Research Park Technology Training Program Badges

In July 2020, the University of Illinois Research Park launched a free technology training program in partnership with Software Carpentry at the University of Illinois to increase skills in programming and data analytics to elevate the local tech sector workforce in Champaign-Urbana.

The program aided workers who needed to gain programming skills to be prepared for technical roles and project work and also sought to reach underrepresented and non-traditional tech populations in the community to help them enter the digital/tech workforce in Champaign-Urbana.

This free program combines technical skill development with coaching and mentoring by local tech professionals.

University of Illinois Research Park Professional Orange Tech Badge Research Park Technology Training Program Badges 7 Research Park Technology Training Program Badges

  • Completed at least 2 out of 5 software workshop tracks – descriptions below
  • Attended at least two Research Park technical user group
    – Monthly meetup groups focused on connecting and networking with others while learning new skills such as infrastructure, blockchain, data science, and more
  • Attended four hours of career coaching and mentoring with the local tech industry

University of Illinois Research Park Professional Blue Tech Badge Research Park Technology Training Program Badges 8 Research Park Technology Training Program Badges

  • Completed at least 3 out of 5 software workshop tracks – descriptions below
  • Completed and submitted a capstone project – descriptions
  • Attended at least two Research Park technical user group
    – Monthly meetup groups focused on connecting and networking with others while learning new skills such as infrastructure, blockchain, data science, and more
  • Attended two hours of career coaching and mentoring with the local tech industry

University of Illinois Research Park Student Tech Badge Research Park Technology Training Program Badges 9 Research Park Technology Training Program Badges

  • Completed 3 out of 5 software workshop tracks – descriptions below
  • Completed and submitted a capstone project – descriptions below
  • Attended two Research Park technical user group
    – Monthly meetup groups focused on connecting and networking with others while learning new skills such as infrastructure, blockchain, data science, and more

Description of Software Workshop Tracks

AUTOMATING TASKS WITH THE UNIX SHELL SERIES

Use of the shell is fundamental to using a wide range of other powerful tools and computing resources. This lesson guided participants through the basics of file systems and the shell and started a path towards using these resources effectively.

  • Introducing the Shell/Navigating Files and Directories/Working with Files and Directories
  • Pipes and Filters/Loops
  • Shell Scripts/Finding Things
BUILDING PROGRAMS WITH PYTHON SERIES

The best way to learn how to program is to do something useful, so this introduction to Python was built around a common scientific task: data analysis.

  • Setup/Fundamentals/Analyzing Patient Data
  • Visualizing Tabular Data/Repeating Actions with Loops
  • Storing Values in Lists /Analyzing Data from Multiple Files/Making Choices
  • Creating Functions/Errors and Exceptions/Defense Programming
MANAGING DATA WITH SQL SERIES

Three common options for storage are text files, spreadsheets, and databases. Databases include powerful tools for search and analysis and can handle large, complex data sets. These lessons showed participants how to use a database to explore the expeditions’ data.

  • Selecting Data/Sorting and Removing Duplicates/Filtering/Calculating New Values/Missing Data
  • Aggregation/Combining Data/Data Hygiene
  • Creating and Modifying Data/Programming with Databases (Python)
GIT/GITHUB VERSION CONTROL

Version control is the lab notebook of the digital world: it’s what professionals use to keep track of what they’ve done and to collaborate with other people. Every large software development project relies on it, and most programmers use it for their small jobs as well. In this lesson, participants learned to use Git from the Unix Shell as well as how to navigate GitHub.

  • Git Hub – Browser interface
  • Command line Git
WordPress Basics

WordPress is the most widely used content management system (CMS) on the web, being used to build over 30% of the world’s websites. Participants learned to navigate the WordPress dashboard and created a simple website.

Description of Capstone Projects:

PYTHON CAPSTONE

This capstone project was built around using Python to collect data from a remote source, process the data by passing it between transformative scripts, and finally plotting the data.

SHELL CAPSTONE

This capstone project was built around using the command line (Bash or close equivalent) to process a data collection consisting of many files.

SQL CAPSTONE

This capstone project was built around using SQL to explore a data set describing phasor measurement unit (PMU) electrical usage data.