Let me introduce this blog on the top 20 software engineering courses by making a reference to what I believe everyone has seen at some point in our lives: cinema. But wait, didn’t I tell you that this is a blog on the top 20 software engineering courses? It is, but why talk about movies here?

Simple: understanding a bit of what all go into moviemaking will help us get an idea of what software engineering is. Lots of ingredients go into making a movie, but what is it that makes it complete? Can you think of one role that really nails the movie, finesses it, and makes it what it is meant to be?

Hint: some of the most popular names in this category include talents that have gone on the become legends in their own lifetime:

• Akira Kurosawa
• Stanley Kubrick
• Francis Ford Coppola
• Steven Spielberg
• Martin Scorsese
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Quentin Tarantino!   

Yes, it is the director, right? Ah, this is what I was arriving at! The director is like the chef who uses his culinary ability to mix and match the items in a dish and make it palatable for us. This is exactly what software engineering is.

If we were to relate activity in IT that truly and well makes the brain behind any program-its software-work in its intended fashion, it has to be software engineering. Let us understand software engineering this way:

It is a truly broad set of activities in the field of software that makes the software perform the way it should. This involves coordination with a number of disciplines, just like how the director, in our example above, has to blend and synchronize a range of activities concerning filmmaking, such as cinematography, videography, screenplay, choreography, acting, and so on.

Let us use a couple of popular definitions of software engineering to get an idea of this fascinating subject:

“The systematic application of scientific and technological knowledge, methods, and experience to the design, implementation, testing, and documentation of software”—The Bureau of Labor Statistics

“The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software”—IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology

“‘(S)software engineering’ encompasses not just the act of writing code, but all of the tools and processes an organization uses to build and maintain that code over time. […] Software engineering can be thought of as ‘programming integrated over time.'”—Software Engineering at Google.

From a basic understanding of these definitions of software engineering, it is clear that a software engineer is one whose interests span not just one particular area of engineering, but many, all of which have to meld with each other logically and meaningfully to help obtain the intended results.

Let me use a different example this time: in the field of medical science, we have specialists, such as cardiologists, gynecologists, orthopedics, pediatricians, and so on. And, almost on top of this set of specialists sits what we may call the “general specialist”.  Who is this super doctor? The internal medicine specialist, right? This doctor, or what is termed the consulting physician in some parts of the world, is concerned with all the areas of medicine but treats from a general, holistic perspective. Her specialization is not restricted to any of the areas mentioned above but straddles all of these in a sense.

Again, to go back to the original example, the director has to have an understanding of all the areas of filmmaking but is primarily concerned with how to make all these work in unison to bring out a product. Now, if we get an understanding of these roles, we can get a clear idea of what a software engineer does.

Skills needed for software engineering

Now that we have more or less become familiar with who a software engineer is, let us try to get some perspective on the skills needed to become one.

As we saw earlier, it is a really broad area of engineering, which means that the skills and specializations needed for this field could be vast. These are some of them:

Technical skills: these include computer language programming and coding, debugging, software testing, database management, object-oriented design, and so on. To take these further, these are some of the specific technical skills that software engineers are expected to carry:

• Programming Languages
• Coding
• Data Structures and Algorithms
• Software testing
• Software development life cycle (SDLC)
• Databases
• Operating systems
• Version control
• Text editors
• Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
• Networking
• Encryption and cryptography.

The knowledge of these skills usually entails knowing all, or at least a few of these programming languages:

• Java
• Python
• Ruby
• Mean
• C#/.NET.

Soft skills: In addition to these hardcore technical skills, a software engineer should complement her profile with something no organization will overlook, no matter how strong the technical skills the software engineer carries: soft skills. These are the same skills that a professional in almost any area should bring: discipline, communication, teamwork, flexibility, problem-solving, organizational skills, updating one’s knowledge of the latest happenings and developments in the industry, and so on.

This said, there is no strict compartmentalization of these two sets of skills. There could be some overlaps. For instance, take a look at the last of these soft skills mentioned here. Staying abreast of the latest in the industry could be technical in nature. We all know about the sounds that technologies like AI, blockchain, cryptography, et al, are making. Having the gumption to know about these technologies is a soft skill, but applying their knowledge could be technical in nature. This means that technical and soft skills often mesh together.

What should I know about software engineering before I make a career in it?

Getting an understanding of software engineering from these broad perspectives is fine, but have you considered what it takes to be one? Getting to know the requisites to be a software engineer is one aspect, but let us go a step further and explore the pluses and minuses of being in this profession, as that will help you get a clearer idea of whether you are the right fit into this field.

So, this is the next section in my blog on the top 20 software engineering courses: the upsides and the downsides of being in software engineering.

First, the positives:

1. This is an in-demand skill: Software engineering is going to be around as long as the software is going to be used in technology. Can anyone think of a time when technology can exist without software? This is as unthinkable as visualizing construction without cement. So, if you have a ken for software engineering, don’t think twice about jumping into it. You are never going to run out of demand in the job market unless, of course, you are as exceptional at software engineering as I am.
2. It is growing: As can be expected of an area that is in demand, this field is growing, as well. Simple logic, right? As with any arena of technology, there are constant updates and evolutions in this area. This means that more and more professionals are required, and you need to be constantly on the watch for these. Being aware of all these will keep you ahead in the profession.
3. It has a global reach: As with most areas of technology, the software is a truly global phenomenon. You could be born in one country, could study in another, and could be pursuing a profession in a third country. This gives you enormous social skills, as you will be working in a multicultural background, something employers value as a great soft skill. Not only do you get a chance to work with an eclectic crowd; but if you want to start your own venture, there are unlimited chances of getting global clients.

And now, the downsides of software engineering

My blog on the top 20 software programming courses will be incomplete without a mention of the possible cons of software engineering. Here, I want to stress that these are more or less the same as what any geek faces when she pursues a career in any area related to the IT industry. These are some of the general ones:

1. Social isolation: Well, this is almost inseparably entwined with the IT industry! Don’t software and socialization look oxymoronic? This happens mainly because the computer is the software professional’s world. Yet, I know of umpteen professionals from among my personal circles, who are loathed to isolate themselves except at work, where it is absolutely necessary. I have come across a good number of social animals, and I don’t mean only weekend partygoers. It is just up to the individual’s upbringing, personality, and outlook.
2. Sedentary lifestyle: This again is deeply associated with the IT industry. But most people overlook two facts. One, IT is not the only industry that makes its people rooted in their workplace. Think of others like banking. Second, it is largely up to the individual to choose to be active during the times at which she is not working. It is all about willingness and time management.
3. Pressures of work: We all know that there is no success without hard work. I wouldn’t consider this a downside that you cannot overcome, because here, as in any other profession, success depends a lot on how you update yourself from time to time and stretch yourself. Now, which job is exempt from this need? If this causes pressure, learn to relax and enjoy the ride.

How much are software programmers expected to earn?

Let me come to another important aspect of this blog on the top 20 software engineering courses: how financially rewarding this field is. As is the case with any profession, there is a starting point, a growth phase, and a seniority phase in software engineering.

A beginner can expect a little over $100,000, starting off as a system engineer. This can go up to 20% percent higher if you were to grow into the position of a data scientist. Typically, this could take five years, but this could vary by a long margin, and this period is not fixed.

If you were to stay the course and grow on to make it to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO)-the highest technical grade in almost any organization, you could be earning $150,000 to $180,000, depending on the organization you work for and the skills and experience you carry.

 So, what do have in you to make it to the field of software engineering? Great if you do, but don’t worry if you are not already there. This blog is meant to give you guidance on how to make it to this profession. That is why I want to explain in detail the top 20 software engineering courses, which are done with the aim of helping you get updated in this area and make a splash.

So, here we go!

1. IT for dummies | IT for beginners | IT for non-IT

This is the ideal “let us begin at the beginning” level course. So, you have no clue to what IT is? You don’t know where to begin? You don’t know if you’ll lose your way? Don’t worry. This is the right course for you.

It is designed to help you get a feel of the IT landscape. It will show you the ways in which software is built up. You will get an idea of what a code is, what it looks like, and what it does. You will get clarity on the software development process. You will get to understand the various roles that exist in the area of software development.

You will get an understanding of the following in this course:

The IT landscape:

• What is IT?
• Hardware and network
• Software applications and software development
• Project management
• Security and compliance

Roles in the IT industry

• Software developers
• Software architects
• Testers
• UX Designers
• Business Analysts
• Project Managers
• Scrum Master
• Product Owner
• Security Engineer / Cyber Security Professional
• Network Engineer
• System Administrator

Software applications and software development

• What is programming?
• How are software applications built up?
• Frontend and backend
• Is it frontend, backend, or both? (answers in the attachment)
• Databases
• Database exercise
• MySQL demo + solution to database exercise
• Client-server model
• Cloud
• IoT (Internet of Things)
• What different programming languages are there?
• Different stages in developing software
• Methodologies/frameworks for developing software: scrum, DevOps, and waterfall.

2. Machine Learning with Python

In this mini-course on Python programming for Machine Learning and statistical learning, you will get clarity on Python. You will learn this from the “Create my calculator: Learn Python Programming Basics Fast” module of this course. This course will give you an understanding of how to train your own prediction models with naive Bayes, decision trees, knn, neural networks, and linear regression. It will teach you how to evaluate each of these models.

You will understand applied statistics using Python for the data understanding stage and advanced data visualizations for the data understanding stage. This course includes some data processing for the data preparation stage in the future.

This course covers the following topics:

• Getting started
• Data Mining Process
• Download Data set
• Read Data set
• Simple Linear Regression
• Build Linear Regression Model: Train and Test set
• Build and Predict Linear Regression Models
• KMeans Clustering
• KMeans Clustering in Python
• Agglomeration Clustering
• Agglomeration Clustering in Python
• Decision Tree ID3 Algorithm
• Decision Tree in Python
• KNN Classification
• KNN in Python
• Naive Bayes Classification
• Naive Bayes in Python
• Neural Network Classification
• Neural Network in Python
• What Algorithm to Use?
• Model Evaluation
• Model Evaluation using Python for Classification
• Model Evaluation using Python for Regression.

3. Continuous Integration Concepts and Tools

Everything that you want to understand about Continuous Integration will be covered in this course. Want to understand what is and why we need it? Interested in its concepts and tools? Want to learn how to build a continuous integration pipeline? Want to grasp and implement its best practices? This course gives you insight into all these.

This course covers these:

• Introduction
• Introduction to Continuous Integration
• The Continuous Integration Pipeline
• Continuous Integration Tools
• Continuous Integration Concepts
• Git
• Maven
• Jenkins
• Docker
• Selenium
• Related Concepts
• Course Summary

4. Applied Statistics using R with Data Processing

This course is all about how to use R for applied statistics. In the CRISP-DM data mining process, Applied Statistics is at the Data Understanding stage. Taking off from here, this course also covers Data processing, which is at the Data Preparation Stage.

The tutor for this course will create advanced data visualizations using R for the data understanding stage. This course includes some data processing for the data preparation stage in the future.

This is the content of this course:

• Getting Started
• Data Mining Process
• Download Data set
• Read Data set
• Mode
• Median
• Mean
• Range
• Range 2
• Range 3
• IQR
• Quantile
• Population Variance
• Sample Variance
• Variance
• Standard Deviation
• Normal Distribution
• Skewness and Kurtosis
• Summary () and Str ()
• Correlation
• Covariance
• Inferential Statistics Tests
• One-Sample T-Test
• Two Sample Unpaired T-Test
• Two Sample Unpaired T-Test (Variance not Equal)
• Two Sample Paired T-Test
• Chi-Square Test
• One Way ANOVA
• Two Way ANOVA
• MANOVA
• Simple Linear Regression
• Multiple Linear Regression
• Data Processing: Select Variables
• Data Processing: Sort Data
• Data Processing: Filter Data
• Data Processing: Remove Missing Values and Remove Duplicates

5. Data Visualizations using R with Data Processing

This course explains R Programming for Data visualizations. It will give you an understanding of the Hello World Application, the Data Mining Process, how to download and read dataset, the Bar Plot, how to export Bar Chart as an Image, what is a horizontal Bar Chart, the Histogram, Histogram with Density Line, Line Chart, Multiple Line Chart, Pie Chart, among much more.

You will learn the following at this course:

• Getting Started
• Hello World Application
• Data Mining Process
• Download Dataset
• Read Dataset
• Bar Plot
• Export Bar Chart as Image
• Horizontal Bar Chart
• Histogram
• Histogram with Density Line
• Line Chart
• Multiple Line Chart
• Pie Chart
• 3D Pie Chart
• Scatterplot
• Boxplot
• Scatterplot Matrix
• GGPlot 2
• Aesthetic Mapping and Geometric
• Geometrics
• Labels and Titles
• Themes
• GGPlot2: Bar Chart
• GGPlot2: Histogram
• GGPlot2: Density Plot
• GGPlot2: Scatterplot
• GGPLot2: Line Chart
• GGPLot2: Boxplot
• Save GGPlot Image
• Data Processing: Select Variables
• Data Processing: Sort Data
• Data Processing: Filter Data
• Data Processing: Remove Duplicates and Missing Values

6. Apache Spark With Examples for Big Data Analytics

This course will help you understand the limitations of MapReduce and how Spark helps in overcoming these limitations. You will gain knowledge of the fundamentals of Scala Programming language and its features, attain solid expertise in using RDD for creating applications in Spark, master SQL queries using SparkSQL, and gain a thorough understanding of Spark Streaming features.

These are covered under these nine modules of this course:

• Dive into Scala
• OOPS and Functional Programming in Scala
• Introduction to Apache Spark
• Spark Basics
• Working with RDDs in Spark
• Aggregating Data with Pair RDDs
• Advanced Spark Concepts
• Spark SQL and Data Frames
• Spark Streaming

All this is taught through more than 10 real-world examples, such as:

• Explore player data from the 2014 world cup
• Aggregate data from eBay online auction data
• Understand different data points from Aadhaar data
• Develop an application to analyze funds received by an Indian startup
• Explore the price trend by looking at the real estate data in California
• Help retailer find out valid and invalid purchase transactions of the chain of stores in Bangalore
• Write Spark program find out the count of stores in each US region from USA states & Store locations data
• Develop Spark Streaming application to perform Twitter Sentiment Analysis

7. Design Patterns Simplified

Concepts related to Design Patterns are taught through interesting examples, diagrams, and visual effects. This course will show you how design can be used to solve the problem, without applying a pattern. You will understand the shortcomings of the design, how to alter the design, and much more.

This course follows the following syllabus:

• Introduction
• Strategy Pattern
• Factory Pattern
• Decorator Pattern
• State Pattern
• Observer Pattern
• Command Pattern
• Adapter Pattern
• Composite Pattern
• Facade Pattern

8. Object Oriented Programming Fundamentals

Anyone interested in learning the foundations of object-oriented programming will find this course useful. This course will improve your understanding of the fundamentals of this topic. You will be able to advance to a higher level of learning of C++, Java, C#, Python, or similar OOP-based programming languages. All these concepts will be taught through real-world examples.

The following are covered in this course:

• Why do we use object-orientation
• What is Object
• What is Class
• Abstraction
• Encapsulation
• Inheritance
• Polymorphism

9. Fast, Good & Cheap

This Agile course is intended to put you on the path to developing learning solutions using the Scrum process, which will help you to successfully facilitate the different Agile events. You will learn how to decompose large learning solutions into smaller deliverables that can be delivered within two weeks.

Far from being merely theoretical, this course is practical and is based on the real-life experiences of training professionals and learning organizations that have made the switch from ISD to Agile.

You will learn the same Agile techniques that helped these organizations and individuals reduce the time required to develop and deliver training solutions, which led them to achieve world-class customer satisfaction scores, as a result of which they were able to increase employee engagement. Not only that, following Agile led these organizations to align learning outputs with business strategy, which earned them the trust and admiration of their business stakeholders.

This course covers the following:

Section 1: Get a background in Agile, which will familiarize you with its philosophy and terminology

Section 2: Assess your organization to determine if your team is ready for Agile

Section 3: Design and develop your training programs step by step using Agile

Section 4: Understand how to determine if Agile is working and how to report the results to your business stakeholders

Section 5: This leadership section will show you how to lead an Agile learning team

10. Blockchain Technology and Bitcoin Fundamentals for Beginners

This course is all about bitcoin, and the engine that powers it: blockchain. You will gain clarity on these two technologies and their concepts. This course will show you how to how to store and use bitcoin, the different kinds of wallets, and the techniques for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. It will offer you a proper understanding of mining and cloud mining.

This course covers the following:

• What is blockchain?
• What is bitcoin?
• What is bitcoin mining?
• What is cloud mining?
• What are mining pools?
• How to store bitcoins?
• Types of bitcoin wallets

11. Automate Excel using Python – Xlwings | Series 1

With this course, you will learn to automate industry-level datasets in Excel. This learning is imparted through two hands-on case studies using Python.

Among many other topics, this course will teach you how to:

• Write macros (in Python) for their Excel sheets
• Automate Excel without any VBA code (installed by default)
• Build your own Formulas by coding User-defined Functions (UDFs) in Python
• Attain practical hands-on experience with industry-level datasets
• Automate, streamline and completely revolutionize your Excel workflow with Python macros.

The two case studies that are part of this course are designed to give you industry process line Python macros, whose creation will help:

• Reduce time in analysis
• Enable customization using Python packages
• Reduce macros code lines in the VBA codebase
• Create customized User-defined modules by Python functions

12. Learn How to Register a Report from Back End in Oracle Apps

From this course, you will learn how to register a report from the back end in Oracle Apps. Among many other things, this course will give you an understanding of how to:

• Define the concurrent program from the backend
• Define the request group from the backend
• Attach the concurrent program to request group from the backend
• Create a responsibility
• Create a user from the backend
• Add responsibility to the user from the backend
• Submit the program from the backend
• Initialize the program from the backend

13. Learn How to Develop First Report in XML Publisher

This course will teach you how how to develop the first report in XML Publisher. You will start by getting an idea of what the XML Publisher Reports are, and what their uses are. 

You will gain a thorough understanding of areas related to this, such as the use of XML Publisher Reports, how to move the file from local machine to server machine, how to generate the XML Tags, how to design wizard method, and the design direct method in the XML Template, and lots more.

Learning from this course includes:

• What is the use of XML Publisher Reports
• Explanation of the XML Publisher Reports
• How to move the File from Local Machine to Server Machine
• How to Generate the XML Tags
• How to Design Wizard Method the XML Template
• How to Design Direct Method the XML Template
• How to Design Reference Method the XML Template
• How to Create a Data Definition in Oracle Apps R12
• How to Create a Template in Oracle Apps R12
• How to Run the Report in Oracle Apps R12
• How to Submit the Supported Program for XML Publisher Reports
• How to Submit the XML Publisher Report in Oracle Apps R12

14. Oracle Apps R12 Financials Online Training

This course is about Oracle Apps R12 Financials, a software product from Oracle. It has wonderful uses that help manage an organization’s financial and accounting information. It gives organizations the ability to track detailed business transaction data, which can then be used for reporting and decision-making.

You will gain a full understanding of Oracle Apps R12 Financial’s applications, which consist of the following:

• Oracle R12 General Ledger Module
• Oracle R12 P2P Cycle
• Oracle R12 Accounts Payable Module
• Oracle R12 Accounts Receivable Module
• Oracle R12 Fixed Assets Module
• Oracle R12 Cash Management Module

15. Data Structures and Algorithms for Everyone

This course is about data structures and algorithms, how these work, and the logic that drives them. These two topics are covered in two parts in the following manner:

Part I – Data Structures

• Arrays
• Lists
• Linked Lists
• Stack
• Queue
• Hast Tables
• Heaps
• Binary Search Trees

Part II – Algorithms

• Bubble Sort
• Selection Sort
• Insertion Sort
• Merge Sort
• Quick Sort
• K Means
• Linear Search
• Binary Search
• Breadth-First Search
• Depth First Search
• Dijkstra’s Algorithm

16. LEARNING PATH: Scala: Scala Programmer – Beginner to Expert!

The main advantage of Scala is that being a simple, object-oriented, multipurpose, functional language, it has a tremendous ability to deconstruct data in intuitive and readable ways, because of which you can write in a few lines of code what other languages can several lines.

With lively examples, this course offers an easy-to-follow guide to getting a high level of proficiency in Scala. It will teach you how to build classes that compose one or more traits for complete re-usability or create new functionality by fusing them at instantiation.

With this learning, you will be able to save lots of time by building object-oriented, functional, Reactive, and concurrent applications. You will learn to harness the power of Scala for highly scalable and distributed, microservice-based applications.

Broadly, this course covers the following areas:

• Scala Beginner Programming Recipes
• Scala Intermediate Recipes
• Scala Expert Recipes

17. Talend Recipes: How To Solve Problems Using Talend

This course will give you a fair understanding of Talend Open Studio and equip you with the ability to be able to think about the scenarios and solve them using Talend.

Aimed at developers who have just started off, this course will help you learn the scenarios faced by the ETL developers, which will help you establish a strong understanding of the functionality of Talend. The feature of this course is that each chapter closes with jobs, with input files putting your newly learned skills into practical use immediately.

This course will start with a basic scenario, and move into more concepts such as looping, searching, and loading jobs. The last of these will help you establish a strong understanding of Talend Functionality.

• Introduction

Talend Recipes:

Learn how to

• Search for components in Talend
• Exclude header and trailer from input file
• Execute jobs in sequential and parallel mode
• Create multiple sheets in an Excel file
• Iterate on records present in the input file
• Reject rows from the input file using the tMap component
• Identify reject row option availability in component
• Run Talend jobs externally
• Reject invalid records based on schema validation
• Include header and trailer in the output file.

Once you have understood the basics, you will move to other advanced scenarios like Parallel and Serial Execution, and External execution of jobs.

18. Software Development Processes (SDLC Models)

This course on SDLC will dispel your fears and apprehensions about the details behind these processes. You will learn Software Development Processes easily and effortlessly.

Learners will understand the fundamentals behind the Software Development Processes (i.e., methodologies) that are absolutely vital for all the software development and the methodologies. Across the spectrum, everyone from Management Staff, Software Architects, Programmers, Testers, Database Developers, and System Administrators, to Network Administrators need to have a clear understanding of these processes.

This course will give you an understanding of:

• The Software Development Methodologies
• The Classic Model
• The Waterfall Model
• The V-Model
• The Iterative Model
• The Spiral Model
• The Rational Unified Process Model
• Agile Fundamentals – Manifesto, Values, Principles, Practices, etc.
• Extreme Programming (XP) Fundamentals
• The advantages and disadvantages of these models

19. Software Development Mindsets For Successful Career

Through this concise and step-by-step career guide, you will be guided through software development with its bite-sized videos. It will help you set proper mental models for being an entry, junior and senior developer, work on timelines for interview study, job hunting, and career management, properly manage and handle conflicts at work, and explore ways to expand as a developer. With all of these, you will be able to move beyond a senior position or work for an organization.

This course will consist of this syllabus:

• Entry – Navigate Beginnings
• Junior – Maintain Growth
• Senior – Bypass Ego
• Moving Forward

20. Garbage Collection Algorithms

Manual memory management usually comes with at least two major issues: Memory leaks and dangling pointers. To avoid these issues, most of the modern high-level programming languages implement automatic memory management. This method allocates objects manually. A special program, garbage collector, knows how to automatically deallocate them correctly, and reclaim them for future reuse.

This course is about the Garbage Collection Algorithms class. It will offer an understanding of all different techniques and algorithms related to automatic memory management, which are used in practice today.

It will cover all the aspects of the Garbage Collection Algorithms class. It will offer an understanding of:

• Algorithms and data structures behind Automatic Memory Management in computer programs.
• Memory management history: Static, Stack, Heap allocations
• Virtual memory and Memory Layout
• Tracing vs. Direct collectors
• Semantic vs. Syntactic garbage
• Mark-Sweep garbage collector
• Mark-Compact collector
• Reference counting collector
• Copying collector
• Generational collector
• Parallel, Incremental, Concurrent collectors
• Tri-color abstraction and marking
• GC Barriers

So, there we are. This is my sincere effort, through this blog on the top 20 software engineering courses, to get you closer to your career growth in software engineering. I hope this collection of courses will help you get closer to your aim of making it in software engineering.

With this bunch of courses, we hope we have offered you sufficient areas to learn and master in software engineering. The aim of making this list, as I mentioned at the beginning, is to aid you in choosing your career in software engineering, or put you up the ladder if you have already chosen it. It is my hope that this blog on the top 20 software engineering courses will make you as accomplished in software engineering as any of the directors mentioned in this blog. My wish is that you will be a champion software engineer!