Top 10 Best Online Coding and Python Courses
At a time when many of us are at home as opposed to being out and about, now is the perfect opportunity to upskill and take the next step in your coding career. The knowledge of python for instance is pertinent even as traditional engineering tasks change across different disciplines, and as computing technologies transform the way engineers do their jobs. Coding is becoming an even more important skill today.
And be it coding or computer programming, they are both becoming a core skill requirement for many well-paying jobs across a broad range of sectors including the industrial and manufacturing industries.
We’re fortunate that there are loads of opportunities online to help us take our skillsets to the next level, particularly in the tech and software development domain.
We’ve pulled together some of the top online resources to help you learn coding at your own time, and the best thing is, they won’t cost you a yen!
One of the most popular free places to learn coding is CodeAcademy. In fact, more than 45 million people have already learned how to code through this educational company’s engaging experience. At CodeAcademy, you can dive right in and take courses that teach you everything from HTML and CSS, JavaScript and SQL to Bash, Python, Ruby and C++.
Founded in 2012, Coursera has grown into a major for-profit educational-technology company that has offered more than 1,000 courses from 119 institutions. While you can pay for certain programmes to receive a certificate, there are a number of free introductory programming courses in various specialisations from universities such as the University of Washington, Stanford, the University of Toronto and Vanderbilt.
EdX is another leading online-learning platform that is open source instead of for-profit. It was founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012, so you know that you’re learning about cutting-edge technologies and theories. Today, edX includes 53 schools. You probably cannot go wrong with their free Introduction to Computer Science from Harvard University.
Founded in 2010, Udemy is an online learning platform that can be used to improve or learn job skills. While there are courses you have to pay for, there are plenty of free programming courses, which are taught via video lessons, such as Programming for Entrepreneurs the #1 Python Frameworks, APIs, HTML, CSS, + Payments.
AGupieWare is an independent app developer that surveyed computer-science programmes from some of the leading institutions in the United States. It then created a similar curriculum based on the free courses offered by Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley and Columbia. This programme was then broken into 15 courses: three introductory classes, seven core classes and five electives.
While you will not actually receive academic credit, this is a perfect introductory programme for prospective computer programmers.
Sometimes, you need to recall a reference book when you’re stuck on a problem. That's GitHub, where the site says, over 31 million developers collaborate to host and review code, manage projects, and build software together. Many programming languages are used here and a Coding Camp teaches the basics.
If you’ve already learned the basics, and want to get into something a bit heavier – such as exploring the theory behind coding – you can take advantage of MIT’s free courseware site, which includes classes such as Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python, as well as language-specific courses like Java, MatLab and C and C++.
This is a community of developers, including high-profile developers such as Bram Cohen, the inventor of BitTorrent. Here, you can perfect your programming skills by learning from some of the leading developers in the world.
Code Avengers provides fun and interactive programming lessons for kids 5 to 14; for schoolteachers wanting to teach coding; for people going into coding professionally; and for creators ages 15 and up. Also offered are one to three-day "code camps" for students up to 17. These day camps are located in multiple states and foreign countries.
Courses focus on game design, C++, HTML, Python and more and are available in multiple languages.
Created in 2006 by educator Salman Khan, Khan Academy is one of the original free online-learning institutions. With step-by-step video tutorials, you can learn how to programme drawings, animations and games using JavaScript and ProcessingJS, or learn how to create webpages with HTML and CSS. Take a special look at Khan's "Hour of Code," which is designed to introduce students to one hour of computer science and computer programming.
*BONUS* Learning Python in Japanese?
Japan’s efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic have led to an increase of free educational websites including:
- python Japan
This site is run by volunteers and offers general python information. They have mailing lists and Slack rooms to share information, so you can practice by interacting with other Japanese engineers in the native language. - Python-izm
This site stands out for all the sample codes it includes, so you can practice reading real coding examples in Japanese. I recommend this site once you have learnt to read some code. - Dot Install
This site offers educational videos. The materials for intermediary levels and above are paid, but all of the beginner-oriented materials are free. Videos offer a great way to learn spoken Japanese too. - progate
This educational site allows you to practice coding even without a coding environment. You can learn the basics for free. This is highly recommended for those who are beginners in programming.
If you are planning to pursue an engineering career in Japan, there is a myriad of platforms to learn from. You can also try searching the web for terms “Python 無料 学習” (muryou gakushuu — free education), and these sites can allow you to study wherever you are on-the-go.
Are you a developer or engineer in Japan?
At Progressive Recruitment, our consultants are on hand to help you make the most of your new skills and find that next big opportunity. We put our expertise to use to find the perfect job for you and make sure you’re well prepared to impress at every step of the application process. If you are looking to find what are the latest jobs in engineering that require python knowledge, you may read it here. To find out more about what partnering with Progressive Recruitment could mean for your career, get in touch with us.
