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Free online courses for engineering students

Free online courses for engineering students in EEE, ECE, EIE and mechanical branches: electrical basics, a first PLC, instruments, Python, MATLAB and Simulink, CAD, pneumatics and robot simulation. Each is complete, with an optional paid certificate for your CV.

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15 courses · 210 modules · 212h 41m of video · Updated 27 September 2026
Electrical Fundamentals for Technicians: Volts to Multimeter to Drawings course coverFree
FreeElectricalBeginner

Electrical Fundamentals for Technicians: Volts to Multimeter to Drawings

The electrical basics every technician needs, in the order you use them: charge, voltage, current and resistance; Ohm's and Kirchhoff's laws; AC and DC, single and three phase; power, energy and power factor; the multimeter and CAT ratings; cables, fuses, breakers, earthing and RCDs; IEC and NEMA symbols and schematics; relays, contactors and motors; safe isolation; and a fault-finding walkthrough.

  • Explain voltage, current, resistance and charge, and use Ohm's law
  • Solve series and parallel circuits and check readings with Kirchhoff's laws
  • Work with AC, RMS, single-phase and three-phase supplies
14 modules 9h 24mView course
Industrial Motor Control course coverFree
FreeElectricalBeginner

Industrial Motor Control

Free beginner motor control course: read ladder diagrams, wire starters, build reversing and braking circuits. The certificate is optional and paid.

  • Select contactors, relays, overloads, fuses, breakers and transformers
  • Read and document motor control ladder diagrams
  • Wire manual and magnetic starters with two-wire, three-wire and HOA control
12 modules 18h 57mView course
Electrical Design Engineering: Loads, Cables, Breakers and Distribution course coverFree
FreeElectricalBeginner

Electrical Design Engineering: Loads, Cables, Breakers and Distribution

Free electrical design course for engineers: estimate loads, size cables and breakers, draw single-line diagrams. The certificate is optional and paid.

  • Revise AC, DC, star, delta, power and power factor
  • Estimate loads with demand, diversity and load factors and build a load schedule
  • Size capacitor banks and draw panel single-line diagrams
11 modules 11h 53mView course
Siemens TIA Portal course coverFree
FreePLC programmingBeginner

Siemens TIA Portal

Free Siemens TIA Portal course for beginners: write ladder logic for a simulated S7-1200 and WinCC HMI. Learning is free; the certificate is optional and paid.

  • Read a ladder rung and predict what the PLC will do with it
  • Wire sinking and sourcing sensors to an S7-1200 without guessing
  • Build timers, counters and comparators into working interlocks
22 modules 12h 53mView course
Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control course coverFree
FreeInstrumentationBeginner

Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control

Free beginner instrumentation course: sensors, 4-20 mA loops, control valves, P&IDs and calibration. Learning is free; the certificate is optional and paid.

  • Tell open-loop from closed-loop and name every part of a control loop
  • Explain absolute, gauge and differential pressure and the instruments that measure them
  • Choose a level and a flow technology for a service and say why
15 modules 8h 50mView course
Python for AI and Engineering Data course coverFree
FreeAI and machine learningBeginner

Python for AI and Engineering Data

Python from zero, taught on the data an engineer actually has: tag lists, 4–20 mA readings, meter logs and motor currents. Variables to Pandas time series in twelve modules, all in a free Google Colab notebook, ending with a real year of plant energy data cleaned and reported.

  • Run Python in Google Colab and read an error message without panic
  • Convert 4–20 mA readings, scale signals and check NAMUR limits in code
  • Turn a vendor I/O list into a clean JSON tag map
13 modules 12h 22mView course
MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems course coverFree
FreeControl engineeringIntermediate

MATLAB and Simulink for Control Systems

Control engineering with the tools engineers actually use: the MATLAB and Simulink environment, transfer functions and block diagrams, time response, stability with Routh-Hurwitz and root locus, frequency response with Bode, Nyquist and Nichols, loop shaping, PID design and tuning, feedforward, gain scheduling and delays, state space, pole placement, LQR and observers, physical modelling and system identification, Simulink for electrical engineers, and implementation in discrete time.

  • Use MATLAB and Simulink for modelling and simulation
  • Analyse transfer functions, time response and stability
  • Read Bode, Nyquist and Nichols plots and shape loops
15 modules 15h 25mView course
ESP32 Industrial IoT: Sensors to MQTT Dashboards course coverFree
FreeIIoTBeginner

ESP32 Industrial IoT: Sensors to MQTT Dashboards

Build a field-ready ESP32 monitoring node the way an industrial job needs it: the ESP32 family and the Arduino-ESP32 3.x core, GPIO, 24 V inputs, relays and PWM, the ADC and external converters, 4-20 mA and 0-10 V signals with NAMUR NE 43 checks, Modbus RTU over RS-485 and Modbus TCP, MQTT with JSON, last will and TLS, watchdogs, FreeRTOS tasks and store-and-forward, OTA and deep sleep, 24 V power, surge and EMC protection, Node-RED, InfluxDB and Grafana dashboards, and a tank level monitor capstone.

  • Plan ESP32 pins for a field node around flash, strapping, input-only and ADC2 rules
  • Read 24 V contacts through optocouplers, count pulses with interrupts and drive relays and LEDC PWM on the 3.x core
  • Read calibrated millivolts, scale 4-20 mA and 0-10 V signals and report NAMUR NE 43 faults
13 modules 13h 18mView course
AutoCAD 2D and 3D Fundamentals course coverFree
FreeCADBeginner

AutoCAD 2D and 3D Fundamentals

Free AutoCAD course for beginners: draw, edit, dimension and plot 2D drawings, then model basic 3D parts. The certificate is optional and paid.

  • Navigate the interface, files, units and selection
  • Draw with lines, arcs, polylines, circles and hatch using snaps
  • Modify with trim, extend, offset, fillet and arrays
11 modules 16h 7mView course
SOLIDWORKS 3D Modelling, Assemblies and Drawings course coverFree
FreeCADBeginner

SOLIDWORKS 3D Modelling, Assemblies and Drawings

Mechanical CAD the way machine builders use it: interface, settings, units and planes, sketching with relations, extrude and revolve, sweep, loft and boundary, fillets, shells, ribs and drafts, patterns, hole wizard and threads, timed practice parts, assemblies and mates, drawings with BOM and exploded views, sheet metal, advanced surfacing, configurations and equations, materials, mass, import and export, and complete beginner courses.

  • Set up SOLIDWORKS and sketch fully defined profiles
  • Build parts with extrude, revolve, sweep, loft, fillet, shell, rib and patterns
  • Assemble parts with standard, advanced and mechanical mates
14 modules 26h 40mView course
Autodesk Fusion 360: 3D Design, Modelling and Manufacturing Prep course coverFree
FreeCADBeginner

Autodesk Fusion 360: 3D Design, Modelling and Manufacturing Prep

Cloud CAD for makers and product designers: the workspace and its key terms, sketching with constraints, extrude and revolve, fillets, shells, threads and holes, loft and sweep transitions, patterns and text, thin walls, user parameters, joints and assemblies, surfaces and T-spline forms, mesh and STL repair, moulds, sheet metal, rendering, 2D drawings and animations, practice exercises and a first CAM toolpath.

  • Master the Fusion workspace, components, bodies and the timeline
  • Sketch with constraints and build parts with extrude, revolve, loft and sweep
  • Shell, fillet, thread, pattern and parametrise designs
14 modules 13h 24mView course
Industrial Pneumatics and Hydraulics course coverFree
FreeFluid powerBeginner

Industrial Pneumatics and Hydraulics

A beginner course in pneumatics and hydraulics: read symbols, size cylinders, simulate in FluidSIM. Free to learn; the certificate is optional and paid.

  • Compare pneumatics and hydraulics and prepare air correctly
  • Select and size cylinders, valves and vacuum
  • Design direct, indirect, logic and sequencing circuits and simulate them
15 modules 27h 34mView course
ABB Robot Programming with RobotStudio and RAPID course coverFree
FreeRoboticsBeginner

ABB Robot Programming with RobotStudio and RAPID

RobotStudio from install to a running pick-and-place: stations, jogging, the FlexPendant, frames, paths, RAPID, collision checking, signals, physics, sharing and RobotStudio Cloud.

  • Build a station with a robot and a virtual controller
  • Jog with the mouse and the virtual FlexPendant in every motion mode
  • Define tooldata and wobjdata and know why the program follows the frame
16 modules 9h 21mView course
Excel for Engineers: Formulas, Data and Dashboards course coverFree
FreeEngineering dataBeginner

Excel for Engineers: Formulas, Data and Dashboards

Excel for engineers and technicians: clean Tables of readings, references and core formulas, IF and tolerance checks, XLOOKUP and INDEX-MATCH, cleaning text and timestamps, PivotTables, scatter charts with trendlines and control-style charts, Power Query imports of CSV and PLC or SCADA logs, conditional formatting and validation, dynamic arrays, dashboards and macros, finished with a shift-report workbook.

  • Lay out readings, tags and logs as tidy Excel Tables with named limits
  • Write formulas with relative, absolute and mixed references, ROUND and unit conversions
  • Check measurements against tolerances with IF and count them with COUNTIFS and SUMIFS
13 modules 8h 47mView course
Prompt Engineering for Engineers course coverFree
FreeAI and machine learningBeginner

Prompt Engineering for Engineers

A course for engineers on writing AI prompts with checkable output and testing them on a golden set. Free to learn; the certificate is optional and paid.

  • Write a five-part prompt with a refusal rule that turns invention into a visible blank
  • Fix output format with few-shot examples and get JSON with a schema at temperature 0
  • Make calculations checkable with chain of thought, and run the arithmetic as code
12 modules 7h 45mView course

Compare the Engineering students courses

CourseLevelModulesVideoBrand
Electrical Fundamentals for Technicians: Volts to Multimeter to DrawingsBeginner149h 24mVendor-neutral
Industrial Motor ControlBeginner1218h 57mVendor-neutral
Electrical Design Engineering: Loads, Cables, Breakers and DistributionBeginner1111h 53mVendor-neutral
Siemens TIA PortalBeginner2212h 53mSiemens
Industrial Instrumentation and Process ControlBeginner158h 50mVendor-neutral
Python for AI and Engineering DataBeginner1312h 22mVendor-neutral
MATLAB and Simulink for Control SystemsIntermediate1515h 25mMathWorks
ESP32 Industrial IoT: Sensors to MQTT DashboardsBeginner1313h 18mVendor-neutral
AutoCAD 2D and 3D FundamentalsBeginner1116h 7mAutodesk
SOLIDWORKS 3D Modelling, Assemblies and DrawingsBeginner1426h 40mDassault Systèmes
Autodesk Fusion 360: 3D Design, Modelling and Manufacturing PrepBeginner1413h 24mAutodesk
Industrial Pneumatics and HydraulicsBeginner1527h 34mVendor-neutral
ABB Robot Programming with RobotStudio and RAPIDBeginner169h 21mABB
Excel for Engineers: Formulas, Data and DashboardsBeginner138h 47mVendor-neutral
Prompt Engineering for EngineersBeginner127h 45mVendor-neutral

How to choose

An engineering student should add one practical tool to the degree, chosen by branch, because a project built with a real tool says more on a CV than a list of subjects.

EEE students can start with Electrical Fundamentals and Industrial Motor Control, then Electrical Design Engineering for loads, cables and breakers. ECE students will find Python for AI and Engineering Data, MATLAB and Simulink, and the ESP32 IoT course the closest match.

EIE and instrumentation students should take Industrial Instrumentation and Siemens TIA Portal, which together cover sensors and the controller that reads them. Mechanical students have SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Fusion 360, Pneumatics and Hydraulics, and ABB robot programming in simulation.

Every branch benefits from Excel for Engineers and Prompt Engineering for Engineers, which take a few hours each. Work through one course at a time and finish its final assessment before starting the next.

Questions

Which free course should an ECE student take first?
Python for AI and Engineering Data, then MATLAB and Simulink for control systems or the ESP32 course for embedded and IoT work.
Are there free courses for EEE students?
Yes: Electrical Fundamentals, Industrial Motor Control and Electrical Design Engineering, then Siemens TIA Portal for the automation side of electrical work.
What can mechanical students learn here?
SolidWorks 3D modelling, AutoCAD, Fusion 360, Pneumatics and Hydraulics, and robot programming in ABB RobotStudio, all with free or trial software.
Can I add these courses and the certificate to my CV?
Yes. The courses are free to learn. The optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion is paid and verifiable by code, so a recruiter can check it. It is not a university or vendor credential.
Do I need to be in the final year?
No. The courses start from the basics and suit any year, so you can finish one before placement season begins.