So you're learning to code, but you've realised that there are so many Youtube channels, and so little time! It can be hard to know which ones to spend your time on, especially as a beginner. With that in mind, I have curated a list of Youtube channels that I personally feel have been the most valuable and inspirational to me during my coding journey. For each channel I've featured here, I've included a short summary of why I like them, plus an example video or playlist, to help you decide whether you will like them too. At the time of writing, all of these channels are actively producing new and up-to-date content. So without further ado, in no particular order...
FreeCodeCamp
FreeCodeCamp is an open source community of busy people who learn to code and build projects for nonprofits. This channel accompanies the learning platform freecodecamp.org. They have technical videos about pretty much everything, for beginners to advanced, presented by a variety of highly-knowledgable instructors. Also they don't put ads on their videos either, so you can watch even a 13 HOUR VIDEO(!!!) with no interruptions. Honestly, if you only have time for one Youtube channel in your life, make it this one.
Traversy Media
Even if you're a tech newbie, you've probably heard of Brad Traversy. He has many tutorials about practically everything, as well as various Udemy courses too. A lot of people recommend his videos and there is good reason for that. He has a lot of videos that teach you how to build things and how things work. A very respected tutor with high quality content.
Fun Fun Function
When I was struggling to understand higher order functions and map(), filter(), reduce() etc, this was the guy who finally helped me to grasp it. He has a personality that makes him entertaining to watch, explains things clearly, and uses lots of examples to explain even quite difficult topics very well. He has a fantastic series on functional programming!
Colt Steele
I love the style and graphics of Colt's videos, everything just looks cool and is well organised. At the time of writing this list, he released a video just last month, JavaScript for Beginners Course (2020), which is a great starting point for beginners and explains everything so clearly.
Programming With Mosh
Mosh is an experienced guy who knows what he's talking about. His channel has over 1 million subscribers, and he has many videos about various languages, frameworks and more.
Andy Sterkowitz
Andy's videos are more about advice and inspiration, rather than any technical learning. However, I recommend his channel because he covers topics that everyone is affected by during their coding journey; such as dealing with imposter syndrome, study tips, and career advice. Andy is also a self-taught programmer, who successfully gained his career and now tutors other people on how to do the same. This is a good channel to go to when you need give yourself a bit of a motivational kick up the bum.
Whatsdev
I like Whatsdev because the creator, Tenzin, doesn't sugar-coat anything; he's very honest and straight-talking about all aspects of learning and career-advice. He has a lot of experience with tutoring and he presents his videos well and gets to the point.
Design Course
Gary of Design Course teaches full stack development, there is a bit of everything on his channel. However this is a particular focus on UI/UX design and front-end of development, so if that's your thing then this is the place!
Web Dev Simplified
A good all-round channel for beginners and beyond. There are videos on learning web development, a good amount of project ideas, as well as plenty of general tips and advice videos.
The Coding Train
A very wholesome and friendly channel, which I guarantee you will enjoy watching. Daniel Shiffman, the creator, seriously knows his stuff though and you will find lots of well-explained beginner videos, as well as more advanced topics too. The videos are presented in a fun, energetic, and humorous way, which makes the content engaging.
The Net Ninja
The Net Ninja has extensive video tutorials on: Modern JavaScript (beginner to advanced), Node.js, React, Vue.js, Firebase, MongoDB, HTML & CSS, plus much more. He has a positive and friendly voice, makes learning fun, and explains everything super well. He also has various courses on Udemy, but you can still expect top quality from his free videos on Youtube.
Coding Garden With CJ
What brought me to this channel is the fact that CJ makes live videos of him solving code challenges on Codewars. I found this absolutely fantastic, as when you are just starting out and trying to solve problems yourself, it can really help to see someone else's perspective and the way they approach things. Definitely check this channel out if you've signed up to Codewars.
Flaviocopes
One of the smaller channels on this list in terms of subscribers, but it certainly deserves more! I first discovered Flavio's website when I was searching the web for tutorials, and found out that he has written some great tutorials and reference books. His Youtube channel consists of lots of short and snappy videos (approx 2 or 3 minutes long) that focus on just one thing per video, such as how to sort an array, how to convert a string to a number etc. So if you want short and snappy videos that provide you with an answer to a question, this is a good place.
Hitesh Choudhary
Hitesh covers so many different topics on his channel, including a variety of different programming languages, frameworks, and various useful industry tips and advice. The production quality of his videos is excellent which makes them enjoyable to watch.
Wes Bos
A channel for perhaps the slightly more advanced coder, rather than the total beginner. However, Wes has a lot videos that will really help you to step up your game. A notable playlist on here is JavaScript30, a series of 30 videos to guide you through building 30 Vanilla JavaScript projects. Great ideas for portfolio pieces!
Treehouse
Team Treehouse is an online learning school, similar to the likes of Codecademy and FreeCodeCamp. There are various tutors contributing to this channel, with videos about many different topics. Subscription to the Treehouse website costs money, but their Youtube channel provides SO much great content for free! A good starting place for beginners. The highlight of their channel for me, are the interviews with industry experts which offer a great insight.
LearnCode.academy
This channel offers free web development tutorials, web site design tutorials and more.
Topics covered include: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, CSS Layouts, Responsive Design, React.js, Node.js, Angular.js, Docker, Dev Ops, Server Administration, Deployment Strategies...and more. Lots of fantastic tutorials and tips videos that are in-depth, but at the same time, easy to understand. The Web Developer Roadmap 2020 is definitely a highlight of this channel.
Codecademy
The accompanying Youtube channel to the Codecademy online learning platform. A lot of people use the learning platform, but then forget to also check out this channel for more content. You won't find loads of fancy pants things here, as this channel is aimed at beginners. However you will find tutorial videos from various different tutors, that explain many of the basic things that you need to know.
Florin Pop
This is a channel featuring coding tutorials, challenges, and tips and tricks. I particularly like the series on JavaScript array methods, which includes an approx 5 min video covering each method with examples. He's covered SO much useful stuff on his channel though (hundreds of project ideas, challenges, tutorials, tips) and seems to produce content very frequently, so this is a good channel to keep you up to date and occupied with fun stuff!
Level Up Tuts
Does what it says on the tin. A channel to help you level up and become a better developer! There is a section of Level Up Basics which will guide you through the beginning stages of learning things like HTML, CSS, building a blog or website etc. Once you're done with that, there are plenty more videos on this channel to expand your knowledge further.
So there you have it! 20 channels that I absolutely recommend for you to check out if you are in to coding and programming. I hope that this has helped you to discover some useful content. If you know of any other channels that everyone needs to check out then please let me know!
image by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash
Bye for now!
Latest comments (1)
Thank you for this list. I guess could include 21 channels, because I already know these :) But
The Coding Trainis amazing.