Why would you, a non-tech founder, want to invest in learning a new skillset? Learning basic coding skills can help you fix problems faster, test new ideas from the comfort of your own computer screen and add features at will. Of course, you’ll also save a bit of money since you’ll be able to build a few things yourself rather than relying on a code master to do it for you.
So, how do you go about becoming a skilled developer? The following websites will help you learn basic coding languages free of charge.
Codecademy
Codecademy is a fun, interactive website that can teach you JavaScript, jQuery, HTML and CSS, PHP, Python and Ruby. Students earn points and badges for completing lessons, logging on each day and completing courses. Codecademy is entirely self-paced, though you can join various groups and compete against friends.
Mozilla Developer Network
The Mozilla Developer Network (MDN)will school you in how to build websites at no charge. MDN has courses for beginners and advanced learners in HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Ajax and DOM. MDN provides an extensive amount of documentation, plus extends a helping hand through their community forums.
Tuts+
Tuts+ offers a bevy of free courses including jQuery,HTML, CSS and Ember. Each class is 30 days in length and taught via video.
W3Schools
W3Schools.com bills itself as the world's largest web development site. Beginners and novices can take lessons on HTML/CSS, JavaScript, server side languages, ASP.net, XML and web services. Each lesson has required reading, a quick quiz and a reference guide. Students who want to be certified can do so at a cost of $95 per certification.
Udacity
Udacity has a ton of free college courses you can enroll in online including web development, HTML 5 game development, mobile web development and Parallel programming. Student progress is tracked and, once courses are finished, you're able to earn a certificate of completion.
You’ll also find free programming classes here:
Like most things in life, programming is all about trial and error, practice and experimentation. Once you’ve put the learning hours in, you can extend your knowledge by asking questions and learning from the experts at Stack Overflow and Reddit.