What’s the most popular programming language in 2020? Python vs Java vs C

Learning a programming language is a sure-fire way to get yourself onto a fantastic career path. Investing in programming skills will easily pay off and result in a well-paid job. But there are lots of different programming languages around and some are easier to learn than others. Some are versatile and flexible, while some are more specific to a certain type of technology. In this article we review the 3 most popular programming languages as it stood in March 2019 & updated for 2020. Each of these languages/skills are in high demand right now and with the right training you should easily land a job and carve yourself a promising career path. So read on to find out what are the most popular programming languages to learn in 2020.

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Why is Java so popular?

Java has been one of the top 2 most popular programming languages for the last couple of decades. Java is 25 years old in 2020. If Java was a human it would be old enough to vote, drive and get married. But why is Java so popular?

Java is a versatile language and its developer was ahead of his time in developing a language that could work on consumer appliances – now known as the Internet of things (IoT).

Java can run programs on several types of computers including PCs running Windows, Macs, Unix or Linux computers, large mainframe computers, and mobile phones. Java will work on any computer device as long as there is a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed.

An established language, Java has a solid reputation, attracting some of the biggest companies in the world to use it. Although an “old” language, there’s no sign of Java declining in use as it has constantly evolved and combines stability with innovation.

What is Java used for?

Amongst other things, Java is used for making Android applications which has helped Java to become more popular than ever in recent years.

As the original Java developers had the goal of creating a programming language that could run on any device – including refrigerators and toasters – we now have the devices that benefit from this code, and this will likely become even more popular in the foreseeable future.

Is Java the best language to learn first?

While there isn’t necessarily one specific language that you should definitely learn first, it’s worth noting that Java has inspired other languages and therefore shares some similarities, making it easier to transition into another language later on.

The creation of Java was influenced by the existing programming language C and C++, so they have syntactic similarities. This means that if you’re familiar with Java you will find it easier to pick up other languages such as JavaScript, C# or C++.

Java is a statically typed language, as opposed to a dynamically typed language, which means that there is an extra layer of code that you need to think about. So it’s more complex to learn than a dynamically typed language such as Python, but you’ll benefit in the long run.

It’s a bit like learning to drive a car. If you learn to drive a manual gear car you’ll have more to learn, but you ultimately know more about driving and have more control over the vehicle. It’s also easier to adjust to driving an automatic car later, as there’s simply less to think about. It would be much harder to adjust to a manual car after only learning in an automatic. Likewise, it would be harder to transition to a statically typed language if you’ve only ever used dynamic.

Book a training course to learn Java HERE.

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Why is Python so popular?

Python has been one of the top 5 most popular programming languages over the last few years. Released in 1991, Python is a general-purpose language which is designed to be simple to read and write. Python is one of the easiest languages to learn – if not THE easiest. It’s so accessible that it’s now taught to kids in school. Unlike many programming languages, Python’s syntax is concise and easily read by humans.

Python programs are slower to run than Java and C, but they also take much less time to develop, as Python code is generally much shorter. These days it’s more cost-effective to save developer time and invest in bigger servers to compensate for the slow speed of the application. As well as saving money on developer time, a shorter development process can result in faster innovations, allowing companies to get ahead of their competition by releasing things faster.

What is Python used for?

Python is an extremely versatile language, which is one of the reasons why it’s so popular 28 years on. With Python you can build Raspberry Pi applications, create scripts for desktop programs and configure servers. The language is used for scientific modeling, system operations, web development and much more.

Although Python has been around for almost 3 decades, it’s widely used for some of the most popular technologies right now in 2020, including machine learning/artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and Big Data.

Is Python the best language to learn first?

It’s definitely a good choice as a first language. Once you pick up the basics of coding in Python, your skills will never become outdated. Python is likely to be around for a long time, and starting salaries for Python-skilled programmers can be amongst the highest.

 

You may be surprised by how easy it is to learn Python and many experienced developers choose to learn Python as their second or third language. There are courses available for both beginners and advanced programmers.

Book a training course to learn Python HERE.

 

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Why is C such a popular programming language? C, C++ and C#

We’ve established that both Python and Java are in their twenties. However, C is 43 years old in 2020 and has been in the top 2 languages consistently for the last decade. Originally created to make utilities run on Unix in 1972, C gradually gained popularity throughout the 1980s to become one of the most widely used programming languages in the world.

Many languages have been inspired by C, including Go, Java, JavaScript, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python, Rust, and Swift.

What is C programming language used for?

Many things are written in C because the code runs fast, and it’s very flexible and versatile, allowing maximum control with minimal commands.

C was designed to encourage cross-platform programming, meaning it will work on different devices and operating systems (similarly to Java), from microcontrollers such as remote controls and medical devices, to desktop computers and supercomputers.

“Most of the Software in Tesla cars is C or C++,” said Mehdi Amini, Engineering Manager at Tesla.

Some of the most popular databases in the world have been written in C, including the Oracle database.

Is C the best language to learn first?

C is the base language of most advanced computer languages, so once you’ve mastered C programming you can then easily learn a variety of other languages.

Although it’s extremely powerful, C is not the easiest language to learn if you’re new to programming. As the oldest of the 3 most popular programming languages, C shows no signs of becoming out of date or redundant. It’s worth learning if you’re willing to put the effort in, and you’ll have a healthy career ahead of you.

Book a training course to learn C programming HERE.

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What about C++ and C# – the popular C spin-off languages?

The popularity and versatility of C has resulted in a range of spin-off languages, including C++ and C#.

Despite its name, C# is much more similar to Java than C. Microsoft created C# as a rival to Java, which is why it has far more in common with Java than C or C++.

C++ is a good language to learn once you’ve mastered another language. For example, if you already know Java, you can take THIS COURSE to learn C++.

 

Go Courses All Programming Languages to Learn in 2020 Blog Summary

So which language is best to learn – Python, Java or C?

There’s no right or wrong language to learn, as each of these languages will set you up with brilliant career prospects. If you have an interest in developing PlayStation or Xbox games, C is the best starting point. If you’re interested in developing web software, Java or C# are the best fit. If you’d like to focus on Android apps, Java is best. If robots and AI are more your thing, Python is your best option for sure.

Learning your first programming language will always be the hardest step, but if you learn it the right way then you’ll easily be able to transition to another language later down the line.

Book onto a training course to learn the fundamentals of programming to become a software developer. All of our courses will give you face-to-face access to an expert instructor who can answer all of your questions on the day.

Online learning VS instructor-led training – which is the best investment?

We’re all living and working in a digital age. Working remotely is increasingly popular, and the idea of online learning is definitely appealing. Thanks to technology, training your staff in new business and IT skills has never been so easy – and so affordable.

Perhaps you’re considering spending your training budget on online courses rather than instructor-led training. Your employees may have been nudging you to let them do their training from home, perhaps in their own time. If you can save money on your training with online options, why would you spend more on instructor-led training?

There are certainly pros and cons of each type. But do the benefits of online learning outweigh those of face-to-face training?

To help you determine the best option – before you waste valuable time and money – read on. We’ve reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of both online and face-to-face training.

 

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ONLINE –

What is online learning?

Online learning, or e-learning, is web-based and can be taken at any time from any device connected to the internet. It has been around for many years but given the rise of online it’s become more popular recently.

Because it’s delivered online, e-learning can include videos, images, tests and activities. Upcoming e-learning technologies could promise even more immersion for your employees, including interactive videos, gamification, virtual or augmented reality simulations, and there’s potential for personalised learning paths.

 

Why do companies choose online courses vs. instructor-led training?

Advantages of online learning

  • Your business can save money – Online courses tend to be cheaper to begin with. Plus you won’t have any travel costs, as your employees can do the learning from home or anywhere with an internet connection.
  • Your employees can have less time away from work. e-learning usually takes up to 40-60% less time than face-to-face training, and the time saved from travelling to a training course is also worth noting.
  • Your employees have more flexibility to access training wherever and whenever they have the time to do so.
  • If you have high turnover rates for staff you may not want to waste money on expensive training, but need a team with certain skills. Online learning is a minimal investment to make to get those skills in your workforce.
  • Employees can pause online training, re-read information, or test out information they have learnt. If they want to take a break and re-visit the training later, that’s possible with an online course.
  • E-learning can be enhanced with visuals, animations and activities to engage your employees and help them to process the information.
  • Online courses are easy to book and there are lots of websites offering all types of learning.

 

Disadvantages of online learning

  • Reducing costs is a big reason you may decide to train your employees online. But can low priced online training give you the quality you need? This depends on what level of skills you’d like your workforce to have.
  • e-learning course materials are not tailored to your employees’ particular needs. If the content doesn’t perfectly match your employees’ requirements, they’re unlikely to use those skills. The time and money involved would be wasted.
  • It’s easy to make mistakes choosing online courses. Without knowing what the course requires and what your employees’ abilities and skill levels currently are, you may not know if it matches their needs until they’ve started the course.
  • Using flashy graphics and animations can be a benefit of e-learning, but it can also be distracting to students. Different people learn in different ways, so even if the right course content is included, will your employee absorb the knowledge?
  • An online course can quickly become out-of-date. Particularly with IT courses, the content needs to be updated frequently. Live instructor-led courses are easily adapted to be relevant but it’s not so easy to update an online course in rapidly evolving industries like technology.
  • Without physical stimulation and interactivity, employees are more likely to lose interest. The online course is comparable to reading a book about the topic, but doesn’t often go beyond that.
  • It’s easier to misunderstand information without a live instructor to interact with. If your employee has learnt something but interpreted it wrongly, this can cause real problems when they come to implementing their new knowledge.
  • Online learning requires a lot of self-control and determination. While it’s true that your employees could do the training from the comfort of their own home, can they actually focus with all the distractions in that environment? There’s no instructor to keep them on their toes, so your employees would need great self-discipline.
  • Anyone can launch an online course – there are even courses on Udemy for how to launch your own course! If the instructor isn’t an expert, the course is worthless. Unless you do your research and ensure the online training is made by a credible, genuine expert, there’s a strong chance that the quality of the training will be poor.
  • Dropout rates for e-learning are much higher than face-to-face training. Buying a training course is not the same as doing the training. Without an instructor and the right environment to keep them focussed, it’s not surprising that students often don’t complete their online courses.
  • Soft skills, such as customer care, sales and presentation skills, generally don’t transfer well through an online platform. These types of skills particularly benefit from an expert instructor interacting with you and guiding you on body language, tone of voice and other interactive feedback.

Where can I get the best online training?

If you’ve read the advantages and disadvantages above and still think that e-learning is the best fit for you, here are some suggested online learning providers:

https://www.linkedin.com

https://www.udemy.com/

https://www.simplilearn.com/

https://www.pluralsight.com/

https://acloud.guru/

We aren’t affiliated with any of the above online training sites at all – Go.Courses is an independent website for booking expert instructor-led training courses.

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INSTRUCTOR-LED –

What is instructor-led training?

Instructor-led training (sometimes referred to as ILT) is the more traditional, formal version of training that takes place in a room in front of learners. While the instructor may be knowledgeable and experienced in the learning material, they could be used simply for facilitation and to deliver material to learners.

Instructors can deliver training in a variety of ways; in a lecture/classroom format, as an interactive workshop, and also virtually with the use of video-conferencing tools. The instructor may have facilitation and teaching skills, and can use different methods to engage learners, embracing different learning styles.

 

Why companies choose instructor-led training vs. online courses

Advantages of instructor-led training

  • Instructor-led training is proven to have the highest effectiveness in terms of knowledge retention.
  • Employees learn effectively due to real-time feedback, and have the opportunity to ask questions.
  • Instructors can adapt their presentations to the skill level and personality of the employees. Their responses and reactions can be considered and the training will be tailored so your employee will get the best learning experience.
  • Behaviour and body language contribute significantly to creating memorable experiences and digesting information. Mannerisms, gestures, tone, language and volume of voice can only be experienced fully in a face-to-face environment.
  • In a face-to-face environment, employees can break off into brainstorming or role-playing groups. They get a chance to learn from each other and practice implementing what they’re learning.
  • Your employees will feel valued and take the learning experience seriously. Investing in a high quality training course and providing them with an immersive learning experience will prove to your employees that you’re investing in them, and they will become a bigger asset to your team.

 

Disadvantages of instructor-led training

  • Good quality instructor-led training courses tend to cost more than online courses, so if your training budget is minimal it can be hard to get everyone trained in this way. There are ways to make your training budget go further – read more about that HERE.
  • Considerable amounts of your employees’ time may need to be invested in order for your team to learn the necessary skills. Time away from the office is definitely worth noting, as some courses can be 5 days straight. It is possible to have instructor-led courses held in your own office – find out more HERE.
  • With live face-to-face training there’s a possibility you will have a different instructor on different occasions, rather than the same one every time. Each instructor will have their own teaching style and if it doesn’t suit your employee they may not get the most from the training. An expert instructor will usually know how to adapt to different learners styles.

Where can I get the best instructor-led training?

Go.Courses obviously! We may be biased but we genuinely set out to provide the world’s best IT and business skills training. Not only do we select the best industry expert instructors, we’ve made it as easy as possible for you to book the best training courses to upskill in your business or career.

Misleading advantages of online training

Many people overestimate the cost-effectiveness of online training courses. The amount of learning retained and experienced by employees is likely to be much less than the face-to-face equivalent. A short term saving could end up costing more in the long term, as you may have to retrain employees again.

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Is instructor-led training available online?

At Go.Courses you can certainly have instructor-led training delivered online. This is possible for any of our hundreds of IT and business skills courses, so get in touch to find out more. It’s worth noting that this online training is conducted live online, rather than pre-recorded. This means you get the full benefits of instructor-led training, including interactive, tailored content and the chance to ask questions or gain clarity on a topic you’re unsure of. Plus you’ll also get the benefits of learning online, saving time and money not having to travel to the office or to a training venue. If you’d like to find out more about a particular course or enquire about our online training options please do get in touch. 

Which is the best type of training?

Physical interaction is the best way to learn, communicate, and gain memories. The most meaningful relationships are developed through personal interactions, with the strongest connections made when there is time spent together.

There’s no doubt that digital education is valuable, but when it comes to training, face-to-face time remains incredibly vital. Seeing an expert instructor convey passion about a topic will ignite the same passion in your employees. They’ll have more interest and less distractions, and are much more likely to retain and implement their new skills.

Nothing is more motivating than having the right people around you. Interaction with others in a group learning environment can help boost your knowledge and increase your interest in a particular topic.

So, are you ready to begin learning exceptional new skills?Browse the full range of expert instructor-led courses HERE.

 

The top 5 benefits of Office 365 for business

You may already know that Microsoft Office is by far the most popular software for general business and personal use. But it’s come a long way since its creation in 1988. What started as a bundle of 3 simple productivity tools is now an extensive suite of innovative desktop and cloud-based software solutions.

It’s likely that you’re already using one version of Microsoft Office, but perhaps you’re looking to upgrade. You may be wondering why Office 365 is a better choice than desktop Office? Read on to find out the top 5 benefits of Office 365 and why it’s the number one choice for businesses in 2020.

What is Office 365?

Provided by Microsoft, Office 365 is a group of various apps and services, designed to help your business. As part of the Microsoft Office product line, Office 365 is cloud-based software that is subscription-based. This means that the software apps included such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and many more are updated each month with the latest features and security updates.

Office 365 can help your employees work together easier and more efficiently. As well as the traditional Microsoft Office apps that you may have used on desktop, there are some innovative cloud-based software products for business environments available. Examples of these include hosted Exchange Server – for emails, Skype for Business – for conference calls, and SharePoint – for collaboration.

A brief history of Office 365

When Microsoft launched Office 365 in 2011, it replaced Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). Originally aimed at corporate users, Office 365 was expanded to cater for many different types of businesses, as well as general consumers. Although the desktop Microsoft Office software is still popular, revenue from Office 365 has now overtaken the conventional license sales of Microsoft Office software.

It’s worth noting that Microsoft have been facing growing competition from Google’s similar service, Google Apps. Office 365 was designed to “bring together” its existing online services into “an always-up-to-date cloud service”, and competes closely with Google’s offering. There are various Office 365 plans available, tailored to different business needs. These currently include “Small Business Premium”, “Enterprise E3 & E5”, “Pro Plus”, and more.

Why is Office 365 the best choice for businesses?

Most businesses are now using some form of cloud-based software to aid their productivity. While Google have been competing in recent years with the launch of G Suite (previously known as Google Apps for Work), it seems that Office 365 is twice as popular in Europe. Office 365 brings many benefits to businesses of all sizes, and due to its flexibility and low price point, is particularly useful for small businesses. But regardless of the size or type of business you’re in, here are the top 5 reasons why Office 365 is generally the best choice.

 

Benefit 1 – It’s cloud based – so you can work from anywhere & avoid disasters

Let’s imagine your office building is destroyed by a fire or flood. Or your office gets broken into. Your in-house system is extremely vulnerable and you could easily lose it all. By using a cloud-based system like Office 365, all your business documents and applications will always be available, no matter what happens to your physical hardware.

As long as you have an internet connection, you have the ability to work from anywhere, on any device with Office 365. And if you have remote employees, multiple locations or employees who travel often, you’ll benefit enormously from using Office 365.

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Benefit 2 – Office 365 provides security & reliability

Many people worry about the cloud not being safe and secure. But Microsoft have a long-standing reputation of being reliable and taking security extremely seriously. You can trust that Office 365 comes with top-notch security and reliability. Some of the biggest safety features Office 365 has built-in include encrypted email, data loss prevention, and mobile device management.

Encrypted email will prevent anyone other than the intended recipient from reading your emails. Data loss prevention helps you to identify, monitor and protect sensitive information from leaving your company. Mobile device management enables you to protect company information in the event that one of your employees’ mobile devices gets stolen or lost. The data can be deleted remotely to prevent it getting into the wrong hands.

There are many other security features including spam protection, multi-factor authentication, threat management and advanced threat analytics. Depending on what level you need, the various plans contain different levels of protection.

Benefit 3 – It’s a monthly subscription & affordable price

Storing your data on the cloud with Office 365 will eliminate the cost of purchasing and maintaining expensive servers and hardware. As Office 365 is a subscription-based service, automatic updates are included at no additional charge. So rather than having to find the budget to purchase conventional licenses upfront as well as for each new version, you pay a low monthly fee for each user, and the subscription covers each individual’s license.

Office 365 offers tailored packages and plans, giving you plenty of options to choose from that suit your unique business needs. You can scale it up or down with your business, and not everyone in your company may need the exact same features. It’s also easy to switch between plans, if an employee needs more or less than what they’ve needed previously.

The monthly billing process is flexible, allowing you to add or decrease the number of users each month, and you’re not locked into a contract. For small businesses planning to expand, this is perfect as it’s scalable and affordable throughout your entire business journey. There’s no wasted money and your entire workforce can have access to the tools they need.

As well as being cash-flow and budget-friendly, using Office 365 will ensure that all your team members are using the same version of Microsoft Office, and will always be up-to-date.

 

Benefit 4 – Office 365 is easy to use & great for collaboration

Most businesses benefit from working as a team, whether it’s one small team or larger departments comprising of various teams. If your company works like this, you’ll love how easy it is to collaborate with Office 365. Several people can be editing a document in real-time, and anyone viewing that document will see live changes, so it’s a much faster way to work together.

Ever wondered who has the most up-to-date copy of a spreadsheet, or had several employees editing their own versions and caused a merge mess? Office 365 ensures there are no mistakes made or confusion caused by multiple versions of the same document. You can even go back to an older version of a document, if needed. And there’s no wasted time waiting for internal emails and attachments to download.

As well as documents being synchronized, it’s easy for you to sync everyone’s email, calendar, and contacts using Office 365. You can easily update info on different devices too, so documents & tasks created on your PC can be accessed effortlessly on your smartphone or tablet.

Benefit 5 – It’s great value – free updates forever!*

If you’ve been Microsoft Office previously you may remember having to pay to upgrade each time a new version was released, but you can rest assured that with Office 365 your low monthly fee includes automatic updates at no extra cost. *It might not be forever, but you will get free updates in Office 365 for the foreseeable future at least.

Most plans will also provide you with the latest versions of Office on your desktop automatically at no extra cost.

Office 365 also gives you a huge amount of email storage allowance. If you’ve ever resented wasting hours of your time trying to declutter an almost full inbox to free up some space, you’ll appreciate this benefit.

Employees may not like changes, but you shouldn’t worry about the constant updates being a strain on your workforce. The updates are a brilliant part of Office 365, and your employees will be using software that is always familiar. Rest assured they will be comfortable using it, even with new and improved features. Office 365 is familiar, user-friendly, and easy to integrate with all sorts of useful software.

 

How to get training for Office 365

Now you’re aware of the top 5 benefits of using Office 365 in your business, you may be looking for some training resources. Go.Courses provide a wide range of exceptional instructor-led Office 365 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 365 and the best training courses to suit your business.

The top 6 cloud computing providers – how do they compare?

Cloud computing is now an essential service for businesses of all sizes. It’s important to build an IT infrastructure that can expand with your business. You’ve probably heard of AWS and Azure, but what about the various other alternatives? Read on to find out how they compare – AWS, Azure and Google Cloud vs three of the lesser known cloud computing alternatives.

The recent cloud computing market share in 2018

There’s no denying the powerful growth of the cloud computing market. Revenues in 2018 grew by 32% from 2017, passing the $250 billion milestone. Spending on cloud services has already overtaken spend on hardware and software used to build private and public clouds, and the gap is only widening as time goes on. Chief Analyst and Research Director at Synergy, John Dinsdale said “Cloud started to go mainstream in the 2014-2016 period and we tagged 2017 as the year when cloud became the new normal.”

“Cloud technologies are now generating massive revenues for both cloud service providers and technology vendors and our latest forecasts show that while market growth rates will inevitably erode due to the sheer scale of the numbers, the overall market will double in size in under four years.”

Frustratingly, technology companies don’t report cloud revenues and results in a consistent manner so getting comparable numbers is a challenge based on what they disclose. For example, IBM doesn’t report its cloud infrastructure and platform as a service revenue. Amazon releases their valuation data for AWS as a standalone company but Microsoft don’t for Azure…

However, it seems that revenue growth at Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Alibaba Cloud have exceeded the overall market growth rate, with all three gaining market share but Microsoft Azure in particular jumping ahead. But market leader AWS has continued to maintain its dominance and remains bigger than its next four competitors combined. The sheer scale of AWS prevents it from growing as fast as its competitors, but it is still showing growth year on year. After all, 1% of a lot is much better than 90% of a little.

While many of the smaller providers are seeing reasonable revenue growth, they are lacking the scale and financial muscle of their larger competitors. IBM’s market share has not grown as well as those mentioned above, but is remaining stable primarily due to its strong leadership in hosted private cloud services.

The big 3 cloud computing providers: AWS, Azure & Google Cloud

Go Courses Blog AWS Cloud Computing Provider

1. AWS (Amazon Web Services)

AWS was the first major provider in the cloud market and has dominated the industry since 2006. It boasts a large range of products and services, and an impressive network of data centres, and due to its reputation and reliability it’s been the most popular choice for businesses.

AWS was created by Amazon.com and it’s now overtaken Amazon’s original e-commerce offering to become their most successful service. Amazon are transparent with their financial figures of AWS and are clearly happy to prove that they have maintained dominance in the industry, showing consistent growth year on year.

According to Gartner, “AWS is the most mature, enterprise-ready provider, with the deepest capabilities for governing a large number of users and resources.”

Find out much more about how AWS compares to Azure and Google Cloud HERE.

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2. Microsoft Azure

Since being introduced in 2010, Azure has been battling to catch up with AWS. While Azure doesn’t have market dominance, Microsoft made up for lost time by cleverly integrating their industry leading products such as Office 365 and Power BI into their cloud platform.

As Microsoft has been a trusted software company in the business world for decades, Azure was purposely made to be familiar, user friendly and easy to integrate. The loyal base of existing Microsoft customers ensure that Azure is consistently maintaining its spot as the second most popular cloud provider.

Find out much more about how Azure compares to AWS and Google Cloud HERE.

Go Courses Blog Google Cloud Computing Provider

3. Google Cloud Platform

Depending on which analyst report you read, today Google is either the third or the fourth largest public cloud vendor, behind Amazon, Microsoft and (possibly) IBM. While AWS and Azure boast a broad portfolios of services, Google has a narrower focus and specializes in meeting the needs of developers. Through its web search and advertising businesses, Google has serious expertise in handling big data. Of course, it has transferred those capabilities to its cloud computing business as well, developing a solid reputation for analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Google created their first cloud computing service in 2008, which was a platform for developing and hosting web applications in Google-managed data centres. The service was made generally available in late 2011 and they have been adding many more services to the platform since.

Many businesses tend to choose Google Cloud Platform alongside another cloud provider. However, they are gaining in popularity each year and can be used exclusively by businesses for all their cloud infrastructure needs, depending on what your needs are.

Find out much more about how Google Cloud compares to AWS and Azure HERE.

Other cloud computing providers to consider – IBM, Alibaba & Oracle

As well as the big 3 already mentioned, there are many other contenders, and the “cloud war” is only just getting started. IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, and Oracle Cloud are three worth considering. Let’s see how these compare.

Go Courses Blog IBM Cloud Computing Provider

Cloud contender 1 – IBM Cloud

IBM Cloud (previously known as IBM Bluemix and IBM Softlayer) is a suite of cloud computing services for businesses. Including Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS), organizations using IBM Cloud can choose between bare-metal or virtual servers (read more about that here) and public, private or hybrid cloud delivery models.

History & features of IBM Cloud

IBM acquired the public cloud platform SoftLayer in 2013, which became the foundation for its Iaas offering. This was merged with the Bluemix PaaS services to become IBM Cloud from 2017.

Developers can use IBM services to create, manage, run and deploy various types of applications for the public cloud, as well as on-premises environments. Various programming languages are supported, including Java, Node.js, PHP and Python. The IBM Cloud platform supports access to other IBM tools and services as well as third party vendors.

IBM Cloud services cover an extensive range, including:

  • Compute
  • Network
  • Storage
  • Management
  • Security
  • Data management
  • Analytics
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Internet of things (IoT)
  • Mobile applications
  • Developer tools
  • Blockchain
  • Integration
  • Migration
  • VMware
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Cloud contender 2 – Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud (also known as Aliyun) is a Chinese cloud computing company, and a subsidiary of Alibaba Group. It’s most comparable to AWS, which is a subsidiary of Amazon. Both companies came from an e-commerce background and they both launched their cloud services before Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. Alibaba Group established it’s cloud in 2009, only 3 years after Amazon introduced market-leading AWS.

Alibaba is China’s largest public cloud service provider, and (depending on the source) is now the 5th largest worldwide. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of global cloud computing services to online businesses as well as Alibaba’s own e-commerce ecosystem.

How does Alibaba compare to AWS, Azure, Google and IBM?

In 2017 Alibaba Cloud was included for the first time in a major report from Gartner on the state of the public cloud. The report suggested that while Alibaba is new to international markets, it’s well-positioned to compete with the bigger players in the market, such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

 

From a business perspective, Alibaba has been ranked 4th, ahead of IBM and Oracle, in terms of “ability to execute”. But it falls behind both IBM and Oracle as well as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud when it comes to “completeness of vision”. Like the other large providers, Alibaba Cloud has set up more centres around the globe in recent years, to handle other companies’ computing workloads, as well as providing new services.

What’s bad about Alibaba Cloud?

While Alibaba is the largest cloud service provider in China, it’s international offering doesn’t seem to have the full capabilities or performance of their China offering. It doesn’t differ much compared to the other hyperscale providers like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. It seems that Alibaba takes a fair bit of inspiration from competitors when developing their service capabilities and branding.

Along with its limited track record and reputation, international customers could be worried about security or compliance issues which stem from relying on a Chinese company. “The company does not have substantial mind share with buyers in most markets, as it is still building the required local talent, industry expertise and go-to-market capabilities,” Gartner said in its 2018 report on the cloud infrastructure market. “Prospective international customers may also perceive security and regulatory compliance concerns when using a Chinese company, even though Alibaba Cloud has undergone third-party audits.”

What’s good about Alibaba Cloud?

Alibaba services are comparable to the big 3 cloud providers. Available on a pay-as-you-go basis, the services include data storage, relational databases, big-data processing, Anti-DDoS protection and content delivery networks (CDN).

Although still trailing behind AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, Alibaba is the largest cloud computing company in China, and some reports claim it has surpassed IBM to become the world’s fourth-biggest provider of cloud infrastructure and related services. Many Chinese companies are wanting to expand abroad and likewise many large companies globally are looking to crack the China market which has proven a challenge historically. Alibaba’s website shows that European companies including KPMG, Nestlé and Philips are all clients, as well as many American businesses.

Despite concerns about security and compliance from the Chinese company, Alibaba Cloud does show compliance, boasting high-level international certifications to guarantee data security, including gold certification in cloud security from the British Standards Institute.

Alibaba can undoubtedly offer impressive economies of scale and processing power. The same technology that supports the epic Alibaba Group ecosystem can also be used to power your own international expansion. Alibaba Cloud’s international network of data centres allow you to manage all regions through a single global account. Alibaba Cloud also boasts advanced big data crunching technology to save you time, and links to the latest technology in machine-learning, VR (Virtual Reality) and IoT (Internet of Things).

Cloud computing will become Alibaba’s main business in the future, according to Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang. “We strongly believe that every business in the future will be powered by cloud. We are very happy to build this cloud infrastructure in the new digital era and support all the businesses going digital,” he said.

As with the rest of the world’s biggest technology companies, Alibaba are building data centers, staffing up and making acquisitions to handle the surge in workloads as more businesses shift their computing and storage needs to the cloud.

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Cloud contender 3 – Oracle Cloud

Oracle Cloud is another respectable cloud computing service worth considering. A global network of data centres are provided and managed by Oracle Corporation. They provide servers, storage, network, applications and services. As with the other cloud competitors, they provide IaaS, PaaS and SaaS but Oracle Cloud also offer Data as a Service (DaaS).

These services are used to build, deploy, integrate and extend applications into the cloud. The platform supports numerous open standards, open-source solutions and a variety of programming languages, databases, tools and frameworks including Oracle-specific, Open Source and third-party software and systems.

How does Oracle compare to AWS and Azure?

Vice President of Oracle Cloud, Ashish Mohindroo contrasted Oracle’s offering with Amazon’s AWS cloud. He said “AWS is an incomplete cloud. Their main focus is IaaS, compute, and storage. If you want to store files in the cloud or spin out a new server, you’re good. But most customers want to run applications, and with AWS most of those capabilities come from third parties. So when it comes to integration, you’re on your own.” He added, “and if something breaks down, you’d better hope it’s a problem with the infrastructure; otherwise you’ll be calling multiple app vendors to resolve the issue.”

Considering Azure, Mohindroo noted “Microsoft’s Azure is also an incomplete cloud. Their DNA is not infrastructure, and they offer incomplete IaaS, fewer compute choices, and a limited platform for SaaS applications.” Microsoft customers need to invest in third-party tools for building SaaS extensions. “Even worse,” added Mohindroo, “Azure taps out for large implementations, with a maximum 1 terabyte for Azure SQL Database.” That’s not enough for the volume of data that large companies are collecting today. For example, sensors on a single airline engine can generate half a terabyte of data on a cross-country flight.

“Oracle is the only vendor in the market that will deliver cloud on your terms. We want to give you the choice and the confidence to follow your own path. We’re committed to your success, and we understand that you’re betting your business on Oracle technology,” said Mohindroo.

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The cloud computing comparison – what next?

As with most decisions in business, the best choice usually depends on your specific business needs. It may be that one cloud provider meets all your requirements, but as the cloud computing market evolves and grows, it could be worth using multiple suppliers/vendors to provide the full range of services you need.

AWS does remain a dominant force in the combined IaaS and PaaS markets, but as we’ve explored above, there are other providers offering additional services to AWS. The adoption of multi-cloud strategies would allow businesses to reduce reliance from one provider, reduce costs and increase reliability.

Further competition will benefit cloud customers in a variety of ways. In the words of AWS CEO Andy Jassy, “there won’t be just one successful player … there are going to be multiple successful players, and who those are I think is still to be written.”

The “cloud war” is still unfolding, and we will bring you updates as the market changes each year. Due to the rapid amount of change it is advisable to undertake as much training as possible. Go.Courses are here to make it easy for you to learn new skills and book the right training for your business and career needs. We offer a range of cloud computing training courses, particularly for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Oracle.


All our courses are trainer-led by experts in their field and available in-house at your office or at a variety of locations.

You can browse our courses and BOOK ONLINE, or give us a call to have a chat and find out more.

5 reasons why you should invest in Microsoft Excel training

There aren’t many people who don’t know what Microsoft Excel is. Most people have used it before for one thing or another. Whether you’re completing admin, financial or sales tasks, running a business or working on a personal project, Excel is certainly a handy tool. But many of us are self taught. We may have picked up our knowledge from work colleagues, or through trial and error. The fact is, most people aren’t using Excel at its best.

If you’ve never had Excel training you could be making mistakes, wasting time and doing things the hard way. Anyone can learn to ride a bike on their own but to become a world class cyclist you’d need to have some expert training. While you probably won’t get a medal for using Excel, you will get some great benefits. Keep reading to find out the top 5 reasons why Excel training is a wise investment.

Reason 1. Microsoft Excel is the industry standard

Since 1993 Microsoft Excel has been the industry standard for spreadsheets. As well as the versatile functionality, Excel has also evolved along with the changes in technology and working habits. Forming part of Microsoft Office and Office 365, it’s developed to work on desktop for Windows and MacOS as well as mobile devices such as Android and iOS. For many Excel users, having desktop software is still preferred as there’s no need to rely on the internet to gain access to Excel’s advanced functionality.

Why is Microsoft Excel the best spreadsheet tool?

Although there are other spreadsheet tools available such as Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is showing no signs of becoming less popular. It boasts a responsive and fast interface, more formulas and functions, options for data visualization, as well as being more customisable than alternatives.

What is Microsoft Excel used for?

The obvious thing Excel does is spreadsheets. But nobody makes spreadsheets just for the sake of it. In business Excel can be used for financial, sales and marketing tasks, customer support and admin. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and a macro programming language. Any business of any size can benefit from using Microsoft Excel and it integrates well with many cloud-based solutions.

It’s common for people to be self-taught which is fine if you’re using Excel for personal use, but if you’re using it for work you need to know the best practices. You could be missing out on really useful functionality and better ways to do things, simply because you didn’t know any different. If you haven’t had training you might not know about more advanced features, which can make your job easier.

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Reason 2. Excel training will help avoid costly errors

Let’s face it, when a mistake is made in Excel it can be disastrous. If you’re using Excel without proper training you might not realise when you accidentally do something wrong. Spreadsheets can be extremely complex, with hundreds of rows and columns, and huge amounts of data.

A catastrophic error can be made with literally the click of a button. Once your spreadsheet is saved, the mistake could be sitting there for days or weeks before it’s spotted. Correcting a silly mistake can take hours or days, just to “undo” the error and end up back at square one.

Time is money in the world of business.

Your manager or boss will not be impressed if this happens to you. The best way to avoid problems like this is to fully understand how to use Excel. The foundation training is a good starting point, but the intermediate course might be best if you’ve been using Excel for a short while already. But why stop there? Even if you’re an experienced user, you’ll likely benefit from an advanced course. The more you know, the less likely things will go wrong.

Browse Microsoft Excel training courses HERE

Reason 3. Training will save you time and boost your productivity

As costly as Excel errors can be, that’s only a fraction of the valuable time lost by untrained workers using Excel inefficiently. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for staff members to spend hours at work doing something in Excel that should have taken a matter of minutes.

You may be worried about spending valuable time away doing the training, but it’s an extremely small investment of time needed, with LOTS to gain. A good course will cover the most important spreadsheet techniques in just a few hours. Understanding these techniques will dramatically improve your efficiency working with spreadsheets.

Excel’s programs and functions are designed to save you time and help you achieve more. Rather than doing long-winded calculations yourself, Excel will do the maths for you without any errors, if used correctly. An investment of a few hours of your time can result in multiple days worth of time saved, so you can do more of what you enjoy.

There are a range of Excel courses depending on your current skill level, starting with the 2 hour course for Getting Started with Excel, to 1 day courses (6 hours of training plus refreshment breaks) for Intermediate or Advanced. For expert level training beyond that there are more in-depth courses available too.

Focus on analysis instead of calculations

Excel includes functions and formulas to automate regular calculations. But it can also present data in a range of charts, making it easier for you to spot trends and monitor costs. Excel also includes intuitive fields, meaning the cells remember past entries so you don’t have to keep retyping the same words. It’s also easy to find, alter and save data using commands, when you know how.

Excel training can help you with these data entry tasks and enable you to complete jobs quicker and more accurately. This is covered in the intermediate or advanced training courses.

Stop losing data

Using Excel skillfully can help you to filter and find key information. Spreadsheets can be almost infinite and trying to call up some vital figures, without the right skills, can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Knowing how to use pivot tables can save you vast amounts of time – and are covered in the intermediate course.

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Reason 4. Impress your boss and increase your salary

So far we’ve established that Excel training can help you make less mistakes, save time and do more at work. These are all reasons for your boss to be happy with you. We may not know your boss personally, but generally a happy employer is more likely to reward you.

It pays to know your spreadsheet stuff.

If using Excel in your company role is important, getting trained up can help you gain bonuses and demand a higher salary. Microsoft Excel is a universal computer program and being trained in this gives you a brilliant transferable skill that you can take with you, giving you options throughout your career.

Reason 5. Microsoft Excel is easy to learn – and cheaper than you might think

You’ve already heard how quickly you can be trained in Excel, and how it can help boost your earnings. But it’s also surprisingly easy and affordable to find the right Excel training for your skill level.

If you’re an absolute beginner there are a couple of introductory options, which cost as little as £99. Even the intermediate and advanced level training courses are under £350. These prices are all based on world class instructor-led training, so you can ask questions, get clarity and make sure you walk away with a full understanding of the skills you’ve been taught.

If you’re responsible for booking your company’s training, there’s no need to spend your entire staff development budget on Excel training. It’s a small investment of time and money, with plenty to gain.

Browse Microsoft Excel training courses NOW

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If you’re looking to further your career and develop your personal skills – go on, get your medal and become a world class Excel expert.

We’re here to help if you have any questions about learning and understanding Microsoft Excel. Go.Courses are on a mission to bring you the world’s best IT and business skill courses. We want you to save time, hassle and money while giving you the skills to be the best you can be.

 

You may also be interested in reading the 5 most useful things to learn about Microsoft Excel

The top 5 benefits of Power BI

We all use Excel for one thing or another in business (and sometimes personal projects too). There’s no doubting how useful Excel’s functions are and it’s a brilliant upgrade from scribbled notes and calculations on paper. But as we head into 2019 it’s worth looking at even better upgrades. Microsoft BI is a powerful upgrade, and if you haven’t used it before, the world is about to become your oyster.

What is Power BI?

Power BI is a useful cloud-based tool for working with data. Provided by Microsoft, the BI stands for Business Intelligence. The software helps you to analyse your data and understand your business performance at a glance, through interactive, insightful visualisations. Reports and dashboards can be created easily without any help from IT or database administrators.

Originally based on the Microsoft Excel add-ins “Power Query”, “Power Pivot”, “Power View” and more, Power BI was released to the general public in mid 2015. As the name suggests, Power BI is a powerful business intelligence tool that will make it easy to manage data as your business grows. Analysing your company data effectively will help you to make informed business decisions, guided by real information rather than assumptions. To help you understand just how much Power BI can help your business, here are the top 5 benefits of Power BI.

Benefit 1 – It integrates easily, making your data more accessible

Microsoft has created industry leading office software since the launch of Microsoft Office in 1990. So it’s not surprising that Power BI is built to integrate seamlessly with other Microsoft products, such as Excel, SharePoint and SQL Server. But it also connects to hundreds of other common software solutions, including Google analytics, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Oracle and SAP products. Data can be extracted easily from cloud-based or desktop systems to feed into a central dashboard so you can digest and view all your data effortlessly.

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Benefit 2 – Your data is secure & compliant

While your data is more accessible, it’s also secure and safe. While an office break-in is never fun, if your data is all in the cloud, it can’t get stolen alongside your computer hardware. One of Microsoft’s strengths is their excellent security, so there’s no need to worry about hackers breaking in and accessing your data.

Since GDPR came into action we’re all more aware of compliance. Rather than making different reports for each department or team member, you can control which team members have access to data without giving them access to the full database. They can see charts and graphs, but won’t be able to manipulate raw data. This avoids costly mistakes as it protects your data from human error, but also makes Power BI compliant as a system, as the data is encrypted. So if you have a large report, of course you can ensure the Managing Director has full access to it, while Barbara in Sales would only be shown rows of information relevant to her role.

With filtering like this, everyone has the relevant info they need but nothing more. There’s less confusion, less time involved and much less hassle. You’ll certainly save money by not having to create and maintain reports for every team member.

Benefit 3 – Customised dashboards make it easy to understand your data

Every business is unique and your dashboard, reports and data should reflect this. Power BI enables you to create customised information dashboards that combine your important data into a single view. These dashboards can be easily embedded into your applications so everyone in your company will be on the same page.

Possibly the most exciting feature of Power BI is that it can transform detailed and overwhelming data into rich visuals that are much easier to understand, especially at a glance. Decision making is made much easier, creating reports is far more rewarding, and viewing analytics has never been so satisfying.

Benefit 4 – It’s familiar and easy to implement and use

You may be used to relying on engineering or IT support when it comes to using new software. But Power BI is surprisingly easy to implement, requiring little to no engineering at all. Simply create an API key to plug into the software, and you’re you’re ready to rock and roll.

Microsoft systems are familiar to most people, and it’s more than likely that your organisation is using Office 365 already. If so, using Power BI will feel natural and easy. The user interface elements will be familiar, the integration with your other systems is effortless, and you’ll be able to easily export data to your other systems.

As well as a simple learning curve, Power BI also contains a handy Q&A feature. Asking questions is usually the fastest way to get a straightforward answer. Here at Go.Courses we’re big believers in using natural language and the Q&A feature allows you to use plain English and get answers from your data quickly and easily.

Benefit 5 – It’s always improving & helps your business to improve too

As with Office 365, Power BI is updated almost every month with new features and functions. Because Power BI is cloud based, your data is quickly retrievable and you won’t have to worry about memory or speed constraints.

The extra insight that Power BI will give your business is invaluable. You’ll be able to analyse the most recent market data and make informed decisions based on which markets are growing and which are underperforming. The data belongs to your business and the analysis can be done internally, saving you money.

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How to get training for Power BI

Now you’re aware of the top 5 benefits of using Power BI in your business, you may be wondering what to do next. While it’s not compulsory or essential, it could be useful to invest in some staff training to get started with Power BI Desktop. This 3 day course will teach you everything you need to get to grips with connecting Power BI Desktop to data, creating visualizations, querying the data and publishing reports.

For more advanced training, try the Analysing Data with Power BI course. Both of these training options can be taken at a choice of dates or locations, delivered live online or in-house at your own office.

 

Drop us a message to find out more about Power BI and training course options to suit your business.

Why become VMware Certified?

We all know the importance of IT within business these days. To remain successful the majority of companies will need to modernise their IT infrastructure over the coming years. VMware is used by most enterprises to help them evolve digitally. As more companies virtualize their IT infrastructures and move to the cloud, VMware certifications will be in even higher demand. Corporate companies rely on VMware certified professionals to support their business, so investing in training now is a wise choice.

It’s estimated that around 70% of companies undertaking data center transformation face a shortage of people with the ability to translate business needs into effective IT investments and operations plans. The majority of successful business and project milestones are met by well-trained cloud migration teams. With VMware certification, you’ll have the complete skills a business needs to increase the success rates and ROI of their evolving projects, increasing your value to the business, and improving your earning power. Being a VMware certified professional can also improve your productivity and help you provide a higher level of customer service.

What is VMware?

VMware is a company that provides desktop software and server applications for virtualization. Founded by five different IT experts in 1998, VMware has become one of the key providers in the industry. It’s now owned by Dell EMC and provides an extensive range of cloud computing and platform virtualization software and most notably, its hypervisors.

What is a hypervisor?

Also known as a virtual machine manager, or a server virtualization platform, a hypervisor is computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines.

As we’re talking about virtual computing, it’s not an easy thing to grasp. In the context of business, let’s look at a shared office. This shared office is one big building that holds many rooms, and many different businesses. Each business can be compared to a virtual machine, and the building is the hypervisor. Just like with a shared office, you can welcome new businesses or introduce new virtual machines. You can also manage the ones currently there, or remove them. A non-virtual machine or a regular (non-virtual) server can be compared to a business that has exclusive access to its own building.

The computer that a hypervisor runs virtual machines on is called a host machine, and each virtual machine is called a guest machine. The hypervisor provides the guest operating systems with a virtual operating platform and manages the execution of the guest operating systems.

VMware ESXi is the enterprise software hypervisor for servers. It runs directly on server hardware without requiring an additional underlying operating system. You may not think relying on an operating system is a hindrance, but it can slow things down. Time is money in the world of business. Let’s say you want to do something simple like put a notice board or poster on the wall in your office. The operating system is like the landlord or office manager and you’d need to wait for their permission before going ahead and putting it up. Remove the operating system or landlord/office manager and you can do whatever you want as quickly as you like.

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What kind of training do you need for VMware?

VMware has a brilliant range of training available, depending on your experience level and specialism. If you’re new to VMware then this foundation level course for vSphere is essential. This five-day course features intensive hands-on training that focuses on installing, configuring, and managing VMware vSphere® 6.5, which includes VMware ESXi™ 6.5 and VMware vCenter Server® 6.5. This course will give you the skills to manage a vSphere infrastructure for an organization of any size. It’s the foundation for most other VMware technologies in the software-defined data center.

If you’re not completely new to vSphere but want to build on the basics then the vSphere Optimize and Scale course is designed for people with some experience. But if your previous experience or training was done before 2015 you may need to bring your skills up to date with this course – “What’s new Vsphere 5.5 to 6”. This course is recommended for people that want to deploy vSphere 6 into an existing vSphere environment. If you complete this course you’ll also be prepared for more advanced vSphere 6 courses.

Perhaps you’re not into vSphere at all, but want to learn how to manage data and operations across other physical, virtual or cloud environments such as Hyper-V, Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). In that case this training course is ideal as it focuses on installing, configuring, and managing VMware vRealize Automation. This course will also help you understand and achieve the benefits of automation as a component of the software-defined data center.

You may like to learn how to manage virtual desktops and applications through a single virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform. This course will teach you how to configure and deploy pools of virtual machines, manage access and security of the machines, and provide a customized desktop environment to end users, using VMware Horizon 7.

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How to get VMware certification

It’s extremely simple to book your training courses to get VMware certified. We’ve popped some links in the above guide, and you can see the full range of VMware training courses HERE.

You can view the course content, and choose a date or location that suits you. Training can be delivered live online or you can request to have any of the courses delivered at your office. We’ll come to you – and it’s even more cost-effective to have your training in-house.

 

If you’d like to find out more about VMware certification GET IN TOUCH or BROWSE VMWARE TRAINING COURSES.

Why 2019 was an important year for Microsoft Azure certifications

You may have heard about some changes in Microsoft Azure recently. At their September 2018 Ignite conference Microsoft released detailed information about important changes they’re making to the Azure curriculum. Whether you’re already using Microsoft Azure, have existing qualifications or are considering training yourself or your team members up, you’ll want to know how the changes will affect you and your business. Here’s an overview of what changed, how to adapt and embrace these changes, and why Azure could be the best option for your IT infrastructure in 2020 and beyond.

Cloud computing is fast becoming the most popular and sensible choice for business infrastructure. Hosting your own IT system is no longer the best solution. As well as the cost of buying and upgrading hardware, you also need to pay administrators to maintain and update the hardware. This makes no sense now you can simply pay a cloud provider to host your services in their data centres for a monthly fee. As well as being cost-effective, cloud computing is reliable, easy to scale up or down, and offers the highest levels of security.

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What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service that works similarly to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Google Cloud Platform.

As a cloud computing service you pay for access to a huge range of computing resources provided by Microsoft (or Amazon, or Google). You can host web servers, email servers, databases, file storage servers, virtual machines, user directories, and anything else you might want. When you need more computing resources, you don’t have to purchase physical hardware. You simply pay for the space you’re using on the shared “cloud” hardware, and the processing power you use.

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Why is Microsoft Azure best for IT infrastructure?

While any of the big 3 cloud systems are more secure than your traditional IT infrastructure, Microsoft leads the way with security. Azure automatically encrypts all data, so while the “cloud” is a shared environment, nobody else has access to it. It’s also much easier to be GDPR compliant using a secure cloud-based service like Azure.

The only way you’re vulnerable is if you have bad password protection, whereas with traditional hosting you’re vulnerable if anything happens to your hardware. So if your office gets burgled, flooded or set on fire, your business is at risk. With a cloud-based system like Microsoft Azure, automatic backups protect your data in the cloud and you don’t need to worry about any hardware faults.

Another huge advantage of Azure is the scalability, so as your business grows and evolves your system will naturally expand with you whilst remaining cost-effective. If you need more power it’s available in a matter of minutes rather than days, with the click of a button.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the pioneer of cloud infrastructure systems, and while it may be great for large databases, when it comes to putting apps in the cloud  Microsoft Azure is better equipped. Microsoft’s process considers things for the developer and operations, both of which come with in-depth start guides. They also boast more levels of certification than any other cloud provider.

What’s changing with Microsoft Azure?

As we’ve already established, Microsoft excels at training and certifications, so it’s understandable that they keep improving their offerings continuously.

As well as courses, there are new learning paths mapped to job roles, based on Microsoft’s business skills analysis. 2018 saw 3 changes to the Azure certifications, and 2019 saw the introduction of an additional 10+ role-based paths. Microsoft also announced that parts of the existing Azure curriculum and certifications will be retired, to further strengthen their new learning paths. But there’s no need to panic, as there will be a route for easy transitions to the new qualifications.

As the landscape of training changes, the courses will be taught with a less formal approach. Microsoft have embraced a more free-form workshop model of delivery to give a far more agile feel to the class. Each learning path is made up of single day courses that focus on a single technology, with far more detailed focus on fewer topics going forward. This means the new exams will be easier to prepare for.

Why the changes?

Microsoft is making these changes to the Azure certification paths to better align the certifications with the job roles professionals are actually working in. The current existing certification exams for Microsoft Azure are extremely broad in topics. They cover a vast range of skills which are difficult for most professionals to master.

Going forwards, learners will have more control over their Azure education. Each new certification will be informed by detailed business analysis, and aligned to specific career paths. The course content will include purely role-relevant technologies, which is good news. The result will be less wasted time and effort spent on learning irrelevant content.

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What does this mean for me?

Regardless of where you are with your Azure training, there’s no need to panic.  Existing qualifications will be carried forward if you take a transition exam. It’s not a bad thing at all that Microsoft are emphasising the importance of recertifying to stay current with your qualifications. Historically they have insisted that learners “upgrade” their qualifications, but now it’s a much simpler “transition” and your certifications will be migrated over to the new paths.

The following “Transition” exams were offered for a limited period of time only, and were retired from 30th June 2019.

70-533 -> AZ-102: Microsoft Azure Administrator Certification Transition

70-532 -> AZ-202: Microsoft Azure Developer Certification Transition

70-535 -> AZ-302: Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification Transition

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. We’ll keep sharing useful information about changes to Azure curriculums as well as many other topics.

 

You can browse our courses and Browse all the Microsoft Azure courses online, or give us a call to find out more.

Why learn Python programming?

What is Python?

Whether you’re new to programming or an experienced programmer, Python is consistently one of the most popular programming languages around and therefore a good skill to learn.

Python is one of many high-level programming languages written in a form that is closer to our human language. This enables the programmer to simply focus on the problem being solved rather than worrying about technical details.

If you’re not familiar with high and low-level languages, an easy way to understand them is to compare them with gearboxes in cars. A high-level language is like an automatic car; rather than worrying about how to work the gears and clutch, the driver can focus simply on where they’re going. A low-level language is like a manual car; the driver is expected to understand how to control the clutch and select the gears as well as remember where they’re going. Of course there are advantages to having that extra knowledge and control, but if you’re new to programming you will most certainly start out by learning a high-level language.

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What makes Python so great?

Simple & easy to learn

Compared to other high-level languages, Python is one of the simplest and easiest to learn. It’s a general-purpose programming language that’s good for existing programmers as well as complete newbies.

Clean & readable code

When writing software the quality of the source code should be a priority, as this simplifies maintenance and updates, saving time and effort later on. Python’s language rules make it easy to express concepts without writing additional code. Unlike some programming languages, it also emphasizes code readability and allows you to use English keywords rather than punctuations. The clean and readable code base that Python uses makes it much easier to create custom applications.

Interpreter included

Python is an interpreted language, which means the code is run one line at a time. It boots up faster, and you can pause, stop and start running the code at any time. This makes it much easier to debug as you go. Python is also object-oriented, so it’s easier to visualise what your code is actually doing.

Versatile use

Python includes high-level built-in data structures and dynamic typing (you can add new properties or functions to different objects at any time). This makes it very attractive for Rapid Application Development and is great for creating entire systems from scratch. It’s also great for smaller projects, such as building bridging software to connect existing systems together.

Python is modular and encourages code reuse, so you can plug in functionality that may already exist without having to create everything from scratch. It also uses dynamic binding (sometimes called late binding), which means you can redefine your functions while the code is running, so much more flexible than many high-level languages.

You can use Python for developing desktop GUI applications, websites and web applications.

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Who can learn Python?

Total beginners

Total beginners: https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers

Python is great as a first programming language because it is concise and easy to read.

As the interpreter runs the code it makes it much easier to stop, start and debug your code. The interpreter is free to download for all major platforms and is available in source or binary form, meaning you can use it as it comes or adapt it to your own needs.

Existing programmers

Programmers often fall in love with Python because of the increased productivity it provides. It’s familiar and works as you would expect if you’re used to other programming languages. It’s also easy to connect and flexible to use, so you can adapt the interpreter for advanced use.

Python is a good language to have in any programmer’s toolkit as it can be used for everything from web development to software development and scientific applications.

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How to learn Python?

There are a few ways to learn Python, depending on how and where you prefer to learn. You can attend a live instructor-led 3 day training course at several 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.

You can of course find some free courses online, where you could potentially learn the basics of Python. Here are some FREE resources for beginners or non-programers. And here are some FREE resources for Programmers. There are also plenty of FREE guides and support on the Python website.

 

If you’re interested in finding out more about learning Python feel free to GET IN TOUCH or browse all the Python training courses HERE.

What is ITIL Foundation – and why your business needs it

If you’ve ever had to manage or fix a technical issue, release or update a service, or negotiate a service agreement, you’ve probably used ITIL. The fundamentals of service management start with ITIL and it’s the most widely accepted best practice framework in the world. It’s used 24/7 by the majority of organisations, including some of the most high-profile organizations in the world such as HSBC, IBM and even NASA. But it’s just as useful for small businesses too.

You may be familiar with the term ITIL or you may want to understand it more. Perhaps you’re wondering how to ensure you’re using it properly in your business and receiving  the benefits from it. If you read on we’re going to help you understand the foundation of ITIL, why your business really needs it, and how to get accredited.

So what exactly is ITIL?

ITIL is short for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It’s designed to help businesses manage risks, strengthen customer relations, establish cost-effective practices and build stable IT environments. It’s a set of best practices for creating and improving an IT Service Management (ITSM) process.

Originally released as a series of books, ITIL was created in the 1980s to standardise and improve the quality of IT service provided, initially for the British government. Large companies and other government agencies adopted the framework very quickly and it soon spread across the world. As it grew in popularity, IT itself changed and evolved. ITIL adapted alongside these changes, and now emphasises integrating IT with business strategy.

 

What began as 5 core books has now evolved into the core modules that are taught online or through face to face training.

The ITIL core volumes are split into the following areas:

Service Strategy

The planning and getting ready that the service provider must do to deliver services that meet business needs.

Service Design

The design of everything required to deliver and manage a service

Service Transition

Introducing, changing and retiring services

Service Operation

Where the service desk and its activities sit

Continual Service Improvement

Keeping up with changing business needs or optimising operational activities, adapting and improving continuously.

How is ITIL different to ITSM?

IT Service Management (ITSM) refers to all the activities involved in designing, creating, delivering, supporting and managing the lifecycle of IT services. Understanding the difference between ITSM and ITIL is important.

If you’re primarily focussed on IT infrastructure then ITSM will serve you well, but if you also want to consider business goals and align your IT infrastructure with your business strategy, ITIL is the perfect solution.

ITIL is the most commonly used ITSM framework, but it’s just one of the ways of doing IT Service Management. The easiest way to describe the difference is to think of apples and fruit. An apple is a fruit but not all fruit are apples. So ITIL is ITSM but not all ITSM is ITIL. A company could be using ITSM but not using ITIL. They may not be using a recognised ITSM framework, or they could be using other frameworks such as COBIT or ISO 20000.

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How can an ITIL Certification help my Business?

The worlds of business and technology are now unavoidably connected, and it’s hard to picture one without the other. Virtually every industry in the world now relies on IT in one form or another, and companies must adapt and evolve to stay competitive. ITIL enables you to adapt IT service infrastructures with an awareness of current business processes and also prepare for further changes in the future.

ITIL will save you money – reduce your IT costs. ITIL has been designed to increase productivity, optimize costs and improve customer experience.

Make your customers happier – provide an improved quality of service and customer satisfaction. It’s the focus on the customer which makes ITIL the core around which other frameworks can work effectively.

Advantage over competitors – gain increased agility and flexibility. Every good service can always be better. ITIL encourages a culture of continual service improvement to deal with common challenges. When changes to technology or business practices leave you vulnerable, you can adapt quickly and stay on top of your competition.

Reduce risks – recovering and avoiding disaster is easier.

Without ITIL you’re more likely to waste time, money and resources. Other ITSM processes may not be aligned with your business goals or put emphasis on the customer and continual improvement. The main strength of ITIL lies in its versatility. It’s scalable and flexible, allowing you to take on as much or as little of the practices as you like. ITIL can even be adapted to work in conjunction with other practices, including COBIT, Six Sigma and TOGAF.

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How can I get ITIL foundation certification?

Because ITIL is not built around a specific business model but based on the collective experience of IT professionals, the foundation level course is accessible to anyone in business, regardless of industry type or size.

The ITIL Foundation Training course is the starting point for professionals looking to gain certification in this very popular accreditation. We offer this as a 3 day course which is delivered at a wide choice of locations in person or through the comfort of your computer screen.

We also deliver ITIL certified training onsite at customer locations across the UK and throughout Europe. So if you are considering running ITIL foundation training in-house then please get in touch with our friendly team.

Beyond foundation level

If you’re looking for training beyond foundation level you can browse the full range of ITIL courses HERE.