Below is the step by step process of how you can start with zero knowledge and no computer science background and master coding skills for FREE by following online resources and self study
Please watch this video to understand how you can learn effectively so that you can get maximum output by investing minimum amount of time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZFrSDjRvjk
Program or code runs on a computer and uses CPU,RAM, input/output devices. This khan academy course goes over all these basic principals of computer science. Data is stored as bits (1s and 0s) in RAM and disk. The course will also go over fundamentals of binary numbers. In this course only follow first 4 sections (1) Digital Information (2) The Internet (3) Programming (4) Algorithms Completing remaining sections is optional and do it if you have time and interest.
https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/ap-computer-science-principles/computers-101
Being programmer is like being a doctor where there are many different specializations. Doctor can be a heart specialist, a lung doctor or a general physician. Similarly you can become a web programmer, mobile app developer or backend developer. Here I have outlined few popular career tracks along with programming languages required for that particular career track,
- Web Development
- HTML/CSS/Javascript - Holy trinity of web programming
- Frameworks: node js, react js, vue js etc
- Mobile App Development
- HTML/CSS/Javascript
- Native Apps
- IOS: Swift programming language
- Android: JAVA
- Hybrid Apps
- React Native
- Flutter
- Data Science, Machine Learning, Backend Development
- Python
- JAVA
At this stage you are ready to write your first program and explore coding tutorials. The idea is to get basic understanding of programming such as variables, data types, file operation, writing static web pages etc. Below is information on courses based on career track,
Here are the links of html/css courses. For codecademy you can create free account and get access of 180 hr of content per month. All courses listed below are free.
https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-css https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-html https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-css
For python, I've build a tutorial playlist for absolute beginners. Watch first 14 tutorails from this playlist. Remaining you can watch at step # 9
Python playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeo1K3hjS3uv5U-Lmlnucd7gqF-3ehIh0
Also I've similar playlist in Hindi as well (just in case you are more comfortable with hindi language)
Python hindi tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbgcxheSpE1DJKfdko58_AIZRIT0TjpO
I've many interesting exercises and their solutions at this place: https://github.com/codebasics/py/tree/master/Basics/Hindi (The folder name is hindi but exercise is for both hindi and english tutorials)
All right, at this stage now you have practiced some basic programming. It is time now to develop debuggin skills. You can not become a good programmer without sound debugging skills, period. Especially in the early stage you will run a program and it won't give expected output and you will be wondering what's going on. At this point, debugging skills will save you. You can step through the code and find out the exact problem with your program. I've 3 part tutorial series on debugging skills using pycharm code editor but these concepts are applicable in any code editor (or IDE: Integrated Development Environment).
Debugging tips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeo1K3hjS3uu-0i4uha0_lZwh5PpIWB1T
Debugging in chrome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0XScE08hy8
There is not a single programming interview where they don't ask about data structures. Data structures are fundamental building blocks of any program (doesn't matter which programming language). Follow this playlist to get your data structure concepts clear.
Data structures playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeo1K3hjS3uu_n_a__MI_KktGTLYopZ12
Doesn't matter which career track you choose, you need to have good understanding of relational databases and SQL (structured query language). Here are some course links for SQL.
SQL basics on khan academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/sql Kudavenkat SQL playlist (watch first 12 videos): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL08903FB7ACA1C2FB
For kudavenkat playlist above, if you are interested in going little more deeper into SQL then you can watch tutorials beyond # 12.
At this stage, now you know some basic coding, data structures, SQL etc. You can now go through intermediate coding tutorials. Here are some online resources for the same,
Codebasics python tutorials (tutorial # 15 to # 27): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeo1K3hjS3uv5U-Lmlnucd7gqF-3ehIh0
Interactive weg pages: https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-css-js JQuery: https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-js-jquery
Algorithms are applicable to any programming language. Understanding algorithms will help you evaluate inner working of your program, performance measurement using Big O complexity etc.
https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-science/algorithms
Codebasics algorithm videos (Video # 13 onwards) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeo1K3hjS3uu_n_a__MI_KktGTLYopZ12
Throughout your journey of step 1 to 11, you need to adhere to a principal of project based learning Which means have a project and then learn each of the skills required to finish that project step by step. Once you finished one project move onto another. As you work on more projects you will learn new skills and become better and better at programming
Codebasics Python Projects: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeo1K3hjS3usVcPj6osMx1tNkARllcRhZ
Here is the summary of this step by step process.
Group study is always better than studying alone. If you know someone who wants to learn coding as well then make a group and start studying together. Also hold each other accountable and discuss learning milestones with each other. You can join codebasics discord server to find partners for group study.
Discord link: https://discord.gg/r42Kbuk <-- On this you will find a partner finder channel where you can find similar minded people with whom you can do a group study
Learning coding, especially when you are new, can get frustrating at times. Every good programmer has gone through this pain so if you are facing issues, don't start thinking you are not smart and coding is not your thing. You need to have lot of patience. When you come from non coding background, thinking in terms of coding is a big shift in the mind paradigm hence it can take some time before it starts clicking you.