A Startup

In the current economy, it doesn’t hurt to diversify your skill set and one hot skill that is always in demand is software development. Trust us, we know from experience. It is really hard to find quality developers that are available. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. Want to join this in-demand, well-paid, you’ll-probably-never-be-out-of-a-job-if-you-are-worth-your-salt industry? Don’t want to spend thousands of dollars and years getting a college degree?

Well, there are FREE resources available to help you learn how to code. If you have the discipline to teach yourself how to code and can show proficiency to a prospective employer, it really won’t matter if you have a degree hanging on your wall or not. Once you get a job, you will only continue to improve your skills and are on the track to a rewarding career. So here are just a few FREE resources out there:
• Codecademy – www.codecademy.com
Learn how to program by actually coding. It’s a web-based, interactive programming tutorial that holds your hand and walks you through the basics of programming.

They have and introductory track for anyone called Code Year (www.Codeyear.com ) that well, teaches you to code in a year. They deliver a new lesson each week to your email building on what you learned last week. The idea is that by the end of the year, you will know the basics of programming. So far, there are over 400,000 people signed up learning to code this year. Even NYC Mayor Bloomberg made a New Year’s resolution to learn how to code with codeyear.com. Come on, sign up! It’ll be fun!

• Google Code University - http://code.google.com/edu/
The site doesn’t require registration and is free to use. It provides sample course content and tutorials.

• iTunes U - http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/
The app is free to download and it includes complete courses, and is “the world’s largest online catalog of free education content”, including computer science.

• Lifehacker Night School - http://lifehacker.com/5744113/learn-to-code-the-full-beginners-guide
Lifehacker offers some lessons on the basics to get you going and resources to keep you going.

• W3 Schools – www.w3schools.com
They offer free tutorials in all web development technologies.

• Try Ruby – www.tryruby.org
Ruby is a programming language from Japan and this site allows you to test it out and offers a tutorial.

• Udacity – www.udacity.com
They offer 11 free classes, mostly dealing with computer science, and help you learn by offer challenging problems and projects.

• MIT’s OpenCourseWare - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/
Always wanted to go to MIT? Well, now is your chance, for FREE! There is a full list of courses in the computer sciences and engineering section. Feel free to browse the other offerings as well. Might want to bone up on your history while you’re at it.

• University of California at Berkeley – http://webcast.berkeley.edu/
Another school that offers material for free. Computer science is offered alongside all other courses.

• Mozilla’s School of Webcraft - https://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-webcraft/
Mozilla, makers of the popular Firefox support a free website. “Mozilla's mission is to keep the web open, and to enable anyone to take part in building it's future. In School of Webcraft you can earn badges backed by Mozilla, that highlight your technical and community skills to your friends, colleagues and potential employers. School of Webcraft Badges are easy to display on your personal website, online profiles, and CV and use the Open Badges framework, a way to record, track, and display your skills and knowledge across the web.”

These are just some of the FREE options out there. There are also plenty of paid resources, some with reasonable rates starting at $25/month. So there are no excuses. Get out there and CODE!! Oh, and please send us your resume when you are done.