Practice makes perfect. The same idea goes with coding. To become a better developer, you need to practice coding your program language. Many online programming courses offer free tutorials with videos and lectures. However, those can only take you so far. Coding challenges will give you a better experience since you apply your knowledge to the real thing.

To give you a heads-up, here are the best websites to practice coding online. Can you solve it all?

10 Best Websites to Practice Coding Online

1. Geektastic

Geektastic has a mixture of multiple-choice and peer-reviewed code challenges to enjoy. Each multiple-choice question also has a detailed explanation with each answer. As well as completing challenges you can also create and share your own challenges with their global community. Rank high enough and you might even be invited to join their elite review team who get paid to review code challenge submissions for some of the world's fastest-growing tech companies in their spare time.

2. freeCodeCamp

Complete the coding challenges and build projects for nonprofits. This free online coding community contains tutorials to learn various coding languages and practice coding with tons of interactive exercises. The site is in partnership with nonprofits to help users gain experience and land a developer job afterwards. freeCodeCamp also offers verified certificates.

3. Coderbyte

Test yourself with a collection of the best coding challenges in Coderbyte. You can solve the challenges online using 10 different programming languages. The site also offers tutorials and coding exercises on data structures and algorithms.

4. DataCamp

Explore data science and code with the site’s online editor using Python and R. Their courses offer short quality tutorials and more on applying what you have learned. The site also lets you apply your skills to solve real-world problems.

5. HackerRank

Practice your coding skills in the largest learning and competition community. The site offers a lot of algorithm tutorials and tons of coding practices to choose from. Since the site also connects developers to companies, users can get hired by companies as well.

6. HackerEarth

Challenge yourself and compete with over three million developers worldwide. Join in various monthly coding challenges ranging from beginner to advanced level. HackerEarth supports over 35 programming languages and their platform can be accessed for free for developers. They have a wide range of practice tracks available such as Data Structures, Algorithms, and more where developers can learn and analyse their performance by solving over 100 problems in each of the tracks and rank on the leaderboard.

7. CodinGame

Improve your coding skills to the next level by solving tons of fun coding challenges in more than 25 languages and data structures. CodinGame lets you practice coding in pure code with online games. You can also learn other programming languages crafted by their top developers. Strengthening your coding skills could also land you a job with their partner companies.

8. TopCoder

Compete against other designers, developers, and data scientists in one of the original online competitive programming platforms. They have Single Round Matches offered a few times a month at a specific time. The top rankers are one of the best and hard to beat programmers.

9. Project Euler

Explore a domain of mathematical challenges and data structures that require more than mathematical insights to solve. The coding problems on the site give an inductive chain learning experience meaning each problem introduces new concepts that can help solve other problems. Unlike the other sites on the list, you can not code on the website itself so you would have to solve it on a sheet of paper.

10. Codewars

Solve coding challenges and data structures created by an online community of developers in Codewars. Since this is a community-based website, you can create your own code and discuss solutions on online forums for each coding challenge. The challenges on the site earn you a spot on their ranking system. The higher your rank, the more difficult your challenges will be.

BONUS

CodeChef

Master your coding skills with hundreds of practice exercises and compete in challenges depending on the level of difficulty. This Indian-based nonprofit educational initiative has a large community of coders who also contribute to tutorials and forums. The site also partners with colleges and groups to conduct meetups, orientation sessions, and workshops.

The Best Ways to Practice Coding Online

best websites to learn to code

Before you jump into the world of programming languages and designing software, you need to ask yourself what’s your reason to practice coding online. Your answer will help you know the type of programming language to choose, your level of learning, your level of commitment, and the number of resources you'll need to invest. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself.

Are you entirely switching careers?
Have you got an excellent app idea, and you want to develop it yourself?
Are you taking a multidisciplinary study that a little coding knowledge will offer you a better understanding of the course?

If you aim at creating the next best application, or a new mobile phone operating system, a broad knowledge of coding might be beneficial to you. You'll likely need to dive into complex areas such as algorithms and data structures. Furthermore, it's common knowledge that IT professionals earn huge annual wages, as such, it's now more common for people to switch from another niche to the tech industry.

If that's your case, you might need a few IT certifications to break into the market. However, suppose all you need is knowledge on website designing skills for better operation, few tutorials and free online courses may get you to your destination.

That being said, these following tips will help you practice coding online.

1. Choose your programming language.

Coding is broad as there are tons of programming languages and data structures that developers use in designing software. Therefore, once you decide why you want to go into coding, you need to choose the coding language you want to master.

Furthermore, it's not uncommon for IT professionals to be competent in multiple programming languages, so if you feel you have the appetite to take on more than one, that's a great idea. It'll help your career if you are trying to transition from a non-tech niche. Most beginners learning as a hobby take up HTML or CSS because people use them for basic website design.

However, if you want to develop a more advanced site that will redirect visitors to payment pages, you might need to master JavaScript, Python, and SQL. Additionally, coding exercises on data structures and algorithms will come in handy.

That's not all; there are other programming languages like Swift and Kotlin if you are interested in mobile app development.

If you are aiming at gaming software design, you might need to master a programming language such as Unity or C#. Also, if you are still unsure where to begin, Python is one of the most flexible, easy to learn programming languages, and it offers great utility.

2. Take up online courses and boot camps.

Lots of beginners sign up for tech Bootcamp when it comes to learning to code. It's a great way to learn about data structures fast, mostly if you prefer one-on-one interaction. Then, there's also the advantage of in-person motivation.

What's more, with coding Bootcamps, tutors will point you in the right direction since they have the experience, so you'll speed up when going through the material. Online courses are also excellent options that will offer you greater control of your learning routine, especially when you have other engagements such as work.

The disadvantage with online classes is that you'll have to decide which course is worth spending your resources on as there are many online courses on the web. Altogether, a combination of Bootcamp learning and personal online classes will do you some good.

3. Watch coding videos & read books.

Watching it being done when you are learning how to solve problems is one of the best approaches to learning. Note, coding isn't just about creating new things; it's also problem-solving. So, watching interactive videos of other experienced coders on YouTube will go a long way in your learning process.

One of the things you'll learn from coding videos is how to troubleshoot errors, and the best part is, the programming experts on YouTube will show it to you in any programming language you are mastering.

Furthermore, books on coding are also a great learning resource. You don't have to opt for hard copies as there are tons of e-books online that teach coding from the basics to the point of becoming an independent developer.

However, they may come in volumes or parts. One of the advantages of books is that they are often written to cover specific areas comprehensively, so you'll be grounded in one area instead of jumping from one random online topic to another without mastering them.

4. Practice with personal projects & others' work.

Let's face it; regardless of how much code you've mastered, if you can't apply your knowledge in practical problem solving, then it's almost useless. Without knowing how to use your skills, then you can't handle projects or software development.

Let the test projects be something simple but with the prospect of getting bigger. You can start with coding exercises on data structures and algorithms. This way, you'll start with the coding skills you have in your arsenal then incorporate future skills as you improve your competence.

Furthermore, with practice comes mistakes. Simply copy and paste your coding mistake to google search because you are probably not the first to make the error. This is one of the easiest ways to fix your broken code. You can also learn and get better at coding by “hacking” others' work.

This way, you'll gain a better understanding of how their code works when you test each line. You will have access to other people's work from the tons of open-source codes online. Dancing around with other people can also give room for improvement of their code if a new idea comes to you.

The Benefits of Learning Coding

best websites to practice coding

1. Huge earning potential

If you've ever chatted with a couple of tech professionals at Silicon Valley concerning their annual earnings, then you may have an inkling of how lucrative a career in coding and programming is. It is one of the strongest reasons other professionals are transitioning to the tech sector.

If you are fortunate enough to earn yourself a place with top software development companies, it's often the opportunity of a lifetime, both in remuneration, working, and learning experience. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary of some professionals in the tech industry are as follows:

Software developers; $107,000
Computer programmers; $86,000
Database administrators; $94,000
Web developers; $73,000
Computer systems & Network administrator. $83,000

Allow us to put this into perspective, so you can see just how rewarding a career in coding and programming can be. As of 2019, the annual average salary for most occupations in the United States was $40,000. You can see that professionals in the tech world pull in a lot more than the average earner in the United States. Therefore, learning to code could put you in a higher income class depending on the software development company.

Similar to health professionals, the demand for software designers and other tech professionals who understand data structures and analytics is not likely to decrease. The niche contains plenty of opportunities as new programming languages keep emerging.

Also, as long as new tech and the need for said tech prevails, the demand for tech professionals' services to improve their software and end-users' experience will equally not witness a decline. That's not all; fields that were exclusive to a certain class of scientists, such as biology, now have room for computer scientists in the area of computational biology.

Now some level of coding is required in biological research. With this becoming the norm, no doubt, there will always be room for programming or coding skills. Doing it by the numbers, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a higher percentage of employment growth rate for tech professionals than other jobs put together. Below is the expected projection.

Software developers: 21%
Web developers 13%
Computer systems and network administrators: 5%
Computer programmers: -7%
Database administrators: 9%

While the above projection may have reflected a less than zero demand for computer programmers, that doesn't mean that the job is no longer valuable. However, the evolution of hybrid tech roles in the sector has collapsed the computer programmer's job functions into other tech roles.

3. Career flexibility

As the world continues to develop into an advanced tech-driven society, coding-related jobs will exist virtually everywhere. This condition entails career flexibility for tech professionals because not only will there be a position for tech guys in software development companies but other industries. E.g., banking and finance, the healthcare industry, and virtually everywhere, tech products are used to drive business growth will require tech professionals.

The fact that some jobs only need a basic level of coding competence goes on to show acquiring coding skills at a minimal level is not a waste in today's world. It means that taking your knowledge to an advanced level will likely offer you even more career flexibility.

4. Learning to code can save you some money

As mentioned earlier, a basic programming language such as HTML is used to design websites and many blogs. Many people with competence in this programming language and other versatile languages, like JavaScript and Python, use their skills to design personal websites and create data structures instead of employing a coder who may charge hundreds of dollars for the development.

What's more, creating a website doesn't mean it will function forever without future maintenance and optimization. That means your coding knowledge will eventually save you future costs that may arise due to owning a blog or website.

5. Coding can make you more money

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, learning how to code could offer a steady means of income since it's a skill that you can apply from any location in the world. You can work as a freelancer or as a tech expert for a company without being physically present on site. Furthermore, if you are good at what you do, apart from managing databases or developing new products, you can also teach coding remotely to tap into an additional income stream.

6. Coding can be useful when you least expect

While coding is more important in tech development areas, you'll be surprised where the skill can come in handy. We mentioned earlier that coding is now useful in biological and molecular science research. It will lead to more opportunities for multidisciplinary work and offer an edge to bioscience professionals who have some coding knowledge.

7. Coding makes you solve problems logically

Learning to code isn't only about understanding computer languages; it's creating a better way to solve challenges. This is especially true when taking coding exercises on data structures and algorithms. Therefore, learning to code will undoubtedly make you think better when solving problems that are non-code related. Instead of panicking, you'll most likely break down challenges into steps just like it is done in programming.

8. It helps give life to your idea

If you have some inspiration for a new product, having the necessary coding skill can quickly make that idea a reality and you'll bypass the risk of it being stolen while introducing it to a developer. Many have lost brilliant tech ideas due to bringing a dishonest third party into the picture when the product is still a thought. Being able to make your prototype can position you for significant financial investment from those who bankroll businesses. With the investment, you can start your own company.

9. Improves kids ability to learn

With all the learning data structures and algorithms, any child will become smarter. That's why it's no surprise that basic coding is now in the curriculum of youngsters. Not only will this move prepare them for a future career in software development, allowing kids to learn how to code will significantly improve their ability to solve maths and competence in other subjects.

Challenge yourself and become a future coding whiz! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for our updates and latest job postings. Send us your updated CV to [email protected] with the position you're applying for in the subject line.

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