Top online platforms for getting into programming
Learning how to code can change your life for good — for the better. But how can you find the best websites to learn coding from scratch as a beginner to achieve your goals as quickly and easily as possible?
Not too long ago, I was where you are right now. I knew I wanted to learn to code, but I had no idea where to start.
With all the different programming languages to choose from and hundreds of online learning platforms available, I just felt overwhelmed and lost.
And I made the huge mistake of not knowing where to start learning to achieve my coding goals as quickly as possible.
I wasn’t clear on where my coding journey was going, so I wasn’t able to pick the best websites to learn coding and web development that would teach me the right skills I needed.
When you’re just getting started and you want to teach yourself to code, you don’t want to waste your time browsing through hundreds of tutorials and courses only to find the ones that don’t help you achieve your goals as quickly as possible.
Therefore, in this post, I’ll share with you the best websites to learn coding as a beginner.
Practice makes perfect. The same idea goes with coding.
Let’s dive right in!
1: CODECADEMY
It has a huge selection of resources to teach yourself to code. Their catalog allows you to explore a variety of programming languages, especially for web development.
You can find plenty of 100% free content on Codecademy. If you’re new to coding, you can easily sample different languages and tools with them.
Try a few tutorials and exercises and see what you think. If you enjoy the classes and you feel like you’ve hit the jackpot, you can sign up for a paid plan to unlock more comprehensive, premium content.
In case you’re not sure where to start, I’d suggest you go with the HTML and CSS modules, They’re easy and comparatively quick to learn. If it feels like fun, perhaps web design and web development are your things?
Codecademy was the first of all coding sites I tried as a beginner programmer. I loved how easy and fast it was to get started with them. Once I felt like I had found what I was looking for, I decided to start a paid course on Udemy.
2: FREECODECAMP
It is one of the best websites to teach yourself to code on a budget — all of their content is 100% free of charge.
If you have zero experience with programming, freeCodeCamp is an excellent place to learn the basics and explore different options you could specialize in.
In addition to coding and web development, you’ll learn some Computer Science basics, too — highly recommended!
By far the most amazing thing about freeCodeCamp is the supportive community where you can connect with like-minded developers around the world.
When you sign up and start learning, you can join a freeCodeCamp Facebook group, too. Why not join or organize a coding meet-up in your city?
3. HackerRank
Practice your coding skills in the largest learning and competition community. The site offers a lot of algorithm tutorials and tons of coding practices to choose from. Since the site also connects the developers to companies, users can get hired by companies as well.
4. HackerEarth
Challenge yourself and compete with over three million developers worldwide. Join in various monthly coding challenges ranging from beginner to advanced level. HackerEarth supports over 35 programming languages and their platform can be accessed for free for developers. They have a wide range of practice tracks available such as Data Structures, Algorithms, and more where developers can learn and analyze their performance by solving over 100 problems in each of the tracks and rank on the leaderboard.
5. TopCoder
Compete against other designers, developers, and data scientists in one of the original online competitive programming platforms. They have Single Round Matches offered a few times a month at a specific time. The top rankers are some of the best and hard-to-beat programmers.
