One of the unfulfilled promises of the Internet age is the idea that the best teachers would be available to everyone, everywhere. College education would become as easy as logging onto your computer.
While that hasn’t happened (yet), there are some great resources out there that can help. I am a huge advocate for using the Internet as a development resource - YouTube, Google, etc. - there are some great sites that offer college level courses at little or not cost. Some even offer chances to earn certificates and degrees.
These courses are often referred to as MOOCs (Massive Open online Courses). There are several out there, but I recommend Coursera, EdX or Udacity. These sites are affiliated with major universities around the world and offer hundreds of courses. Some are free and some have a small fee. If you want a certificate, there usually is some fee involved. However, those fees tend to be less that $100 vs the thousands you would have to pay at these universities.
So the next time you need some in-depth knowledge (for example, project management, financial basics, programming, marketing, etc.), look MOOCs to see what they have available. You’ll be amazed at the number and quality of the courses.
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