Congratulations,
You're now one step closer to learning about the wonderful world of coding.
When I first started my exploration into learning to code, I had absolutely no idea where to begin. There were so many free resources out there explaining how to become a programmer, with many paths to take and many destinations to choose from. All I knew was that I wanted to be able to build really cool and useful applications and websites, but didn't know how to start.
The Journey
I was stuck in the research faze of my journey and in a perpetual daily loop of consuming blogs and YouTube videos, all proclaiming the best programming language to start with. Was it Python, C or JavaScript…
I fell into paralysis by analysis, which is very common. You may be in this state as you read this blog post.
The main way to escape this is to ask yourself this simple question.
“What do I want to build, and where do I see myself working”?
Do you want to build beautiful interactive websites with user-friendly experiences? Then you may want to choose a frontend development pathway.
Are you more interested with the inner working of websites and applications and are interested in how things work behind the scenes? This may indicate that you want to look into backend development.
And if you really want to own a whole project from the frontend user interface to the inner workings, then full-stack development is the route for you.
What programming language do I learn?
Now that you know your general route into code, where do you start and what language do you start with?
The reality is that programming languages are tools we use to build things. And depending on the project, certain tools may be a better fit than others. So what is more important to learn as a beginner is not just the syntax of a language, but the underlining concepts and techniques that bind all programming languages together.
What next?
I have listed some of the best free coding resources that have helped me and countless others on our learning journey.
freeCodeCamp
One of the best free resources that I currently use is freeCodeCamp.
It is designed to get you coding from the first lesson. Each tutorial is presented in a split-screen where a concept is explained on the left and an interactive coding tool is available on the right, which allows students to see their code in action. Classes are available across topics such as responsive web design, front-end, and back-end web development, data analysis with Python, information architecture, and machine learning.
The School Of Code
If you're based in the UK, I would highly recommend that you apply to the School Of Code's 16 week bootcamp. As a recent graduate (Cohort 12), I can't recommend them enough. One of the main reasons I applied was the fact that I wanted to be exposed to working in agile groups, pair programming and learning within a community with like-minded individuals.
Codecademy
Codecademy offers thousands of online courses covering 12 programming languages and two markup languages (HTML and CSS). You can choose from a free membership and a paid “Pro” membership.
The Odin Project
The Odin Project is a bootcamp that provides an open-source curriculum to students who want to learn to code but can't afford to join traditional education paths. Their online programs offer courses on JavaScript, HTML and CSS, Ruby on Rails, and Node.js.
Frontend Masters
Frontend Masters is a great platform with many high quality courses made by industry leaders specifically for the site. The content is not free, however if you are eligible to join the GitHub Student Developer Pack, then you will receive a 6 months free pass to all the courses offered.
YouTube
Last but not least, I would say that YouTube is one of the best resources available for learning pretty much anything. Here is a list of great channels that provide excellent coding tutorials, courses and advice.
(Not an exhaustive list or in order of usefulness)
I hope you found the info above helpful, and I wish you all the best on your learning journey.
Thank you for reading.