Essential Learner Features for Your Secure Coding Training Platform

Secure coding skills aren't just a "nice to have" in today's development landscape – they're essential. Choosing the right secure coding training provider is crucial to equipping your team with the necessary knowledge.  

But where do you even start?  Beyond the technical content, a variety of features make a training platform learner-centric and truly transformative.   

In this article, we’ll dive into some key elements that will set your developers up for secure coding success. 

Read The Article: Essential Features for Your Secure Coding Platform: A Checklist for Admins 

Learner Support with Lessons 

Support for your learners is a key element you should look for in a secure coding training provider. Your learners may be working through new or more advanced concepts and should have the support they need through their education platform. 

At Security Journey, we offer ways to support your learners with their training content: 

• In-Platform Chat – a chatbox open during business hours that connects your learner with an appsec expert to ask questions about lessons 
• Hands-On Lesson FAQ – a collection of articles around basic troubleshooting, specific lesson help and common issues. 

Downloadable Cheat Sheets 

Learning and practicing concepts on an education platform is essential, but the real test of knowledge retention is the ability to apply those concepts in day-to-day job duties. A secure coding training vendor can support learners by providing resources that go beyond their online education.  

At Security Journey, we offer downloadable cheat sheets that learners can keep on their desktops or desks. These cheat sheets can be used as a reference when learners need to apply the learned concepts in their work. 

Variety of Learning Modalities 

It is important to use multiple learning methods in secure coding training to cater to different learning styles, and enhance knowledge absorption and retention. This approach also creates a more engaging training experience, which helps maintain learner focus and motivation. A multi-modal secure coding training program fosters a more inclusive learning environment, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to develop robust cybersecurity skills. 

Security Journey's AppSec Education Platform hosts a range of training modalities, from engaging videos and written summaries to multiple types of hands-on coding activities for over 40 programming languages, frameworks, and technologies. In one unique type of hands-on learning, developers are required to safely exploit an application like an attacker, remediate it, and then test its resiliency in a live application sandbox. 

Gamified Elements 

Gamification is an increasingly popular method to engage learners in secure coding training. It involves integrating game-like elements such as points, badges, and leaderboards to make learning fun and rewarding. This approach can lead to better knowledge retention and improved security practices. 

Security Journey's AppSec Education Platform uses gamification to make secure coding learning more engaging and enjoyable. Learners can earn points by completing tournaments, challenges, and quizzes, and they can track their progress on leaderboards. This gamified approach helps learners stay motivated and engaged, which can lead to better security outcomes overall. 

Choose The Partner That Supports Your Learners 

Choosing a secure coding training provider with the features discussed above means investing in technical training and a mindset shift for your development team. When learners feel supported, engaged, and motivated, they're more likely to become proactive security champions. This leads to fewer vulnerabilities and more secure products, ultimately building a more robust cybersecurity culture within your organization. 

If you want to see the platform that developers love, you can watch our demo below or book your own personalized tour of Security Journey’s AppSec Education Platform today.