The way we learn has changed a lot in last few years. I can still remember my school and college days when the only learning medium was physical books and instructor led class room lectures. Senior students of our college and professors were the only source of information about which books are the best on a topic. We used to regularly visit brick and mortar libraries to check books on the subject we were interested in.
Though it was acceptable, this way of learning was certainly not optimal and convenient. Technology is changing so fast that any technical book purchased today will be of little use or no use in two or three years time. My bookcase still contains books on Java 2 and Oracle 9i which I will probably never use in future.
However, at the core of my heart I still love physical books. I like the smell of the pages of a newly bought book and I enjoy the childish delight when the right side page volume reduces gradually as I go from start to end of the book. But there is a middle way for me. Now I buy physical books on subjects with comparatively less depreciation value e.g. books on Algorithms and Design Patterns that are unlikely to change much in decades.
For books and tutorials on programming languages and frameworks I now completely rely on online learning platforms. Online learning platforms are mostly subscription based. So, you need to pay a monthly or annual fee to get access to the books and tutorials.
Currently lot of tech companies are buying group subscriptions for their employees. So check if your company is providing the same benefits. Main advantage of online platforms is that you can learn at your own pace, you can watch a lecture as many time as you want and you can do all this at a time convenient to you.
To help you find the best online platform, I am sharing my experience after using some popular platforms for a long time.
O’REILLY
O’reilly is my favorite online learning platform for reference technical books. You can find almost any programming book here on any programming language or framework. They even make available book sections before they are formally released. They call it early release version.
This is really helpful for reference purposes. This is because you won’t find any technical book on any topic that covers everything to your satisfaction. You may find some chapters better explained in a book on a topic while other topics are not covered that good. It is always better to scan multiple books on a topic and read or take notes from the chapters that best explains the topic.
- Technical eBooks with notes, syncing and highlights
- Video tutorials
- Audio books
- Live trainings
- Conferences
- Sandboxes for practice
Recently Oreilly has totally revamped the platform to include lots of video tutorials and audio books along with technical ebooks. They also have live training sessions which you can register and attend.
You will also be able to practice your skills using katacoda (O’reilly recently acquired katacoda) and Jupiter notebook (used to interactively run python programs) provided in the platform. Katacoda provides browser based interactive platform for experimenting with new technologies. Sandboxes for different popular programming languages are also available.
O’reilly accompanies an iOS and Android app so that you can learn on the go. I regularly use the app during my daily commute to office. You can also download eBooks, video courses and audio books for offline viewing.
Monthly charge for individuals is around $49 which I think is not much considering the value and convenience that this platform provides. O’reilly offers economically better plans for organizations and teams. Please check if your organization offers this learning platform before purchasing a personal plan. I am sure if you try this out, you will never regret.
Udemy
Udemy is also a very popular online learning platform. I prefer udemy over other platforms for video based courses/tutorials. Video based learning is more interactive and easy to grasp in general.
Normally the instructor of the tutorial guides you through the topic being taught with live code examples (most of the times through practical real life projects) along with how to setup the development environments, which tools to use, how to download them etc.
Also the codes shown in the tutorial can be downloaded from Github so that you can run the same in your computer while using the tutorial. This makes it more interactive as going through a coding lesson without practicing is not very helpful.
Apart from these obvious advantages, there are other features that makes your learning experience more fulfilling. Following are the list of features I have found most useful:
- Video lectures with adjustable playback speed so that you can adjust based on your ability to follow
- Bookmarking facility in the video so that you can revisit important sections later when required
- Quizzes to help you understand whether you have grasped the lessons correctly
- Coding exercises to practice what you have learnt
- Access courses through mobile Apps and download for offline viewing
- Post questions and direct messages to the instructor
- Review and rating to help most useful and popular courses
Pricing model for this platform is different from Safari books online. You can buy technical courses from Udemy for a fixed price determined by them. You can download and keep the courses for lifetime and learn on your own pace
For teams and enterprises, Udemy has yearly subscription based plans. For 5-20 member team subscription fee is currently $360 per year. For large enterprises, they provides quotation based on team size. Check if your organization provides access to Udemy for business subscription for the employees before purchasing on your own.
However, availability of so many courses on a single topic makes it difficult to decide which one to use. So, I would suggest to buy a course which is used by your friends or colleagues if possible. Otherwise, check the reviews for the course before purchasing.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. Formerly this platform was known as Lynda.com. LinkedIn Learning does not offer eBooks. But this platform has a rich set of online video courses related to software development, management and leadership skills, photography, blogging etc.
This platform allows you select few learning topics you are interested in and shows you recommended courses applicable for you based on the career path you choose.
Apart from great technical courses, you will get access to tons of photography related courses at no extra cost. So, if photography is your hobby then Lynda.com has got you covered. On completion of each course, it also offers a certificate as a proof that you have completed the course. This might be helpful if your employer reimburses the cost of taking courses.
Following are the notable features of LinkedIn Learning
- Video lectures with adjustable playback speed so that you can adjust based on your ability to follow. Audio only mode is also available
- Bookmarking facility in the video so that you can revisit important sections later when required
- Exercises to help you understand whether you have grasped the lessons correctly
- Notebook to take notes while learning
- Access courses through mobile Apps and download for offline viewing
- Completion Certificates
This platform also provides subscription based usage model. Monthly charge for Lynda is $30 for individuals with one month free trial. For teams and enterprises they provide separate quotation based on team size which offers more attractive pricing. So please check if your organization is offering this learning facility for their employees.
Coursera
Coursera offers online courses and degrees offered by popular universities like Sanford, Illinois, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and so on. The experience with Coursera is more close to a classroom curriculum. For each session there will be assignments and quizzes.
There is also discussion forums formed by the participating students to discuss on the course material. So, you will be able to clarify your queries here. At the end of the course there will be a final test and grades will be provided. There will be a specific time window between which you can take the course.
On completion of the course, certificate will be provided if you opt for paid version of the course. Employers generally give more importance to coursera certificates as it is offered by renowned institutes. So, this can be helpful for the job hunters.
Coursera offers subscription based payment model as well as fixed per course payment model. Most of the course materials can be viewed without any charges once you have logged in with your account.
However, you have to select paid version of the courses if you want certificates. If you just want to learn from great institutes around the world for free, this is a good option. For most of the employer ability to perform is much more important than having a certificate.
There are other popular online learning platforms like Codecademy, Khanacademy etc. However, I have found the above four platforms to be most useful for software developers. If you have any question or need further guidance, please let me know in comments section. If you have linked the article, please share with your friends to help them.
