In an increasingly digital world, skills training is evolving. Almost all kinds of skills can be taught online.  Whether you want to learn programming/coding (all languages), graphic design, how to learn guitar, violin, drums, how to use graphic design software such as Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Corel Draw. You can get some of these materials online for free (through YouTube, Free trials). But the best of the best are not free.

While we advocate supporting these premium sources -and would urge you to purchase the courses if you can afford to, below you can find some collection of websites where you can download these courses for free. This is obviously a grey area and if your conscience is okay, you may go ahead use these techniques. It is possible that you may not afford to purchase these courses, and yet the skills you are bound to gain could be transformative, thus once you shall be in a position to, buy them or give back in some way or the other.

Some of the best sites include: Lynda.com, Udemy.com, and Khan Academy

How you can access the materials:

Suppose we want to access the materials at Lynda.com. This process and guide can be used for Udemy.com, Khan Academy etc.

Lynda.com(or  Udemy etc).

Lynda.com hosts hundreds of courses. They can be found here: https://www.lynda.com/allcourses?lpk0=7

For the complete list of current subjects at Lynda.com, you can also refer to the bottom of this guide.

You can open an account with Lynda.com and have a one month free access. Even it is free, you will still need to link up you credit/debit card with them but you can cancel it before the end of the 30 days so that you won’t be charged anything.  You can use this free 30 days to download all the courses (videos and exercise files) and start learning later on. This exactly what I did in 2016 when I wanted to learn REVIT MEP, HTML/CSS, and PHOTOSHOP. I downloaded GB’s of these materials then and I still refer to them. This process is however very hectic as you have to click and open all the videos before you can download them.

Use Torrents:

The best and more reliable method is to use “torrents”. Torrents enables peer to peer file sharing and you can download whole courses as a folder. To use torrents, you shall need to first install a torrent client such as BitTorrent in your computer or any device. BitTorrent is free. Another Alternative for BitTorrent is UTorrent. Thereafter you can search any materials in any of the top torrent websites such as The Pirate Bay, 1337x and RARBG.

Let’s say you decide to use The Pirate Bay.

(Not that The Pirate Bay official site is currently down but you can use the proxy sites such as https://www.tpbproxypirate.com/, or  https://www.tpbproxypirate.com/,  etc.)

Suppose I want to download PHP with MySQL training. All you need is to type “Lynda PHP with MySQL” or just “Lynda PHP” in The Pirates Bay search box. You shall get search results such as these:

You shall then click any of the links shown, especially the first one, or the one with more numbers under the SE and LE titles (and the top far right). SE is a short form for SEEDS and LE for LEECHES. The more the “SEEDS” you have on the right, the faster the download speed.

A snapshot of the same is as shown below:

Don’t click the “Download” button. That’s just an advert. You need to click the horse shoe magnet like shape button. You shall then be prompted to open the link/file using the torrent client you had installed (in our case, BitTorrent).

Open the link and BitTorrent shall open and prompt you on where to save the files. The default setting is “Downloads” but you can change this path and save them anywhere in your computer. Once the download has been completed, the “Status” tab on the BitTorrent turns from “blue to green”, and you may then remove it from the BitTorrent and access it in your downloads or where you saved it.

The images below illustrate the same process.

Other guides on how to use BitTorrent and Pirate Bay:

• How BitTorrent Works
• A better guide: How to Download from Pirate Bay

Note that software, games, movies, songs, books etc., can also be downloaded using the torrents. The movie kiosks in your neighbourhood that sell movies at KSh.50 actually use torrents to download the movies and series which they sell to you.

Other top torrent sites:

• Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2020

For those interested in programming, you may be interested in reading the following guide:

• The best way to learn Programming- Where to start

Finally, here is a Youtube video on how to use the Pirates Bay