There’s a lot of free knowledge on the internet. From short tutorials, to tips, and full courses, there’s something for everyone. Amidst the current pandemic, people are not only looking for something to do in their free time, they are also taking time out to learn. It’s the perfect opportunity!
On my last AMA Twitch session (Ask Mish Anything) we spoke about all the places were you can find FREE learning courses and tutorials. As promised, here’s the list of the ones I have come across and would recommend. Some of these are free to use during the COVID-19 wake, whilst others are always free. In alphabetical order.
Oh and I’ve been doing lots of these on my Twitch channel too!
AWS DeepRacer
Ever wanted to get into Machine Learning? This is a great way to learn what ML is and how to apply it. All free.
AWS Courses
By extension, AWS has tonnes of free “Training and Certification” courses; it’s all AWS tools like Security, cloud, database and more.
Codecademy
A go to for lots of coders! Learn to code in Python, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Java, SQL, Bash/Shell, Ruby, C++, R, C#, PHP, Go, and Swift. Their tracking and goals system is really nice for motivation too.
Coursera
Literally hundreds of universities and companies have free courses available here. Everything from coding to physics, arts, history, and heaps more. All the courses are free to do, and if you want to get officially certified then you pay to sit the exam.
CS Courses
During the stream we were lucky enough to have someone drop this link in. It’s a GitHub repo with HUNDREDS of links to CS courses. Check them all out on GitHub.
Deakin University
An Australian university known for its lengthy experience in distance and online learning. There’s heaps of free courses available from “learning culturally diverse teams in the workplace” to transforming digital learning.
edX
Over 2500 online courses from hundreds of unis like Harvard and MIT. Nearly all of it is free! Comes highly recommended from my Twitch chat too.
FreeCodeCamp
As the name suggests, it’s all free! Learn heaps of technical content like web design, JavaScript, front end, data visualisation, and more. You can also get certified.
General Assembly
A global group that does courses and workshops in everything from coding, to design, marketing, startups and more. They often have lots of free workshops for people to attend both in person and online (all online during COVID-19). Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, GA have launched “Free Fridays”, with 100% free workshops EVERY FRIDAY! Make sure you click the correct link for the course and ensure you select the correct timezone.
GitHub Learning Lab
Of course we can’t go past GitHub learning lab! Lots of free courses on how to use GitHub, everything from the basics like opening a PR, right through to creating Docker containers, building Actions, and more.
Google University
\The university itself is no longer running, but there’s lots of courses now on Developing for Android if that’s your thing.
Khan Academy
Lots of courses around schooling, programming, maths etc. There’s something for each year level from preschool through to 8th grade, and then lots available for open learning.
Laracasts
A cool online place to learn some really indepth technical content. The UI is amazing and it’s a great place to learn Laravel along with JavaScript and PHP.
MIT Open Courseware
Lots of things from computing to languages, Data Science, Business, Engineering, Humanities. Heaps of free stuff to sink into. Fair warning, their UI isn’t the greatest.
NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute
A lot of the content here is paid (although it’s REALLY cheap) but there are a couple of free courses too. It’s definitely one of the best places to learn about machine learning, deep learning, and GPUs.
Unity Learn Premium
During the COVID-19 crisis, Unity have made all their Premium courses FREE until June 20. Learn to make games using Unity, code in C# and more. There’s also Unity Learn which is free forever.
Unity Beginner Tutorials
Passed on by a “Master C#” friend. This one came highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn unity and Master C#.
Ruby Warrior
Built by Bloc io, this uses gaming to teach Ruby programming. It’s a bootcamp for learning to code from scratch, right up to being a full time developer!
TAFE NSW
For those New South Walians (Australian NSW residents), there’s a bunch of free certifications just for you. This is your chance to get a full diploma or certificate 100% free. There’s some eligibility requirements so check them out on the website.
Twilio Quest
Put together by the Twilio team, TwilioQuest uses role playing to teach coding. Embark on a quest to save The Cloud and learn to code in Python, JavaScript, and learn about open source.
Where will you learn?
I hope you all find these resources useful. As promised (I seem to promise lots of things), check out my GitHub repo where all the above information is store. This repo and readme file will be updated with new information as it comes.
Header image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.
