5 Free Coding Resources

Whether you’re interested in finding out a little bit about coding, or you are a developer looking to sharpen or showcase your skills, there are many resources available to help you.

Maybe you’re considering enrolling in a short coding course or bootcamp, and you want to try it out before committing to further study. The resources listed below are freely available, and will cater to different interests and skill levels.

So, here they are, five free coding resources that you can explore today.

1. Try Coder Academy’s Free Introductory Coding Course

The introductory lessons in Coder Academy’s free Learn to Code course will take you through the steps needed to build a simple terminal application using the popular programming language Ruby.

There are no prerequisites, and the course should take around two hours to complete. You will start by setting up a free Replit or GitHub account to work in, and you will probably find that this account will be very useful for your future projects.

We recommend that anyone who is interested in Coder Academy’s courses and bootcamps take some time to explore at least one short, free online coding course like this one before they enrol, to get a feel for coding before committing to taking the next step through gaining formally recognised qualifications.

2. Use GitHub to Support Your Coding Course

If you’re looking to work on your coding, then you will need somewhere to store and manage your code. GitHub offers a cloud-based hosting service, and it will allow you to build software, work with version control, fix bugs, collaborate with others, join in community discussions, or contribute to open-source projects.

The basic version of GitHub is free, however, there are paid versions available that include more features for teams and companies.

If you’re just starting out with coding, then it will take you a little while to figure out what you can do with GitHub. If you’d like to learn more, then the GitHub Learning Lab is a good place to start. This is the place to find introductory courses and projects.

GitHub can be a great platform to work on while you’re learning new languages or concepts in a coding course, and it’s popular amongst students and job-seekers who wish to build their skills and showcase their projects.

3. Find Beginner-Friendly Coding Exercises on Exercism

Exercism is open source and has fantastic beginner-friendly coding exercises. You can practise 55 different programming languages as you complete different coding exercises, and you can ask for feedback from real mentors. You’ll also have the opportunity to mentor others as you progress – which can be an even better way to solidify your knowledge, while also giving back to the wider community.

If you’re thinking about joining a coding course, then finding out whether you actually enjoy learning programming languages can be a great first step. A career in the technology sector will require continual on-the-job learning, so it’s never too early or too late to learn a new programming language.

4. Level Up Your Coding Game with Codewars

Codewars allows you to gamify the learning experience as you practise your chosen programming language and sharpen your coding skills. This educational community platform allows users to level up as they complete programming challenges known as kata. You can also create your own kata for others to complete.

The community forum allows you to compare your solution with others, and this can be a great way to work with and learn from other coders. The fact that you receive feedback as you either solve or fail each kata differentiates Codewars from many online tutorials.

Some criticisms of Codewars as a learning tool include the kata format, which sees you focusing on algorithms rather than a software project as a whole. You will also need previous knowledge before approaching even the beginner level katas, and because the katas are community-built, they will not have the structure or proven usefulness of a curriculum that has been developed by skilled educators.

That said, most of these resources will not provide you with a complete solution. None of them will provide you with the equivalent of a coding course, but they are useful tools that can either support your learning or give you a taste of something new.

5. Find Local Coding Events and Meetups

You’ll probably find that there are coding events happening in your local area, as well as a range of virtual events that you can join. You might find out about these talks, hackathons, and social groups organically as you join the coding community or talk to others enrolled in your coding course, but you can also try out a service such as Meetup so that you can find your community.

You can search for coding groups in your city, or groups with specific interests such as data science. You might just find that an engaged and supportive community quickly becomes your most valuable resource.