This page strives to be a complete list of software programming coding schools. While most computer coding schools are online, a few offer real-world classes. For example, Code Fellows is a computer programming school in Seattle that currently guarantees you a job after you complete their courses.
How to select an online programming school? Teaching coding and computer science online has become a huge business. Some courses are free while others cost money. Paid courses often offer better quality and monthly fees can be a steal if you have time to take many courses from a single vendor. Also look for courses with lots of context around what you learn instead of simply typing and rote learning. If you want a career in programming, it’s also important to find courses that teach you all the skills involved in programming beyond learning one language, for example, how to use Git and similar tools.
Full disclosure: I’m fortunate to teach an obscure course on Lynda.com, one of the computer coding schools listed below, on the topic of coding HTML email.
Browse the list below to find the computer coding school that is right for you! For further assistance, contact us.
Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in Information Technology
A computer science curriculum using the LOGO language to command a turtle. Requires a Java applet to run.
http://www.bfoit.org/
http://www.bfoit.org/itp/itp.html
Code Avengers
Courses are free for registered teachers to use their materials to teach HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to their students.
http://www.codeavengers.com/
Codecademy
Code Fellows
Based in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
https://www.codefellows.org/
CodeHS
Video courses with tutor support for teachers, classes, and individuals.
http://codehs.com/
Code School
Coursera
An online university with a diverse range of classes, including computer science.
https://www.coursera.org/
https://www.coursera.org/courses?orderby=upcoming&cats=cs-programming,cs-systems,cs-ai,cs-theory
Edx
Delivers courses from nationally known universities, including computer science courses.
https://www.edx.org/
https://www.edx.org/course-list/allschools/computer%20science/allcourses
Globaloria
A social community around game design and development geared towards teachers and their students.
http://www.globaloria.org/
Hacker School
Based in New York City, teach projects not formal courses.
https://www.hackerschool.com/
HTML5 Rocks
Teaches HTML5, a common foundation language used for games, mobile, and other applications.
http://www.html5rocks.com/en/
JS Dares
Learn JavaScript programming by completing puzzles, or dares.
http://www.jsdares.com/
KT Byte
Based in Lexington, MA, near Boston, they offer automated online courses, web conference lessons, in person group lessons, and different levels of camps during the summer.
https://www.ktbyte.com/
Learn the Hard Way
Their approach is less talk and more code. Primarily Python and Ruby courses with videos and texts. Also includes C, SQL, Command Line Interface (CLI), and Regex, the latter an extremely useful and interesting choice.
http://learncodethehardway.org/
LearnStreet
Learn JavaScript, Python, and Ruby languages in a simple two-part web browser interface, lessons on one side of the browser and a command line interface on the other side.
http://www.learnstreet.com/
LearnableNew
From the people down under who publish SitePoint.com, a long time online resource for web technologies.
https://learnable.com/home
Lynda.com
http://www.lynda.com
http://www.lynda.com/Developer-training-tutorials/50-0.html
MIT Open Courseware
Courses on electrical engineering and computer science, as well as science, technology, and society.
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-society/
Mozilla Thimble
Used by the Mozilla Summer Code Party program, and their Webmaker community, this simple editor and output screen helps teach HTML and CSS in real time.
https://thimble.webmaker.org/
https://webmaker.org/
https://webmaker.org/party
https://webmaker.org/tools
https://webmaker.org/events
Omaha Code School
Based in Omaha, Nebraska they offer training to build a job-ready skill set.
http://omahacodeschool.com/
The Next Web Academy
http://thenextweb.com/academy/
O’Reilly School of Technology
From the technical book publishers, O’Reilly Media.
http://www.oreillyschool.com/
Pen and Paper CodingNew
Learn key ideas and concepts behind most programming languages. Shortens the learning curve when you learn a real language, plus makes it easier to learn multiple languages.
https://penpapercoding.com/
Pluralsight
http://pluralsight.com/training/
Programr
Courses focus on technologies for console (Ruby, Java, Python, C++, SQL, C#), web (HTML/CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Ajax, J2EE), mobile (Android, iOS), and rich media (Flash, Processing). Teach with exercises, examples, and awards.
http://www.programr.com/
Ruby for Kids
http://ruby4kids.com/ruby4kids
The Puzzle School
Provides a number of puzzles to solve, including puzzles to help teach software programming concepts.
http://puzzleschool.com/
http://puzzleschool.com/puzzles#code
Try Ruby
School for Poetic Computation
A different way to teach software programming.
http://sfpc.io/
SkillFeed
Video courses in a wide range of programming, web design, and related topics. From Shutterstock, the stock photo resource.
https://www.skillfeed.com/
Skillcrush
HTML classes plus a 10-day email course.
http://skillcrush.com/
Tech Kids UnlimitedNew
Geared towards teenagers with special needs, this New York City area program teaches hands on Photoshop, WordPress, animation, Illustrator, and other software in small groups and arranges internships.
http://www.techkidsunlimited.org/
Tech RocketNew
An online community with online courses for kids. Launched by the iDTech summer camp people. Was called iD Tech 365.
https://www.techrocket.com/
Turtle Academy
Create some amazing shapes with the LOGO language, a fairly easy way to get into coding with immediate results.
http://turtleacademy.com/
Tuts+
A diverse set of online video and text courses, including software programming, web design, web development, and mobile development.
https://tutsplus.com/
https://tutsplus.com/courses/?q=true&filter_topic=461 (software programming)
https://tutsplus.com/courses/?q=true&filter_topic=102 (web design)
https://tutsplus.com/courses/?q=true&filter_topic=35 (web development)
https://tutsplus.com/courses/?q=true&filter_topic=89 (mobile development)
Udacity
Free online college level courses with videos, text, and community interaction. Includes computer science, although there is not direct URL to those courses.
https://www.udacity.com
https://www.udacity.com/courses
UcodemyNew
Diverse program to help computer science teachers with CS and programming curriculum.
http://www.ucodemy.com/
Udemy
A marketplace where experts teach their subject, including computer science and programming.
https://www.udemy.com/
https://www.udemy.com/categories/technology
W3 Schools
Lists of Coding Education Opportunities
Coding Nation (Kapor Center)
A free report and spreadsheet with over 300 bootcamps, certifications, corporate-focused, and hackathons that teach coding.
http://kaporcenter.org/coding-nation/
EdSurge List of Course Vendors
https://www.edsurge.com/guide/teaching-kids-to-code#package-products
Top story image courtesy of HackNY.org on Flickr.