When it comes to getting started in a coding career. You may feel that you do not have the right skills to apply.
Wrong.
To effectively do most tech jobs, you don’t even have to or get top marks in maths and science or possess a degree. You just need a can-do attitude and a willingness to learn.
Developer jobs are only really 10% coding - the more important core skills typically involve problem solving, communication, prioritisation and the ability to teach yourself. You probably have these transferable skills already. These are highly valued in the tech industry and if you can prove you can learn code on top of demonstrating these core skills you are on to a winner.
The good news is, you have the power to teach yourself these new tech skills online. We’ve rounded up the best free resources to help you kick-start your coding career:
Check out our Alternative Pathways into Tech webinar at Leeds Digital Festival to learn what skills you can develop on your own without support to get ahead in tech.
EDIT July 2022:
Before we kick of with my list of resources I'd like to add this extra resource sent to us by Lyndhurst Girls' STEM club. While not a resource specifically for learning to code it is a great list explaining different web programming languages with links at the bottom for more info and more intros and learning aids.
Reverly.co - A Guide to Web Development and Programming Languages
EDIT Oct 2023:
Another addition, this time from studentsforresearch.org
This article from September 2023 also has some great info about what a coding course usually contains. Scroll to the bottom thefor the free resources.
https://bestcodingbootcamps.com/advice/best-online-coding-courses/
Free Resources for learning to code
We asked Steve, our web development coach, and freelance web designer at BVSWebDesign - what his favourite methods of learning to code were - all for free!
freeCodeCamp
My absolute favourite, challenge based learning, very practical, no videos. Added bonus is the free certifications which are actually valued by employers. Great blog with video resources as well.
Code.org
Free computer science resources for educators and students.
The Odin Project
https://www.theodinproject.com/
Free resources for everything you need to know to become a web developer - more than just the usual html, css, javascript - got some Ruby in there.
Khan academy
A nonprofit with the mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere - great resources for teachers and students.
GitHub Guides
Source control is just as important as code - loads of resources here to learn this invaluable tool.
MDN - Mozilla Dev Network
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn
Amazing resources to learn web development from complete beginner through scripting and on to frameworks and tooling.
W3 Schools
Set up by the organisation who built the web, tutorials, quizzes as well as (pay for) extras and certifications.
Codewars
Gamified coding challenges for testing your self and improving your new coding skills.
Code Conquest
https://codeconquest.com/tutorials/
Free tutorials in a bunch of languages and frameworks.
HTML Dog
https://htmldog.com/guides/html/
Really good beginners guide to HTML, nice approachable style.
Learn Python.org
Python is a great first language to learn and there’s an absolute ton of resources here.
For the home edders and younger budding coders
Scratch is the world's largest free coding community for kids. Set up by MIT it teaches younger people the principles of programming in a really fun and engaging ways.
Some resources and tutorials to get you started:
The Coders Guild is a leading provider of digital skills training and tech education.
We’re on a mission to unlock the full potential of the tech industry, by making high quality digital skills training and tech education equally available to every person and every business.
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