Go (also known as Golang) is a compiled programming language designed by the team at Google. Because of its fascinating features, including a structural type system, garbage collection, and memory safety, Golang has become increasingly popular in recent years.
More developers and companies are shifting towards Golang. According to Stackoverflow surveys, the popularity of this programming language is 9.5% in 2021 compared to 8.8% and 8.2% in 2020 and 2019, respectively.
As a skill, Golang is also unsurprisingly lucrative. The Glassdoor report indicates that average Golang developers in the United States earn as high as $108744 per year, while some recruiting platforms even claim that they make far higher ($130000 and above).
Hence, Golang is one of the best programming languages you should add to your list of skills in 2022 and beyond.
As true to any programming language, you can master it through taking online training courses. However, based on my observations, not all Go programming language courses are worth taking. Most of them are low-quality. Taking them would be a waste of time and money.
I decided to do the heavy lifting for you. This article will only feature the best online courses that I found beneficial in strengthening your skills as a Golang developer.
Affiliate Disclosure: This article from Victory Tale contains affiliate links. If you purchase Golang courses through them, we will receive a small commission from the providers.
Nevertheless, we always value integrity and prioritize our audience’s interests. You can rest assured that we will present each course truthfully.
Things You Should Know
Prerequisites
Golang is not too challenging to learn as the first programming language. Its syntaxes are straightforward and concise compared to other languages. Therefore, absolute beginners can master it without prior knowledge.
Most Golang courses have no prerequisites. In other words, you don’t have to learn other programming languages or have software/web development experience before taking a Golang course.
However, some courses do aim toward students who are experienced developers. If you are interested in those, you should have solid experience in one of the following languages.
- Python
- Java
- JavaScript
- C-family (C, C++, C#)
In this article, each course with prerequisites will fall into the “advanced courses” section. Thus, you can handily select the course that suits your skill level.
Criteria
Below are the criteria for the best Golang courses.
Beginner-level Courses
Below are the best beginner-level courses for the Go programming language. As indicated above, you are free to take any course without worrying about prior experience.
1. Learn How To Code: Google’s Go (Golang) Programming Language
This Udemy course is one of the most detailed online courses on the Go Programming Language. You will learn from Todd Mcleod, a tenured college professor who has years of experience in computer science and the IT industry.
Course Content
Below are the topics that you will learn from the course.
- Setting up your development environment
- Variables, Values, and Type
- Programming Fundamentals
- Conditionals & Loops
- Arrays, Slices, Maps
- Structs, Functions, Pointers
- Application (Introduction to JSON included)
- Deep dive into Concurrency, Channels, and Error Handling
- Testing & Benchmarking
- and many more
The sales page indicates that this course is 46.5 hours long. However, this information is misleading since that number includes the outdated course (created in 2015). The actual length of the course content is approximately 23 hours.
This does not mean that the outdated course has no use. You can still learn a lot from it, especially if you struggle to understand foundational Golang concepts. Just keep in mind that some explanations may not apply to the current version of Golang.
The best thing about this course is that the instructor provides numerous hands-on exercises. Thus, you will never lack assignments that will get your hands dirty.
Reviews: 4.5/5.0, Students: 121000+
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Learn from an instructor who is enthusiastic and passionate about teaching
- Beginner-friendly + Easy-to-follow curriculum
- Clear and entertaining explanations
- Offer numerous hands-on exercises with video solutions
- Excellent set of course materials (code examples, readings, etc.)
- Lifetime Access + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Inexpensive ($20 or lower when on sale)
Cons
- His instructions are sometimes either repetitive or off-topic, thus frustrating several learners.
- Several reviewers noted that some of his explanations are too oversimplified up to the point that it is not 100% accurate.
2. Master Go (Golang) Programming: The Complete Go Bootcamp 2023
The second course from Andrei Dumitrescu will guide you through all essential topics of Golang programming. Andrei is the founder of a training provider and has more than 15 years of experience in software engineering under his belt.
Course Content
Below is a summary of what you will learn from the course
- Introduction to the Go programming language + Installation of all required software
- Golang Fundamentals (Variables, Types, Constants, Data Types, Logical Operators)
- Control Flow in Golang (If/Else, Loops, Labels/Goto/Switch Statements)
- Arrays & Slices
- Working with files in Golang
- Structs, Functions, and Pointers
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in Go
- Concurrency
- Packages & Modules
- and many more
The course has 13 hours of on-demand video and essentially covers all the major topics. The instructor is also highly active in updating his content. Thus, you can always go back to this curriculum at any time to learn all the new content.
Besides the lessons, you can work on numerous coding examples, slides, practice exercises, and summaries that closely accompany the curriculum. Therefore, you will have all the resources you need to master the programming language in no time.
Reviews: 4.5/5.0, Students: 7800+
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Learn from a DevOps developer with more than 15 years of experience in the field
- Well-structured curriculum (with more content to be updated soon)
- Straightforward and detailed explanations
- Fully updated for 2023
- Provide a wide range of resources to assist your learning
- Lifetime Access + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Inexpensive ($20 or lower when on sale)
Cons
- Despite its name, the course is not comprehensive (as of September 2023) since it still does not cover testing in Golang.
- Based on my observation, the instructor has a strong accent. I find it slightly difficult to understand him fully at the beginning. However, I get used to it over time and do not think it will cause issues with your learning.
3. Go Bootcamp: Master Golang with 1000+ Exercises and Projects
This course has not been updated since 2021. Some, if not most, of the materials are now outdated.
If you are looking for a Golang course with abundant coding challenges to practice, this online course from Jose Portilla and Inanc Gumus is the one that you should consider.
Both Jose and Inanc are experienced programmers with tons of teaching experience. Jose is the head of data science of a tech company, while Inanc also has his own blog dedicated to Golang.
Thus, they have the expertise and skills to provide you with an excellent learning experience.
Course Content
The following is the list of topics you will learn in this 15.5-hour course.
- Golang Basics (Variables, Naming Conventions, Data Types, Conditionals, Error handling, Loops, Switch Statement)
- Arrays and Memory Layout
- Slices and Internals
- UTF-8
- Maps and Internals
- Structs, Functions, and Pointers
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in Golang
- and many more
Unlike other Golang courses on this list that only offer coding exercises, this course supplies you with several real-world projects to complete. For example, you will create a file finder, build a spam masker, and animate a bouncing ball. Hence, you will understand better how to apply the theories in real life.
Reviews: 4.5/5.0, Students: 21600+
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Learn from two highly knowledgeable instructors
- Well-structured curriculum
- Informative lessons equipped with examples, diagrams, and animations
- Clear explanations of concepts
- All lessons are bite-sized, which makes them extremely easy to follow along.
- Include more than one thousand coding exercises which are more than sufficient to practice effectively
- Several real-world projects are available for students to complete and gain practical experience.
- Lifetime Access + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Inexpensive ($20 or lower when on sale)
Cons
- Jose updates his course much less frequently than other leading Udemy instructors. Therefore, some parts of the course may not be up-to-date. It should also be noted that he did abandon one of his courses and then release a new one that covers the same content (thus, old students need to pay for another course to access new content.)
- Lack several crucial Golang topics such as Goroutines
4. Learn Go for Beginners Crash Course (Golang)
Suppose you are looking for a more concise online tutorial on Go programming. In this case, I recommend this Udemy course by Trevor Sawler.
Trevor has been a professional software developer and a university professor for more than two decades. With that caliber, I am confident that he will help you excel in Golang in no time.
Course Content
What you will learn from the course is as follows:
- Getting Started on Golang + Installations
- Variables & Scopes
- Console Input and Output
- Types, Expression, Composition (Basic/Aggregate Types, Pointers, Slices, Maps, Functions, Channels, Interfaces, etc.)
- Flow Control (Conditionals and Loops) and Debugging
- Operators + Working with Strings in Golang
- Goroutines + Select Statement
- Build a basic web app using Go
- Best practices and other relevant techniques
- and many more
The video course is only 11.5 hours long, shorter than most Golang courses on Udemy.
The teaching approach of this course is unique. You will spend most of the course time on code examples.
To be specific, you will first be given a small bug-ridden example code. You will then make it bug-free and expand the code thoroughly and effectively.
As you progress through the curriculum, the code will be more complicated. Later in the course, you will run, edit, and improve a large codebase, resembling a real-world project.
This method is beneficial in learning programming since it encourages you to think like a programmer. You will be confident in writing your own code and editing others.
Reviews: 4.7/5.0, Students: 4000+
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Receive highest review scores on Udemy
- Learn from a veteran software developer with two decades of teaching experience
- Concise and straight-to-the-point explanations (with a clear accent)
- Feature a unique teaching approach that helps students think like a programmer
- Robust final web app project for students to apply the concepts they have learned
- All code examples are downloadable.
- Active Q&A Forum
- Lifetime Access + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Inexpensive ($20 or lower when on sale)
Cons
- Several learners reported that the background noise (mouse click, keyboard, etc.) was loud and distracting.
- Some students believe the parts on Goroutines and channels are unclear, while several other sections should be more in-depth.
Advanced Courses
5. Go: The Complete Developer’s Guide (Golang)
This Udemy course by Stephen Grider is one of the best options for experienced developers to learn Golang.
Stephen is a veteran software developer and one of the most popular programming instructors on Udemy. I have taken a few courses with Stephen and had an exceptional learning experience. Therefore, I do not hesitate to recommend him to you.
Course Content
What you will learn from this course is as follows:
- Environment setup
- Go Packages, Import Statements, File Organization
- Variables, Functions & Return Types, Slices
- Error Handling
- Testing with Golang
- Data Organization with Structs
- Maps and Interfaces
- Channels and Goroutines
- Concurrency models
- and many more
The course is far shorter than the beginner-level courses, thus befits experienced developers.
Besides completing the lessons, you can work on multiple quizzes and assignments that will help you master the concepts quickly. Unfortunately, those assignments are too basic. You will need to buy another course if you want more challenging exercises.
Reviews: 4.7/5.0, Students: 4000+
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Learn from a highly knowledgeable instructor
- Well-structured curriculum
- Informative lessons filled with colorful charts and diagrams to assist your visual learning
- Clear and thorough explanations, including special situations and edge cases.
- Lifetime Access + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Inexpensive ($20 or lower when on sale)
Cons
- Several students noted that Stephen is repetitive in some parts.
- The assignments are not very challenging.
6. Building Modern Web Applications with Go (Golang)
This Udemy course by Trevor Sawler (the same instructor as the fourth course) is probably the best option if you want to use Golang to build efficient web applications.
Although the instructor pointed out that absolute beginners can take this course, I suggest otherwise.
This is because the section covering the core Golang syntaxes and features is too short (only 2 hours long). I do not think most absolute beginners will be comfortable with them within that period of time.
Another reason is that you will be using web development fundamentals (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). Although the instructor will provide a brief section covering them, I don’t think that suffices. Absolute beginners will certainly struggle when they have to use them to build a web app.
Hence, I recommend taking this course once you complete one of the beginner-level courses (Course 1-4) and have solid experience in web development.
Course Content
Below is a summary of what you will learn from this 29-hour course.
Theory
- Why Golang? + Installation of all software
- Golang Fundamentals (Variables, Functions, Pointers, Types and Structs, Maps & Slices, Loops, Packages, Channels, etc.)
- Build a basic web app with Golang
- Improve Routing & Middleware
- State Management with Sessions
- A brief session on CSS and JavaScript
Project – The second part of the course will focus on completing a project. You will build a booking and reservation system for a bed&breakfast accommodation. Hence, visitors can make their reservations, while the owner can manage reservations through a secured backend.
Below are steps that your instructor will guide you through.
- Create HTML pages + Working with Forms
- Convert HTML to Golang templates + Create Handlers
- Writing Tests for Handlers and Render Package
- Error Handling
- Connect your app to the database (PostgreSQL) and design the database structure
- Add sending email as a feature
- User Authentication
- Set up a secure backend for administration
- Deploy your web application to a server
Upon course completion, you will have a functional web application that you can develop further or add to your Github portfolio to showcase your skills to potential employers and clients. You will also obtain the necessary practical experience and confidence as a Golang web developer.
Reviews: 4.7/5.0, Students: 7900+
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Clear explanations of concepts and project-building steps. Many students praise the instructor’s ability to break down complex stuff into consumable chunks.
- Easy-to-follow curriculum
- Feature numerous real-life use cases and examples
- Learn how to create a fully-functional web application with advanced features utilizing Golang
- Active Q&A Forum
- Lifetime Access + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Inexpensive ($20 or lower when on sale)
Cons
- The source code is not provided in the latter project-building sections, making the content more difficult to follow.
- Loud background noise can be distracting.
- Not as beginner-friendly as the instructor claims.
7. Web Development w/ Google’s Go (golang) Programming Language
The seventh course is another Udemy course by Todd Mcleod. Unlike his beginner-level course, this one will drill deep into web development with Golang. You will build Golang’s standard library to build fully-functional web applications.
Course Content
Below is a summary of topics you will learn from this 18-hour course.
- Why Golang for web development?
- Templates (Variables/Functions/Pipelines in Templates, Nesting Templates, Using Methods in Templates, etc.)
- Build a TCP Server
- Net/HTTP Package
- Routing + Serving Files
- Deploy your site
- Create States & Sessions
- Introduction to Amazon Web Services and Relational Databases
- Scaling on AWS
- MVC Design Pattern
- Web Development Toolkit
- Other essential technologies (MongoDB, Docker, PostgreSQL)
Overall, you will learn to build server-side applications with Golang and learn all the relevant web development concepts in detail. You will also grasp how each element functions and how to use it in the most efficient manner.
Best of all, Todd will teach you how to read the documentation efficiently, which will help you create a more sophisticated app on your own.
However, the course is not without downsides. Unlike the sixth course, it does not have a large-scale project for you to complete. You will need to look elsewhere to gain hands-on experience.
Reviews: 4.6/5.0, Students: 46700+
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Cover diverse topics of web development with Golang in detail
- Straightforward curriculum
- Entertaining and in-depth lessons with real-world examples
- Clear explanations
- Lifetime Access + 30-day money-back guarantee
- Inexpensive ($20 or lower when on sale)
Cons
- Unfortunately, not everyone is fond of his jokes.
- Some sections are wordy and off-topic, frustrating students in the process.
- No large-scale project for students to complete
Other Alternatives
Below are other alternatives that you may want to consider. However, I did not include them in the list because they all have issues or fail to meet the criteria (specified below).
Programming with Google Go Specialization – If you are looking for more formal, university-like training for Golang, I suggest you enroll in this Coursera specialization. You will learn from faculty members of the University of California, Irvine.
However, the content covered in this course is elementary, while the course materials contain several errors. Thus, I don’t think this program is the best option to learn Golang.
LinkedIn Learning – LinkedIn Learning offers several short courses on Golang. However, most of them are too short or have not been updated for years. Therefore, I don’t think they are the best options for learning Golang.
Free Go Programming Course + Resources
Since Golang has an open-source programming language, there are several other alternatives to paid courses to learn it, including the following:
Codecademy’s Golang Course – Codecademy is an interactive online learning platform that teaches various programming languages. However, it has only one straightforward Golang tutorial, which everyone can take for free.
Go.dev – An official documentation that you can always rely on. Its website also has a tutorial to guide you through Golang’s core features.
