Coon Rapids , Minnesota net Training

Design thinking is a crucial pillar in today’s problem-solving imperatives. In fact, it is being pursued as a unit course in various institutions across the globe, thus underlying its importance in aiding objective human thinking. It’s not a specific property for designers. Far from it, it has emerged as an innovative solution-seeking tool for all great inventors and innovators.

By description, it is a design methodology used for tackling complex problems that are virtually unknown or ill-defined, through a careful evaluation of the human needs involved, understandably restructuring the problem, by brainstorming to create many solutions, and by adopting a direct approach in testing and prototyping. It helps us come up with creative ways to solve nagging problems that stem from us and especially in the workplace setting.

The ‘overwhelmed/overburdened employee’ is a common term in HR offices across many organizations in the world. Employees are faced with a huge challenge in regards to coping with fast-paced technological and office changes in the working environment. This had led to a massive stagnation in productivity, prompting HR heads to look for new ways to reduce their employees’ stress and workload.

While evaluating many options, this model of thinking has posed as a helpful tool for HR managers when dealing with their vexed employees. IT training, in particular, has helped shape the productive realms of many companies out there.

Let’s explore how this thinking domain can be used to plan employee skill training:

Empathize

If you want to show concern for your employees, first empathize with their situation. Seek to understand the needs of the employees deeply, what they lack, what they need, and the challenges that they are likely facing. This will act as the basis of plotting the problem and working on the next phase of solving it.

You can collect data in this phase through empathy maps and journey maps. In the latter, you endeavor to steadily track the day-to-day activities and tasks of employees. This is achieved through observations or structured interviews. In turn, it aids in elevating the thinking process.

Through empathy maps, you ponder on collected findings and synthesize them keenly. Here, you seek to establish how an employee is thinking, their feelings, and insights into the probable root cause of the problem.

Define the Problem

After a comprehensive analysis of the collected data; the problem definition phase should follow. The idea here is to locate the underlying root of the problem concisely. HR should seek to utilize an analysis framework to help address problems affecting the holistic being of all employees. Therefore, each issue would require a list of underlying causes: lack of motivation, lack of knowledge/understanding, or just lack of skill.

Once the root cause(s) are clearly defined, a clear problem statement should be drawn up alongside performance goals that are firmly based on actual drivers.

Think Solely About Employee-Based Solutions (iterative learning)

Conventionally, customers are at the heart of every organization’s dealings. They inspire and drive the company’s objectives because they are crucial in profit making. However, employees have greatly suffered while working ‘behind the scenes.’ Such situations have led to employees feeling discontent and work under immense pressure, which inevitably leads to underperformance. To avoid this, the experimental learning concept can be utilized by HR offices to engage employees more by creating solutions that directly suit the situations they encounter daily.

Here, trainers are removed as the center of focus. An iterative ‘reflection’ cycle is established to tap continuous employee feedback in a bid to sharpen their skills. This method helps employees adapt to new technology through a well established IT consulting network. In the long run, employees don’t forget how they handled a particular problem, and this effectively raises a firm’s productivity.

Support Employee Tasks with Simple Technology (Ideate)

The simplest way to support employee-working experience is by not sidelining them unprepared with changing technology processes. As an HR Manager, fully engage your employees when transitioning to new tech by making use of effective training or consulting services. Specific training needs can be assessed and addressed within the organization or with a third party industry expert.

According to Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends Report, design thinking was isolated as crucial in crafting the employee experience. 79% of those interviewed identified it as imperative. However, almost a similar percentage agreed that a lot of compliance programs and training are still based on outdated modes of meetings and processes.

The report also recommended the need to put necessary consideration on employees through proper IT training for far colossal efficiency. One way to make this work is by drawing a connected roadmap of skills and information needed at certain work intervals. Shedding off overwhelming and irrelevant amounts of data for new employees is vital in retaining their concentration and output. What’s more, a customizable app can help employees undertake appropriate tasks at the specified time, thus resulting in higher revenue for the long term.

Implementing an Intuitive Tech Learning Approach (Ideate)

The basis of this argument is that not every employee is the same. All of them are differently gifted and shouldn’t be forced to use one inflexible technology or system that doesn’t cater to their individual needs in a buzzing work environment. This mode of critical thinking brings to life personas such that fictive employees representing a defined group of external employees are drawn up. In this set-up, the personas should be able to learn and work efficiently within their own small environment while quickly utilizing their own skill set and the required information to make things work.

An HR manager can replicate this working scenario through the use of role-plays. This can be achieved by conducting short-term soft skills training sessions to sharpen their ability to handle similar situations. In the case of new technology, video-replays on how to use it in a one-on-one customer scenario can help relieve the pressure and spur the employee to be more productive.

Prototype and Testing

Here, the HR Manager should run a couple of tests to ensure whether the desired model of skill training is working. One way to get started is by crafting a simple prototype of the technology required, probably as a single module to establish its viability.

The new technology should be vigorously tested during prototyping to pinpoint any leaks, disjoints, or performance issues. Structured walkthroughs can be implemented to help employees navigate the solution through proper IT training sessions.

What’s more, HR should conduct sessions to get the employees’ views, emotions, or feelings regarding the new solution. In case of any cause for concern, the prototype should be improved until it meets the intermediate needs of its users.

Iterations are also a common occurrence in this phase. Refinements and alterations are curved out to make sure that the final thing suits every employee in some understandable capacity.

Wrapping Up

Design thinking is crucial in any organizational setting in making sure that employees sync properly with the technology in place. This will go a long way in improving their productivity.

Automating The Boring Stuff With Python

[Aug, 12, 2019] |
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Python is a powerful tool that can be used for many automation tasks in the workplace. It’s notorious for being one of the most simple and versatile options available in the world of programming languages. For this reason, many people choose to automate an enormous amount of their workflow with Python. We’ve compiled a few ideas for automating the boring stuff using Python. Let’s take a look.

Managing Emails

Most businesses rely on emails being sent out regularly in order to ensure everything runs smoothly. Doing this by hand can be boring and time-consuming. To alleviate this, there are packages written with and for Python that enable you to automate certain aspects of this process. Adding and removing individuals from mailing lists can be automated as well, especially if your business has a policy to automatically add and remove people from certain mailing lists when certain conditions are met. For example, after a customer of yours doesn’t interact with your company after an extended period of time, it may be prudent to remove them from your mailing list, or you can send them a premade email reminding them of your services. This is just one way that you can save your company time and money using automation with Python.

Repetitive File System Operations

Even for personal tasks, Python excels at performing repetitive file system operations. For example, it can convert files, rename, move, delete, and sort files as much as you need it to. This can be useful in many ways. If you have a folder of mp3 files that you need to compress, this can be sped up using Python. Additionally, you can create a set of criteria that need to be met in order for a given file to be considered useless, and then delete it. As a side note, be extremely careful when automating any sort of file deletion or altering, because a bug in your program can cause severe damage to your data and even to your computer. Still, these tools are extremely powerful and can be life-saving when used properly.

Start-up Tasks

Whether you’re running a server or just using your own personal computer, there are always tasks that need to be done when your computer starts up, or you’re beginning a certain process. For example, you can automate the task of backing up your email inbox. This can ensure your files are being kept safe, and it can be triggered whenever your start up your computer. Additionally, if you need to collect or create any sort of logging data in order to document daily operations, you can use Python to alleviate some of these time-consuming processes.

Web Scraping

And finally, we have Web Scraping. This process may be slightly more advanced for a beginner Python user, but it doesn’t take a terribly long time to learn, and it opens up a whole new world of opportunity in terms of data collection and management. Web scraping is extremely important because it not only allows you to automatically search for certain pieces of content on the internet, but it can also alert you to changes and updates to existing websites. If your business relies on certain trends on social media, you can scrape sites while searching for the presence of certain keywords, and if you’re a stock trader or bitcoin guru, you can automate some of your price-checking and set custom alerts for price changes. The field of web scraping is enormous, and there is a practically infinite amount of content written on this particular subject. If you’re interested in learning more, there are vast amounts of free resources on the internet that can help you get started. Web scraping is certainly one of the most important skills to have in almost any line of work.

Get Creative!

At this point, we’d like to advise you to get more familiar with the libraries and APIs that are available to you. Each individual workflow is different and requires familiarity with different technologies. Because of this, you will know better than anybody else which items are worth automating and which aren’t. Some people try to automate everything, and some people prefer to do certain tasks manually, but sometimes spending a few hours automating a job that takes one minute will end up being a time-saver after only a few months.

We’ve gone over quite a few options in this article, but no single human alive is familiar with absolutely everything Python can do. Hopefully, you’re now more familiar with the options available to you, and you should now be better equipped to search for further information that is more relevant to your specific use case. Have fun digging into the many nuances and functionalities that the Python language has to offer!

Why the McDonald's Approach to Computer Learning Doesn't Work

[Apr, 19, 2013] |
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No matter what type of business you’re in, boosting your bottom line is always in the back of your mind. In a rough economy, it can be tempting to focus too much on pulling in more money and not enough on containing it from within.

That’s right, containing it. You have the potential to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars every year right under your nose from something as simple as lack of or ineffective computer training.

How much do the employees you have working for you right now really understand about technology? How good is your IT tech department? Technology changes faster than a blink of an eye and oftentimes, businesses struggle to keep their top employees trained.

With millions of dollars being lost to Internet espionage, file corruption and other computer crimes, staying on top of changes is essential. Recently, online learning centers have been emerging as the go-to method for quick and inexpensive learning. Unfortunately, this type of computer learning isn’t always the best solution.

Hiring a Good Programmer as a Non Techie Hiring Manager

[Jun, 27, 2013] |
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Baby Programmer It’s the eternal conundrum of a hiring manager – you have to hire for every single position in the company without any first-hand experience. How to do it? If you can have a trusted programmer sit in on the interview, that’s ideal, of course. But what if you’re hiring your first programmer? Or what if you’re hiring a freelancer? Or what if company policy dictates that you’re the only person allowed to do the interviewing? Well, in that case, you need some helpful advice and your innate bullshit detector. We questioned programmers and hiring managers and compiled a list of dos and don’ts. Here are some things to ask when interviewing programmers:

Past Experience

Ask the programmer about the biggest disaster of his career so far, and how he handled it. Did he come in at midnight to fix the code? Was he unaware of the problem until someone brought it up? Did someone else handle it? According to our programmer sources, “Anyone worth their salt has caused a major meltdown. If they say they haven’t, they’re lying. Or very, very green.” Pushing a code with bugs in it isn’t necessarily bad. Not handling it well is bad.

As usual, your biggest asset is not knowing the field, it is knowing people. Asking about career disasters can be uncomfortable, but if the interviewee is experienced and honest then she won’t have a problem telling you about it, and you will get an idea of how she handles mishaps. Even if you don’t understand what the disaster was or how it was fixed, you should be able to tell how honest she’s being and how she handles being put on the spot.

Tech Life in Minnesota

Minnesota is one of the healthiest states, and has a highly rate of literacy. The state supports a network of public universities and colleges. It encompasses thirty two institutions in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, as well as five major campuses of the University of Minnesota. According to U.S. News & World Report six of the private colleges rank among the nation's top 100 in liberal arts.

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. Winston Churchill

other Learning Options

Software developers near Coon Rapids have ample opportunities to meet like minded techie individuals, collaborate and expend their career choices by participating in Meet-Up Groups. The following is a list of Technology Groups in the area.

Minnesota Web Design Professionals · Saint Paul Web Design and Development Lunch and Learns · Twin Cities Meteor Developers Group ·

Fortune 500 and 1000 companies in Minnesota that offer opportunities for .NET developers

Company Name	City	Industry	Secondary Industry
The Affluent Traveler	Saint Paul	Travel, Recreation and Leisure	Travel, Recreation, and Leisure Other
Xcel Energy Inc.	Minneapolis	Energy and Utilities	Gas and Electric Utilities
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans	Minneapolis	Financial Services	Personal Financial Planning and Private Banking
CHS Inc.	Inver Grove Heights	Agriculture and Mining	Agriculture and Mining Other
Hormel Foods Corporation	Austin	Manufacturing	Food and Dairy Product Manufacturing and Packaging
St. Jude Medical, Inc.	Saint Paul	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech	Medical Devices
The Mosaic Company	Minneapolis	Agriculture and Mining	Mining and Quarrying
Ecolab Inc.	Saint Paul	Manufacturing	Chemicals and Petrochemicals
Donaldson Company, Inc.	Minneapolis	Manufacturing	Tools, Hardware and Light Machinery
Michael Foods, Inc.	Minnetonka	Manufacturing	Food and Dairy Product Manufacturing and Packaging
Regis Corporation	Minneapolis	Retail	Retail Other
Fastenal Company	Winona	Wholesale and Distribution	Wholesale and Distribution Other
Securian Financial	Saint Paul	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
UnitedHealth Group	Minnetonka	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
The Travelers Companies, Inc.	Saint Paul	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
Imation Corp.	Saint Paul	Computers and Electronics	Networking Equipment and Systems
C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.	Eden Prairie	Transportation and Storage	Warehousing and Storage
Ameriprise Financial, Inc.	Minneapolis	Financial Services	Securities Agents and Brokers
Best Buy Co. Inc.	Minneapolis	Retail	Retail Other
Nash Finch Company	Minneapolis	Wholesale and Distribution	Grocery and Food Wholesalers
Medtronic, Inc.	Minneapolis	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech	Medical Devices
LAND O'LAKES, INC.	Saint Paul	Manufacturing	Food and Dairy Product Manufacturing and Packaging
General Mills, Inc.	Minneapolis	Manufacturing	Food and Dairy Product Manufacturing and Packaging
Pentair, Inc.	Minneapolis	Manufacturing	Manufacturing Other
Supervalu Inc.	Eden Prairie	Retail	Grocery and Specialty Food Stores
U.S. Bancorp	Minneapolis	Financial Services	Banks
Target Corporation, Inc.	Minneapolis	Retail	Department Stores
3M Company	Saint Paul	Manufacturing	Chemicals and Petrochemicals

training details locations, tags and why hsg

the hartmann software group advantage

why take .NET Training with the hartmann software group?

A successful career as a software developer or other IT professional requires a solid understanding of software development processes, design patterns, enterprise application architectures, web services, security, networking and much more. The progression from novice to expert can be a daunting endeavor; this is especially true when traversing the learning curve without expert guidance. A common experience is that too much time and money is wasted on a career plan or application due to misinformation.

The Hartmann Software Group understands these issues and addresses them and others during any training engagement. Although no IT educational institution can guarantee career or application development success, HSG can get you closer to your goals at a far faster rate than self paced learning and, arguably, than the competition. Here are the reasons why we are so successful at teaching:

Learn from the experts.
1. We have provided software development and other IT related training to many major corporations in Minnesota since 2002.
2. Our educators have years of consulting and training experience; moreover, we require each trainer to have cross-discipline expertise i.e. be Java and .NET experts so that you get a broad understanding of how industry wide experts work and think.
Discover tips and tricks about .NET programming
Get your questions answered by easy to follow, organized .NET experts
Get up to speed with vital .NET programming tools
Save on travel expenses by learning right from your desk or home office. Enroll in an online instructor led class. Nearly all of our classes are offered in this way.
Prepare to hit the ground running for a new job or a new position
See the big picture and have the instructor fill in the gaps
We teach with sophisticated learning tools and provide excellent supporting course material
Books and course material are provided in advance
Get a book of your choice from the HSG Store as a gift from us when you register for a class
Gain a lot of practical skills in a short amount of time
We teach what we know…software
We care…

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·Duluth, Minnesota · Plymouth, MN · Minnetonka · Maple Grove, MN ·Apple Valley, Minnesota · Eagan, MN ·Blaine, Minnesota · Rochester, MN · Minneapolis · Bloomington, MN ·Burnsville, Minnesota · Brooklyn Park, MN ·Lakeville, Minnesota · Coon Rapids, MN · St. Cloud · St. Paul, MN ·Eden Prairie, Minnesota · Woodbury, MN

.NET Training Classes in Coon Rapids, Minnesota

Learn .NET in Coon Rapids, Minnesota and surrounding areas via our hands-on, expert led courses. All of our classes either are offered on an onsite, online or public instructor led basis. Here is a list of our current .NET related training offerings in Coon Rapids, Minnesota: .NET Training

.NET Training Catalog

subcategories

C# Programming Classes

Design Patterns Classes

F# Programming Classes

JUnit, TDD, CPTC, Web Penetration Classes

Microsoft Development Classes

Microsoft Windows Server Classes

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Tech Life in Minnesota

training details locations, tags and why hsg

Interesting Reads Take a class with us and receive a book of your choosing for 50% off MSRP.