Marketing & IT Specialist

Author: Katrina Morin (Page 1 of 3)

Common Coding Languages

Have you ever wondered what people mean when they say that they know “code?” Have you ever asked them what they mean and they start spouting off names of things that go right over your head? Don’t worry; unless you have coded before in your life, you are most likely only going to know the language of the internet (html) and not much else. Heck, even professional coders don’t always know the coding languages that others know. There are a ton out there, but some languages are very similar to each other or build off of others.

The following are some of the common languages most coders are likely to either start off with or learn everything about to become an expert in that specific language. Again, there are many languages out there, so this will just be about the most common languages. I will write another blog post later that will contain more languages, but if you are looking for a starting point for your future in coding, these are the ones you should looking into first.

C++

C++

Photo Credits: Adobe Stock

C++ is a general-purpose programming language. It has imperative, object-oriented and generic programming features, while also providing facilities for low-level memory manipulation. It is a language that most “hard-core” coders know at least a bit about, if not all the basics. It is a great language to get into, especially since it is so widely used, but it is a bit difficult for beginners.

HTML

HTML-and-CSS

Photo Credits: Pexels

This is the language of the internet. According to Khan Academy “HTML is the markup language that you surround content with, to tell browsers about headings, lists, tables, etc. CSS is the stylesheet language that you style the page with, to tell browsers to change the color, font, layout, and more.”

Java

Java

Photo Credits: Pexels

Java is a general-purpose computer-programming language that is concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, and specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. According to Oracle “It is intended to let application developers “write once, run anywhere” (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation.”

Python

Python

Photo Credits: Pexels

Python is an interpreted high-level programming language for general-purpose programming. Python has a design philosophy that emphasizes code readability, notably using significant whitespace. It provides constructs that enable clear programming on both small and large scales.


These are the most common languages that I know of. There are a few others that programmers gravitate towards, but if you are really serious about getting involved with coding languages, these are probably the best ones to start with.


Check out my previous Blogs for more useful tips:

Discounts for Students

What to Know for SEO

Saving to the Cloud

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Saving to the Cloud

You have all heard about the horrors of saving your documents and images to the Cloud. Heck, there was even a movie about it! It is no surprise that people are wary when thinking about using a Cloud service for their important files, but there is very little risk about using a service that offers Cloud products, unless you are part of the government and are trying to protect classified documents. Then I would suggest you use a protected server from said government to ensure every step necessary to protecting your document has been taken.

Cloud Services have really taken off in the last decade. More and more people are moving from purchasing flash drives and external hard drives to purchasing a subscription to a cloud service for a year and uploading their documents so that they can access them from wherever they may be. There are three main competitors when it comes to the Cloud market, all of which are great in their own ways, but they also have faults too.

Apple – iCloud

Apple-iCloud

Photo Credits: Apple Corporation

Just like any other Apple product, add a lowercase “i” in front of the the product and you have Apple’s version of it. iCloud is a great service, especially if you have multiple Apple products (i.e. an iPhone, iPod, iPad, and a Mac). The best thing about iCloud is that if you have multiple devices, iCloud makes it easier for you to transfer information across platforms. If you have pictures on your iPhone, and want to move them to your Mac, all you have to do is make Photos linked on all devices under your iCloud service and your pictures will show up in your photos gallery on all connected devices.

The only problem I really see from it is that it connects all your devices, making all of them vulnerable. If your computer is hacked, that means everything else connected to it is also hacked; if you connected your phone and tablet to your Mac through iCloud, you best believe they are no longer safe too. Though this is a problem, it is also a plus side too. If you lose your phone and have to purchase a new one, all of your information from your phone was automatically saved on the Cloud, meaning you did not loose anything other than the physical phone.

Apple makes it easy for you with iCloud purchasing. You automatically have 5 GB of free storage on them, but nowadays, that is close to nothing. In order to get more storage, you must purchase more storage per month. For 50 GB of storage, you are charged $.99 per month, and it only goes up from there. To see a full list of all of Apple’s charges and perks for the iCloud, visit Apple’s official website on iCloud to learn more!

Google – Google Drive

Google-Drive

Photo Credits: Google

The next cloud service that is a major competitor is run by Google. Of course the media giant has to be involved in the cloud service market, especially since that is all it really is to begin with. For Google, they offer the cloud service of Google Drive.

Google Drive is one of the most widely used Cloud Services today due to it being included in what you get when you sign up for a Gmail (Google Email) account. It comes free of charge for all those who sign up with Google, and includes up to 15 GB of free storage before you have to start paying more for more storage. It gives you a multitude of options when saving information to the Drive, allowing you to organize everything into folders and sections. It also allows you to share your documents with others to edit it and automatically saves the drafts and changes to your account, along with a list of the changes for you to go back if you do not like the changes made.

One of the biggest problems that Google Drive faces though, is its lack of security. Yes, you are using Google, so it is somewhat protected, but if you are using all the free apps that Google offers to anyone, there is a lot less security than you would hope for. Especially since it is Google, a lot of hackers go after the company’s users. Google is one of the biggest organizations having to deal with computer coding and information. If an up-and-coming hacker decides to, they can try to take on Google, which would mean that those users that signed up for all the free apps are the most vulnerable.

Google does a good job at warning people and upgrading their security constantly, so their biggest problem is something they already know about and they do their best to ensure their customer’s privacy. They do inform people about their products and what they do to better them, continuously keeping its users in the know. If you want to learn more about Google and its cloud service, visit Google’s official page on Google Drive and keep yourself up-to-date on what is happening.

Microsoft – OneDrive

Microsoft-OneDrive

Photo Credits: Microsoft Corporation

The last company that has a Cloud Service option available for its users is Microsoft. Microsoft developed OneDrive after realizing how big of a market Cloud Services could be. The major difference between Microsoft’s Cloud Service and Google’s & Apple’s is the fact that it is not free at all. In order to have an account with OneDrive, you have to purchase a subscription to it, or buy it in a bundle package that includes other Microsoft services.

That being said, OneDrive is a bit more secure right off the bat because you are purchasing a subscription to it. Microsoft has put a lot into their products and has designed all of their products to work well with each other. OneDrive is one of the best products to use if you are also utilizing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. They all connect automatically, and help you out by saving everything periodically every few minutes to ensure your work will not be lost. With the yearly subscription, you are typically walking away with around at least 50 GB of storage at your disposal, but if you bundle it with an Office subscription, you can get up to 2 TB, which even I cannot use fully!

One of Microsoft’s weaknesses is the fact that it costs money to utilize its product. It is a great product and I use it to this day, but I also utilize Google’s and Apple’s products too, since they are cheap and came with my products already. Microsoft’s OneDrive does help you when you are using other Microsoft products, but if you are looking for just another place to store your information, there are cheaper options out there. If you want to learn more about OneDrive though, visit Microsoft’s official web page for OneDrive to get everything you need to get started.


There are a ton of other Cloud Services out there, but these are the major three. If you want more variety, check out PC Mag’s post containing 50 of the best Cloud Services. You can also check out Sky High Networks for more information about what a Cloud Service is exactly. There is a lot of information out there just waiting for you to utilize, so make haste and learn all you can before you settle with a product based on its brand name.


Check out my previous Blogs for more useful tips:

Certificates to Further Your Future

Discounts for Students

What to Know for SEO

Stay Tech Savy!

What to Know for SEO

Search Engine Optimization, better known for its acronym of SEO, has really risen to the top of people’s to-do lists nowadays. It has become a booming business to become involved in, with more and more website managers doing their best to have high SEO ratings on all their pages. There are many ways to improve your SEO scores, but you first need to know what you should be looking for before you can ever hope to improve it.

Definition

SEO-Definition

Photo Credits: Adobe Stock

According to the Business Dictionary, Search Engine Optimization is “the process of improving traffic to a given website by increasing the site’s visibility in search engine results.” In laymen’s terms, it is using keywords in your website’s pages that increase the chances of your URL being placed higher on the list of search results when scouring the internet for an answer. For example, I use the keywords “technology,” “websites,” and “website builder” in my pages to increase people seeing my site when they search for something along those lines in Google or any other search engine.

Why Improve Your SEO Score

SEO-Chart

Photo Credits: Adobe Stock

The higher your SEO Score is, the more visits you will get to your site. By having high SEO Scores, it tells viewers that you are putting out content worth their while, content that will more than likely aid in what they were searching for. It also improves your own credibility for what you are speaking of. If many people are reading and continue to read your content, then it must mean you are doing something right.

How to Improve Your SEO Score

There are multiple ways to improve your SEO Score, but some of the most common ways are as follows: post relevant content, update your content on a regular basis, improve on your Metadata, have a link-worthy site, and make use of your alt tags.

Post Relevant Content

If you are going to be writing information for the world to see and consume, make sure your information is up-to-date and current. No one wants to read information that will no longer aid them in whatever they are doing because it is no longer relevant. For example, when I write content for my Blogs, I do not write about pagers or flip phones; I write more about the different technological advancements and any newer tips to better people’s daily lives.

Update Your Content on a Regular Basis

This goes hand in hand with posting relevent content. If you have static pages where you hold content, you will need to regularly check on it to make sure the content still makes sense and is still relevent to what your site is all about. You want to continuously update all the information on your site to being the most useful possible for those that search your website.

Improve on Your Metadata

There are three types of Metadata that you can utilize on your site: Title, Description, and Keyword Metadata. These all are in the coding of your pages, and increase the chances that people see the specific pages when searching on the internet if these types of Metadata are used properly. The Metadata is simply there to help the search engines understand what content is on the page.

Have a Link-Worthy Site

This task is pretty simple, and allows you to fix ADA issues to provide a better experience for all. Having a Link-Worthy Site means including links that are relevent and add to your content, all while being linked to descriptive text to help you know where the link will be taking you after you leave the original page. This also helps with associating your content with other prominent or highly credible sources.

Make Use of Your Alt Tags

By adding Alternative Tags to your images and other media on your site, it enables search engines to have more information about your site as well as keeps your site in line with ADA laws. This also helps those using screen readers; by having Alt Tags, people using screen readers are more likely to use your site rather than another’s due to you providing every accommodation needed for them to enjoy your site as anyone else would.


Michigan Tech has also posted about how to improve your SEO Score for your website as well as having some outside links that lead you to more ways to improve your SEO Score. Other great sites about SEO are Moz, Google Webmaster Tools, and other Michigan Tech pages. They all have great resources on their pages and insightful tips to help you improve not only your SEO Score on your pages, but why you should improve it, a bit more about SEO in general, and other things you can do to improve your site overall.

My next blog will be about the different cloud services offered, their pros and cons, and which ones I suggest for people to use. If you have a specific topic you want me to write about, feel free to comment about it down below so that I can include it into my list of future blogs to write.


Check out my previous Blogs for more useful tips:

How to Solve Common ADA Issues

Certificates to Further Your Future

Discounts for Students

Stay Tech Savy!

Discounts for Students

Are you a current college student with a University appointed email? Are you a student scrapping by, trying to stretch that dollar as far as it can go? What if I told you that being a college student opens a number of doors to discounts and special offers? Well, it must be your lucky day, because its all true!

If you have a University linked email and access to it, there are a number of discounts available to you in order to make your life through college just a bit cheaper. Though college tuition is still a mammoth when it comes to fees and charges, some companies have realized this and decided to aid the poor college student with discounted or even free access to their products and services. The following are a few of the companies, but there are even more depending on where you are attending college.

Microsoft

Microsoft-Logo

Photo Credits: Microsoft Corporation

As we all well know, Microsoft has a multitude of products and services, but one of its biggest is its Microsoft Office Suite, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, OneDrive, and Publisher. All of these programs are essential to the modern day student, but they are very expensive. For a year subscription to the Office Suite that gives you access to all these systems, it costs around $70. This means that for a year, you can use these products, but once the year is up, you have to repurchase the subscription. With a student email account associated with a University, you can get these products for free, continuously renewing the subscription until the email account is no longer active. To get this free subscription, simply go to Microsoft’s website and enter your email. From there, an email will be sent to you to confirm you have access to it and it will enable you to download your free subscription. And there you have it! Free products to get you through college and help you through your classes! They also offer other discounts on their products. Just check out their Microsoft Education page for more information.

Apple

Apple-Logo

Photo Credits: Apple Corporation

Apple offers discounts on a number of their products. They have you verify that you are in fact a student/teacher at a University then you are able to get access to discounted prices on Apple products. They also offer something called Education Support that gives you extra support while on campus. If you are a student, you can also sign up to listen to Apple Music at a discounted price per month as long as your email continues to work. Apple as a company offers many different useful services, and tries to also encourage the hiring of University individuals. There are whole programs set up around hiring student workers who can be on campus to help with any technical difficulties users may encounter. Check out their Job Board for any new openings that might be a fit for you.

Spotify & Hulu

Hulu-and-Spotify

Photo Credits: Spotify AB

Do you enjoy listening to music on the go? What about being up to date on all your favorite T.V. Shows? Well here is a deal for you to keep yourself from going crazy from studying for hours on end. The popular streaming music service, Spotify, and the top rival of Netflix, Hulu, have come together to bring students all over the world the ultimate entertainment deal. For a small price of $4.99 a month, you get unlimited access to Spotify’s music library without commercials, and a free subscription to Hulu. Now is the time to take control of your social life! Don’t over do it with the studying; take some time to kick back and relax, catch up with your favorite shows, or listen to an awesome playlist while you work out. All you have to do is go to Spotify’s website and pick the sweet package deal with Hulu to get started.

Amazon

Amazon

Photo Credits: Amazon Services LLC

Amazon has grown immensely since its inception a decade ago. It started off as a regular book store, and now it sells you anything you can ever imagine. Another thing that Amazon offers is a Student Prime membership. This allows you all the perks of being a regular Prime holder; the faster delivery, special discounts, new alerts for just Prime members, and more. With the Prime Student account, the first six months of the membership is free, and afterwards, you are eligible for a discounted price as long as you stay in school. Pretty cool right? They also send you emails informing you of discounts for college neccessities as well as help you find the books you need at a lower cost. Amazon will allow you to keep your Student membership up until after you are finished with school. Once your email is no longer active, you will have to sign up for a regular account or kiss those Prime Days goodbye.


There are a ton of other companies that are not related to technology that also offer discounts to students. The Insider has a pretty comprehensive list of other services and companies offering discounts, as well as LifeHacker, The Simple Dollar, and Best Colleges Online. You should also check out UNiDAYS for other offers that might apply to University students. They have many offers continuously changing on their site, and it is a great way to see anything new popping up.

My next post will have to do with SEO and what it all means. Many people have heard about SEO and that it is very important for their websites and Blogs, but have no idea what it is or how to incorporate it into their systems. That’s where I come in to help. Feel free to leave me a comment on what other types of technology or tips you want me to talk about and we will see about getting it into the next post.


Check out my previous Blogs for more useful tips:

Building Your Website: Things To Know

How to Solve Common ADA Issues

Certificates to Further Your Future

Stay Tech Savy!

Certificates to Further Your Future

In today’s job market, if you don’t have at least basic skills with technology, you are going to have a hard time finding and retaining employment. Luckily, there are a ton of programs at your disposal that enable you to learn different types of software AND get certified for it, allowing you to have documentation that you know your stuff. Here are some sites that you can visit to earn Certificates and learn new skills to make yourself more marketable to future employers. Most, if not all, of these Certifications do require you to take a test and score above a certain percentage to be eligible for being certified with that software, but there are some that also cost money, so be aware of which ones you really want to do.

Google

Google-Logo

Photo Credits: Google

Google is one of the biggest names in the world right now. It would be pretty smart of you to get a couple certificates from them while you can, showing that you understand their programs that are widely used across platforms and websites. They do have a few different “Academies” you can go to for accreditation, which means there are plenty of programs you can try out to see if you like it or not. There is Google Analytics, Google AdWords, and Google Digital Academy. All three of these are the major academies Google controls, but knowing Google, there is always more to be expected. If you want to learn more about a specific program Google has (such as G Suite), you will have to wait a bit, but you can always email their team to see where they are in the process.

Microsoft

Microsoft-Logo

Photo Credits: Microsoft Corporation

Just like Google, Microsoft also has a few different certifications you can get. As part of their efforts to become more transparent with the public, Microsoft launched a new website called “Microsoft Learning.” This is a win-win for Microsoft because it allows them to inspire people to become more proficient in their daily lives and helps them find new potential employees through which exams are being taken and how high they score. For those of you who want to understand how to work the Office 365 Suite better (Word, Excel, Access, OneDrive, etc.), then you will want to go to the Microsoft Office 365 Training website, then eventually, you will want to head over to the Certifications page for Office 365 products. For those of you who are more interested in the coding aspect of things, or want to learn more about Microsoft software, I would suggest going through their Other Certificates page that contain everything else they offer.

Lynda.com

 

Lynda.com-Logo

Photo Credits: Lynda.com

Lynda.com is truly an amazing tool. It has videos and courses, with most having a certificate at the end stating you completed the course, that teaches you about anything you want to learn. Want to learn more about a specific coding language? Here are 16 different courses on it depending on your current level of coding knowledge and a couple dozen short introduction videos to the language. Want to become more proficient with a certain application? There will be the same results as above. It has everything anyone would ever dream of wanting to learn about. You can go on the website and just keep on learning for hours if you want. The only downside is that it does cost money (like a lot!), unless you are a University Student, whereas most of the time, the University makes a deal with Lynda and they allow those students to log in with their University logins. Speak to your University today to see if they offer this amazing program!

Hootsuite

Hootsuite-Logo

Photo Credits: Hootsuite Media Inc

Hootsuite, again like Google, also has an academy of its own for the certificates they offer. At Hootsuite Academy, you can decide what certificate you want to earn, take the exam and get your certificate. It is quite simple, but you will be charged for this exam and can only take it so many times before it stops you from receiving your certificate. This certificate is more for Marketing Majors or those heavily involved with Social Media.

Open Source

Open-Source-Logo

Photo Credits: Open Source

For those of you wanting to learn more about coding, Open Source is the place for you. This website allows you to start learning and getting accredited for different types of coding languages and hardware. There are a couple different options with Open Source, but they are all worth it if you are into learning about software and hardware of a computer. Open Source currently has Open Source Education, Open Source Hardware, and Python for Beginners. There are more articles on this site that lead to other companies and their certifications, but those certificates are not through Open Source.

Apple

Apple-Logo

Photo Credits: Apple Corporation

Apple has decided to follow in everyone else’s footsteps and set up trainings and certifications for the software and hardware they provide the world. Just like Microsoft, this gives them a great advantage when trying to be transparent with the public as well as look for future employees. They have their own website dedicated to all of this simply called Training. Here, you are able to search for what type of training you want to have and to what extent you want to go. You can also learn what the AppleCare team knows by going through the AppleCare Service Certification exam, allowing you to be your own AppleCare team from now on. As for Certifications, they can be found under Certification Trainings in their website, getting you prepared to use Apple products more and more. In order to receive any training and/or certificates, you will have to sign up with Apple’s Registry of Certified Professionals, but other than that, you should be all set to go.

Cisco

Cisco-Logo

Photo Credits: Cisco

Cisco is still one of the major names when it comes to hardware. If you want to get into the hardware business of technology, you best believe you will need a Cisco Certification under your belt to better your chances. Luckily for us, Cisco has us covered and is ready for more people to become hardware engineers that understand what everything does and how to fix it, as well as having the paper stating they know it too. All you have to do is go to their page and start learning.


With the constant advancements in technology, more and more companies will follow these one’s leads and add their own training and certifications to their websites, but for now, these are the major players in the technology world. By having at least one certificate from any of these programs, you will have an advantage over anyone else when applying for a job that involves technology of some sort to an extent.


Check out my previous Blogs for more useful tips:

Programs You Should Run on Your Apple Computers

Building Your Website: Things To Know

How to Solve Common ADA Issues

Stay Tech Savy!

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