Best Online Programming Courses for Remote Workers
Find some of the best online programming courses for remote workers here. Computer code is the backbone of nearly all companies. Whether you just want to learn HTML and CSS so that you can tweak website content, or you’re looking to become a developer specializing in front or back-end work, these courses could help you take a step in the right direction.
CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science
Harvard University | edX | Free | 216 hrs
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If you don’t have any programming experience at all but are looking to add it to your resume, this course could be a great fit for you. This course not only teaches students the basics of several programming languages, but it also teaches them how to use algorithms and solve problems efficiently. Languages covered in this course include Python, SQL, JavaScript, C, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. Several problem sets are provided to give students ways to apply their new skills, and these diverse sets are inspired by biology, finance, forensics, and gaming, among other fields.
Students who earn a satisfactory score on nine of these problem sets are eligible for a certificate of completion for $199. Despite the Harvard name, this course is designed to be accessible for even the programming novice, and the course will provide a great if intensive foundation for people desiring to learn programming skills.
For people comfortable with teaching themselves the basics of computer programming without the benefit of an instructor, Khan Academy is a powerful resource. The sheer breadth and well-organized layout of this page will help students teach themselves whatever programming skills they feel they may need for their career or project.
Topics covered include introductory HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but also more advanced topics such as games, visualizations, and natural simulations in JavaScript. Practice exercises are provided, and the page is organized in such a way that the user can jump ahead or back to whichever content they would like to access.
Programming for the Web with JavaScript
University of Pennsylvania | edX | Free | 32 hrs
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If you’ve already mastered the basics of web programming but want to learn a bit more to improve your programming resume, this intermediate-level course is a good fit. While the course starts off reviewing the basics of how internet browsers work, it moves on to teaching users how to create full web pages using JavaScript. More advanced concepts such as client-side JavaScript libraries, RESTful API design, React.js development, and MongoDB databases are covered as well.
Chris Murphy and Swapneel Sheth, who both teach in the computer and information science field at the University of Pennsylvania, skillfully build the course from introductory to more advanced content in a way that tries not overwhelm the student.
Agile Development Using Ruby on Rails – The Basics
University of California, Berkeley | edX | Free | 72 hrs
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This intermediate course focuses specifically on how to use Agile techniques with Ruby on Rails to develop Software as a Service (SaaS), and provides important fundamental knowledge for people looking to specialize in SaaS programming as a career or gain more knowledge about the field. Students will learn how to use Ruby on Rails and apply it to the design, development, testing, and public deployment of an application.
Weekly coding projects and quizzes are included as part of the course, giving students many opportunities to apply their skills and gain valuable feedback. The videos and homework assignments are updated periodically as the Ruby software updates, and currently feature Ruby 2.4, Rails 4.2.10, and RSpec 3.7. Embedded live chat with Teaching Assistants is also included in the course, which is taught by three UC Berkeley professors, Armando Fox, Sam Joseph, and David Patterson.
Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python)
University of Michigan | Future Learn | Free | 24 hrs
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If you have no basic understanding of programming, this course is a good way to help you get started quickly. The 6-week course starts with exercises that focus on understanding what programming is and some of the core concepts, including variables, if statements, and repeated execution and looping.
By the end of the course, you will have installed Python and should be able to write your first program. Charles Severance, the instructor, teaches at the School of Information at the University of Michigan and has an extensive background in teaching new users how to code.
After 8 weeks, the course costs $79.
Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 1
Stanford University | edX | Free | 24 hrs
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This intermediate-level course is a good introduction to algorithms for learners with at least a baseline of programming experience. Topics covered in the course include sorting and searching, divide and conquer, randomized algorithms, data structures and graph primitives. Six multiple choice quizzes, six programming exercises, and a multiple-choice final are also provided for students to test their skills, although you can take the course at your own pace.
After you complete this course, you should be able to confidently discuss algorithms in technical interviews, and this could help you further your programming career. Tim Roughgarden, the course instructor, is a professor of computer science at Stanford University.
Introduction to Programming in C Specialization
Duke University | Coursera | $49 per month | 80 hrs
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This 4-course specialization provides a comprehensive guide to Programming in C. Students do not necessarily have to take all four courses if five months is too much of a commitment, but it is recommended that students take the courses in order. The first course covers the basics of programming, including developing algorithms, reading code, and understanding how programming concepts and algorithms are related. The second course, “Writing, Running and Fixing Code in C,” teaches students how to write programs by first planning out what the program should do, then running the program, and then testing and debugging it so problems can be fixed. The third course introduces three more advanced concepts: pointers, arrays, and recursion. The final course, “Interacting with the System and Managing Memory,” will teach the user how to write more interactive programs.
All four courses are taught by computer science and engineering instructors at Duke and Cornell University. Based on their positive course reviews, the courses could be beneficial in helping you to jumpstart a C programming career.
If you’ve mastered the basics of programming in Python and/or Java and want to improve your resume by moving on to intermediate-level programming, this course is a good first step. This course hits the ground running—during week one you will already make your first simple C++ program. From there, the course moves on to more complex concepts, such as one-way if statements and inverse functions. Practice exercises are provided along the way, and the course ends with a final exam to test your skills.
For those wishing to further their C++ studies after this course is completed, edX provides more free courses in its Programming and Data Structures MicroBachelors program; this is the first course in that series. Aspen Olmstead and Itay Tal, two professors from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, co-teach the course.
Introduction to Cloud Development with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript
IBM | edX | Free | 8 hrs
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While the name of this course sounds advanced, this is a solid introductory course for anyone looking to get into basic web design with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The course begins with a discussion of how the internet works and how information is delivered to users. Then, the course helps students become familiar with the basic applications used by web programmers, and includes exercises to help practice hands-on skills with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The course concludes with a discussion of how to use products such as GitHub and GitLab that help programmers store project information and keep track of changes made to files. Rav Ahuja, the IBM Data Science Program Director, and Upkar Lidder, a Senior Software Engineer, are the primary instructors for this course. This course will help teach you basic coding skills that you may need for your career.
Introduction to Databases and SQL
Raspberry Pi Foundation | Future Learn | Free | 6 hrs
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If you don’t know what databases are or how they work in programming, this course provides an introduction. The course starts with the basics, talking about the definition of databases and how they differ from spreadsheets. After that, the course covers how SQL is used to search and manipulate data. The second week discusses key and table relationships, and the final week teaches students how to group and look at exporting data from the database.
This content will not only help prepare you for more advanced database courses, but also help provide you with a baseline knowledge of SQL that you will need for many programming careers.
After 5 weeks, the course costs $49.
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