Review — Is Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization worth it?
My review of Coursera's most popular Java certification — Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization by Duke University.
Hello guys, if you want to become a Java Developer in 2024 and learn Java in depth and looking for the best Java courses online then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared the best Java Programming courses, websites, and books, and today, I am going to review Courser’s most popular Java certification, the Java Programming and Software Engineer Fundamentals by Duke University.
This is one of the top Java courses from Coursera and more than 218K students have already joined this course. This course is offered by Duke University and it also offers a certification after completing all modules of the course and doing the project on the final module.
While the social proof is enough to join this course, we’ll review this course on different parameters like Instructor quality, course structure, content, etc to help you make an informed decision.
Software engineering is probably the most important role or job in every industry especially for businesses that highly depends on computers and websites. Companies use different programming languages to serve their needs like Swift for iOS and macOS application and every language serve a certain platform but Java is special.
With Java that you can write a single code and work on many platforms like Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Java is a modern programming language as well as supports OOP (object-oriented programming) and was invented back in 1995 by oracle corporation and it can be used in any platform that runs java like windows, Linux, macOS, and is used as well as in the android application.
Thankfully, many courses out there to learn Java programming language on different platforms like Udemy, Educative, Pluralsight, Skillshare, edX, Coursera, and more but I have found a course offered by Duke University through the Coursera platform and you are now reading this review for that course.
Coursera Review —Is Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization on by Duke University worth it?
Now that you know how important and beneficial learning the Java Programming language can be, it’s time to find out how this course can help you to become a Java developer in 2024.
As I said, this is one of the most popular Java courses and certifications on Coursera. Since it, a specialization means you will get a certificate from Coursera after completing the course and project which you can showcase in your CV and LinkedIn Profile.
1. The Instructor Reputation
The course is created by four instructors from Duke University and here in this section I’m going to discuss in a brief the reputation of every instructor so let’s start with the first one:
Susan H. Rodger: She got her Ph.D. as well as M.S from Purdue University in the field of computer science and she is a professor in the computer science department at Duck University and worked on many different computer projects.
Robert Duvall: He taught in this university for over 15 years and a lecturer in the Duck university computer science department and holds an MS degree in computer science from Brown University.
Owen Astrachan: One of the best professors at Duck University with over 25 years of experience teaching students computer science and he helped creating some projects related to computer science.
Andrew D. Hilton: a prior advisory at IBM and a teacher at Duck university since 2012 as well as an associate professor in this university at the electrical and computer engineering.
If you are in hurry and want to check out the course now, here is the link to learn more about this course on the Coursera platform — Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamental Specialization
2. The Specialization Content and Structure
This popular Java specialization contains many courses which are geared toward beginners until you acquire the skills to create programs that can solve complex real-world problems. You can also join these courses for free for learning. So let’s explore the specialization content:
2.1. Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
This is the first course of this Java specialization but interestingly it teaches programming foundations using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript which is great for Java web developers.
Being a programmer not only as all people think creating programs but rather is solving real-world problems and the most important thing like a computer so you can program it to solve certain issues.
This small course will teach you the concepts of some other languages like JavaScript and creating simple web pages using HTML/CSS. More than 400K students have already joined this course.
Here is the link to join this course — Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
2.2. Java Programming: Solving Problems with Software
After understanding how to think like a programmer and some foundation concepts you will start learning the Java language like the loops, functions, variables, creating class, and much more stuff as well as building some simple programs.
More than 200K students have joined this course to learn Java programming and you can also join this particular course for free but you need to pay for certification.
Here is the link to join this course — Java Programming: Solving Problems with Software
2.3. Java Programming: Arrays, Lists, and Structured Data
In the previous course, you have learned many things but still no everything. This course will introduce you to arrays, lists, structured data, and you will build a program that encrypts data as well as decrypting them.
This is a very important course because it touches the Java Collection framework which provides standard implementations of several key data structures like an array, list, set and map.
A good understanding of this module is required to use Java in your professional and day-to-day work. More than 100K people have joined this free course.
Here is the link to join this course — Java Programming: Arrays, Lists, and Structured Data
2.4. Java Programming: Principles of Software Design
Now after you have learned many things about the Java language you will try to create some application that solves real-world problems using the interface and one of the projects is a simple program that analyzes and sort the earthquake data.
Software design is a difficult topic to master but yet very important one. There are not many free courses to learn Software design but you can use this one to refresh your software design skills or learn from scratch.
Here is the link to join this course Java course- Java Programming: Principles of Software Design
2.5. Java Programming: Build a Recommendation System
There is no better way to learn than by building projects and this last module of Coursera’s most popular Java certification program asks you to create projects.
You have achieved a lot and to prove that you are understood Java very well you are going to create a recommender system as you see in big companies’ services such as Netflix and Amazon.
This is a very interesting project for Java programmers as you will work with data of movies and you create a recommendation system using that data. I highly recommend every Java programmer to try out this project and improve their Java and software development skills.
Here is the link to join this project — Java Programming: Build a Recommendation System
3. People’s Review
This Coursera specialization is probably one o the best courses to learn the foundation of programming as well as the Java language. The course rating of 4.6 scores and has more than 218K students enrollments proving that it worth your time and effort to take this course and start a career as a software engineer in the Java language.
The statistics show that 42% of the students started a new career after completing the specialization as well as 17% got an increase in the payment or a promotion.
And, here is the link — Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamental Specialization
By the way, If you are planning to join multiple Coursera courses or specializations, then consider taking a Coursera Plus subscription which provides you unlimited access to their most popular courses, specialization, professional certificate, and guided projects.
That’s all about Coursera’s popular Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamental Specialization. This article was a review for one of the greatest courses to learn the concepts of programming and how to think like a computer as well as the Java language that becomes more popular day after another and now you are one step to start your new career.
So what you are waiting for? Join this course and become a Java developer in 2024. I highly recommend this course for beginners. The final capstone project is really interesting and you will learn a lot.
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Thanks for reading this article so far. If you find my review of Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization by Duke University on Coursera then please share it with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback then please drop a note.
P. S. — If you are keen to learn Java but can’t afford this course and looking for free online training courses to learn Java then I highly recommend you to check out Java Tutorial for Complete Beginners(FREE) on Udemy. This course is completely free and more than 1 million developer shave joined this course to learn Java for FREE.
