You’re most likely wondering what the hell this post is going to be about. And that’s why I’m going to introduce myself shortly.
Hi, you can call me M. And I freaking love talented, awesome, smart, ambitious people.
And that’s why I like to learn new skills, do cool stuff, and take what I can of this absurd little thing that is life.
I’m up to learn anything from electronics and web development to woodworking and calisthenics. Along with any other necessary life skills.
“I see. So you want to become a James Bond/Lara Croft?”
Yeah, pretty much.
And this is why I created this blog – to share my journey and tips and all that good stuff with you.
Yes, I believe that it’s absolutely vital for everyone to have at least a basic understanding of general topics – shit like how to calculate the right amount of flour for your cookie dough if you’ve (accidentally) added 2 cups more sugar than needed, how the touchscreens of our phones work, how to design a kick-ass social media post for your business, how to test if a battery is full, how to make a fire, etc.
In order to learn those things, I have taken a few courses for absolutely FREE on YouTube and other wonderful platforms (cuz I’d rather spend that money on cupcakes than a damn paid course, thank you very much).
So, here’s my list of free online courses you NEED to take to become a jack of all trades.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
#1: Harvard CS50 – Full Computer Science University Course
#2: Basic Electronics Course
#3: Prompt Engineering Guide
#4: CrashCourse: Anatomy & Physiology
#5: Basic First Aid Training
#6: Learning a language
#7: TED-Ed for general knowledge
#8: Brilliant.org for math, logic, etc.
Harvard CS50 – Full Computer Science University Course
It’s crazy to me that Americans pay thousands of dollars on going to university when most of the stuff they teach is out there on the internet for free.
Like this CS50 course by Harvard, for example.
Even though I already knew a bit about programming before taking this course (I had taken a freeCodeCamp.org YouTube course on Python), I learned a TON.
There’s no doubt about it: Harvard does have great teachers. David Malan manages to make the 2-hour-long lectures fly by (well, at least for me), and it was really heartwarming to see how enthusiastic he was about computer science.
By the way, if you’ve never heard of binary or HTML before, don’t worry. The course starts from the absolute basics.
And even if you’re thinking “dude, why should I learn computer science? I’m not going to use that knowledge anyways,” just take the course. Trust me. It will teach you logical thinking, and give you an understanding of how computers work (which is kind of vital in the 21st century).
COURSE OVERVIEW
What you’ll learn: the basics of programming, computer components, programming languages (Python, HTML&CSS, JavaScript), cybersecurity
Length: 11 lectures of 2-2.5 hrs
Link: Harvard CS50 – Full Computer Science University Course
Advice: Get a notebook, and take notes on every lecture. Make sure to not only watch the lectures, but also complete the problem sets in order to see if you actually understood the material. If you can’t watch a whole lecture in one chunk, just divide it up.
Basic Electronics Course
Want to know how to use a multimeter, and what on earth the difference between AC and DC (no, not the band) is?
I sure as hell did. I already had basic understanding of how electricity works from my middle school physics classes, but this Basic Electronics course, as you’d expect, went way more in-depth.
The instructor, Joe Gryniuk, is a cool guy and gives a lot of tips that you can apply to real life situations. But I’m going to give you a small heads up that he also tells a lot of stories (some of which are completely unrelated to the topic), which could bore some. But I enjoyed listening to them, so that wasn’t a problem for me.
COURSE OVERVIEW
What you’ll learn: fundamentals of electricity (current, voltage, resistance), Ohm’s law, power, circuits, magnetism, capacitance. Basically all you need to know in order to understand how the battery in your phone works, how your home gets electricity, and what to do when a fuse blows, or when your coffee machine stops working.
Length: 11 lectures, each one under 2 hrs
Advice: Get a notebook, and take notes on the key concepts and formulas of each chapter. If you don’t understand the topic, or he goes over the material too fast, search for additional info and explaining videos on that topic.
Prompt Engineering
Nope, we can’t leave out ChatGPT and other AI tools.
Artificial intelligence will, in the next years, set a huge gap between those who know how to use it, and those who don’t.
Because those who have studied prompt engineering (giving commands to AI) will know how to get the maximum out of it, and thus their productivity will skyrocket.
Fortunately, you can learn prompting for free on platforms such as learnpromting.org, which offers materials from the basics of prompting to the advanced techniques.
COURSE OVERVIEW
What you’ll learn: prompting (from the basics to advanced), and how to apply this to complete your everyday tasks more efficiently (summarizing texts, writing emails and articles, creating images, etc.).
Length: a step-by-step course consisting of bite-sized lessons (each lesson takes a few minutes)
Link: Learn Prompting’s Introductory Course on Generative AI and Prompt Engineering
Advice: Try out the concepts yourself by heading to ChatGPT and applying what you just learnt in the lesson.
CrashCourse: Anatomy & Physiology
How much do you know about the human body? Chances are that if, like me, you slept during the boring biology classes at school, you probably don’t know much.
And though this crash course on anatomy and physiology will not qualify you to perform heart surgery, you will learn the parts of the human body, and the key principles of how the body functions.
I believe absolutely everyone should know the key things about anatomy; I mean, you’ve got to know how your body functions in order to take better care of it, and to notice when something’s not functioning as it should be.
COURSE OVERVIEW
What you’ll learn: tissues and muscles, the nervous system, blood and the heart, the systems in your body (digestive , immune, respiratory), and much more.
Length: 47 videos, each around 10 minutes long
Link: CrashCourse: Anatomy & Physiology
Advice: Since the topics aren’t connected all that much, you can also just watch the videos on topics that interest you more (e.g., you can watch the video on vision without having to watch the previous videos about tissues and the nervous system).
Basic First Aid Training
If you don’t have the time right now to watch all the videos of the aforementioned Anatomy & Physiology course, at least watch this video on how to give basic first aid.
Even if you’ve taken a first aid course before, it never hurts to go over these things – you might find yourself in a room with someone who needs medical help, and you might be the only person who knows how (and is brave enough) to take action.
One of my friends was at a party when suddenly a guy fell down on the floor and started shaking, foam coming out of his mouth and blocking his airways. Of course, most of the crowd probably knew he was having a seizure, but everybody just stood there stunned; nobody had the balls to step in, probably not wanting to be the one responsible if they fail to help. He probably would’ve suffocated to death, if it hadn’t been for my friend who finally turned the guy to his side, allowing him to breathe.
The bystander effect is, unfortunately, a bitch and often stops people from taking action.
Psst! Read more about the bystander effect and how to fight it in this post by one of my favorite blogs.
So please, if you see anyone who needs help, don’t become a bystander thinking “I’m not good enough to help”, or “somebody else will help anyways”. Because if you don’t do something, nobody else probably will either.
COURSE OVERVIEW
What you’ll learn: what should you have in your first aid kit, how to determine what’s wrong, giving CPR, what to do in case of choking, seizure, burn, stroke, foreign object, etc.
Length: an hour long video. Yup, that’s really it.
Link: Basic First Aid Training Course
Advice: Go over scenarios in your head, so that you’re prepared in case someone actually needs your help (e.g. what would you do if you see an elderly person lying on the ground? What about a choking child?). Watch the course at least once a year to keep your memory fresh.
OTHER THINGS TO LEARN FOR FREE
And now, there are other ways to learn new stuff and keep your those gray braincells of yours active.
Learn a language
I’m currently trying to learn German and Spanish. German, because I might be considering moving to Germany soon in order to study there. And Spanish, because I really like the language, and because it’s one of the most widely spoken ones there are.
Ok, I’ll admit, I am not the most consistent language learner out there. I just watch an occasional “learn Spanish with TV” video, or complete a Duolingo lesson or two.
But, I know that if I was more consistent, I could speak both languages on a B2 or C1 level by now. That’s what I want to try achieving next year.
LEARNING A LANGUAGE
Why? To travel, to improve your job prospects, to understand the lyrics of your favorite songs, to train your brain, or just for fun.
Where to learn: YouTube, Duolingo, TV shows and movies (watch in the language you’re trying to learn with English subtitles).
Tips: If you’re serious about learning a language, make a learning schedule and stick to it. Get a notebook and write down new words you learn, and go over them occasionally. When you’ve acquired the basics, try reading children’s books.
TED-Ed for general knowledge
TED-Ed is my go-to whenever I want to feel that I learned something new that day, but only have a few free minutes.
“Why is Alzheimer’s disease so difficult to treat?”
“How does money laundering work?”
“How sugar affects the brain”
“Why can’t you put metal in a microwave?”
It’s a goldmine of 5-minute-long videos to feed your curiosity.
TED-Ed
What is it? An educational YouTube channel that releases 5-minute-long animated videos on a wide range of topics: history, philosophy, chemistry, biology, mathematics, finance, inventions, famous people, nature, etc.
Link: TED-Ed
Some of my favorite TED-Ed videos: Food expiration dates don’t mean what you think, How do touchscreens actually work?, When is water safe to drink?
Brilliant.org for math, logic, etc.
Yeah, the platform you see so many ads about.
On brilliant.org, you can learn logic, mathematics, science, programming, physics, and much more.
I got sucked into purchasing the subscription (because damn, $6 a month for this is too good a deal to refuse).
You can totally stick to only doing the free lessons they have. Although, as I realized, it is more of a ‘freemium’ type of thing, because if you want to continue taking a path after doing like 5 lessons, you’ve got to pay.
I know that this post is about FREE ways to learn, but c’mon. Just cancel a subscription to some TV channel that you aren’t watching anyways, and use that money to pay for your brilliant.org subscription. It’s worth it.
(Not sponsored, btw.)
BRILLIANT.ORG
What is it? An educational platform where you can take courses on mathematics, logic, data, computer science, physics, etc. You can complete the bite-sized lessons on their website, or on their mobile app.
Link: Brilliant.org
What I love about it: It’s designed so well that it makes learning feel like a game: you have a ‘learning path’, and just continue taking lessons while seeing how you progress down the road and gain XP. Plus the animations are fun, and each lesson has problems you can solve.
Other free materials on the internet
I wanted to go over some basic high school physics, and so I googled something like “physics materials for high school”. And guess what, I found many pages that have all that material for free.
So I chose the best website I could find, which happened to be a site owned by a physics teacher who had written down all the info covering high school physics chapter by chapter. Wherever you are, thank you!!
I got out my notebook, went over all the info, and wrote down the key concepts and formulas.
I encourage you to search whatever topic you’re interested in, and do the same!
CONCLUSION
Boy, that’s a lot of information.
Oh, I should also mention that even though the title of this article is “courses you NEED to take to become a jack of all trades”, I don’t mean you need to take all those courses as fast as possible, or all at once. Gosh no.
Just take a look at the list, and if any course sparks your interest, why not take it?
And, anyways, this is only my humble opinion that these are some of the key things one should know to have a better understanding of how the world works.
I truly do hope you got some ideas on what you might wanna learn.
In which case, what the heck are you waiting for? Get out of here and start the course!
Cya in the next post!!