# About TechNoon

TechNoons are brief, free, industry-led, in-person training courses
run at lunchtimes for people in technical jobs wanting to improve
their skills. TechNoon courses will usually have four sessions of 2-3
hours each (including homework).

## If you want to learn a new skill…

See if there are any [upcoming courses](https://technoon.org/courses)
in your area. If you don't see something please make a suggestion
using the [TechNoon Contact Form](https://technoon.org/contact) and
we'll get back to you to find out more.

## If you want to teach a short course…

We'd love to talk to you. Just fill in the [TechNoon Contact Form](https://technoon.org/contact)
and we'll get back to you to find out more. Read the [TechNoon Manifesto](https://technoon.org/manifesto)
first to get a feel for the core concepts of TechNoon, and then read our
[guide for organisers](https://technoon.org/organisers) to see what you'll need
to run your own course. If a course on the topic has already been run
there may be resources you could reuse.

## If your company wants to participate…

Perhaps you would like to improve staff skills in a specific area. Or
maybe some of your staff would like to provide training. Either way
we'd love to hear from you. Please fill in the
[TechNoon Contact Form](https://technoon.org/contact) and we'll get back to you to find out more.

## Why TechNoon is needed

* **Tertiary degrees and diplomas** are not a good answer for people
  already in jobs. Even boot-camps are a significant challenge for
  most people with job commitments. Courses also tend to be too
  general with hit-and-miss content for people in specific roles.
* **On-line courses** and **individual articles and documentation**
 can't provide the individualised support and the motivation that an
 in-person course can.
* **Internal corporate training** can't achieve the economies of scale
  and specialisation of an industry-wide training ecosystem.
* **Vendor training** doesn't cover the range of skills required and
  is not focused primarily on what is good for industry.

## Is there a catch?

**No** - TechNoon has emerged from the open source software community
and brings that ethos to technical training. The open, collaborative
approach to software development has revolutionised the world of
programming like it revolutionised science centuries earlier. Now it's
training's turn.

## Who runs TechNoon?

Anyone who wants to run a TechNoon can do so - people can decide
whether to attend or not based on the trainer's bio, the course
outline, and the credibility of the trainer's organisation.

## What's with the cowboy hat logo?

TechNoon started as [PyNoon](https://pynoon.github.io) (Python
programming training) before broadening out and PyNoon's logo is a
cowboy snake logo. PyNoon is a reference to the classic movie *High
Noon*, thus the Western, cowboy theme.


# Courses

## PyNoon - Introductory Python Programming

PyNoon was originally run between November 2023 and March 2024 to
up-skill people in the world’s most popular programming language:
Python, which is used for automation, data science, web development,
and much more.

PyNoon covers the fundamentals of the Python programming language and
how to use Python to analyse and plot tabular data (e.g. spreadsheets)
and to interact with web services and AI models.

**Visit the PyNoon website to register your interest in attending a
future course: [pynoon.github.io](https://pynoon.github.io/)**

## AINoon - From Hype to Productivity

Generative AI is a powerful tool that individuals and businesses can
leverage through services like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and
Google's Gemini. However, AI has limitations we're not used to in
other technologies, creating risks of misuse and over-trusting. There
are also many concerns that AI raises - from practical issues of
privacy and security to fears of artificial super-intelligences!

AINoon is a course to cut through the hype and give you practical
hands-on experience using AI while providing you with understanding of
AI's strengths and limits to make good decisions about when and how to
use it.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

* Confidently use AI in a variety of ways to improve productivity
* Identify opportunities for incorporating AI into business solutions
* Critically consider the strengths, limitations, and risks of AI,
  based on a solid foundation of what AI is and how it works

Most importantly, AINoon provides a forum for asking questions about
AI and seeking assistance with your own use-cases.

**Register your interest in running or attending an AINoon [here](https://technoon.org/contact/)!**

**Check out the [AINoon course material](https://technoon.org/ainoon)**

## SQLNoon - Avoiding SQL Hell

SQL queries are commonly mission critical for accurate reporting and
analysis but all too often they are unintelligible, difficult to
maintain, and potentially returning invalid results. In this 4-session
course we look at strategies for improving your queries and practices
around maintaining and documenting them and tracking changes.

Note - this course is not teaching SQL itself - it is expected that
participants will already know how to write basic SQL queries.

## GitNoon - Confidently Track File Versions with Git

The more important your code, documentation, or database queries, the
more important it is to store it safely and to be able to track all
your changes. This is where Git comes in. Git is a powerful version
control tool which is now industry-standard. This 4-session course
starts from scratch, explaining why and how you should use Git. No
previous experience is required.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

* Use Git from the command-line
* Save, inspect, and restore every change to your files over time
* Collaborate with others using industry standard practices for branch
  management

**Check out the [GitNoon course material](https://technoon.org/gitnoon)**


# Manifesto

Industry needs training in technical skills that is:

* **On-the-job**
  * TechNoon is primarily for people already in technical jobs, not
    people trying to enter the workforce. There are lots of good
    training options for students seeking to be work-ready in
    technical careers - TechNoon is to upskill people already working.
* **In-person**
  * Learning technical skills is easier when it is done in a
    face-to-face community. There will usually be an on-line component
    of TechNoon but in-person sessions are central. People helping
    people is part of the TechNoon ethos.
* **Small weekly commitment**
  * People already in jobs are busy and can't usually devote long
    periods of time to skills training. TechNoon courses will usually
    have four sessions of 2-3 hours each (including homework)
    depending on the topic. That seems to be the practical maximum
    commitment we can expect. Given the practical emphasis of
    TechNoon, it should be possible to split longer topics into
    smaller courses, each with its own practical focus.
* **With multiple sessions**
  * Unlike one-day workshops, TechNoon courses are delivered as
    multiple sessions interspersed with work so that learning can be
    applied *between* sessions. This makes it possible for learners to
    bring practical questions and issues to subsequent sessions and
    avoid getting "stuck". It is also more motivating to learn
    something in sessions if there are regular attempts to apply that
    learning in practice. This is one of the main benefits of
    on-the-job training compared with academic training.
  * Learning technical skills takes time - spaced repetition and time
    *between* learning sessions helps new skills stick.
* **Around lunch-time**
  * TechNoon occurs around lunchtime to make it easier to fit into the
    work week and to build community.
* **At accessible locations**
  * Because TechNoon is a lunchtime activity, it is important that it
    is delivered in locations that are as close as possible to where
    people work. Industry support in the form of training venues is
    very important.
* **Practical and hands-on**
  * Teaching and homework will typically have a substantial hands-on
    component where learners are actually making something useful -
    for example: programming code, configuration, or documentation.
* **Industry-led**
  * Teachers will be people in industry with skills to share. TechNoon
    is about learning so it is crucial that teachers have good
    communication skills. This doesn't mean TechNoon can only be
    delivered by superstars. Although there will be individuals who
    are unicorns with great technical, communication, and
    administrative skills, a more common pattern is to deliver
    training as a small team. There needs to be technical expertise in
    the room but the person actually delivering the bulk of the
    teaching should have good communication skills and an orientation
    to teaching.
* **Free**
  * Because courses are by industry, for industry, the courses are
    free. Having said this, before people sign up to a course it is
    expected will be able to commit to the entire course, and meet the
    homework requirements.
  * Free means that managers don't need to get budget approval to send
    people to a paid course. Managers can just approve the time for
    their staff.
  * Furthermore, the overheads of running a paid course (managing
    payment, tax obligations, implication of some kind of
    certification) mean that TechNoon would be practical if it wasn't
    free.
* **With custom courses**
  * The flexibility of TechNoon encourages delivery of specialist
    courses for smaller numbers of learners. Some courses will be
    larger and more general (for example, an introduction to the
    Python programming language); but others might be less ambitious,
    (for example, a course on how to write readable, maintainable
    SQL); or more advanced, (for example, containerisation best
    practice).
* **Focused on practical results, not credentials**
  * At the end of a course the question to ask is not what
    certification was gained but *what specific skills were actually
    put to use in the existing work context*. Did the training make a
    practical, tangible difference? Is something different as a
    result?
  * This is arguably the key question that the trainer needs to keep
    front of mind while developing a course.
* **With open sourced content**
  * Teaching resources should be shared to reduce the effort required
    to increase technical skills in industry. TechNoon follows the
    open source ethos of "give a brick, get a building".
  * Less of an industry need, but more of a practicality to make this
    training actually happen.
  * Releasing teaching resources, including code, under a Creative
    Commons licence that ensures attribution will ensure companies
    that make successful training resources get the appropriate credit
    and recognition in return.