7 Tips: How To Get Your Money’s Worth With Online Coding Courses

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updated Apr 6, 2019

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If you want to become a full-time developer or a freelance web designer, you need to continuously learn new skills and keep them up-to-date. Acquiring new skills is a valuable asset for increasing your potential to find new, suitable jobs and to get hired.

Online coding courses and other learning material can often be quite expensive, though. There are also courses that aren’t really necessary or relevant for your specific field. Moreover, you might sometimes be interested in learning something that feels intriguing but isn’t really that valuable for you in the future.

So, all in all, you might end up paying a big buck for your coding education. That is why you should plan your learning process thoroughly in the long run. Knowing what you need to learn before you actually start looking for the suitable resources is the best thing you can do to help yourself save time and money.

That’s why I’ve put together this post based on my experience with 7 tips that will help you get your money’s worth with online coding courses. Thus, if you are learning how to code in order to become a professional web developer, this post is for you!

Here are a few related posts you may find helpful, too:

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!

7 tips to save time and money while learning coding

#1: Know your goals

The first thing you need to ask yourself is: what do I want to create with coding? This is a topic I’ve covered in several past posts. And for a good reason! I mean, how could you ever reach your goal if you haven’t got one?

So, take as much time as you need to figure out what you wish to do with programming in the future. Websites, games, apps, data analysis? The list is long, so try and choose one area to focus on.

For some more tips and help to get you going, check out my previous post about how to choose your first programming language.

Read also:  14 Programming Languages Explained For Beginners

#2: Create a list of things you really need to learn

Once you have a goal, it’s time to find out what tools you need to learn to get there. There are plenty of different programming languages, platforms, and frameworks that you can choose from. In some areas, you have several options, whilst with others your hands are somewhat tied.

For instance, if you choose to learn web development, you need to learn HTML and CSS to get started Those are the two main tools every website and web application is based upon.

See also: HTML and CSS Courses For Beginners

On the other hand, if you choose to focus on coding and data analysis, you have several good options to choose from. For example, the Python programming language is a great tool for data mining.

See also: Learn Python Online: Best Python Resources For Beginners

How to find the best online coding course and make sure you get your moneys worth with online coding courses every time

#3: Find out which tools you can learn for free

Luckily, not all courses or tools come with a price tag. There are lots of resources available out there for free.

Surely, there are sometimes differences in quality between paid and free courses and tutorials. However, what it all comes down to is how motivated and driven you are. This translates directly into how much time and effort you are willing to put into practising and building you own projects. That’s definitely the best way to learn what coding and web development are all about.

If you are just starting out with learning programming, you probably don’t have a clear idea about what you need to learn just yet. If that’s the case for you, finding some good, free beginner-level tutorials and resources should be your next step.

Read also: 8 Great Websites For Learning Coding For Free

To get a better idea about how coding works and what tools you can learn in the first place, take some time to get familiar with the different fields you can use coding in. Perhaps you could find a few beginner-friendly lectures or tutorials on YouTube to see if you find the topic interesting.

#4: Don’t do course-hopping – learn what you need

With so many courses available online, you will inevitably feel the temptation to enroll in several ones just to take a look at what they are all about. Some courses also come at a very affordable price, making it even easier to start course-hopping around.

However, if you really wish to learn something properly, try to focus on one course at a time. Even if the courses are free!

Be consistent with your learning. Prepare a learning schedule and follow through with it.

Not only will you end up with better skills in that specific topic but you will also make quicker overall progress. Your mind can focus on just one thing and course at a time, which makes learning so much easier for you. Thus, you can easily get your money’s worth with online coding course simply by doing one thing at a time.

Read also: 13 Tips For Finishing Every Coding Course You Start

#5: Compare different learning platforms

Depending on which learning platform you go for, you generally choose between course-based vs. subscription-based pricing.

With the former, you choose an individual coding course you wish to enroll in and pay a fixed price for it. With the latter, you opt for a monthly subscription fee that gives you access to all courses and contents with that specific platform.

For instance, Udemy provides a seemingly endless number of online coding course for beginners. They are fully separate entities created by different teachers and instructors. Therefore, Udemy is a great choice for both learning the basics as well as for deepening your knowledge in specific topics. Check out my detailed Udemy Review here.

Start with a beginner-level course and when the next promo comes along, purchase another, more advanced-level course. If you can, find a course that covers a topic very comprehensively. This will not only save you money, but learning from just one instructor is easier than switching to another one along the way.

Treehouse, on the other hand, uses a subscription-based pricing system. A monthly fee will give you access to ALL content they have. The biggest advantage of subscription-based pricing is the incentive to finish your course in a timely manner.

Treehouse puts a lot of effort to create high-quality courses (which is why I love them). They plan and produce all of their material themselves. That’s how they manage to give every single course a professional, consistent structure and feel to them. If you’re not familiar with Team Treehouse, try their free 7-day trial and see what you think.

#6: Read course reviews

Whenever you find an interesting course you’d consider taking, check out the reviews from past and current students.

Almost all online course platforms provide a list of reviews and comments that are available for anyone to see.

Some might simply have a 1-to-5 star rating system in place, while some might have entire discussion forums for each course. They’re usually filled with valuable points about the contents and methodologies concerning that specific course.

There really is no better indicator about how well a course will suit your needs and skills than hearing and reading what others think about it.

#7: Know exactly what the course includes

Take a careful look at the curriculum.

Depending on your current skills, you might prefer to have a more or less comprehensive introduction to the tools and programming languages used in a specific online coding course. Alternative, you might already possess the necessary skills to start working on real-life projects right away.

Choose a course that matches your current starting level. It’s also a good idea to make sure the course includes at least a few meaningful and practical projects. That’s what you’ll need for your portfolio, remember?

If you want to save a few hours of searching for the best coding course to start with, check out the best coding courses and other learning resources for beginnersTested and hand-picked by yours truly.

How to find the best coding courses online? 7 practical tips to get your money's worth with online programming courses

Summing it all up: How To Get Your Money’s Worth With Online Coding Courses

Getting the most out of your online coding courses can de difficult at times. The number of courses is just overwhelming and it’s hard to tell which course is the best choice for you.

I hope you found this post helpful – these points have helped me find the most suitable and useful courses for learning coding in the past years. It really does make an immense difference sometimes – so make sure you compare and look beyond the surface when choosing your next coding course!

Read next: What Programming Language Should I Learn?

Sometimes a $10 course might really be the best investment – sometimes you might be best off with simply using free resources.

If you are just starting out with learning coding, now is the best time to plan everything out. As you start, you will encounter new topics on a daily basis. They might all feel really interesting, so it’s easy to lose your focus. Trust me, I’ve been there! But once you have a clear goal in mind and a plan for getting there, you won’t get distracted that easily.

Just remember that in order to achieve a goal, you first need to have one.

All in all, the most important thing is to know what you wish to achieve with coding. Here’s a helpful post for getting you started with learning programming by yourself.

Here are a few related articles you may find helpful, too:

If you found this post on how to get your money’s worth with online coding courses, feel free to leave your comment below! How’s your experience been in general? Have you had any surprises with the courses you’ve taken?

P.S. Don’t forget to share this post with others if you found it helpful! Thanks so much!

See you in the next post! Happy coding!
– 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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Tommy Ruppert
17 October 2018 12:57 am

Thanks Mikke! Love saving time and money so thank you for the knowledge.

Mikke
19 October 2018 10:55 am
Reply to  Tommy Ruppert

Hi Tommy! Happy to hear you found the post helpful! 🙂

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