Programming Training Courses
View our live online and classroom programming training courses in Python, C#, SQL, Office Scripts and VBA - learn to program in small classes (maximum 6 people).
We currently run the following scheduled Programming courses:
We like programming! To help you choose which language to learn, we've included a quick guide below. To avoid any bias, the languages are listed in alphabetical order.
Language | When and why you would use it |
|---|
C# | Visual C# allows you to build websites and forms-based systems in .NET. |
Office Scripts | The new way to automate Excel (and presumably in the future other Microsoft applications) using a language based upon TypeScript. |
Python | An increasingly popular language used to manipulate data, scrape websites, analyse statistics and much more besides. |
SQL | SQL allows you to extract information from SQL Server databases, and then manipulate it. |
VBA | Visual Basic for Applications is the language included in Microsoft Office, and allows you to automate Excel, Access and other programs. |
Here are the main courses that we teach in each language:
If you're not a specialist programmer, you'll probably want to avoid learning Python or C#, but becoming proficient in Office Scripts, SQL or VBA may well make you able to do day-to-day tasks more quickly, without needing to resort to getting help from your (busy) IT department all the time.
Whichever language you choose, you'll have to master the same core concepts:
Concept | Explanation |
|---|
Variables | Variables are places in which you can store single items of data, such as integers, dates and bits of text. |
Conditions | At the heart of programming is the ability to test a condition, to see which execution path to follow. |
Loops | Also at the heart of programming is the ability to repeat a series of steps a number of times, perhaps while a particular condition is true. |
Note, however, that you won't encounter the above if you stick to learning the basics of SQL only.
Each of our scheduled courses (whether classroom or online) includes:
- Small course sizes - we have a maximum of 6 people on each classroom or online course.
- A trainer! And not just anyone - our courses are only ever given by full-time Wise Owls.
-
Full colour courseware and exercises of oustanding quality.
- A no cancellation guarantee (once you've booked and confirmed your training course, it will run).
- A one gigabyte USB stick, containing course files, answers to exercises and (by the end of the course) your answers too, together with a nice pen.
- Unofficial help after the course (although we don't have a dedicated post-course support line, in practice trainers will be happy to answer the odd ad hoc question after a course has taken place).
- A certificate sent out digitally or in paper form (your choice) after each course, together with (for tailored courses) the trainer's thoughts on how the course went.
In addition, our classroom courses also include:
- A computer for each delegate (obviously).
- Lunch out each day at a local restaurant (chosen on the day of the course, after discussion!).
- Unlimited refreshments during the day, including Tassimo or Nespresso coffee and a range of biscuits and snacks to keep you going through those dark afternoon hours.
Still not convinced? You can read hundreds of testimonials to the quality of our training (all attributed and added in the last 3 years.
Scheduled Programming training dates
Here are the next Programming courses we have scheduled:
All prices exclude VAT. If you can't see the dates you want, don't forget that you always have the option of arranging
onsite training
at your offices (we'll even provide the computers and projector).
About our Programming training
Programming has come on over the years, but the essential principles remain the same (in virtually every language you create variables, test conditions and iterate over loops). To show the evolution of programming over the decades, here are the languages learnt by the oldest of the Wise Owls:
Decade | Main language learnt | Notes |
|---|
1980s | Fortran | In early Fortran you had to colour in shapes on punch cards with a 2B pencil! How times have changed ... |
1990s | VBA | The 1990s saw Microsoft roll out Visual Basic for Applications across all of the MIcrosoft Office product range; it's still going strong today. |
2000s | SQL | T-SQL is the dialect of SQL used for extracting data from SQL Server. |
2010s | C# | C, C++, Java and JavaScript are all variants of C#. |
2020s | Python | The up-and-coming language, Python allows you to write more concise code and supports lots of additional libraries. |
2030s? | ? | What will be the language we will be writing in the AI era? |
We don't train in Fortran (thank goodness), but we do still train in the languages from the other decades.
Other Macros and Programming training resources
There are many ways in which we can help you learn Programming!
Blogs
Whether you're learning to program in SQL, Office Scripts, Python, VBA or C#, we'll have written a blog to help you.
Self-paced online training
You can teach yourself how to program in Visual Basic for Applications by following this online tutorial.
Videos
Our videos can help you to learn to program in SQL, VBA, C# or DAX.
Shorts
We've published the following programming shorts.
Training venues
Our scheduled programming courses run in the following venues.
Test your skills
Test your programming skills using one of these categories.
Books or publications
If you're teaching yourself VBA, we've also published our own book.
