Starting into the world of software development or programming as a whole could be exciting if you know exactly what you’re up against, but that is seldom the case.
As a newbie, materials such as tutorials, quizzes, including projects will play a very crucial role in your skill development, but what if you can’t afford a $200 course in Python, or insider-only access to a JavaScript tutorial, are there places you could still get free access to these courses?
Yes, there are! Absolutely free!
Coursera offers courses from world-ranking universities and companies from around the globe.
Like every typical course online, Coursera offers you a course work, which features pre-recorded interactive videos, that’ll help you better understand the concepts you’re working with.
Coursera also has a large number of courses you can take, so you’re not just limited to learning a particular language or framework. With Coursera, you can take an advanced dive into Machine Learning as well as Data Science. Coursera also offers you a learning community wherein you can ask questions, and share your thoughts regarding a particular course or subject, and at a successful end, you’ll receive a certificate of Completion that bears your name, including the name of the Institution that made the course available.
Udacity is quite similar to Coursera, or perhaps very similar, in style and approach. Although not all courses on Udacity are free, you can always get a good deal on any course you’re planning to take. With Udacity you also get to learn with Interactive videos, and take-home projects, all of which are designed to give you a hands-on approach to how it all works in the real world. Udacity also offers a Certificate of Completion, and they are in partnership with a lot of leading tech brands from across the globe, some examples being Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and Google.
Udemy is also another Similar platform to Udacity and Coursera, and a couple more people signup for Udemy because they most times have cheaper courses, but that’s not all.
Udemy allows experts to signup as tutors in their respective areas of expertise, and from time to time, these tutors offer their courses to students for free, and you can take advantage of these programming courses.
If you are intending to dive into web development with the use of JavaScript with most of its Frameworks, alongside *HTML5 (the language for creating webpage structures, which isn’t a programming language)* and CSS3(the language for designing web pages), then FCC is perfect for you.
With FCC you’ll get a hands-on approach from the get-go, and it is all split into sections so your learning is orderly and smooth.
FCC also has an amazing community where you can always get resources to work with, get your questions answered, and find new real-life projects to work on, and what’s more, you get a Certificate of Completion for every stage you complete, which many people in the community have testified they’ve used in getting developer roles in major companies. You’d also be glad to know that FreeCodeCamp is 100% free!
CodeCademy is fairly similar to FreeCodeCamp in approach, and they offer you more options. While FreeCodeCamp is a JavaScript major CodeCademy allows you to learn many more programming languages.
CodeCademy also offers you a support community to improve your learning, and although not all courses are free on CodeCademy, you can get access to code mentors that can help accelerate your learning just in case you need any (when you signup for CodeCademy Pro which isn’t free)
Sololearn is another platform that has been around for quite a while. With Sololearn you learn the basics of a programming language, get familiar with the syntax and do other things necessary for a beginner.
So if you’re a beginner, I strongly recommend Sololearn as the perfect place to begin learning how to write code, because Sololearn is specifically designed to make coding a whole lot fun, and they’ve got a very supportive community as well.
Edx has been around for a very long time, and while they offer courses in other areas of interest such as Engineering, Accounting, the realm of Software and Web app development has never been left out. With Edx you can also get access to hundreds of free courses that’ll help improve your skills not only as a programmer but also as a world-class developer.
Edx just like the others also offers you a Certificate of Completion similar to the one Coursera offers.
MIT OpenCourseWare is simply amazing because it offers you complete courses in specific areas of interest, including computer science, and they are available to you completely free, and courses are lectured in pre-recorded videos, which takes away the boring feeling of having to read through long texts before understanding a simple concept, and you can always go at it with your own pace.
Conclusion.
Many more platforms teach you how to code, allow you to learn more advanced concepts in Computer Science as well as software development, and also prepare you for a developer role (a good example is HackerRank).
The opportunities in the landscape of technology are countless, many more talented developers are needed by the day, and you can as well become an outstanding developer and help create the next big thing!