Course categories

Start from the goal, not the catalog

• Get hired into data-adjacent work: analytics for the spreadsheet-and-SQL route, data for the code-first certificates. Each category page explains the fork and who finishes which.
• Learn to program, durably: computer science for foundations that compound; programming for the project-driven track that ships sooner.
• Automate your own work: Python. Start from a chore you already have, then let a course fill the gaps it exposes.
• Grow a business or a channel: marketing for channel skills, with the staleness problem covered there. Try business only after you can name the skill you need.

Some decisions cut across every category: paying versus auditing, subscription math, whether certificates matter in your situation. Those have their own guides — how to choose and free courses with certificates.

How the categories work

Categories come from the topic tags on each course entry. One course can sit in several. Every category page opens with an editorial note on how that field's courses differ: spreadsheet-first versus code-first data training, foundations versus project bootcamps in programming. The platform tag alone rarely tells you which kind you are looking at. Ratings shown are verified on the dates listed; blanks mean unverified, not zero.