Google will teach you to write Android apps

Learning to make your own Android apps isn't easy, especially if it's your first time programming anything. Do you find a tutorial and hope for the best? Sign up for classes at the local college? Google might have a better way. It's introducing an Android Basics nanodegree (available in a week-long free trial) at Udacity that has Google experts teaching you how to write simple Android apps, even if you don't know a lick of code. The online course guides you far enough through Android Studio that you'll have an "entire portfolio" of programs by the time you're done -- you may not write the next Instagram, but you should be comfortable.

You can pay for coaching, career counseling and other help if you like, and Google is encouraging you to to move on to the Career-track Android nanodegree if you see development as your calling in life. It'll even give you a scholarship for that mini-degree if you're one of the first 50 people to complete the Basics course. No, Google isn't giving things away out of sheer generosity (it wants to foster the next big Android hit). However, this is still an important gesture. While many operating system creators will gladly give you the tools to get started, it's rare that they show you how to use those tools when you're an absolute rookie.