Commit to building your OpenEdge skills one on-demand or instructor-led training course at a time.
The new year comes around and inevitably we say to ourselves, “This year, I will be completely different!” Will you, though? According to an article in Inc., 91% of people who make New Year’s resolutions end up not keeping them.
Why don’t traditional tough-it-out resolutions work? In a New York Times post, Melissa Kirsch writes, “Resolve to always be resolving.” She continues, “You don’t need a specific day of the year to start to change your life. You can resolve to do something differently anytime. And you can decide to do these things for an hour, a day, a week. Then see if you want to continue.” This approach to resolutions can take place any time of year as a series of small steps to self-improvement, not the kind of giant leap that 91% of us seem to find impossible to handle.
Resolving to Learn
With this different approach to resolutions, I turn our attention to lifelong learning. Every day is a good day to dive into something new. There is always something more to discover, even if you consider yourself an expert in a topic. In fact, I’ve found that as soon as I think I’m an expert in something, it’s time to go back to the basics. Even if I don’t learn something new, I’ll find a new way to share foundational information with others and that makes me a better teacher.
Progress OpenEdge embraces lifelong learning, most likely because the team of Professional Services educators and content creators are lifelong learners themselves. We employ people with the deepest OpenEdge knowledge and a passion for sharing what they know with others. We want current and future OpenEdge developers and administrators to succeed in their professions.
Free New Developer Training
Our commitment to training starts with our free Basic OpenEdge Developer Learning Path and Certification for OpenEdge 12. For those who aren’t familiar, this is a great introduction to Progress OpenEdge, an integrated and productive application platform for the development, deployment and management of business applications.
The course offers eight self-paced training courses and five exams covering topics including Progress OpenEdge Advanced Business Language (ABL), the OpenEdge database and architecture and design principles. These courses are suitable for first-time coders and people with programming experience in other languages. Best of all, it’s free. We want everyone to have a chance to learn OpenEdge and hope that in doing so, developers will find more opportunities for financial and career growth.
On-Demand Training
In addition to our new developer training for OpenEdge 12 beginners, we also offer dozens of on-demand courses for other OpenEdge specialties. Additional classes include:
- Getting Started with Pro2
- Migrate to Progress Application Server for OpenEdge
- Advanced Progress OpenEdge Database Administration
Some of these courses have a fee, but many are free to all OpenEdge users. With on-demand training offered through the Progress Education Community, learners have access to anytime, anywhere courses. Each class has clear objectives for the student with concise steps to follow to learn and practice a skill. At the end of each lesson topic, there are questions to check your understanding and most courses include hands-on exercises for you to try it for yourself.
Instructor-Led Training
The freedom an on-demand training offers is exactly what many people want, but some people feel that they learn better when they take a class with a trainer. Fortunately, Progress offers a variety of instructor-led courses.
We hold our instructor-led courses in North American and European time zones and languages. Some courses are held in-person, either in a central location for students from multiple companies or on-site at the office of students from a single company. We also offer virtual in-person training so that students and instructors can gather online. Both virtual and in-person instructor-led trainings offer students a lab environment to learn with direct interaction from experienced trainers.
We offer a robust calendar of courses, but some companies prefer to schedule a customized training from our list of available course topics. With a minimum of four students, these courses can be held at a time and location convenient to your organization’s schedule at an affordable price.
Progress Academy
Of all the instructor-led training Progress offers, the most popular OpenEdge course is Progress Academy. There are two versions of Progress Academy—one for newer developers and one for advanced users.
The foundational Hybrid Progress Academy for OpenEdge is a four-week intensive program designed to teach developers how to program with ABL and how to become an OpenEdge developer. The Hybrid Academy is a combination of instructor-led training and self-paced online training. This program is a great starting point for new OpenEdge developers.
For our advanced users, we offer a one-week Advanced Progress Academy for OpenEdge course to refresh existing skills and discover new ways to design, build and optimize your OpenEdge platform.
Committed to Educating
The Progress Professional Services team is proud to offer a variety of learning formats and rich content for our OpenEdge developers and administrators. We are lifelong learners in a unique position to also be teachers.
January comes and goes every year and with it so do the big, unattainable resolutions we often make. This year, try something different. Resolve to resolve that today you’re going to grow your OpenEdge skills and commit to your journey of lifelong learning. Whether you’ve got years of OpenEdge experience or just a few days, we want to meet you at your current level and help you with your commitment to professional growth.
Joelle Andrews
Joelle Andrews is a Product Marketing Manager focused on Progress Customer Care. Joelle’s past experience includes two years with the DataDirect team and a decade of experience in other product marketing, marketing automation, and sales roles. Outside of work, Joelle loves hiking, getting lost in a book, rescuing cats, and traveling the world.