Software Development Courses Online: Learn to build applications in the comfort of your own home

Will there ever be a better time to finally learn that new language or teach yourself some software development basics?

So you want to become a developer right? Well, surprisingly this sector doesn’t always require endless certifications and qualifications. Yep, you can get your ‘foot in the door’ rather easily, all you need is a vested interest in software, some drive, a little passion and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a dev too! Software development courses online have become the go-to source for many devs to make their first steps into the industry, and most development agencies highly value the material on offer too. If you’re looking for a low-cost method into getting into the industry then a software development course online is certainly your best bet. But, where do you start? Which ones are free/low-cost? 

To help you with this we’ve put together some resources for both absolute newbies to software development and experienced devs who are interested in learning a new language. We hope these recommendations will help you fill your spare time with something you’ll feel is very rewarding.

To help you dive straight into your preferred learning method we’ve separated this article into a list of video content and articles each categorised into their own languages/technologies and skill level.

Please note, this repository will continuously be updated so please visit frequently so you don’t miss out!

Software development courses online: Video content

Corey Schafer

Tutorials: Various programming languages and technologies for software development courses online

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

This channel is focused on creating tutorials and walkthroughs for software developers, programmers, and engineers. Corey Schafer covers topics for all different skill levels, so whether you are a beginner or have many years of experience, this channel will have something for you. They have released a wide variety of videos on topics that include: Python, Git, Development Environments, Terminal Commands, SQL, Programming Terms, JavaScript, Computer Science Fundamentals, and plenty of other tips and tricks which will help you in your career.

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Traversy Media

Tutorials: Web Development

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

“Traversy Media features the best online web development and programming tutorials for all of the latest web technologies including Node.js, Angular 2, React.js, PHP, Rails, HTML, CSS and much more”

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Sentdex

Tutorials: Python

Skill Level: Intermediate / Advanced

Python Programming tutorials, going further than just the basics. Learn about machine learning, finance, data analysis, robotics, web development, game development and more.

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3Blue1Brown

Mathematics/Computer Science

3blue1brown, by Grant Sanderson, is a combination of math and entertainment, depending on your disposition. The goal is for explanations to be driven by animations and for difficult problems to be made simple with changes in perspective.

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Hammock Driven Development – Rich Hickey

Keynote Presentation

Rich Hickey delivers an informative presentation on his philosophical development method. Hickey describes his process for solving hard problems, which is obviously a huge part of what programmers do and is probably useful for just about anyone else too. There are a couple of technical examples in the talk but almost all of it should make sense to beginners and non-programmers.

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Software development courses online: Article/Blog Content

Matt Studdert: 16 front-end projects (with designs) to help improve your coding skills

Tutorials: Various programming languages and technologies

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

There’s nothing quite like building projects to grow as a developer. Tutorials are a brilliant learning tool. But at some point, the training wheels need to come off and you need to start building.

The problem is, developers often are not the best at making things look great 😅 If you feel this speaks to you then Matt Studdert put together some great projects for you at Frontend Mentor. Each one includes mobile & desktop designs, a front-end style guide (for fonts, colors, etc) and a basic brief. The assets are all provided and pre-optimized meaning all you need to focus on is writing the code!

You can use any tools you like while building each project. So if you’re wanting to practice things like React, Vue, Sass, Tailwind you get to choose your setup.

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Software development courses online: Subscription-based tutorial service

Pluralsight

Tutorials: Various programming languages and technologies

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

At Pluralsight, they believe everyone should have the opportunity to create progress through technology and develop the skills of tomorrow. With assessments, learning paths and courses authored by industry experts, their platform helps businesses and individuals benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products.

Matthew from Yozu says: ” They do amazing high quality, to the point tutorials for a large variety of programming languages. They put promotions on quite a lot but if none are available then I’d recommend using their free trial!”

Matthew, one of the members of our team at Yozu joined us after completing a degree unrelated to software development. Before finishing his degree he discovered his passion for developing applications and decided to signup for Pluralsight’s £25.00 per month membership. Using this service he taught himself the basic fundamentals of computer science and software development.

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Udemy

Tutorials: Various programming languages and technologies

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

Udemy is the leading global marketplace for teaching and learning, connecting millions of students to the skills they need to succeed. The ultimate online IT and software courses. Prepare for certification exams or study the latest operating system architectures.

Udemy helps organizations of all kinds prepare for the ever-evolving future of work. Our curated collection of top-rated business and technical courses gives companies, governments, and nonprofits the power to develop in-house expertise and satisfy employees’ hunger for learning and development.

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The Odin Project

Tutorials: Various programming languages and technologies

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

“The Odin Project is one of those, what I wish I had when I was learning resources. Not everyone has access to a computer science education or the funds to attend an intensive coding school and neither of those is right for everyone anyway. This project is designed to fill in the gap for people who are trying to hack it on their own but still want a high-quality education.”

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Software development courses online: Offline Content

Clean Code

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced

Even bad code can function. But if code isn’t clean, it can bring a development organization to its knees. Every year, countless hours and significant resources are lost because of poorly written code. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Noted software expert Robert C. Martin presents a revolutionary paradigm with Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship. Martin has teamed up with his colleagues from Object Mentor to distill their best agile practice of cleaning code “on the fly” into a book that will instill within you the values of a software craftsman and make you a better programmer—but only if you work at it.

What kind of work will you be doing? You’ll be reading code—lots of code. And you will be challenged to think about what’s right about that code, and what’s wrong with it. More importantly, you will be challenged to reassess your professional values and your commitment to your craft.

Clean Code is divided into three parts. The first describes the principles, patterns, and practices of writing clean code. The second part consists of several case studies of increasing complexity. Each case study is an exercise in cleaning up code—of transforming a code base that has some problems into one that is sound and efficient. The third part is the payoff: a single chapter containing a list of heuristics and “smells” gathered while creating the case studies. The result is a knowledge base that describes the way we think when we write, read, and clean code.

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