MongoDB for Java Developers – Done!

I’ve just completed the free online 7 week course provided by MongoDB University on ‘MongoDB for Java Developers’. I’ve done plenty of Computer Based Training (CBT) courses over my last 16 years in the IT industry. In general, I have found most of them to be a waste of time, with a handful that have been ok. This MongoDB course was an exception. It was by far the best online course I have taken, and provided a fantastic introduction to this non-relational JSON document store.

I’m currently working on a client site where MongoDB has been implemented in production, and I’m continually hearing about other organisations that have started to adopt one of the new breeds of NoSQL data stores. I had spent time reading Martin Fowler’s book on NoSQL and the emerging world of Polyglot Persistence. However, there is a world of difference between understanding something in theory and getting hands-on practical experience.

This MongoDB course is not going to make someone an expert in the technology. After all, its only a few hours a week and only lasts for 7 weeks. What it does is provide a great introduction to all the major concepts such as JSON/BSON, atomic operations, the aggregation framework, sharding and replica sets (as well as the Java database driver). For someone like me who is not administering or developing on Mongo it provided everything I needed. For those who do need to administer or develop on Mongo, it’s a fantastic free way to give yourself a solid base of knowledge.

What’s next for me? I’m not sure. I’ve just started dabbling with R, and want to try some hands on coding with Go. However, I enjoyed this course so much, I think I might take the official certification exam and maybe try the DBA course.