6 ways to learn coding - free

It’s never been a better time to pick up programming. No matter your age or experience, various tools are available to get you started or to help you refine your programming chops. Best of all, many of those resources are free. Now there are expertly written tutorials, helpful videos, and a wealth of other resources online.

1. CodeAcademy 

Codecademy offers easy-to-understand interactive tutorials for popular languages like Python and Ruby. Codecademy can also help you learn the fundamentals of the web, HTML and CSS, to create your own website from scratch.

Price: Free
Skill level: Novice

2. OpenCourseware Consortium 

The Consortium’s site lets you easily search for lessons across all of its member schools. It’s hard to deny the usefulness of having full courses online.

Price: Free
Skill level: Novice to advanced

3. Treehouse

Treehouse claims its premium offerings can prepare you for a developer gig, even if you’ve got no experience. A helpful iPad app also makes it easy to learn on the go. Treehouse offers training videos, a real-time “Code Challenge Engine,” and a forum for members. Pay a bit more, and you can get even more features, like feedback on your projects and workshops on new technology.

Price: $25 a month for silver; $49 a month for gold
Skill level: Novice to intermediate

4. Khan Academy 

One of the best example of online learning movement, Khan Academy started out with its creator, Salman Khan, creating video tutorials for math lessons. It’s since branched out to other subjects, including science, economics, and yes, computer science. Here you’ll find programming lessons in the form of short videos, buoyed by practice lessons and tools for teachers. Khan Academy also supports a wide variety of languages, thanks to translation help from volunteers.

Price: Free (Functions as a non-profit, with support from donors)
Skill level: Novice to intermediate

5. Local accelerated training programs

You’ll pay far more than any online training, but in exchange you’ll get dedicated instructors and much-needed inroads to engineering jobs.

Price: Variable, typically starts around $10,000
Expertise: Novice to expert

6. Local Universities

While it’s not as cool as saying you learned to code on your own using just the web, your local universities or community colleges are still useful resources for programming skills. They’re a good option if you need more structure in your lessons, and having the in-person interaction with a professor and colleagues isn’t something you can easily recreate online. And while they won’t be free, these courses will be far cheaper than an accelerated programming course.

Price: Variable
Expertise: Novice to intermediate