r/LearningDevelopment • u/justamotivatedperson • 19h ago

Total beginner looking for a roadmap to learn LMS management + eventually build an LMS

Hi, I’m completely new to coding and have never programmed before.

I want to eventually be able to manage an LMS confidently, customize it, understand how it works, and hopefully build one myself someday.

I feel like having this as a long-term goal would give me some direction while learning, instead of just learning random coding tutorials.

For someone starting from absolute zero, what would be a good learning path?

What should I learn first, and what skills/languages would actually be useful for eventually working with or building an LMS?

Any advice from people who work with LMS or have gone down a similar path would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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u/rfoil 18h ago

Deploy an open source version of Moodle and customize it. You'll need skills in PHP, SQL database config and mangement, HTML, CSS, SASS, Javascript, Git, Linux server admin, and the Moodle API.

You may be able to do this on AWS at the free tier. Or if you are really ambitious, deploy locally on your own linux server.

There are at least a dozen commercial LMS that are built on the Moodle system including EduSync, IOMAD, Totara, Paradiso, and Open LMS.

This is the classic way to develop ecosystem understanding.

2

u/PhysicallyVigorous1 18h ago

I’d start with the basics of how an LMS works before diving too deep into coding. HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and some basic database concepts would give you a solid foundation. Building a small project along the way would probably help a lot too

1

u/jofa21 18h ago

I've been in L&D for a few years, so still plenty for me to learn. Do L&D departments build their own LMS sometimes? How common is that? I'm used to having a 3rd party vendor for the LMS, but am intrigued.

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u/Ok_Chipmunk_7066 13h ago

I worked for one company that sent full custom build.

They threw millions at it. Realised it was a money sink, stopped funding development, and after 4 or 5 years they went to Canvas as the under developed site was collapsing.

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u/AlternativeDig3085 15h ago

As mentioned in another comment, I’d learn the LMS side first, coding second. Many LMS platforms are built on Moodle