely to find, some of which are interchangeable with CISO, such as CSO and VP Security. 

What are the biggest challenges facing a CISO in 2020?

Security breaches are a business owner’s worst nightmare and each year it’s becoming more important to protect data against cyber threats. As we move into 2020 there are a number of challenges that a CISO will likely face. Here are the top 5 challenges facing a CISO and the training options available.

Go Courses CISO Challenges Blog Chain Fence

Challenge 1: Cloud Security

As more and more of your organisation’s IT infrastructure moves to the Cloud, it becomes ever important to be on top of your cyber security 24/7. Security basics are an ongoing task and the CISO’s work is never done. You’re also likely to need to understand any on-site systems and legacy systems as well, so there’s more to consider than ever. It’s not getting any easier, but you can get better with the right training.

What’s the best training to face this challenge?

Take a look at the EC-Council Certified Chief Information Officer training course. It’s available in-house or at a wide range of locations and delivered by an expert instructor.

Find out more HERE.

Challenge 2: Strategic Alignment

CISOs now need to be able to understand business strategy as well as the technical side of things. Building relationships with your executive colleagues will help you to understand key business objectives from their perspective as well as your own. Protecting against threats will be made much easier when you’re in alignment.

What’s the best training to face this challenge?

Take a look at the Leading Successful Change training course. It’s also available in-house or at a wide range of locations and delivered by an expert instructor.

Find out more HERE.

Challenge 3: Regulations & Compliance

There are likely to be even more demands and extra challenges cropping up with compliance for international security and privacy regulations. Since the enforcement of GDPR there are already much greater regulations to follow here in the UK and Europe, and compliance standards are only going to become more important to follow.

What’s the best training to face this challenge?

Take a look at the GDPR Certified Information Privacy Manager training course. It’s available in-house or at a wide range of locations and delivered by an expert instructor.

Find out more HERE.

Go Courses CISO Challenges Blog Security Fence

Challenge 4: Emerging Technologies

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are an extremely hot topic as we move into 2020. These emerging technologies are becoming more prominent and widely used, but with that comes even more data security fears. Embracing these technologies and using them to aid you will be extremely beneficial for you as a CISO.

What’s the best training to face this challenge?

Take a look at the Understanding Machine Learning training course. It’s also available in-house or at a wide range of locations in the UK and Europe, and delivered by an expert instructor.

Find out more HERE.

Challenge 5: Expanding Responsibilities

As apps, systems and technology become more integrated, a CISO will have to consider and be able to handle third-party risks. CISOs should now be expanding their work to include security assessments of third parties as well as internal security risks.

What’s the best training to face this challenge?

Take a look at the Open Source Cyber Intelligence Introduction training course. It’s also delivered by an expert instructor in-house or at a wide range of locations in the UK and Europe.

Find out more HERE.

Challenge 6: Larger attacks

One of the biggest concerns about is the scale of cyber attacks. It’s worrying to think that it’s only a matter of time before we see a cyber attack that causes a large number of deaths. Using automation and orchestration can help counter that threat, as security teams can focus their efforts on the real threats rather than waste time chasing false alarms.

What’s the best training to face this challenge?

Take a look at the Advanced Web Hacking training course. It’s available in-house or at a wide range of locations and delivered by an expert instructor too.

Find out more HERE.

What next?

This is by no means a complete list – there are plenty of other challenges you may face and Go.Courses have hundreds of training courses available! All of our courses are delivered by expert instructors, and we even offer 1-1 training, so no request is too small.


Still unsure which is the right training course for you? Drop us a message and let’s chat.

What are the benefits of employee-led learning?

Learning and development trends are constantly evolving and emerging.  Some organisations still dictate their employees’ training paths, while others give employees more control over what, where and when they learn.

68% of employees prefer to learn at work, according to LinkedIn, but the number one challenge is getting employees to make time for learning. Most people are time-poor and struggle to keep on top of workloads, and that’s before throwing in new skills to learn. Of course, learning is a great use of time; it’s an investment rather than an expense. A well-trained employee will add significant value to your business, so it’s rational to want to control their training. But in terms of personal development the individual employee also benefits greatly from training, and therefore may have their own opinion on how and what they’d like to learn. 

So how much control should you give your employees when it comes to their learning? Read on to find out the benefits of employee-led learning and how to implement it effectively.

Go Courses Employee-Led-Learning Blog

What is employee-led learning?

Employee-led learning is a modern training style that focuses on the needs of your employee. Instead of choosing a generic learning path, organisations can create personalised learning paths that develop employees in their current and future roles or career paths. Instructor-led learning empowers employees to make their own choices and take personal responsibility for what they learn. It helps them to have personal, relevant and appropriate learning experiences that fit their own needs.

This could be easier said than done, as spoon-feeding people information is easier than encouraging them to organise and manage their own learning. Distributing PowerPoint slides filled with content is the lazy option, but to improve your employees’ knowledge, skills and performance in the workplace, they need to be empowered to learn in the way that suits them best as individuals. 

Why has employee-led learning become so popular in 2020?

Employees and companies push each other forward, which is why employee-led learning pays for itself. Millennials and Gen Z employees want more collaborative work environments and self-directed career paths, and these generations are now taking over the workforce in 2020 and beyond. Workers of all ages are becoming more mobile and social and figuring out how to inspire their learning is key to retaining your best talent. 

Employees still want their manager’s input on how to improve, and it seems that many would spend more time learning if their manager suggested activities to them. But more than half of employees want to learn at their own pace depending on their own needs and interests.

Go Courses Employee-Led-Learning Blog Team

How to implement employee-led learning

Identify your business objectives

Without knowing where the business is ultimately going, it’s hard to plug the skills gaps and build a dream team to achieve those goals.

Ask your employees what they need

Use performance reviews and surveys to find out truly what your employees need and want.

Understand your employees’ experience levels and attitudes

Figuring out the demographics of your employees such as where they live and where they’re happy to travel to, their skill levels and attitudes towards technology, new areas of learning, and being in a group environment can all prove extremely useful when planning their training.

Find the right training

It’s no use booking an experienced coder onto a Foundation course for beginners, or sending them on a group course in London when they’re based in Oslo and prefer to learn in a 1-2-1 environment. Luckily Go.Courses provide a wide range of exceptional instructor-led training courses, which are simple to book and easy to attend. And we love to chat, so we encourage you to drop us a message and tell us your needs.

Plan your training evaluation methods

Your training budget is an important investment, so you need to be able to track the return on your investment. By planning a training evaluation you can analyse how effective the training sessions were, compare your employees’ knowledge and attitude from before and after the training, and determine if more training is needed in the future.

 

Have a question? Drop us a message to find out more about employee-led learning and training course options to suit your business.

The Power of Microsoft VBA

What is VBA?

VBA stands for “Visual Basic for Applications”, and is a programming language developed by Microsoft. With VBA you can develop programs that control Microsoft Excel and Access, as well as other programs in Microsoft Office. VBA was first launched with MS Excel 5.0 in 1993. It became an instant success with developers, enabling them to create corporate solutions using Excel.

VBA is built into most Microsoft Office applications, including Office for Mac OS X (except 2008 version), and other Microsoft applications, including Microsoft MapPoint and Microsoft Visio. VBA can also be used in other applications including ArcGIS, AutoCAD, CorelDraw, LibreOffice, Reflection, SolidWorks, and WordPerfect.

Read more about VBA in our Q&A page HERE.

What are the benefits of VBA?

  • VBA saves you time.
    • VBA automates repetitive and routine tasks.
    • Excel performs the task much faster than you can do it manually.
    • For long, time-consuming tasks, you don’t have to sit in front of your computer and get bored. Excel does the work while you get on with other stuff.
  • Team members work better together with VBA.
    • VBA provides accessibility to other users.
    • VBA protects workbooks and hides worksheets.
    • If you set things up properly, even an inexperienced Excel user can perform the task by running the macro.
  • VBA provides consistent results.
    • Excel always executes the task in exactly the same way.
    • You can do things in Excel that are otherwise impossible. You could become the star person around the office!
  • Make fewer mistakes with VBA.
    • If you’re a good macro programmer, Excel always performs the task without errors.
    • VBA reduces the formulas burden used in Excel reports.

Why is VBA training important?

In the corporate world, preparing Excel reports is a common need. If you’ve already learnt how to use Microsoft Excel you’ll know how much Excel helps with complex and tedious office tasks. But you’ll hardly believe how much more you can achieve with VBA, especially if you’re handling a large amount of data. 

But trying to figure it out on your own can result in costly errors and lots of wasted time. With training courses available for all experience levels, it’s easy to get trained up in VBA. You can travel to a VBA course in several locations, or the instructor can come to your own office to deliver the training, to any number of team members. 

By having Excel, macro and VBA skills, you can complete work on tedious tasks in seconds. Taking a VBA training course is beneficial for teams of corporate employees, professional and non-professional individuals looking to further their skill set, or someone at the start of their career.

How to book VBA training

Now you’re aware of the benefits of using Microsoft VBA in your business, you may be looking for some training resources. Go.Courses provide a wide range of exceptional instructor-led Microsoft VBA training courses, which you can browse HERE. 

At Go.Courses our mission is to bring you the world’s best IT courses. Our aim is to make it super simple to book and learn new skills.

Drop us a message or give us a call to find out more about Microsoft VBA and the best training courses to help your business to thrive and grow.