Basics

The best way to start learning today has become easier than ever, with plenty of online courses offered online. Students can start learning the best concepts without having to leave their homes and at the utmost comfort. The increasing number of internet users makes it easier for them to access online courses and learn by themselves.

There are all types of online courses available for students to choose from. The list of these courses includes all types of courses that can help deliver excellent results. Starting from regular subjects, arts, music, and many more fields got covered under one roof. Also, these courses are uploaded and created by trusted tutors who can teach you all the best things there is.

Why Choose Machine Learning Courses?

The more you move forward in the right direction, the more appreciation and future growth you can retain. As per Gartner’s recent technology trends, machine learning and artificial intelligence have become the latest of all trends as they deliver excellent support for running the operations with the best intentions.

Therefore, if you want to secure your future by setting your cornerstone in the right manner, start learning machine learning as it helps generate excellent results, and the future scope lies here. By following the right set of instructions, you can also secure your career in the upcoming trends.

6 Best Online Courses that Deliver the Expected Results for Machine Learning Enthusiasts

To learn machine learning, it becomes crucial to find courses that are actually supported and curated by experts. Without learning to justify them, you can never rely on generating the best results. Students can choose from all available courses on different educational platforms where the best support can be garnered.

Here are the best courses to choose from the myriad of courses of machine learning available on online platforms. By selecting anyone as per your convenience and learning level, you can start your first step on the right note.

1. Machine Learning Course Offered by Stanford University

Coursera is one of the best online course platforms that combines all the best courses one a single platform. This course offered by Stanford University helps you earn a certificate from the university itself when you complete it. This particular course is curated by Andrew Ng, a professor at Stanford University who is also a co-founder of Coursera. 

Hence, the expertise and features offered by this course are incomparable as it helps deliver excellent content and teaching experience. The course has scored more than 2.6 million students and has 4.9 out of 5 ratings. Therefore, if you are looking forward to starting learning the same in the best way, this course is the best that you can find.

2. Machine Learning Course A-ZTM: Hands-On Python & R In Data Science

This particular machine learning course is offered on Udemy by data science experts Kirill Eremenko, and Hadelin de Ponteves. As the name of the course suggests, this course is a complete package for those students who want to start from the first step and take it to an advanced level. Also, this particular course helps you master the Python and R development that are two of the best programming languages of today.

The total course duration is 40+ hours, and it includes the video lectures along with practical exercises that the students can practice by themselves. For example, if an angular js development company wants its employees to learn and master from this course, they can rely on it as it gives them practicals too to check what their expertise level is. This course has received 4.5 out of 5 ratings by the students and professionals who enrolled for the same.

3. Deep Learning Course

Deep learning is one of the less explored areas of the machine learning universe. As the implementation of deep learning is becoming one of the important essences for businesses around the world. The more you consider running the course outputs to produce excellent results, you can actually garner the best experience.

This course is again introduced by Andrew Ng, who is one of the reputed experts in the field of machine learning. This single course includes five different courses under a single roof, and hence, it spans across a few weeks. e.g., if you want to deliver an home delivery software, you have to go through the basics and then proceed to advanced. Similarly, this course progresses to advanced level from the basics.

Still, this course gives you the chance to practice on the real-world data of medical, finances, natural language processing, and more. Hence, you not only learn how deep learning works, but you can also use this experience to empower your future projects.

4. Applied Machine Learning

This particular course is offered by Columbia Engineering Executive Education. This specific course directly teaches the concepts of machine learning that need your attention and help you brush up your concepts over the machine learning terminologies and more. Applied machine learning course includes all the algorithms and methods of supervised and unsupervised learning and helps you understand how the actual implementation is done.

It can get you a jumpstart to how the machine learning concepts work. This particular online course helps in learning the fundamentals of data science along with the practical implementation of Python and its libraries. It powers up your career as the course completion certificate will be waiting for you at the end of the course modules.

5. Machine Learning Data Science Course

The course offered by Harvard University ensures you get a new view of the concepts of machine learning and data science as well. This course is covered under Harvard’s professional certification program. Hence, upon completion, you earn a certificate from Harvard University, and it helps you learn from the best of machine learning concepts.

The course extensively puts emphasis on learning R programming language for the implementation of machine learning concepts and hence, introduces you to the future programming language. The course modules are well-distributed to generate the best results in no time. It also includes a module where real-life case studies are mentioned and used.

6. Machine Learning- Artificial Intelligence Course

This course is offered by Columbia University, and it powers up your basic concepts to deliver excellent learning experience. It is a micro master course that teaches the basics and helps you get started with any other advanced courses.

The course also teaches you how you can implement the concepts in the real-world by including the possible applications and case studies on each. It also includes dedicated modules for learning neural networks and helps determine the practical application of each. This course has received 4.5 scores out of 5.

Conclusion

By choosing anyone from these courses, you can ensure learning the best approaches that empower your career. The more you get involved in learning through these courses, the more results you can achieve with your earned expertise. With continuous developed practice and skills over time, you can become one of the leading machine learning experts to make a good sum of money and secure your future with the best of technology trends. So, what are you waiting for? Start preparing now!

Cyber Security Basics Every Beginner Needs to Learn

It can feel like there’s a new cyber security threat every few months. A new strain of ransomware, called Clop, is the latest threat to Windows 10 users.

Experts always tell users to adopt best practices in response. But it can be easy to wonder what you need to know about cyber security. 

What is the best practice? Thankfully, it’s easy to get a grip on it once you understand how it works.

We’ve gathered the cyber security basics you need to learn. Read on to learn more.

Understanding Cyber Security

One of the most common forms of cybercrime comes via ‘phishing’. This is where people get emails that seem to be from a legitimate source. These emails may tell them about fraudulent activity on their account and they’re given a link to log in.

The person enters their details on a fake page. This hands over their sensitive information to the phisher. That might be their login details or credit card information.

Yet cyber security refers to more than setting good passwords and being vigilant for phishing emails. It also refers to maintaining databases and managing network access. 

That involves data, hardware, and software. All three of these areas are vulnerable to attacks from cybercriminals.

Hackers might hack into your system to access data, disrupt your network, or even use your business resources. Why?

Botnet Attacks

Some attackers leave code in your system that turns your machines into bots in their network. This lets attackers use them in a botnet attack.

In a botnet attack, all the enlisted machines perform the same action at the same time. 

This is what happened during the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in 2016. So many machines ‘pinged’ the Dyn network that the extra traffic crashed their system. It brought down Twitter, CNN, Netflix, and Reddit, among others.

Smart devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) can be vulnerable to this. Early devices don’t always let users change the access details from the factory settings. They stay stuck on their factory settings.

That means attackers can add smart devices to a bot network. It also means attackers can often access a network via the weakest point – an unsecured smart device.

Ransomware

In a worst-case scenario, attackers can infect your system with ransomware. This type of malware encrypts files, only decrypting them if a ransom is paid.

The WannaCry ransomware epidemic of 2018 was this kind of attack. It ended up costing the British NHS £92 million.

There’s no guarantee that paying the ransom will see your files decrypted. 

Protecting Yourself and Others

Early computer users worried most about computer viruses. Here, you can see how the threats have evolved. Many of them are very sophisticated and it makes them harder to deflect.

There are still things you can – and should – do to protect yourself. If you work for a company, being well-versed in cyber security basics also protects the business.

Access to Information

Does everyone need access to certain files and folders? Restricting access is a simple way to cut down the threat of unauthorized access to data.

Make sure all staff members get training in using strong passwords. Employees need to follow best practices, like not writing down passwords.

On your home PC, a simple thing you can do is to create separate accounts for administrator rights and ordinary users.

If a hacker accesses your system, the lack of admin privileges limits the number of actions they can perform.

On devices, two-factor authentication or biometric verification can help reduce access.

Manipulation of Data

Access to data isn’t the only problem. Attackers can also delete or edit data.

File permissions help to control data breaches. Version control can also help identify illicit alterations to data.

Regular backups are the most common way to manage the loss or alteration of data. Cloud backups are a good way to maintain the safety of data since it is kept off-site. If a physical disaster befell your office, you’d still have your data.

Physical backups on removable hard drives also mitigate against ransomware. This is because ransomware can only encrypt files it can access.

If you disconnect the hard drive after a backup? This keeps the data safe from ransomware.

Regular Updates

Developers release regular updates for both hardware and software. These updates help to plug gaps in the code that can be exploited by attackers.

Keeping your firewall and antivirus software up-to-date will keep out most threats. Remember to install updates for your operating system and other software you use.

Not installing security patches or updates leaves your system vulnerable. Include these updates as part of your security maintenance routine.

It’s also worth designing a disaster recovery plan so you know what to do if the worst does happen. 

Progressing From Cyber Security Basics

If you want to learn more about cyber security, check out a certification. Many of them run a CISSP Code of Ethics which gives you an idea of their values.

CISSP stands for Certified Information Systems Security Professional. Getting CISSP-certified will help you gain the confidence you need to manage the cyber security matters for your own business.

It will also help you to start a new career in cyber security. Or these certifications can help you add a new skill set within an existing job.

Just be aware that cyber security isn’t a single career discipline. It covers a wide range of jobs at a range of levels. There are also many opportunities for non-technical personnel. Don’t let it put you off if you don’t have a degree in computer science.

Boost Your Cyber Security

Now you understand cyber security basics you can start to put these measures into place. Within home computing, they help give you the peace of mind you need to surf the internet with ease.

Within a company setting, these basics can help guard your customer data and keep your business running. Bring them into a regular routine to make them second nature for all employees.

Why not check out our other articles on our blog for more helpful tips?

Marketing 101: 4 Digital Marketing Basics Everyone Needs to Know

Did you know that the advertising industry is over $100 billion?

Huge numbers like this are what drives plenty of people away from marketing. It sounds complex and expensive, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

But you do have to be good at marketing to make it work. And if you haven’t had any education on digital marketing before, strap in. We’re going to marketing school.

In this article, we’re going to break down the basics of digital marketing. After reading, you’ll be ready to pass your Marketing 101 exam.

Read on to learn more!

1. SEO

If you’ve ever looked into digital marketing, chances are that you’ve heard of SEO. Many people think the two terms are synonymous!

While they aren’t the same, SEO is one of the bigger parts of digital marketing. And many businesses are just now starting to learn what it is.

SEO is telling Google more about your website so that it ranks you higher when people look for information about your topic. This sounds complicated, but it’s actually quite easy.

You tell Google about yourself when you write content about your industry or use headlines with keywords in them. When you update your meta descriptions or title your photos, you’re giving Google valuable information.

With this information, Google learns what your website is about. That way, they know when to show people your site. If you write about interior design, Google will be more likely to rank you for interior design.

Backlinks and Consistent Posting

This isn’t all that SEO is though. It’s also about getting backlinks, updating regularly, and more.

Backlinks, links on other sites that point back to your site, are one of the quickest ways to boost your SEO. This tells Google that you are a reliable source. It’s almost like a referral on a job interview.

Updating regularly tells Google that your information is contemporary. The last thing Google wants to do is send someone to a page that has outdated information. The more often you post on your blog, the more Google will see you as reliable. 

SEO is complex though, and this short description was not enough to get you started. Make sure to learn more information about how you can start ranking first.

2. Influencers 

How would you like to reach 10,000 or more potential buyers for a low fee?

It’s easy with influencers on social media. With thousands to millions of followers, you can be sure to reach a specific demographic with influencers.

For example, if you’re trying to reach a younger health community, you simply contact someone like an athlete or blogger who already interests them.

You send them your product and pay them to promote it, and voila! You have a few thousand potential leads. 

If you’re a local store or don’t do eCommerce, you don’t have to feel left out. Micro influencers can be of help to you too. They have a local following that will let you advertise to people in your area at a much lower price than TV or radio ads.

Micro influencers can also be helpful when your product is for a niche audience. There aren’t many farming influencers, but if you find one, they can be quite valuable.

3. Social Media

Social media is another giant of digital marketing. If this isn’t part of your marketing game, it needs to be. 

Why?

It’s free, and it’s easy. And most of all, it works. While it may take some time to build a following, social media can all but ensure that you grow your business.

But before you get started with social media, you need to make sure your target audience is there. Some platforms work better than others depending on your goals.

If your target audience is younger, chances are they are on Instagram. If they’re professionals, go to LinkedIn. Older? Facebook’s your best bet. 

Many marketing pros make the mistake of trying to be on every platform. This means they often post the same thing on every social media channel, but what works on Facebook doesn’t always work on Instagram.

Instead, focus on one or two channels that your target audience is on. Becoming a jack of all trades should not be your goal with social media.

4. Content Marketing

Content marketing is arguably the lifeblood of all other types of digital marketing. No matter what you’re doing, this inbound marketing strategy can help.

In short, content marketing is creating content that your potential customers read r watch online. Whether it’s a video, infographic, or article, this content should give your consumers free yet valuable information.

This makes them feel like they care about your brand. And it also educates them about what you’re doing. When they come to your business again, they’ll know that you are an expert and will want to work with you.

Content marketing helps you with your social media and SEO strategies too. Instead of tweeting random thoughts, you can tweet articles and infographics you’ve created on your site.

And when you’re trying to improve your SEO, a weekly blog is the way to do it. This can work hand-in-hand with your content marketing strategy.

Ready to Graduate from Marketing 101?

Now that you’ve read this article, you should be ready to move on from marketing 101. Take these types of marketing and start promoting your business as much as you can.

Remember that there are more ways to do this, and some might work better for your business than others. 

Want to learn more about how to utilize digital marketing? You’ll want to read our article on digital marketing trends.