8 Free Linux Courses for Programmers and IT Professionals to Learn Online [2024]

Linux is one of the most popular operating systems to run server-side applications. I have seen almost all Java applications running on Linux, barring a couple of them, which run on Windows as a service. If you take out standalone apps like IDEs or tools, most of the real-world Java applications run on Linux, like payment gateways, trading systems, and other financial applications. That's why it's essential for any programmer, IT professional, or developer to learn and understand Linux, both the operating system, as well as the command line.

Linux is also one of the most important skills because it serves you for a long time. It not only makes you productive and teaches a lot of automation by encouraging you to write scripts, but also it is essential for many IT jobs, like support engineers, testers, developers, and system admins.

It is also one of the essential tools for programmers without knowing Linux is difficult to find out what's going on in an application that runs on Linux. It also separates a good programmer from an average one. A good programmer is often good at Linux commands as well.

If you want to learn Linux or UNIX, both operating system and command line, then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared free bash scripting courses and In this article, I'll share some of the free Linux courses you can take online to learn Linux at your own pace and at your own time.

These courses are free, but it doesn't mean they are of inferior quality. They provide a nice overview of many essential Linux concepts, including the Linux command line and essential commands like find, grep, sed, curl, and chmod. Of course, they are not as comprehensive as some of the paid courses down there, but still, you can use them to start your Linux journey.

By the way, if you are looking for a comprehensive Linux online course to learn essential Linux commands and concepts then I also suggest you to checkout Complete Linux Training Course to Get Your Dream IT Job 2024 course by Imran Afzal on Udemy. It's a great course to learn essential Linux commands for beginners and intermediate developers, system admin, IT support, and programmers. 

8 FREE Online Training Courses to Learn Linux in 2024

If you have been here before then, you might be familiar with my 3 point formula to learn new technology. In general, whenever I have to learn a new programming language, a framework, or a library, I do three things, first join an online course, second, buy a good book, and third, create a toy project to start with.

These 3 things have helped me to learn many useful tools, technologies, frameworks, and libraries, and I also suggest you follow these. In the past, I have shared some Linux command-line books, and Today I'll share some of the free online training courses.

You can first take these courses and then read those books to learn and master Linux concepts. Once you have a good idea, you can start a project, like writing a shell script or something to take your knowledge to the next level.

This article contains courses to learn both Linux OS as well as the Linux command line, which is more important. Anyone who wants to learn Linux can use these free courses, but it's more suited for developers, QA, System admins, and programmers.

1. Intro to Linux [Free]

This is a good introductory course on Linux, which will tell you what Linux is, its history, and what does different Linux Distributions mean, like CentOS, RedHat, Fedora, Ubuntu, etc. Basically, all the knowledge you need to learn about the Linux commands, Linux Operating System, and Linux Administration.

Here is the link to join the course: Intro to Linux

You will also learn how to set up your test lab to run the Linux commands using VirtualBox and CentOS. 

Once you have got your setup, the course will then teach you basic Linux commands, like how to create and move files and directories, how to archive and compress files, how to combine two or more commands using pipes, and how to redirect output to a file.

In short, this 1-hour long free course provides nice Introduction to Linux for beginners, particularly who are hearing Linux first time. After attending this course, you will have enough passion for learning more about Linux and finding out more about your favorite Linux distribution.

2. Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User by Google

This is another free course you can join in 2024 to learn not just Linux but also Operating System. This course is instructed by top professionals at Google. With an impressive enrollment of 466,460 learners, the course is highly acclaimed with a 4.7 rating from 26,764 reviews.

In this course you will learn essential command line skills such as Powershell, Linux File Systems, Command-Line Interface, and Linux. The course includes 17 quizzes for assessments, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the material. 

This course is also part of Google IT Support Professional Certificate, which means completing this will also count towards the certification. 

As part of the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, you not only learn new concepts from industry experts but also gain a foundational understanding of support and operations, acquiring job-relevant skills through hands-on projects. 

In short, a great free course you can join to learn both Operating System fundamentals as well as Linux command line to become a better developer. This course is also a part of Coursera Plus and allows you to explore additional learning opportunities while mastering the intricacies of operating systems.

3. Learn The Linux Command Line: Basic Commands [Free Course]

This is an awesome course to learn the Linux command line. As I have said before, the command line is an incredibly useful tool for developers and programmers. If you want to get into Ruby on Rails, Django, Unix customization and so much more, learning the command line will help you immensely.

Here is the link to join the course:  Learn the Linux Command Line: Basic Commands

In this course, you will learn most of the essential Linux commands related to file management, process management, system management, etc. The command line course is mainly for Linux users, but Mac users can also benefit though not everything is applicable to them.

For beginners, the command line may seem difficult and complex, and it may be hard to sit down and learn on your own, and that's where this course steps up. It will teach you how to use the command line and skip the boring, unnecessary stuff that you may never use.

4. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Technical Overview [Free Udemy Course]

This is a free Linux course from Red Hat itself. In this official Red Hat training course, Steve Bonneville, a technical curriculum architect for Red Hat Training, will teach you the basics of Linux and demonstrate basic practical techniques of Linux use and system administration tasks for IT professionals.

Here is the link to join the course:  Red Hat Enterprise Linux Technical Overview

As Linux is used to host server-side applications, in the cloud, as well as on containers that host applications in the data centers, it has become one of the must-know technology for IT professionals and the same is interested in this course.

After finishing this free Linux course, you will have a good understanding of the Linux operating system. Short lectures and demonstrations will cover distribution, shell, kernel, userspace, file hierarchy, permissions, and more.

5. Linux Tutorials and Projects (Free)

This is another awesome free course on Linux from someone who has worked more than 25 years in Linux. The author Jason Cannon has started his IT career in the late 1990s as a Unix and Linux System Engineer, and he has shared some of his real-world Linux experience in this course.

Here is the link to join the course:  Learn Tutorials and Projects

In this course, you will learn some of the practical tasks in Linux, e.g. how to install an SSL Certificate on CentOS Linux and Apache. How to load Balance HTTP and Web Traffic Using Nginx and how to configure MySQL Master-Slave Replication on Ubuntu Linux.

These practical tasks will help you to get going in Linux and give you the confidence to work in real servers.

6. Learn Linux on a MAC or Windows [Free]

If you want to learn the Linux command line but happen to work on Mac or Windows, then this is the perfect course for you. In this course, you will learn how you can set up an Ubuntu Linux server on VirtualBox to get a taste of the Linux command line on Mac or Windows itself.

Here is the link to join the course:  Learn Linux on a Mac

This is the first step towards learning Linux commands, particularly if you do most of your work in Mac or Windows. Although it takes a lot of time to become an expert in the Linux command line, having a lab setup is the best way to try out those commands by yourself.

Also using a VM as a virtual box in Mac or Windows is a safe idea because you can easily delete it and start again if something goes wrong, and more importantly, you can work offline without an Internet connection.

7. Linux Basics For Beginners [Free]

This is another free Udemy course you can join to learn Linux from scratch. This 1 hour 54 minute free course is created by Mostafa Yasin, a new instructor on Udemy who has done an excellent job with this free course. 

Here are things you will learn in this free course:

• Linux File System hierarchy and important folder
• How shell and kernel works
• how to work with files and directories in Linux
• how to search and compress files in Linux
• How to work with file contents on Linux

Overall a great free online course to learn Linux basics for beginners. If you already have an Udemy account then you can join this course for free and if you don't have then just create an Udemy account, its completely free. 

8. Intro to Linux Shell Scripting (Free course)

If you are learning Linux then at some point of time you will also learn shell scripting as without knowing Shell scripting you can't be a power Linux user. Shell scripting provides a lot of power to developers who can use it for automation and house keeping.

In fact, shell scripting is one of the in-demand skill and many Developer and IT support job roles requires excellent shell scripting skill. I have worked in both big and small companies and I can say from my own experience that shell scripts are often the most important code you will write. 

They are used in development, deployment, monitoring, housekeeping and much more and that's what you will learn in this free Linux shell scripting course. This one will get you up to speed with Shell scripting quickly. 

You will learn about how to structure your shell scripting, bash variables and built-in commands and routines you need to accept user input, explore file system and make decision. Overall a great free course to learn Shell Scripting in Linux.

Here is the link to join this free course - Intro to Linux Shell Scripting

In Today's world, Linux is very widely used in Internet infrastructure powering Web servers, Public Cloud infrastructures like Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Private Clouds running on OpenStack. So it will be really worthwhile if you can get some basic experience on the Linux OS before you start working on Cloud servers.

That's all about some of the free courses to Learn Linux online. As I have said before, Linux is a must-have skill for any programmer or IT professional. You can do a lot more if you know Linux. It also opens a door of opportunities because most of the real-world applications run on a Linux server. And the best part of learning the Linux concept is that it will serve you for a long time. It will not become obsolete as a framework or library will.

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Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these best 8 free Linux courses, then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.

P. S. - If you don't mind spending a few bucks learning a valuable skill like Linux then I also recommend you check out Linux Mastery: Master the Linux Command Line in 11.5 Hours on Udemy. It's a great course to learn essential Linux commands for beginners and you can buy in just $9.99 on crazy Udemy sales which happen every now and then.