What are the digital technology training courses and skills most in demand by companies? Serge Gueguen, Head of Digital Technologies at ORSYS, comments on the top IT training courses and outlines the trends for 2022.
The year 2021 has just come to an end. An opportunity to take stock of ORSYS' most successful training courses. Behind the 1,200 digital technology training courses we offer, there are skills and professional certifications that our customers want to acquire. Their motivations vary: to master the use of new software, to integrate new working methods, to improve their skills, or even to change careers.
To establish this ranking, this photo-finish of the year 2021, we have taken into account the number of registrations for each course. So what are the most popular courses?
Major trends: data visualization and project management
Several trends are emerging. The first concerns data visualization. Graphical data analysis is becoming increasingly popular. Professionals are looking to develop their skills and their mastery of specialised software in business intelligence such as Microsoft's Power BI or SAP BusinessObjects. It's hardly surprising: in just a few years, data and data analysis have become central to the concerns of businesses, as part of the drive towards digital transformation and the digitalisation of society.
The second major trend concerns project management. Training courses leading to certification in this area (ITIL®, PRINCE2®, PMP®, SCRUM, etc.) are very popular.
Strangely, the Programming languages are only a small part of our top ten. Of course, Python (in 5e position) remains ORSYS's star language. Also in the top 20 is Angular, Google's front-end framework. The other languages are much further down the list.
"Our offering has been a great success, as all but one of the top 20 are practical courses," explains Serge Gueguen, who is responsible for the development of ORSYS' digital technology offering. This strong demand shows that participants are interested in directly operational courses.
Here are the top five most popular line-ups.
1. Power BI: data visualisation and dashboards take centre stage
The star of the training is Power BI, designing dashboards. Power BI, Microsoft's data analysis software, has become a data visualisation standard in just a few years. It is well integrated with the Microsoft 365 suite and Excel. This training course is accessible to a wide audience, the only prerequisite being the ability to use a spreadsheet.
A Power BI dashboard presents various graphs on a single page, providing information about a product, a company or a customer. This tool has become essential for managers in their decision-making.
This course is designed for anyone who wants to create graphical and interactive dashboards using data from Excel, databases or other sources. It is punctuated by numerous practical exercises to put the knowledge taught into practice.
2. ITIL® 4: the benchmark for IT best practice
On the second step of the podium, we find the training ITIL® 4 Foundation with certification. As its name suggests, the course culminates in professional certification. Serge Gueguen is not surprised by the course's ranking: "ITIL® has always been well positioned in our catalogue, because it is the benchmark for best practice in IT". In fact, over the last ten years or so, ITIL® has become the standard for IT service management. Published in 2019, the latest version, ITIL® 4, incorporates the new practices of Agile and DevOps methods, to keep up with the times.
3. Software testing, ISTQB® Foundation level: a great classic
In third place was another course leading to certification. Delivered over three days, the Software testing, ISTQB® Foundation level, Certified Tester (CTFL) is aimed at all software testing professionals, whether in production or operations. It enables participants to acquire the vocabulary of the norms and standards used in testing and to master the entire testing methodology and process. At the end of the course, participants validate their knowledge by taking the ISTQB® (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) international certification exam, the must in the sector.
4. Python, object programming: Python's success continues unabated
Against all expectations, it is neither JavaScript, nor Java, .NET or C++ in our ranking. The only programming language in our top ten is Python, which has enjoyed undeniable popularity for several years. For example, the Python, object programming is the most popular. ORSYS has supported the growth of this language: "Our Python offering has expanded significantly in 2021 and will continue to grow in 2022," explains Serge Gueguen. And why? Because big data, artificial intelligence and task automation all make use of Python.
Another significant advantage of the language is that "Python is not just for computer scientists: we also have scientists and data scientists taking our courses", stresses Serge Gueguen. This year, ORSYS is offering new courses for the data science, THE big data with the Spark framework,introduction to economic and scientific data processing. Others aim toautomate your office tasks or thesystem administration.
Python's ease of use and the large number of libraries that make it so versatile make it THE language of 2022.
5. Agile project management methods
Project management has always been at the heart of our training catalogue. This will continue to be the case in 2021, with courses on Agile methods, Scrum, SAFe®, PRINCE2® and more. Agile project management methods, understanding the approach is part of the top 5.
By following this course, you will learn how to use the Agile methodology to manage projects, giving them the flexibility to deal with the unexpected while promoting continuous improvement. Starting with this course is an essential prerequisite for any project manager who wants to go further and put this revolutionary method into practice.
