Hello, I have been interested in taking lessons on programming and I am not sure where to go. I learned a little in college when I studied electronics but I would like to learn more. I know that the simple response would be to tell me to go to college and take programming courses but I don't really like that option. The reason I don't like it is because when you go to college, you can't just take what you want but you also have to take a bunch of unrelated courses. For example, when I studied electronic in college, I also had to take classes in unrelated subjects like English, History, Economics, Psychology, etc to get a degree. I also had to take a math class but I could understand why, because I needed to use math to understand how some circuits work.

Don't get me wrong. I have no disrespect for the unrelated courses. I actually really appreciated some of them like the English class because that class taught me how to express myself better, which is a good lesson for everyone. However, at this point of my life, I would like to find a place that just teaches programming without the other unrelated subjects because I don't have the time or money to take many other courses. This was done with other lessons I tried to learn. For example, I was able to take piano lessons without learning other unrelated courses, take a drivers-ed class by itself, and learn karated by itself. Is there any way I could take programming lesson by itself as well?

Hi jmuthe -

Some of the big universities are contributing to a free online education system called EdX. There are only a few courses available so far but the ones they do offer teach electronics, chemistry and mostly computer programming. I think the one you'd want to start with is 6.00x which starts with python programming. The fall semester is just about over, but you could try to target the spring semester which should start in a month or so. I'm taking the electronics one now and have the final coming up next week. Other than that, I'd say you can learn C from online sources or from a "Teach yourself C" type book.

To some extent it depends on what you are looking for. Technical knowledge and skills in a field or credentials in a field are not the same thing. In my experience they may not even be closly related at times.if your intentions are to get a job working in the field you will likely benifit from the highest level of credentials you can manage to obtain. As you have said this may take a considerable comitment of time and money. On the other hand there are plenty of examples of individuals that are very knowagable and very successful that have never obtained any type of official credentials or much formal education.