There’s little surprise in seeing Java top the list of popular programming languages for 2014, but another language is gaining traction. R, the free software programming language and developer environment for statistical computing and graphics, cracked IEEE Spectrum’s top 10 list this year. With today’s wealth of data, statistical computing plays a huge role in making sense of Big Data, and companies including IBM, Revolution Analytics, Teradata Aster and Pivotal have focused on making R enterprise ready.

We can expect R to play a bigger role in the coming years as more devices connect to the Internet, creating more data, which means there could be an increase in the demand for people with the knowledge in R.  Question now is, who offers the best R training or courses?

5 R training programs for developers

Udemy

Udemy is an online service that offers courses on almost any topic imaginable. The virtual classroom teaches classes from math and science, health and fitness, photography, and even R.  If you’re just starting with R, you can choose from a number of training courses. Some are free, some cost $99– such as “Introduction to R” and “Learn R by Doing”. Others can cost up to a few hundred bucks and provide unlimited access to teaching materials.

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RStudio

RStudio from Boston, MA offers both online and in-person R training, as well as books to help people expand their knowledge.  JJ Allaire, the founder of RStudio, saw the huge potential of R in the industry.  Because of innovations from R users in science, education, and industry, RStudio developed free and open tools for the community such as the RStudio development environment, shiny, ggvis, and dplyr packages, among many others.

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Revolution Analytics

Founded in 2007, Revolution Analytics sought to foster the R community as well as support the growing needs of commercial users.  Revolution Analytics is all about supporting ongoing development of the R language, from use as an open-source academic research tool to commercial applications.

Revolution Analytics offers AcademyR, the global hub for enterprise R training.  You can learn R or continue your training in four ways: in a classroom setting led by a live instructor and held either in your workplace or in a high tech facility. Alternatively AcademyR also provides a virtual instructor-led class which is delivered right to your desktop via VOIP, self-paced web classes, and on-demand self-paced classes.

The company also offers certification in Revolution R Enterprise: the Big Data Big Analytics platform based on the R statistical programming language.

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Mango Solutions

Though the name of the company alludes to a sweet, yellow fruit, it’s actually derived from Mango Solutions Managing Director Matthew Aldridge’s pet cat, thus explaining the cat theme throughout the site.  Mango Solutions offers complex analysis solutions as well as training course for R.

R Training courses can be consumed either in a private or public classes that can span one or two days. Attendees are given comprehensive course notes and documentation for reference, as well as free access to Mango Solutions’ technical helpdesk support service after completing the course.

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Accelebrate

Accelebrate is an IT company based in Atlanta. It specializes in giving online and onsite IT training courses which includes R programming training.

Its courses offer attendees insight on how to use R programming to compute statistics and generate charts, graphs, and other data representations.  Accelebrate requires that attendees have a basic knowledge of statistics and know the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics. However, there is no need for any programming background.

Courses are offered as private, customized, and on-site training in clients’ locations worldwide for groups of three or more attendees.  Each training session is tailored to the specific needs of the client.

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