10 free programming courses and certificates

Regardless of your career choice, you will always need a combination of technical skills (also known as hard skills) and soft skills (also known as power skills). Both sets of skills serve strategic purposes in your career journey, and in your professional development and advancement.

A solid understanding of technical skills enable you to get the job done, and acts as proof of your expertise; while building your soft skills—the transferable skills that are necessary to facilitate everyday work life regardless of the industry—ensures that you are able to get your foot in the door, build relationships, thrive in your role, and successfully climb the ladder.

Programming skills are perhaps the most important technical/hard skill sets you need to learn in 2024. While computer programming as a standalone profession might be suffering a decline, there are numerous jobs that will require you to have programming skills—even though some of these roles are non-technical.

Each role will have varying technical proficiency requirements, depending on job context. So it’s essential that you identify what programming skills are needed, if any, for your specific job or long-term career goal, so that you can make a plan to learn and develop the necessary skills, keeping your professional development focused and tailored to your needs.

For example, a data analyst would need to learn about SQL, Python, and R for statistical programming, whereas a mobile app developer would need to understand C#, Kotlin, and Java programming languages.

0 Free Courses And Certificates To Learn Programming Skills

Here, then, are 10 free programming courses and online trainings which you can access to start your professional development journey from today—and some of them even come with certificates:

1. Programming for Everybody (Getting Started With Python)

Developed and delivered by the University of Michigan, this course is available for free on Coursera if you qualify for financial aid, and it also comes with a certification upon completion. Programming for Everybody is part of the wider Python for Everybody learning path, and is suitable for you even if you are a novice with zero previous knowledge or experience with Python programming.

2. Programming Languages, Part A

The Programming Languages career certificate by the University of Washington, via Coursera, is another fantastic upskilling resource if you are looking to take your programming skills to the next level. Unlike the Programming for Everybody certificate, this free course is more suited for you if you have some prior background in the subject.

3. Computer Programming—JavaScript And The Web

Offered by Khan Academy, the Computer Programming—JavaScript and the Web course does not come with a certificate, however it is incredibly helpful in that it teaches a wide range of skills including writing code, debugging, CSS, modifying databases, interactive webpages and jQuery, and others.

The other courses include:

1. Responsive Web Design Certification—FreeCodeCamp (teaches HTML and CSS)
2. JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification—FreeCodeCamp (teaches JavaScript)
3. Front End Development Libraries Certification—FreeCodeCamp (teaches React and Bootstrap)
4. Data Visualization Certification—FreeCodeCamp (teaches the D3.js library)
5. Introduction to C++—SoloLearn

6 Places That Provide Free Programming Courses

Here are some excellent resources for sourcing free programming training and courses:

• Khan Academy
• Coursera
• Udacity
• Codeacademy
• MIT OpenCourseWare (has an entire page dedicated to introductory programming skills courses, and also has more advanced courses listed once you build confidence in the foundational level)
• The Odin Project—head to their “Foundations” page

As you can see, it’s pretty easy to learn programming skills and languages, all from the comfort of your home, without even needing to spend a penny. There are no excuses now, except the ones you impose on yourself. So, get started today and enrol on a course.

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