Are you looking for a fresh start? Is charting a new career path both exciting and scary? Is digital explosion overwhelming you?
Well, it’s time to get your nerd on with coding!
From finance to marketing and entertainment to infotainment, as a new entrant in the market, programming skill can distinguish you in an employer’s eye.
But where to begin? Well, here’s a list of ten best online resources to choose from as a newbie coder.
1. freeCodeCamp
This interactive coding platform founded by Quincy Larson has a 3000 hours curriculum. It provides hands-on coding experience through projects for non-profit organizations. You even get a free certification after course completion. Features like coding challenges, friendly code editing interface, mobile phone availability, and community forum make it a neat place to start.
- Courses offered: CSS, HTML, Data Visualization, JavaScript, Node.js, etc.
- Pricing: Free
- Review: Excellent platform for self-motivated learners.
2. Udemy
This is one of the most popular online course providers known for helping professionals and students. It has both free and paid coding classes with 1000s of video tutorials. Notably, courses here are created by individuals, so you should check out separate reviews before making a purchase.
- Courses offered: Mobile apps, programming languages (C, C++, Python, and so on), eCommerce, etc.
- Pricing: $10 – $200/month. Offers sales coupons and discounts.
- Review: Good for independent learners.
3. Khan Academy
What started as founder Sal Khan’s attempt to tutor his cousin online is now a renowned learning platform. It has courses ranging from coding, computer science, mathematics, arts, etc., available in multiple languages. The platform also has courses for kids, which means you can upskill as a family!
- Courses offered: HTML, JavaScript, CSS and SQL.
- Pricing: Free
- Review: Good for beginners and casual learners.
4. MIT Open Courseware
This online library maintained by MIT offers you a chance to learn coding from one of the best educational institutions in the world. You don’t even need an account to access it. It also has a unique code challenge called ‘Battlecode Programming’ for enhancing your skill.
- Courses offered: Computational thinking & Data Science, Python, Java, MATLAB, C, C++, etc.
- Pricing: Free
- Review: Good for both newbie and advanced coders.
5. Udacity
This for-profit online education platform has 200 free coding courses and specialized ‘Nanodegrees’ for careers like data analyst, front-end web developer, data engineer, etc.
- Courses offered: Python, C, C++, Java, Data Structure & Algorithms, etc.
- Pricing: $200/month for paid programs. Offers personalized discounts.
- Review: Good if you are targeting specific job positions.
6. Code.org
Founders Hadi and Alo Partovi started this website to motivate school students, especially minorities and females, to learn computer science. However, its coding courses are useful to leaner of any age. The unique ‘Hour of Code’ tutorials and project-based learning makes it fun.
- Courses offered: CSS, HTML, JavaScript, etc.
- Pricing: Free
- Review: Quite useful if you prefer the fun classroom feel.
7. treehouse
If you enjoy live classroom teaching and open discussion with peers, then treehouse is your platform. It has 100+ courses on 11 topics with interactive video tutorials, quizzes, and online coding challenges. It also has freelancing and business strategy tutorials to help put your new coding skills into action.
- Courses offered: Android & iOS development, Java web development, Python web development, Front-end web development, etc.
- Pricing: $25 – $50/month. Two-week trial for new users.
- Review: Useful for individuals seeking advanced coding skills.
8. Edabit
Consider it the ‘Duolingo’ for coding. It offers 4000 bite-sized challenges in several languages. You can learn by solving one daily.
- Courses offered: PHP, JavaScript, Java, Python, C#, C++, Ruby, Swift, etc.
- Pricing: Free
- Review: Good for covering basics.
9. W3Schools
This is a ‘freemium’ online learning website owned by Norway based Refnes Data. It is the largest web developer site with learning materials and free coding tutorials covering almost all topics on web programming.
- Courses offered: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, etc.
- Price: Free
- Review: Best place to learn if you want to cover a larger ground in coding.
10. The Odin Project
This platform is the holy grail for absolute beginners. Whether you want to become a web developer, freelancer, hacker or entrepreneur, this platform has online coding classes and projects for all.
- Courses offered: HTML5, jQuery, CSS3, JavaScript, etc.
- Pricing: Free
- Review: Great for a hands-on experience.
Author Bio:
An Engineer by training, Aesha Zala has a Master’s degree in Electronics & Communication. After a 3-year career in Vodafone Shared Services Limited, Aesha decided to pursue her long lost dream of writing professionally and has since never looked back. Her favorite authors are J.K. Rowling, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Sparks, James Kirkup, and O. Henry.