blog posts
Free and Low-Cost Ways to Learn a New Language
Learning to code can be daunting, but you can do it at your own pace from the comfort of your own home. Whether you want basic HTML training to build a simple website or gain SQL training to manage large data, you don't need to pay for expensive courses or go to school. Thanks to dedicated programmers who have put time and energy into creating free online training and guides to various programming languages, anybody can learn if they put in the work. And you don’t have to be an adult or have a college degree to learn to code. There are free resources for all ages and skill levels, including coding for high school students and even coding for elementary school students. We’ve researched and listed plenty of free resources at your fingertips that offer hands-on activities and general overviews for beginner coding projects and advanced tasks. 
Programming Languages You Should Learn: This page offers an overview of programming languages that are beneficial to learn for a variety of uses.
Intro to Scratch Jr.: Learn about this basic programming language that can help you get a taste of how to code and what coding can create.
Educator Guide: Explore Mars With Scratch: This is a classroom activity guide from NASA that shows students how to use Scratch to create a Mars exploration game.
Getting Started With Scratch: Follow this tutorial to get started learning how to create Scratch games, videos, and animations.
HTML Training: Beginner Tutorial: This page offers a tutorial for people who have no previous knowledge of HTML or HTML training. With these easy-to-follow lessons, you can learn how to create a Web page with HTML.
HTML Training for Beginners: This article gives a complete overview of the basics of HTML, what the tags mean, and the best programs to use when you're learning how to code HTML.
HTML Tutorial for Beginners: This page offers a beginner's guide to creating good HTML that will render quickly and helps to lay the groundwork for all other types of code you'll learn.
Introduction to HTML: Discover some tips and tricks for HTML that can help you work with text more effectively.
Building Your First Web Page With HTML and CSS: Once you've mastered HTML training, CSS is usually the next step since they go hand-in-hand with front-end design.
CSS Basics: This document is a textbook of everything you need to know about the basics of CSS.
Learn CSS in Five Minutes: Read a guide to CSS that goes over all of the basics of the coding language so you can follow along and design your own page using what you've learned.
The Beginner's Guide to CSS: This training offers an overview of the different properties you can control through CSS and gives detailed definitions as well as suggestions for full courses to get a more in-depth education on the style language.
CSS First Steps: CSS First Steps offers a set of learning guides created by Mozilla for learning how CSS works and putting your newfound knowledge to good use.
CSS 101: A tutorial the Berkeley Advanced Media Institute created that can teach you how to style a Web page using CSS.
Khan Acedemy Web Design (article): Once you've mastered HTML and CSS, you can put what you've learned to the test by creating a Web page. This lesson can help walk you through the process.
What Is a Wireframe? Get to know the basic outline of wireframes and how to use them when designing a website's basic layout and functionality.
A Beginner's Guide to Web Design: This guide offers a brief overview of what Web design is and the skills a Web designer needs to master in order to create a visually appealing website.
How to Lay Out and Design a Website (Without Any Design Skills): Learning how to code can be daunting enough, but design is a whole other ballgame. However, once you've learned the basics, this page will help you walk through the next steps of creating a site without having to also learn a lot about design.
Game Design: Level Creation for Beginners: Game design seems difficult if you don't know what you need, but this page has an overview of helpful coding techniques to learn for game design to ensure that the game you're creating is the best possible game you can make.
How to Code a Game for Beginners: If you're wondering how you can code your own game, this page has a guide to everything you need to know about the first step to creating your own game through code and design.
Learn to Code Games: This article is for coding beginners hoping to learn how to create their own video game; it specifically highlights Python training as an intro to coding because it's a common coding language in this field.
Getting Started With Python: Find out the basics of this powerful programming language and learn how to get started using it.
Python Modules: This page is part of a series of articles from Python for Beginners. These Python training modules are files that consist of pre-written code created to make programming easier.
Learn Python: Hello, World! Follow along with this tutorial explaining the straightforward syntax of Python and how to run your new code.
Code Combat Game: Playing Code Combat is a fun way to learn some foundational coding concepts as you level up both in the game and with your coding skills.
Advanced Coding Activities and Education
The Beginner's Guide to JavaScript Function and its Unique Features: This guide is a tutorial about JavaScript functions that make it easier to structure your code into bite-sized, more reusable units to avoid repeating the same code over and over.
Essential JavaScript: This training is a JavaScript tutorial full of code, comments, and reminders about JavaScript to ensure that when you run your own code, you're not making the same mistakes repeatedly, and you're able to debug it if you do run into errors.
An Introduction to JavaScript: This article is an essential introduction to JavaScript that details what it is, how it's executed, and what it can and can't do.
Java Overview: Here is an overview of Java as a language, outlining why it's so easy to pick up and what makes it different from other programming languages.
Java Tutorial for Beginners: This tutorial goes over the tips and tricks that go into Java programming.
Introduction to Java Programming: Find tutorials and lessons to help you master the basic techniques of the programming language.
Advanced Java Programming: This is a detailed guide to more advanced Java concepts that can prepare you for mastery of the language by cementing the concepts you've learned in earlier guides.
What Is a JavaScript Framework? Once you've mastered JavaScript, you'll start to see references to JavaScript frameworks. This is a beginner's guide to what JavaScript frameworks are, some of the different types of frameworks you'll encounter, and how to learn them.
Getting Started With Node: A JavaScript Framework Node.js is one of the many types of JavaScript frameworks available to learn once you've picked up the basics of JavaScript. This is a guide to what Node is and the in-depth inner workings of the code.
The Document Object Model: The Document Object Model, also known as the DOM, is a type of JavaScript framework that acts as a live data structure you can read or modify. This page offers an overview of how it works to introduce newcomers to the framework.
ECMAScript 6: Overview and Comparison: This page offers various quick lessons and code that go over various functions of what ES6 syntax can do for the coder.
React Tutorial: An Overview and Walkthrough: React is a type of JavaScript framework. It helps to have a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, the DOM, and ES6 syntax to fully understand this framework.
Best YouTube Coding Classes
They say you can learn almost anything from the internet, and that includes learning to code! Plenty of experts and organizations offer step-by-step tutorials, all free (if you don’t mind watching a few ads!)
Academind on YouTube: With almost 1 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 700 videos to offer to date, enjoy the two hosts Max and Manuel who offer video training on their Academind’s YouTube page. Not only is it a great place to start for high schoolers or adults, but their goal for their video content on coding is to make it F-U-N. Some of their most popular videos include SQL training as well. CS Dojo on YouTube: You host and CS expert “YK” makes videos about programming as well as computer science. With almost 2 million subscribers to date on YouTube, their Python training videos are a great free resource. Plus, as a former Google employee, YK shares their expert tips and even advice for novice programmers on where to start. FreeCodeCamp on YouTube: Whether it’s Supabase or C++, or Java you want to learn, join the almost 8 million subscribers who look to the different experts at FreeCodeCamps to learn to code from home for free. Best Cheap Platforms For Coding Beginners
If you are looking to be certified after your code studies, inexpensive paid training classes may be the best path to be able to highlight your new coding skills to potential employers. While not free, these cheaper platforms not only offer plenty of courses for coding beginners, you can often take advantage of promo codes and discounts to find a course right for your budget. Codecademy is a great inexpensive resource when learning to code. Codecademy offers free and paid tracks for HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, Ruby, SQL, Go, Swift & C++, so you can test out their training courses before spending any money. If you are interested in purchasing a Codecademy Pro Plan, you should also check out all of CouponFollow’s verified list of discount codes on courses. Currently, you can save 60% on an annual pro membership through CouponFollow’s discount. Leetcode is another amazing resource for learning to code from home. Well-organized courses help you by providing structure to guide you towards progress in your programming career. The site even offers access to free training and study plans, so you can try out different free code training options before you commit financially. Once you complete your paid courses in full, you can even use LeetCode practice interview questions and connect with potential employers and jobs.
Ranked #1 by Forbes (according to the DataCamp website), DataCamp can help you become a certified data professional with access to over 400 online courses and career guidance. Whether you want to learn ChatGPT, data science, or lock down your Python or SQL training, set your own pace and choose from courses for all levels with no prior coding experience required. Once you have begun learning the fundamentals of any programming language, you should build a project to cement your skills and build up your portfolio. If you are interested in applying for a programming job, prospective employers will want to see several portfolio projects you have built to ensure you are technically proficient enough to work at their company. Udemy has hundreds of great coding classes that walk you through building portfolio projects from scratch. Many of these courses are created by current and former employees of tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Airbnb. If you are interested in purchasing a Udemy course to help build your portfolio, check out our verified Udemy Coupons page. Our top coupon code can get you 92% off any class at checkout.
