A Review of the Best Quantum Computing Courses for All Skill Levels
No idea where to begin with quantum computing? Here is a review of the various courses I have completed.
My recommendation is MIT’s Quantum Computing Fundamentals together with IBM’s Qiskit Summer School. Combined, these two courses offer a solid foundation and a decent amount of practice with Qiskit in solving (toy) problems. If the Fundamentals course from MIT is outside of your budget, you can audit the Purdue University course on edX, that is, watch the videos without any quizzes or labs for free.
In the table below I have summarized my view on various online learning opportunities for quantum computing based on my own experience with these materials. That way, you can make an informed decision on what courses may work best for you.
| Organization | Purdue | MIT | MIT | Oxford | TU Delft | CERN | IBM | IBM | Linux Foundation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course | Quantum Technology | Fundamentals | Realities | Quantum Computing | Quantum 101 | Lectures | Qiskit Summer School | Quantum Explorers | Fundamentals | Understanding |
| Type | MOOC | Online class | Online class | Online class | MOOC | Videos | MOOC | MOOC | MOOC | MOOC |
| Audience | Researchers | Researchers | Researchers | Researchers | Researchers | Researchers | Practitioners | Practitioners | Executives | Executives |
| Level | Advanced | Intermediate | Advanced | Intermediate | Intermediate | Intermediate | Beginner | Beginner | Beginner | Beginner |
| Cost | $5,250 | $2,249 | $2,249 | $1,110 (£895) | $298 | free | free | free | free | $19.66 p.m. / free |
| Commitment (h) | 280–360 | 16–24 | 12–20 | 16 | 72–96 | 14 | 40 | 34–70 | 3 | 3 |
| Lectures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Quizzes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Labs | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Rating | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★☆☆☆☆ | ★☆☆☆☆ |
Purdue University: Quantum Technology
Purdue University’s Quantum Technology is very expensive and requires a large commitment. You can only watch the lectures for free on edX if you audit the course. That is what I did, as I had already dropped my own cash on Oxford and both MIT programmes. You just won’t have access to the labs and exams, or receive a certificate of completion. The lecturers are not near the calibre of MIT, although that does not reflect negatively on the quality of the content. It is, however, aimed at physics undergraduates. Expect a lot of mathematics!
The programme goes through the following topics:
- Gate-based and adiabatic quantum computers
- Quantum computer modalities: superconductors, ion traps, quantum dots, and nitrogen vacancies
- Algorithms: Grover, Shor, Deutsch–Jozsa, QFT, VQE, QAOA, HHL, quantum neural networks
- Quantum information: Shannon, Von Neumann, and Fischer
- Quantum error correction
- Quantum sensing
The main issue is that most videos feature handwritten slides with lots of equations that are embellished with coloured scribbles. What is more, three out of the five courses in the programme are archived. The ability to ask questions is therefore very limited.
The programme is great as a free series of courses, but I would have a hard time justifying spending five grand on it. The amount of practical knowledge transferred is still very limited, particularly given the commitment required. If you have that much money available or a generous employer, I recommend you spend it on MIT’s programmes instead. The quality of MIT’s materials is much higher and the guest industry lecturers do add a nice splash of colour.
MIT: Quantum Computing Fundamentals
MIT’s Quantum Computing Fundamentals is expensive, but the best foundation for people who are serious about quantum computing. MIT xPRO’s programme has two courses of four weeks each. Each course consists of recorded video lectures from MIT professors, guests from various universities and industry, quizzes, and labs with OpenQASM. At least once per course there is a live Q&A with the tutors. Discussion forums are available, although they tend to be anaemic. The course is heavy on mathematics, quantum physics, and light on code. It is more in-depth and rigorous than Oxford University’s two-day course, although that course yields more samples of code.
While the course is pricey, it is taught by luminaries in the field: Isaac Chuang co-authored a classic book on quantum computing, Aram Harrow is the first H in the HHL algorithm for linear systems of equations, and the man behind Shor’s algorithm as well as the Calderbank-Shor-Steane code: Peter Shor.
Topics include:
- Quantum circuits
- DiVincenzo criteria
- Quantum computer modalities
- Basic algorithms: Grover, Shor, Deutsch–Jozsa, QFT, VQE, and QAOA
- Quantum communication: QKD, teleportation, and quantum repeaters
- Adiabatic quantum computing and quantum annealing
MIT: Quantum Computing Realities
MIT’s Quantum Computing Realities is technically excellent, though expensive and definitely not for the faint of heart. This programme is a continuation of MIT’s Quantum Computing Fundamentals and it has the same structure. The content focusses heavily on the density matrix formalism for noise in quantum systems, error correction, and quantum computational complexity, though it is still quite far removed from practical applications. If bra-ket notation, matrices, and the like intimidate you, this is not the course for you.
The first course of the programme focuses on the NISQ era for computing and communication. It also talks about gate and state fidelity, tomography, the Harrow–Hassidim–Lloyd (HHL) algorithm, and randomized benchmarking. The second course looks at road towards quantum supremacy and scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computers, which are most likely at least about a decade away.
Oxford University: Quantum Computing
Oxford University’s Quantum Computing is short and sweet, but hard to swallow at the price. It is an online class over two full days with live lectures. Relevant slides and (Qiskit) code are shared in Jupyter notebooks. Topics include quantum circuits, quantum algorithms as samplers, super-dense coding, quantum Fourier transform (QFT), variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), and quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA). Without prior knowledge of quantum physics, the course may be hard to follow.
TU Delft: Quantum 101
TU Delft’s Quantum 101 mostly pleases the hardware fanatics.
TU Delft offers a 101 on quantum computing and the quantum internet on edX, but do not be fooled: without some prior knowledge of semiconductors, superconductors, and electronics, the course will be hard to follow. As always, you can audit the course for free, but then you miss out on the quizzes, which are helpful in understanding the material on a deeper level, so I recommend paying for the course.
The course does not teach you how to use a quantum computer but rather how they work on a low level. The qubit modalities are obviously coloured by TU Delft’s research agenda, which is why ion traps and photonics are absent. The course talks about quantum dots, nitrogen vacancies (NV centres) in diamond, superconductors (transmons), and topological qubits. Beyond that, key topics include quantum computer architectures, DiVincenzo criteria, quantum error correction with surface codes, and quantum communication and QKD.
IBM: Qiskit Summer School
IBM’s Qiskit Summer School is the best (and cheapest) way to get your hands dirty solving problems with Qiskit. It is an annual event spread out over a few weeks during the summer months (in the northern hemisphere). It is entirely free and it is aimed at people who want to use quantum computers for solving (toy) problems. There are recorded video lectures and several extensive labs on IBM’s Quantum Experience. Obviously.
A Discord server allows discussion among students and with tutors. Contrary to the MIT and edX forums, the Discord channels are active: they are full of people asking and answering questions, exchanging links to research papers, and talking about the exercises.
The course relies heavily on Qiskit, but no prior knowledge is assumed or needed. Basic knowledge of Python is required though.
The labs for 2022 were about basic quantum gates, time evolution with operators (i.e. Trotterization), noise modelling, and simulation of a tiny one-dimensional spin-½ chain with state tomography on a noisy machine. The course has lots of code and algorithms that are run on simulators or actual quantum computers. A downside of the automatic validation of answers in the labs is that you receive no feedback beyond a statement that your answer is incorrect.
IBM: Quantum Explorers
IBM’s Quantum Explorers is more flexible than the Qiskit Summer School, but nowhere near as good. Unlike the Qiskit Summer School, Quantum Explorers is self-paced. Each of the five workbooks requires students to watched recorded video lectures, read certain sections of the Qiskit textbook, and practice their knowledge in labs. Unfortunately, the course is light on technical details and only touches upon various topics. Do not expect to have a good understanding after just this course.
It touches upon the basics of superposition, entanglement, teleportation, quantum machine learning, VQE, QAOA, and QUBO. Optional parts of the course include Grover’s algorithm and quantum neural networks.
Discord badges (captain, eminent scientist, space combatant, prime ambassador, expert navigator, and supreme observer) mark each participant’s progress. I found the badge system to be a tad infantile, but that is a personal matter.
CERN: Introductory Lectures
CERN offer a set of free introductory lectures on quantum computing. They claim they are suitable for novices, but I highly doubt that. The videos are mostly for people who can stomach two hours of slides filled with text and equations, interspersed with an occasional snippet of a live Jupyter notebook with lots of code in it that is barely explained. Topics include the obvious basics, standard algorithms (e.g Grover, Deutsch-Jozsa, Shor, QFT, QOAO), a bird’s eye view of quantum machine learning, and QKD. The lectures contain a decent amount of information, but I doubt they are useful for anyone outside the physics community, especially without any exercises.
Linux Foundation: Fundamentals of Quantum Computing
The ‘course’ is a series of videos, a couple of interviews, and absolutely no practical information on how to get started with quantum computing. For an executive overview, it is perhaps acceptable. For anyone else, it is not.
LinkedIn: Understanding Quantum Computing
As most content on LinkedIn, Understanding Quantum Computing disappoints. Thoroughly. If you are not subscribed through an employer and you have already wasted your free trial month on other LinkedIn Learning courses, please do not spend your own money on these videos. If it is available to you for free, I still do not recommend wasting three hours on it. You can learn more from What is Quantum Computing? and 15 Questions about Quantum Computing.