After I graduated I was looking for a way to keep some of the skills I learned in college sharp and maybe even add some new ones to my tool belt. There are countless websites out there that will charge you a lot of money for a product you know little about. For example, one of my clubs in college offered DataCamp for free to dues paying members. DataCamp is a premier resource for learning programming with data science applications in a web environment. It was a great tool and a great product, but I could not justify paying $30/month for it.
So I tried out a website called edx.com, it is a non profit run by universities offering college level courses many of which are free. The most popular subjects offered are Computer Science, Language, Data & Statistics, Business & Management, Engineering, and Humanities, but don’t be fooled there are tons more course offerings. Courses are either self paced or instructor led and provide a sample syllabus outlining lesson plans, software packages, and how much time is recommended to be devoted to the course per week. In addition, they have professional certificate programs although these are paid features. I am planning to sign up for the Introduction to Python series to refresh my skills and learn the new features of Python 3.
In addition to edX, there is Coursera where I found a great instructor led course on Wind Turbines that I am looking to complete. Also, there is lynda.com which has partnered with a lot of universities, such as our alma mater Penn State, and libraries to offer similar free courses.
Whether your looking to learn something completely new or just sharpen your skills there is no harm in taking a free course at one of these sites. They are great resources for almost all popular subjects and will help immensely in your personal development and the best part is that it won’t cost you a dime.
The Modern Piggy Bank 