How to learn programming for free? Check our list of online courses

Software Development Academy 14.01.2021 20 min

Is a free online course a good idea?

Yes, plenty of free online courses and knowledge included in them can be very useful and substantial, however, it will not substitute studies or programming schools. Individual learning demands a lot of discipline and motivation. Moreover, online materials can be outdated, so before you start an online education check when the course was created and if materials are being updated on a platform chosen by you. It is better to treat online courses as an introduction for learning, not as an entry for the IT industry – it is only a foretaste of what is really waiting for you.
The real programmers’ school is a place where you can gain skills and information important for the IT industry and knowledge is passed live, in an understandable way by professional trainers and its completion is recognized with a certificate.


However, if:

  • You are considering signing in a complex programming academy, i.e. Software Development Academy, but before you do that, you would like to check if programming is something for you,
  • You are not ready yet for investing in yourself and you would like to try your hand at programming first and if you like it, become a certified developer later,
  • You are wondering which programming language or IT specialization would be best for you,
  • Challenge yourself and choose something as a starter from the list below.
    Which online programming courses are worth trying?

 

Free programming course: which to choose? Check 3 life-hacks

 

  1. Think about what you would like to create as a developer – Would you like to develop mobile applications, games or websites? Choosing one of those options will help you in selecting a programming language for a start with. What kind of position do you aspire to? Front-end or back-end developer? Data scientist or UX/UI designer? The choice is yours!
  2. Check how much developers’ earn – If you don’t know yet, what you would like to do or you just feel you need to change your career path and you choose IT world, check the latest reports and salary statistics for different IT positions from front-end developer, through Database administrator, back-end developers and UX designers up to full-stack developers.
    Analyze what kind of qualities are necessary in different positions and which skills are crucial to move your career forward.
  3. Compare online programming courses – If you found a few free online programming courses, which substantively match your expectations, compare their duration and number of e-lessons. Also check their advancement so that you don’t get discouraged at first if you’re completely “green”, or get bored if you already know a bit about coding.
    Analyze the online opinions about the course, programming school or e-learning platform chosen by you. Check also examples of free online courses, which we recommend.

 

Free online programming courses

 

SDA Prework 

SDA Pre-work is a free platform with video courses and quizzes checking knowledge of future programmers and testers, where you can see what it really is and see if the IT industry is for you. There you will find our proprietary online courses.

 

 

 

Codecademy

Codecademy.com it is a free e-learning platform for for future, novice programmers, who want to learn from zero such programming languages for front-end developers like HTML, CSS and JavaScript and for back-end developers, those like PHP, SQL, Java, Ruby, jQuery and Python. Additonary in paid PRO version for close 20$ monthly you have access for additional, exclusive materials with possibility of direct contact with Codecademy experts.

 

 

CodeCombat

CodeCombat is a unique game for learning progrogramming for primary and secondary school students. You can gain knowledge about the basics of Bootstrap, HTML, CSS, jQuery, JavaScript and Python.

 

 

Code Avengers

CodeAvengers.com is a programming educational platform for kids, teenagers, adults and teachers. You will find here development paths, where you learn the basics of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Python. Additionally you will learn how to create your own websites, mobile applications and games. First 10 days of using the platform is free of charge, after this time you need to pay additional for trainings and code camps.

 

 

Code.org

Code.org is a platform for learning programming for children from 4 years of age with heroes of the most popular fairy tales, such as Frozen or games, such as Minecraft, and stars of popular music, such as Kate Perry and Nicki Minaj. The youngest can learn i.a. How to create applications and games using JavaScript.

 

 

Codewars

Codewars.com is a website for programmist challenges, where we can face other programmers in coding. We have several dozen programming languages to choose from. Codewars offers you programming tasks and puzzles of varying difficulty levels from 1 to 8, which you earn extra points for solving. You can also create such tasks for other coders.

 

 

Coursera

Coursera.org, similarly to Udemy, it contains online courses from different disciplines, led by the biggest world-wide known universities and brands, i.e.
Google, IGM, Stanford or University of Illinois. In their catalog we can find
Online training, connected with programming in  C++, C, Java and Python.
Few weeks long, free programming courses, full of online lectures, additional materials with tests are certified.

Check out on Coursera such courses like:

Dash

Dash, an e-learning platform, created by General Assembly is a good choice for novice front-end developers, who would like to learn about HTML5, CSS and JavaScript based on online tasks for solving.

 

 

DataCamp

Thanks to online courses on DataCamp.com you can get to know the world of a data science and the basics of such programming languages like R, Python and SQL. First course chapters and tools for creating first projects for portfolio are for free. Thanks to that you can check if the chosen programming language is for you.

 

 

edX

On educational platform edX.org besides computer science courses you can find also interesting and currently trending materials about data science, AI and big data as well as training for engineers. For substantial part of edX are responsible i.a. universities like Harvard, Boston, Berkeley and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a part of programming courses on edX platform, where you can learn about SQL, Python, JavaScript, Java, C, PHP and C++, you have also access to a forum with the possibility of consulting your code with other course students.
Your adventure with edX platform you can start with such courses like:

 

  • freeCodeCamp

  • FreeCodeCamp.org already boasts about 40,000 graduates, the best of whom have found jobs at Google, Microsoft, Apple, Spotify and Amazon. The entire free online programming course lasts over 1000 hours, during which we will learn HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript from scratch. You’ll also learn about Node.js, React.js, and D3.js, as well as Git and Github. Additionally, only sessions with a mentor are payable on the website.

  • Khan Academy

  • KhanAcademy.org is an international, completely free educational platform with elements of gamification for students and teachers, which support youth development during COVID-19 pandemic. Here, both young and old adepts of the art of programming will learn the basics and advanced issues in the field of programming languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

  • LinkedIn Learning (previously Lynda.com)

  • LinkedIn.com/learning  is a website created and promoted by the business social media LinkedIn. The first month of using this e-learning platform is free. Most of the 16,000 online courses are in English. Here you will learn, among other things, how to become a developer from front-end to back-end to full-stack developer. Additionally, you will learn how to take care of your career in IT. And, of course, how to code in Python, SQL, R, JavaScript, Java, C.

  • MIT OpenCourseware

  • MIT OpenCourseWare (ocw.mit.edu) is a website created and maintained by lecturers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here you will find free programming courses, full presentations and videos about C ++, Java and Python.

  • OpenLearning

  • OpenLearning.com is one of the few websites actively promoting the idea of lifelong learning. Here will find themselves users who want to change their career paths and become programmers, as well as place their own online course.

  • Pluralsight (Code School before)

  • You can test the Pluralsight.com platform for free during the first 10 days. After this trial period, access to the site costs nearly $ 30 per month. Their programming courses are conducted in a unique form. They are full of tasks to solve, with elements of gamification and scoring points. At Pluralsight (Code School) you will learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, .NET, iOS and Git. It is a website created for programmers – juniors who have already mastered the basics of these languages and aspire to become seniors.

  • Programmr

  • Programmr.com is a platform with challenges for web developers who already know a bit about Java, C ++, PHP, C #, Ruby, Python and iOS. Programmr also allows you to write your own code and share it with other users for testing.

  • Scratch

  • In Scratch, created by Lifelong Kindergarten from MIT Media Lab, dedicated especially for children and young people aged 8-16 years old, you can program your own games and animations and share them with the online community. The platform develops creativity and the ability to work in a group and analyze data. Everything is free of charge. It will also work well for older people.

  • SoloLearn

  • SoloLearn is a free mobile application for learning programming. We will find nearly 1,800 lessons and 15,000 quizzes in Python, C ++ and Java. The application works well on Android and iOS. SoloLearn’s materials have already been used by nearly 38 million programmers around the world.

  • Guru99

  • Guru99 is a platform for learning IT. There are courses in programming, Big Data and software testing. The lessons contain real-life examples that will help you better understand what a given field is in the IT industry.

  • HackDesign

  • HackDesign is a place where you can get acquainted with materials prepared by UX / UI design practitioners. Reviewing the lessons prepared by specialists will allow you to have a broader look at this direction of development in IT.

  • UX apprentice

  • UX apprentice is the perfect place for anyone who is considering starting their adventure with UX design. The materials placed there will allow you to go the entire path – from research, through strategy creation, to website design.

  • Learning programming for free – social media learning from A to Z

  • Besides free online programming courses you can learn as well by activities in social media for programmers thanks to so called social learning.
    Both the content posted there and discussions with other users can help you understand all the meanders of coding in all languages. Where is the best place to set up your profile if you want to develop in the IT world?
  •  Check our 3 propositions:
  1. CodeProject.com – social networking site for developers with interesting content, a discussion forum and a Q&A department with questions and answers from IT experts.
  2. GitHub – service for users of Git, a version control system, where you can publish, jointly create programming projects, exchange experiences and code fragments.
  3. Stack Overflow – something like an internet forum, useful for novice web developers. Just like on Quora or on Facebook, we have the opportunity to rate comments, which raises the most valuable content in the discussion.

  • Programming courses for free – where to start?

  • There are dozens of forms of learning, educational platforms on the Internet and programming languages in use today. A self-paced online programming course on Udemy can be a good test before enrolling in a programming academy. It will give you a clear answer to the question of whether a career in IT is a good choice. Such a course can also be a useful repetition of what you, as an SDA student, have already covered in class.
  • Learning to program is a process that takes hundreds of hours – including free programming courses to absorb even more theory and practice. Look for inspiration and knowledge from various sources and in a few years you will become a real expert! So… just do IT!