Comprehensive ColdFusion training list (16 resources)

Lately, I have been reading comments asking about CF training and certification. A lot of CF developers want to improve their CFML skills.
The ColdFusion community is one of the best I have seen. Honestly. From the many excellent conferences to some other helpful resources, like online trainings for example. You can meet a lot of people just being happy to share their knowledge, and talk to other developers and enthusiasts about CFML, Lucee, ColdBox, or any other topic.
CF is always on the spotlight about being outdated, expensive, or any other reason non -CF-ers might say CFML should go to history. The reasons why ColdFusion is not dead are explained in this excellent article by Bret Peters
Now, let’s take a look at the list of all online places available for ColdFusion training:
1. Adobe ColdFusion Developer Center
Here you can learn the basics of ColdFusion programming and follow the latest updates from Adobe.
Who’s it for? Beginner CFers. Here you can learn the basics of ColdFusion programming and follow the latest updates from Adobe
Pros: this is an official website and resource on ColdFusion. You are one step closer to the support and other useful info.
Cons: Since this is an official website, I would expect more detailed tutorials and info about ColdFusion
Cost: Free
Website: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/coldfusion.html
2. Adobe ColdFusion Blog
Adobe’s official website and blog offer lot’s of useful material on the subject. They have 9 hours of material available about ColdFusion 2016 along with video tutorials.
Who’s it for?
It’s a great resource for all starter CF developers. You should have some basic knowledge about ColdFusion, otherwise, you might end up going back and forth with some questions.
Pros: very detailed, thoroughly explained tutorials with
Cons: It hasn’t been updated since 2016, and doesn’t offer anything for advanced level developers.
Cost: Free
Website:http://blogs.coldfusion.com/new-coldfusion-training-videos-available/
3. Learn CF In A Week
“Learn CF in a Week is a community driven training program that teaches all the basics you need to be a ColdFusion Developer in one week.” this one is for more experienced and advanced users and developers. You will also gain some basic skills even if you don’t want to be a CF developer, but want to have knowledge about ColdFusion.
Who’s it for?
More advanced developers that are training for certification and jobs. But, it also offers lots of useful info to all other CF enthusiasts and less proficient developers.
Pros: In their own words this course will help you get hired and work as a professional ColdFusion developer.
Cost: Free
Website: http://www.learncfinaweek.com/
4. Lynda
This is a great resource for CF developers “from beginner basics to advanced techniques, with online video tutorials taught by industry experts.”
It is a very nicely done source for CF, even older versions.
Who’s it for? Beginners to advanced developers
Pros: besides basics, it offers some excellent materials about older versions of ColdFusion
Cons: No training for ColdFusion 11
Cost: 30-Day Free Trial, Basic package is $19.99/month and Premium starts from $29.99/month
Website: https://www.lynda.com/ColdFusion-training-tutorials/174-0.html
5. Quackit
This is the ColdFusion tutorial for the beginners. If you already know the basics, it might come in handy to remind about some features every once in awhile, but no more than that. With 36 sections, it does provide good information about CFML.
Who’s it for? Beginners
Pros: nicely done interface, with well explained sections.
Cons: you do need basic knowledge of HTML before you dive into this.
Cost: Free
Website: https://www.quackit.com/coldfusion/tutorial/
6. Accelebrate
These guys have a very interesting course setup. They will come onsite or will have you at their offices, with you or/and with your team.
Who’s it for? Beginners to more advanced developers
Pros: very location friendly. If you’re running a business, and don’t have time to travel to conferences, school/s etc. then Accelebrate will be your cup of tea.
Cons: I couldn’t find any training material for ColdFusion 11. It’s time to have that one out guys.
Cost: pricing upon request
Website: https://www.accelebrate.com/coldfusion-training
7. American Graphics Institute
AGI is also location- friendly. Along with the training classes, they also provide private ColdFusion training programs.
Who’s it for? Beginners to more advanced developers
Pros: In addition to the in-person classroom instruction, this course includes a detailed ColdFusion training manual produced by the AGI’s Adobe-Certified Instructors so you can continue to develop your skills on your own. You can also learn about older versions of CFML, which is not very often.
Cons:
Cost: pricing upon request
Website: https://www.agitraining.com/adobe/coldfusion/training
8. Fig Leaf Software
Fig Leaf is very well known and well established in the CF community having authored the first two CF books with Ben Forta and having trained more than 35,000 students. The training is very up-to-date, and offer very fast paced course.Fig Leaf has written many of the official CF training and certifications for Allaire, Macromedia, and Adobe and wrote the most recent Advanced ColdFusion courseware for Adobe. Fig Leaf is also the author of the Administering ColdFusion class designed for CF Administrators.
Who’s it for? Beginner and Advanced ColdFusion developers and Admins. Fig Leaf’s classes are on GSA Schedule with discounted pricing for Government employees.
Pros: All classes are hands-on, instructor-led by a Certified Technical Trainer with 10+ years of CFML experience. The 3 and 4-day courses offer a fast-paced rhythm to get you the experience you “need to start building and maintaining dynamic and interactive Web applications using the ColdFusion application server.” Private training is very affordable for up to 12 students at $2,795/day plus T&E.
Cons: Cost — the classes are priced for professionals and are not priced to be paid for by individuals out of pocket
Cost: Fast Track to ColdFusion $1,995/per person (4 days)
Administering ColdFusion $1,995/per person (3 days)
Website: http://training.figleaf.com/Courses/ColdFusion_Training.cfm
9. Charlie Arehart
Charlie is considered a veteran of CF community. He offers free training and paid CF troubleshooting. He offers excellent training options, custom- tailored for your team, depending on their current proficiency and much more.
Who’s it for: beginners and advanced level. I suggest using some of the others for beginners section though and contact Charlie once those are mastered. He has a lot of time scheduled, so you’d want your time-slots well used.
Pros: excellent custom tailored sessions for you and/ or the whole team.
Cons: Charlie is very active and you might need to schedule way in advance for the sessions
Cost: if you catch him on one of the conferences about ColdFusion you might get some lessons “for free”. Also, Charlie has listed some of the Free training resources here.
If you want to get a training directly from him, it’s a paid training.
Website: http://www.carehart.org/training/
10. Ortus Solutions
These guys are awesome. Very inspiring and interesting to work with, and learn from. They have created multiple applications, like ColdBox, CommandBox, TestBox and ContentBox Modular CMS. You can catch Luis Majano and the guys at one of the CF Conferences throughout the year, and chat and learn about CFML, or have a detailed training from them.
Who’s it for: even though beginners might find it useful, I suggest it to advanced CF developers.
Pros: On-site training, and benefits that come with that: save time, Focus on topics that matter to your company etc.
Cons: they’re all very active in the community and at work, so you have to plan your trainings in advance if you want to have them train you and/or your team.
Cost: Prices upon request
Website: https://www.ortussolutions.com/services/training
11. Roundpeg
Roundpeg offers online and onsite classes, but is no longer available for public classes, only private ones. Besides CF they also offer other trainings which might be useful for a future developers.
Who’s it for: beginners to medium
Pros:
Cons: slower on a feedback and longer response time
Cost: upon request
Website: https://www.roundpeg.com/
12. Scot Antall
Scot is very experienced technical trainer and educator. He’s been teaching for almost 20 years, and can transfer knowledge very good.
Who’s it for: beginners to advanced
Pros: excellent resource for even older versions of ColdFusion
Cons: slow response time
Cost: starting from $25 for manuals and tutorials, but you need to contact him for the training.
Website: http://www.scottantall.com/courseware.html
13. Ledet Training
Good and fast 2-day to 5 day Adobe authorized classes, covering all important details and providing enough information to get new ColdFusion developers up to speed quickly or to help more experienced developers improve their skills.
Who’s it for: beginning to advanced CF developers
Pros: Very efficient and fast-paced instructor-led hands-on Adobe authorized training course. Multiple cities and locations available including online and onsite at company locations.
Cons:if you’re not well familiarized with CFML this one is one is not for you.
Cost: prices range from $1100 to $2500 for open enrollment, depending on course length and location. Onsite training quoted on request (starts at $7500 for a two day in most locations ranging up to about $25,000. Price depends on location and number of students
Website:
https://catalog.ledet.com/preview_program.php?catoid=5&poid=538
https://www.ledet.com/courses/211-Adobe-ColdFusion-Fast-Track-to-ColdFusion-Training-Class
14. Webucator
This one is not only for CF developers. It offers training for other Adobe products, but also for Java, mobile programming etc.
Who’s it for: beginners to advanced
Pros: Very good outline, with lots of informations. Developers say good things about their beginners classes. Excellent online classes for those who don’t want to or don’t have time for onsite trainings.
Cons: I wasn’t able to find the names of the instructors and their backgrounds. It would be helpful to know who’s training you and your team. I suggest including this info.
Cost: $790 per online course and higher. Up to couple of thousand $$ for live training sessions.
Website: https://www.webucator.com/adobe-training/coldfusion-training.cfm
15. Meetup groups
ColdFusion Meetup groups are a great resource for this as well. You can join one of them, or all, and meet these people on the meetings, or simply follow up after the Meetups, via recordings and blogs.
Who’s it for: advanced
Pros: great for networking, sharing and expanding your CF knowledge. Also good for topics that are not CFML, but have some connection to it.
Cons: hard to catch up if you’re not proficient in CFML
Cost: free to follow up via recordings and blogs, but it is not recommended since you’re losing an opportunity to connect and do networking
Website: https://www.meetup.com/coldfusionmeetup/
16. CF Docs
CF Docs is “UltraFast CFML Documentation Reference”. You can find good support here from the developers and longtime CFers that are very active in the community.
Who’s it for: medium to advanced
Pros: very easy to find what you need. Easy urls like: cfdocs.org/hash just hit /tag-name or /function-name. Lots of contributors and resources.
Cons:
Cost: free
Website: https://cfdocs.org/
This article was originally published on TeraTech website. For more info and to listen to the ColdFusion Alive Podcast please visit this link
About me
My name is Michael Smith and I love solving business problems and creating high-quality custom software so I founded TeraTech.
I have worked extensively with ColdFusion, SQL and Visual Basic. I have been programming and doing project management for over 35 years. I have both a Bachelors and Masters degree in math from Cambridge and graduated in the top 10% of my year.
I also teach Kundalini yoga and energy healing. I love helping people grow and transform. Practicing yoga has helped me succeed in IT because it keeps me calm in the middle of high-pressure projects!
