The Best PHP Courses for Beginners

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PHP is a server-side scripting language used to create web pages written in HTML.

PHP is a relatively easy language to use for beginner developers, making it one of the most popular programming languages out there. In fact, around 80% of the top 10 million websites currently use PHP.

It’s a powerful server-side programming language like Python or Perl, so you can use PHP for tons of different projects:

  • E-commerce
  • Content Management Systems
  • Mobile App Development etc.

Since PHP is easy to get started with, it’s a great choice for beginners. And more importantly: learning PHP is a must for anyone interested in becoming a professional back-end developer.

Moreover, PHP is an excellent choice for you if you’re planning to work as a freelance Web Developer: WordPress and some other content management systems are powered by PHP.

To make things easier for you, here’s a list of the best online courses and other resources for learning PHP I’ve come across!

Please note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use and recommend. I may receive a small commission if you purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!


Team Treehouse

Best Websites to Learn Coding and Web Development for Beginners - Team Treehouse

Team Treehouse offers a massive selection of different web development courses that are well suited for beginners. Their PHP courses pair nicely with the HTML and CSS courses, for instance.

If you’re not familiar with Team Treehouse yet, here’s a little goodie for you: try their FREE 7-day trial right away and see if you like it!

The plans start at $25/month, which gives you access to all courses and content – not just the PHP ones.

Recommended courses on Team Treehouse

  • PHP Track – this is a complete track or learning path for beginners interested in learning PHP. The course includes an introduction to HTML and CSS, since those are closely intertwined with PHP in most web development projects. The course includes a cool project at the end, where you build a basic media library website using PHP. The project is a great stepping stone for further, more advanced projects of your own!

You will find plenty of further, high-quality PHP courses at Treehouse. They’re all available for subscribers but you can try them for free with this FREE 7-day trial.

Learn more about Team Treehouse and their pricing plans here.


Udemy

Udemy - Start learning coding and web development for beginners online

Udemy is absolutely one of my favorite platforms when it comes to learning programming, computer science, and web development.

Their selection of courses includes some awesome PHP courses, the ones below are just a few I recommend considering.

Some courses at Udemy are free, while others come with a price tag.

However, Udemy often offers promotions with discounts of up to 95%.

Recommended courses on Udemy

  • PHP for Beginners: Become a PHP Master – if you’re serious about learning PHP and perhaps becoming a professional PHP developer, this course is the perfect choice. It will literally take you from zero to hero while you work through topics like database management, object-oriented programming, PHP security, debugging your code, and much more. As the biggest project of this course, you will build your very own Content Management System, or CMS, much like WordPress or Drupal. In other words: there are no limits as to what you can create with the skills this course teaches you.
  • The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0 – this course not only includes a great section for PHP, where you’ll build a small weather web app, but you will also learn a bunch of other web development tools and technologies, like HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, Bootstrap, WordPress, and Python. You will also get 1 year’s unlimited web hosting as a bonus! All in all, this is my favorite web development course – it taught me everything I needed to start my own web design business in just a few months after taking the course.

Udemy has a large selection of further PHP courses, but the ones above are my top recommendations. Feel free to browse through more PHP courses right here at Udemy.


Codecademy

Codecademy offers a great introductory course in PHP with plenty of free content to get you started. All in all, Codecademy is one of the best places for beginners to start learning coding.

Most of the actual content at Codecademy is freely available. However, getting the Pro membership unlocks cool projects and helpful quizzes to get more out of your learning.

Recommended courses on Codecademy

  • Introduction to PHP – learn the basics of programming with PHP. This is a great course for beginners, especially if you’re not quite sure if PHP is the right choice for you. Work your way through the course modules and see if you like PHP. Afterwards, you can consider upgrading your Codecademy membership or taking a look at further PHP courses for more advanced topics. Highly recommended!

Make sure to check out the HTML and CSS courses at Codecademy if you’re just starting out with coding. PHP goes hand-in-hand with those two, so you want to learn all three languages right away.


Happy learning!
– Mikke

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About Mikke

Hi, I’m Mikke! I’m a blogger, freelance web developer, and online business nerd. Join me here on MikkeGoes.com to learn how to code for free, build a professional portfolio website, launch a tech side hustle, and make money coding. When I’m not blogging, you will find me sipping strong coffee and biking around town in Berlin. Learn how I taught myself tech skills and became a web dev entrepreneur here. And come say hi on Twitter!
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