These days, people are spending hundreds of dollars on cheap courses, which are taught by amateurs who calls themselves “experts”, when there are plenty of places online where you could learn for free. Learning doesn’t have to be expensive, if you know the right places to look.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Thanks to these free online resources, I went from being a total noob to a professional web designer and even launched my own web design business. And I’m still learning. I recently started learning Computer Science and Cosmology. I thought you should try to at least learn one or two of these courses as well, because no matter what kind of career you peruse, these will always serve you well.
These courses are not only free to learn but are also brought to you by well respected universities in the US, including Harvard, MIT, University of Michigan and many others. Start learning for free and feed the never ending hunger for knowledge.
Introduction to Computer Science
With incredibly fun lectures and problem sets from the brilliant folks over at Harvard, this course will help you understand the fundamentals of computer technology from binaries to programming and many more.
Even though it can be hard to understand some aspects of computer technology, this course makes it so fun to learn, it quickly became my most favorite online course I’ve ever took. Besides, I can’t wait to add a certificate to my collection from Harvard.
Python
Python is a widely used programming language that has recently become much popular thanks to the ever growing trend of web apps. From creating web frameworks, video games and even apps like Instagram, Python has many use cases. Python is very easy to learn because it resembles the English language. If you’re new to programming, this will be a great place to start. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next tech genius who’ll sell an app for $1 billion.
Taught by professors at University of Michigan, the Programming for Everybody (Python) course starts in June and again in October. You can sign up now to audit the course as it progresses.
Introduction to Game Design
So I hear you’re a big gamer? Have you ever thought about creating your own video game? If you’ve said yes, this course by MIT will help you not only get hyped up about designing video games but also understanding the basics behind the games you play everyday.
Take this course just for fun, and next time when all the guys start to talk about Call of Duty, you’ll have something interesting to talk about that bragging about your head shots.
Cosmology
I recently found myself fascinated by the origin of our universe after watching Cosmos TV show. I decided to take this course expand my knowledge and dive deep into understanding how it all began.
Taught by professors at Australian National University, the course helps us understand and find questions to some of burning questions like Where did the universe come from? How will it end? What is the nature of space and time?
How Things Work
This free course by University of Virginia will help you understand basic physics of our everyday environment and objects we use. Even if you’ve learned physics in high school, this course will be useful if you crave to learn more about how things work inside our world.
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Follow @nrjperera – Roshan Jerad Perera