Technical Resources on the Fly – The Case of the PebbleU Platform

Problem description

Books and (professionally made) videos are great as resources when it comes to technical learning. Whether this is learning a new programming language, analyzing data, or even modeling business processes using specialized data models, it's naive to expect to learn everything from a single resource. This is especially the case when it comes to an online course, even if it is developed by a legitimate university. Perhaps that's why many instructors provide a list of references and further reading material to explore after the class is over.

But who has the money and time for all these resources? I mean, it’s great if the company you work for has a budget for continuous education (something they may value even), but, even that may not suffice for the dozens of books and videos you may need to keep up-to-date and delve deeper into a subject related to your line of work. Libraries may be a worthy alternative, but they often lack the variety of content or the latest publications on the various technical topics in which you may be interested.

The Quest for Solutions

So, what can you do to overcome this predicament? Well, there are various options under the umbrella of technical content platforms. Having experience with some of them for the past few years, I can have an informed view. So, before you decide on anything, it's best to do your research and talk to people who use them (not just those who have used them once to try them out). So, instead of boring you with the various options out there, many of which are great for the platform owners and no one else, I’ll focus on a particular solution I’ve tried and tested ever since it came out about a year ago.

Specific Solution Suggested

The technical content platform I suggest you use for all your technical needs, especially when it comes to data- and business-related topics, is PebbleU. I may have mentioned it before, at least briefly, but the fact that I continue talking about it and recommend it to my mentees speaks for itself. Also, all the technical authors I know through my publisher have made their books available on that platform. The publisher has contributed not only his own books but also a series of videos (if that's not leading by example, I don't know what is!). Lately, we've seen even some mini-courses on the platform too, mostly on cyber-security topics.

What makes this platform stand out is not just that it's newer than most of them, but mostly that it's built with various useful features. For example, there is a community of data professionals that every subscriber to this platform can interact with via the discussion forums on the site. The various items in the PebbleU library are easily searchable and the presence of built-in filters makes things even easier. The ability to add bookmarks to the books you read on the platform, as well as personal notes on that material, makes the experience even richer. Naturally, there is also a highlighting option, though you don't need to go to the stationery shop for that. If the font used in the text isn’t to your liking or it’s not large/small enough, you can change it, much like you’d change the font on a Word document. Did I mention that the newest items in the platform (e.g., a couple of my video courses) also have quizzes to solidify your understanding?

If you use the coupon code DSML on the TechnicsPub.com website, you can get a 20% discount on the PebbleU subscription. You can use the same code for the same kind of discount on most of the other items available through that website, e.g., my books.

Final Words

All in all, with the abundance of technical information available today, it's relatively easy to learn and hone your skills, especially when it comes to data- and business-related subjects. PebbleU is an excellent option for that. If you or someone you know is interested in that, you can learn more about it via this web page from the owner's website. Cheers!

Disclaimer: Technics Publications is also the sponsor of my podcast (at the time of this writing).