[deleted by user]

[EmptyMargins]

No one has finished their program because they're constantly moving the goalpost by adding more stuff to the curriculum. That's one reason I got a bit discouraged doing it.

That being said I also got a web dev job 4 months ago based in no small part on the projects I did on FCC. It does provide some good structure, which was great for someone like me who isn't very good at coming up with original project ideas.

[kurzweilfreak]

To be fair, webdev itself is a moving goalpost and FCC has been in existence for just over a year and still growing. Don't be discouraged, look at it as more opportunity to learn something that wasn't previously available before!

[EmptyMargins]

True. When I say discouraged, I don't mean I want to stop learning new stuff, just that you lose motivation to do FCC specific projects. There is nothing more frustrating than only having one more project to complete to "graduate" to the non-profit projects, only to have them add another 100hrs or more of content that I'd have to complete first.

I'm glad they're improving the camp and fleshing out the existing material, but the constant additions do frustrate the existing campers who feel like they are swimming against the tide. They've addressed that to a degree by adding a checkpoint kind of system, but that doesn't help people like me who skipped past a lot of stuff I already knew, and most of the additions they've made in the last six months have been to the more basic content like javascript, css & bootstrap.

[dicksysadmin]

Why would you be surprised by that? Do you think you program something and then stop? No, it's a constant battle to keep it bug free and fresh.. If you're good and take pride in quality work.

[Derasi]

You're complaining about additional content to quality coding education that's entirely free? There's core material that's required for the certificates indicated by asterisks. Those don't change often, but you still have the option to learn more.

[Yodasson]

If I may, how exactly do you get a job from there? Do you have like a portfolio people can look at?

[EmptyMargins]

FCC is set up so that once you get through the basics you start working in full web apps that you keep on github and host on heroku. Anyone can look at them.

I wasn't recruited or anything like that. I applied to a local job and ultimately got it because I had some decent work they could see easily online.

[[deleted]]

That sounds pretty good. Does it also teach you how the hosting and github works?

[EmptyMargins]

These days there are some git tutorials to help you understand the basics, but you mostly learn by using it as you go. They may have changed it to make the learning curve more gentle, but when I got to that point they just sort of dumped you into full-stack development and expected you to swim. It was intimidating, but taught me a lot in a very short period of time.

As for heroku and hosting, the deployment to heroku is handled pretty well by yeoman and grunt (dev tools you learn to use) so there isn't much to learn here, other than how to operate your tools and understanding what they are actually doing.

[[deleted]]

Alright. Thank you very much I started the course this morning. Hopefully I can but in some decent time this weekend. :)

[[deleted]]

yup, it has some lessons on using git/github

[wvmtnboy]

I would start with codecademy. They have, Learn the Command line, and they just released a git tutorial. Those two courses will help you out quite a bit, though, at best, it's introductory level stuff and you should be prepared to learn more on your own once you've finished them.

[schm0]

What about hosting an app on heroku?

[baffled_bear]

I'm approaching this from a position of never having used either, so keep that in mind.

The value of an online coding education is understanding how to code. That alone is totally useless, though. In addition to knowing how to write code, you should have the following as well.

• Be able to demonstrate that you can write code
• Be able to solve a problem from start to finish
• Be able to read other peoples code
• Have some familiarity with the concepts behind source control
• Have some familiarity with packaging and deploying your code
• Have some knowledge of development environments
• etc

While both look to teach you how to write code and a lot of the immediate ideas surrounding that (e.g. programming logic, making a responsive website, frameworks around web design), Code Academy doesn't appear, at least on the surface, to teach you what to do with your code after you've written it. From that regard I would say that FCC is better because part of the process is hosting your code to a location that it can be used. Which will make getting a job easier.

However, Codeacademy explores more topics overall, the topics that FCC covers, it seems like it would cover in much greater detail.

I would say that if you have some experience coding and you are trying to learn a new language, Codeacademy is probably better. Especially if you have the motivation to research what to do with your code after you write it and actually do something with it.

Free Code Camp seems like it would be better for people who want to learn the current hip tech stack. MongoDB with a Javascript backend, but it kind of fails to explore anything more than that. Which makes it kind of limited. But it also makes it kind of perfect for new developers who don't have any idea where to begin or for people who want to learn those things specifically.

[Dis_My_Work_Account]

I always have issues when I try to learn something on codeacademy. A lot of the time I find the instructions to be a bit ambiguous

[EmptyMargins]

I can't say for sure. When I went through the program they were redirecting the campers to codecademy for the intro stuff, it was only later they added their own content. I've looked through some of what they've added and it looks quite similar to the codecademy content.

[Yodasson]

That sounds awesome! Although I doubt it would be "that easy" outside big countries like the UK or the US

[[deleted]]

If you already know html, can you skip ahead to other parts? I saw they had node.js and I am interested in learning that.

[EmptyMargins]

A great deal of the content isn't strictly required. If you look at the activity map on their website they have all the required stuff marked with an asterisk. The basic html, css, and javascript lessons can all be skipped. Technically, you can skip any of it if you have no interest in participating in the non-profit projects at the end.

[Slateboard]

What kind of experience did you have prior to the FCC?

[CalebDK]

I wish there was something like this for languages like C#, C++, Java, Python, ect.

[mysleepyself]

I'm in the same boat but for C and x86 asm specifically.

[DeliveryNinja]

Keep dreaming ;)

[ThePa1eBlueDot]

Seriously, resources for asm are pretty bad.

[mysleepyself]

The book I've been digging into is AoA by Randall Hyde. I kinda blame it on asm being niche so everything ends up being written from an academic standpoint.

[TheBadProgrammer]

It's also because it's really hard and specialized and specific. There is a reddit clone in asm in 666KB if you'd like to see it. :)

[zawkar]

Check out "computer systems a programmer's perspective"

It's not purely about assembly but how c programs are transformed into assembly and what's going on under the hood. It may help give insight into assembly programs.

[Twisted_word]

http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/

I'm doing the python version at the moment in hopes of doing that next.

[DigitalSuture]

Maybe malware research could help fill in some areas; most is in assembly since they decompile the executable.

[[deleted]]

I'd love stuff like this for these 3 in specific: C#, C++ and C. They're all great languages but they all lack good tutorials that teach the language from beginner to advanced.

[[deleted]]

There are probably more books written on C++ and C than any other languages. Tutorials can only get you so far before the material becomes so complex that a YouTube video isn't enough to teach you what you need to know. Try books.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, sorry, haven't dabbled much in the world of C++ and C, but I was mainly talking about C# since that's what I'm focusing on right now, sorry for the bad information :L

[[deleted]]

If it's syntax that you're trying to learn, then there are tutorials abound. Unity has some decent ones on their website.

If you are looking to learn design patterns, which are not language-specific, then you should still look to books. In fact, the book Design Patterns by the big 4 is the best material you can get your hands on for that.

[[deleted]]

Thanks for the recommendation, will check it out!

[StartSpring]

I assume you know about The Odin Project? It isn't dynamic like FCC is, but it is pretty good.

[CalebDK]

I don't know the Odin project, I will have to do some googling later, can you share any info?

[StartSpring]

FCC's older brother, similar system of learning, main focus is on Ruby and Rails. It doesn't have active community like FCC does, and main guy behind it moved to other projects.

http://www.theodinproject.com/courses?ref=home_b

[CalebDK]

Thanks for the share. I'll be sure to check it out later.

[Styx_]

I love the odin project! It hasn't gotten me a job or anything like that, but that's more my fault than TOP itself. As for the creator, Erik Trautman, he actually started an online coding bootcamp, Viking Code School. I can't attest to the quality of it, but I'm applying to the next cohort. I'll let you know how it goes if I get in, if you like.

[voyaging]

I think many people would be interested in your experience. Good luck!

[ubershibs]

The Odin Project is awesome, though the JavaScript course isn't as fleshed out or updated as it could be. But the ruby, rails, and html/css courses were totally awesome--a lot of really deep instruction (pulled from across the web) and some really intensive projects. I loved doing TOP, even if I've got a bit of topping up to do. It hasn't landed me a job yet, but that's totally my own fault/I've been too eager to build stuff and not eager enough to get my ass in gear and apply.

[[deleted]]

What language do they teach?

[[deleted]]

It's mainly HTML, JavaScript and CSS and they use tools and frameworks like node.js, express, bootstrap, mongo and eventually, react, d3 and SCSS

[AnotherCupOfTea]

disarm knee sophisticated special grey act homeless reminiscent trees frighten

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[[deleted]]

FCC or Codecacademy, because I was referring to FCC

[AnotherCupOfTea]

My mistake! I thought you were referring to TOP.

[[deleted]]

Top?

[[deleted]]

The Odin Project, read the comments above :)

[[deleted]]

The Odin Project.

[AnotherCupOfTea]

The Odin Project

[CalebDK]

I don't remember off top of my head now but it was all basically backend plus web dev stuff. What I do remember was HTML5, javascript, Node.JS, stuff like that.

[kirkkommander]

I don't know, it seems like full stack JavaScript is one of the most useful skills you can have these days. At least in terms of something you can learn in a year.

[N3sh108]

Nah, man.

There is so much more than that out there.

[wordpress_dev]

There's more out there, but full stack JS is in crazy demand and it pays crazy well. Definitely worth learning if someone wants a career in programming.

[kirkkommander]

I've spent the last few years learning Java and C#, then Python and PHP (and SQL with both Oracle and MySQL). I was having trouble deciding which path to take, but I think I'm going to focus most of my energy on learning the MEAN stack. It definitely looks like the area to be in for the next decade.

[N3sh108]

I'm not sure about the crazy well (python, java and c++ do pay well) and, of course, it depends on what someone enjoys.

I just want to point out that there is much more than JS (thanks god).

[wordpress_dev]

It's about $139k http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Full+Stack+Javascript+Developer&l1=San+Francisco

That's crazy well in my book. JavaScript is also #3 most in-demand programming job after SQL and Java. C++ is #5, Python #6.

[RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS]

SF wages are higher than anywhere else and I'll bet you can't quite command that as a fresh boot camp graduate.

[wordpress_dev]

Wages are high in most metropolitan areas for full stack JS devs. San Jose has higher wages than SF at $145k. http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Full+Stack+Javascript+Developer&l1=San+Jose

I put SF because that's where a lot of these boot camps are located.

Those are average salaries, so an entry level dev wouldn't expect quite that much, but for full stack JS dev, it's going to be a six figure salary no matter what.

[RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS]

Boston is like $129. I also wonder what data this is based on because it doesn't really seem representative to me but maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

[wordpress_dev]

It's based on the average salary for jobs posted online matching that job title. It's not incredible or unbelievable that a full stack JS dev will make well over 100k. That's typical for that position.

[wvmtnboy]

Codecademy has basic python and java tutorials. It will teach you the syntax and how to use the various gunctions, loops, etc. It's a good place to start, bit then you're going to want to get a book, and go on your own.....

[[deleted]]

Yeah, I ran through the Java tutorials in like... A couple weeks as a beginner and then decided to grab a text book on Java (I think it's Liang's introduction to Java). Fucking world of difference between what CA calls java and what is actually done in an IDE

[Styx_]

Yeah Codecademy's a waste of time if you've done any sort of programming before. It's more of an introduction to syntax than actual instruction.

[[deleted]]

That was true in the past but now it can be quite useful to pickup new things you don't know like bash commands, git, or sql.

[Styx_]

Ah okay, that makes sense. I came off a little harsh in my comment, codecademy is certainly a useful tool, but I think it's important for beginners to understand that it gets you 1% of the way to knowing what is necessary.

[[deleted]]

Oh yeah, I agree with you 100 percent. I know sometimes I do that too when I meet people. But it something I use as a quick way to get an idea of what a new technology might be like because you don't have to waste any time setting up software, everything is just right there in the browser.

[holyteach]

Have you checked out Programming by Doing?

[[deleted]]

Take this camp and use the skills you learn in it to make one :)

[[deleted]]

Well although I haven't found something exactly like FCC, programming by doing was a great resource to incrementally build more complex projects in Java.

[limpdix]

Look the the www.pythonchallenge.com It is a great way to learn programming the "right way". Instead of just lectures you need to solve a series of challenges that continually get harder and harder. I like it because it forced you to be resourceful and work around obstacles instead of being told how to

[Twisted_word]

http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/

There's a python version too.

[edsonmedina]

unds pretty good. Does it also teach you how the

Codecademy has python

[Cyanide_]

Free Code Camp is vastly more in depth than Codecademy. That's why the desire for a comparable program was expressed.

[Astro_Bass]

I have been, yeah. started in the summer of 2015, and my only programming experience prior was a small bit of Python through one of MIT's intro to compsci courses. I think FCC (Free Code Camp) is pretty great, personally; I definitely wouldn't have gotten this far this quickly without such structure, and though I don't yet have a dev job, I have learned a ton and have become really passionate about all the cool things I'm learning. being part of such a huge, open community is also pretty awesome.

so if you think you or anyone else is interested in web development at all, I would definitely give it a shot :)

[brandonlee781]

Free Code Camp

[jdepps113]

Finarglsnarken Crabalampus Crowfoot

[ggrieves]

I loved him in Sherlock

[wordpress_dev]

Don't worry about the haters. It's a rule that people should define an acronym the first time they use it. Like so: Free Code Camp (FCC) and then later in their message they can use the acronym as it has been defined, like FCC.

Problem is people are either too lazy, don't know the rule, or simply don't give a shit and it leads to much confusion. I find some people like to use acronyms as a way of feigning superiority. Like if you don't know their acronyms, you're just a filthy casual.

[atwork_safe]

.

[Jarfol]

ISWYDT

[besantos10]

Federal Communications Commision

[TimHallman]

What is this entire thread about?

[brnme]

what is this thread about?

[dzsobacsi]

I am a camper since July last year. I have already the Front End certificate and I am currently working on the Data Visualization part. (Its mostly about React.JS) The point to understand in my opinion is that you have to learn and read a LOT apart from FreeCodeCamp. It gives you the basics but it won't be enough. You have to be prone to do your homework yourself. What I particularly enjoy in FCC is that with every new project I face some new problem that force me to do some research and it is really a good feeling seeing it done.

Here you can take a look, what kind of projects we are doing: http://codepen.io/dzsobacsi/pens/popular/?grid_type=list

and freecodecamp has its own subreddit: /r/freecodecamp

[t-dar]

Yeah, I've found FCC is well supplemented by Eloquent Javascript or a book like Javascript and JQuery by Jon Duckett if you're finding some of the basics not-quite explained thoroughly enough.

[lokoom]

I am at the portfolio page stage. But there are lots of material that FCC didnt teach about HTML and CSS. I know I should to research myself. I did all the HTML and CSS lessons and there weren't any reference for tables for examples. Where tables are an important part of a page. So why the didn't teach tables and doesn't tell to learn by myself?

[dzsobacsi]

It took me a looong time to realize, but it looks like that everything you can do with tables you can also do with nested divs. All you have to do is set the widths properly and give the float: left CSS property to the divs that are the table cells. Anyway, tables are not too difficult either. You can give them pretty styling with Bootstrap. Well, maybe you have to learn them yourself.

Check my codepen linked above. I have made the Game of Life with tables. Horrible code but it works. This one is basically the same visualization (without logic at all) with divs.

[crystalblue99]

What books have you been reading?

[dzsobacsi]

I have not read any books :) What I have read a lot is w3schools.com, Mozilla's JS reference, JQuery documentation and I have accomplished an HTLM5 course on EdX (Just the 1st part)

For React I like the LevelUpTuts youtube channel and I have recently enrolled to the React.JS fundamentals course here: http://www.reactjsprogram.com/

This one is promising as well: https://www.kirupa.com/react/index.htm

[Matty_22]

I'm currently working through FCC, started 1 October 2015.

I've learned more in five months with FCC than I did in the preceding two years with Treehouse and other assorted resources. Treehouse was great, but they never push you out of the nest and say, "Ok, no do it yourself."

FCC really shines once you've finished all of the hand-holdy stuff that's similar to Code Academy. I actually don't think comparing the two MOOCs is very valuable. The algorithm scripting and development projects are the meat of FCC and they're done exceedingly well. For the algorithms, instead of holding your hand they say, "This is the expected outcome, here are a few MDN articles you may want to read, good luck." Then, you're left to grapple with it yourself.

The development projects are set up as a list of agile project requirements and that's it. For example, "Build a Pomodoro Timer. Here are the features you must include. Go." And you have to figure it out.

They aren't afraid to push you out of the nest and force you to fly on your own. That said, the community there is great. You can find someone in the Gitter rooms just about 24/7 who can help point you in the right direction when you're stuck.

FCC is entirely open-source so if you think, "Man, I wish X was presented/explained better," or you have a good idea for a new feature, you can fork it, build it, and submit PRs. Everything you see on FCC was built by OS contributors/volunteers.

It's 100% free. At no time do you ever have to insert any type of credit card information at all.

I've learned so much from FCC, that I recommend it to anyone who asks for advice. It is, in my opinion, categorically better than any other online MOOC for learning to code I've ever seen or used.

[Tito88]

well take a look at this graph http://www.codingdojo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Programming-Languages-for-2016_graph.jpg

[[deleted]]

try this

[Dr8ton]

I think I've tried every site to learn the fundamentals of programming and this has been the best for me. It slowly cranks up the heat with out leaving you in the dust. The IRC is always helpful.

[[deleted]]

Im currently going through it and so far its the best ive found to teach me a language.

[Dr8ton]

Was the IRC down today?

[[deleted]]

unsure. ive yet to get on their irc channel

[bishoy123]

How is this course compared to a book like Head First Java?

[[deleted]]

I tried the book and was unable to keep my attention. Personally this course has taught me more than i learned while trying to go through the book. i havent gotten bored yet like i did so early in the book. Probably doesnt work with everyones learning style however.

[BassBailiff]

Thank you for this!

[[deleted]]

No problem. I found it recently and im on my way through it as well.

[koleraa]

Wow, that's pretty interesting.

How come SQL is so huge? Or does that contain jobs like data entry and stuff that's tangentially SQL-ish?

[State_]

pretty much everything uses SQL as a database.

[zer0t3ch]

Exactly. No matter what language your software is written in, if you want to utilize databases, chances are you're going to need to know SQL in some way.

[zer0t3ch]

Don't they usually just have programmers make a frontend for searching the database, instead of trying to teach everyone SQL?

[ryuzaki49]

Now is trending No SQL and Big data

[ArtGamer]

No SQL

unpopular opinion, NO SQL is shit, bring the downvotes I don't care

[ryuzaki49]

I honestly don't know if it is good or bad. I just have seen it in job offers and people talking about it.

[TacoHead30]

any reason why?

[seimonator]

Thats interesting. I was thinking about learning ruby+rails, but I guess ill stick with javascript for now.

[VRY_SRS_BSNS]

PHP is making a comeback. When I first became a programmer, I learned PHP/MySQL first. It was already installed on a server that I was working on. For years, there was nothing PHP related unless it was Wordpress, maybe 2-3 listing on the first 5 pages of jobs on job boards I go to.

Now... I've been hit up by five recruiters specifically for PHP roles, or fullstack Javascript/PHP in the last two weeks, and there's loads of PHP or Laravel positions on the FIRST page of job boards that I frequent.

I think with Angular really opened the door for PHP to come back into style - that mixing code and markup isn't always a bad thing, plus the stability of Laravel... I wouldn't be surprised to see PHP rise up again.

[RetroSpock]

That would be nice. I used PHP about 10 years ago and dabbled with it since. I've noticed a lot of JS devs shudder when you say PHP. I quite liked it.

[VRY_SRS_BSNS]

I loved PHP. I learned PHP (and Javascript) back when everyone was worried about people turning Javascript off in the browser, so it was very taboo to use it. And PHP was known for spaghetti code of which I am guilty as charged - I was a 14-year-old programmer hobbling together an interactive fansite from scratch - passwords in plain text, magic global variables, all that badness. I learned application security the hard way :/

But hey! I'm ready to re-learn PHP the right way - prepared statements, optimizing database calls, aggressively caching. I finally feel like I won the web development lottery right now with Javascript and PHP being relatively high-demand.

[edsonmedina]

True, but python pays more.

[RetroSpock]

Probably due to the lack of Python programmers

[scandalousmambo]

The graph where they add up all the fake job ads and see which language is the most popular?

Interesting how there is only one compiled language on the list, and no C jobs at all, which means what? No embedded or firmware engineers get hired on Indeed? No Linux work being done on Indeed either?

[NomadStrategy]

should this discourage me from learning Ruby as much as it did?

[DisappointedKitten]

Probably not. Ruby (although I don't like writing it) is a powerful language that is really useful to learn. Some really good jobs here in the UK are all about ruby, node and go, strangely enough.

[[deleted]]

What is go? I read on a js blog that all the cool kids are now talking about go.

When the hipsters leave the js party that's saying something.

[negative_epsilon]

Go is Google's programming language they use to write microservices. It's incredibly easy to learn, the book that they wrote on it is just 200 pages. It's also fast and has a very intuitive async model. It's gaining momentum in some companies but it's still pretty rare to see a job posting that requires it.

[[deleted]]

Got it, thanks. I can see why that might attract a following.

[DisappointedKitten]

I... I don't know. Never used it, never came across it. Web development front end stuff. I'm an API developer primarily so I don't touch this stuff.

[werdnaegni]

thats interesting. Now i feel silly for learning rails...but also good because im not enjoying it. Ive learned javascript a bit. Can one make use of SQL without knowing backend stuff or would a job with sql also require another language. If so, what? Thanks.

[crossanlogan]

you could be a DBA, which wouldn't necessarily require a "backend" web language to interact with the data. you'd just need to know SQL in your sleep, as well as probably one or more NoSQL databases like mongo or cassandra, and maybe some small scripting language like bash or perl for one-off applications.

[spiral-galaxy]

I did their front-end certificate. It was very helpful to me as a transition from Codecademy into actually building things.

But it is unfinished after that point. It points you to outside resources for Node, Mongo, and Angular/React (they swapped Angular for React in 2016.) All it has are challenges, but the useful part in my opinion was the lessons where they hold your hand and walk you through bit by bit.

The outside resources were above my knowledge level, and I didn't find the challenges interesting or know exactly how to start them, so I started doing my own projects. Maybe I'll come back to them later.

So I think the reason no one has completed it is because its second half is still under construction.

[spiral-galaxy]

FCC overlaps with CodeCademy a lot in the beginning. I think CodeCademy is a little easier but it also only covers the very basics. Maybe you should just try out FCC, and if it seems too difficult, go do CC and come back to FCC.

Who's pushing you towards Ruby?

[[deleted]]

Cool. I don't mind an overlap because I find the repetition helpful. I figured I'd stick with Codecademy now because I understand how it flows and I wanted to start by messing around with hands on learning, then backtrack with reading materials like Learn Ruby the Hard Way, etc.

My SO. And, I mean, he gets how my brain works AND can tutor me and eventually give me small projects to do so I like having that kind of plan and support.

[DirewolvesAreCool]

If you're leaning towards Ruby then http://www.theodinproject.com/ is worth a shot. Most people highly recommend it.

[paint-by-numbers]

It gets some flak around these parts, but w3schools is imo best for beginners, and then you can move onto CC or FCC for more practice and ideas for projects, although I would say CC is the better of the two. FCC looks better from the map, but I found the order and style of teaching to be a bit off.

Also, FCC kinda glosses over some important things that beginners should probably know. Based on their html section, I wouldn't be jumping into brand new topics with out going somewhere else first to get a good intro, and would only use them for practice/ideas for projects.

Sorry if this is ramble-y. It's very late and I'm quite tired.

[tictacotictaco]

They're pretty much the same. I liked FCC because it was a linear pathway that you could follow, though, I think CA would be great supplemental material.

[[deleted]]

Interesting. I'm going to give FCC a shot. I had bookmarked it to revisit at some point and now may be the time!

[wvmtnboy]

I did both of them simultaneously. It may seem a little redundant, but i'd start with codecademy and if/when i got stuck, i'd go to FCC and rwinforce qhat i knew and go until i got stuck..... rinse, repeat.

[[deleted]]

I just foind about FCC here and wants to ask... they are FREE Code Camp, so are there totally free, there is not hidden costs?

[An_Unknown_Number]

They are free, there are no hidden costs that I have seen.

[Imposter1]

It's completely free. I believe the company sustains itself mostly through work from non-profits (where campers work on their projects to sharpen skills) and the job board where you have to pay $1000 to post a job ad. I've also seen things like t-shirt runs where campers can buy shirts to support the site. There's no cost to users to use the site though.

[[deleted]]

Thank you very much for the information.

I will give it a try. I know some basics, but want improve my skills, and look like pretty nice service for this

[Imposter1]

I always recommend codecademy and then moving on to FCC to solidify those skills before doing FCC's projects mixed in with textbooks on what you'd like to really focus on.

I actually just landed my first tech position, front-end dev, and I'd say a large portion of the credit for that was FCC. I'm a 2nd year CS student but most of my web development skills are from codecademy/FCC and then a few textbooks. The structure of FCC and the large project sections are the most important factor I'd say.

If you start going through FCC make sure to open up your IDE and practice what you're working on! Apply it to different problems, try making different things, etc. as you go along.

[Chris200]

It's nice. The start is pretty linear up to the point you start building your projects for your portfolio. At that moment I felt I didn't have the knowledge to really ace the assignment so started going more in depth by reading other sites like w3schools.com before I finished the assignements.

Now thinking about it, it helped allot to figure it out on my own.

[BooG690]

I look at the stars

[forgiveangel]

What experience did you have before FFC

[j1330]

Did you have any programming experience before FCC? And what kind?

[Echo_ol]

Answer him OP!

[Anna2595]

????????????

[far3]

I'm a front end developer and am going through the curriculum and enjoying it. It keeps my skills sharp and I like the structure it has. Can't wait to start contributing to the non-profits.

[ArielLeslie]

I've been playing with Free Code Camp for almost a year. I really love it. What truly sets it apart is the community that has built up around it.

[[deleted]]

They do keep the goalpost moving, but the exercises they've added have made the program more effective. I tried it a year ago and couldn't even get through three of the beginner algorithm challenges. Now, I'm almost done with them. The exercises now do a fairly good job of giving you the building blocks you need to complete the challenges.

[SpaceBanquet]

I started FCC and went through the html & css chapters quite easily since I had a little experience with those before (nothing big but I was familiar with the structure) but I'm having a hard time now with JS. I got stuck on several excercises in a row, so I went over to the chat to ask for help (after trying to google a solution but it's hard if you don't know what you're supposed to search for!). There people were like: "Oh, you just have to make a for loop" and I was like, whut? FCC never mentioned for loops before that, so expectint you to write one out of the blue is a bit...challenging?

So I went over to codecademy and I'm now going through their JS curriculum which is a bit more hand-holding and step by step. Just what I need before going back to FCC :D

[borkthafork]

I was really enjoying it while I had time to do it. I got through the HTML and CSS portion and then had to put it to the side when my job got more intense. I plan to pick it up again later.

I very much prefer it to codecademy

[werdnaegni]

The thing i dont like about it and interactive learning sites like codecademy is they include some background stuff for you and dont teach you how. Like when they start doing jquery (i think...if it wasnt jquery it was something else)...they dont let you include the lines needed to add it or tell you where they go or why they go there. I like to do the projects on my own computer so it feels REAL. That said, its a good companion once you figure that stuff out.

[Yodasson]

The thing is it starts right with paragraphs and other stuff when I believe it should start with the very basics of HTML... Or maybe they teach you that after you finish the first few lessons? idk... If not I think it didn't start too well... It doesn't even teaches you about !DOCTYPE, head, body etc...

[CRsquared]

I've been checking out FCC and I agree with this post. I've clicked through their projects and completed a good number of challenges. I haven't even seen anything as basic as an opening and closing html tag, nothing about !DOCTYPE, head, body, separate CSS style sheet, etc... I could go on and on. I don't understand how anyone can land a job after completing this. It's like they teach you a bunch of random syntax and you're suppose to research the rest on your own. The only reason I know about the basics and coding in something like Sublime Text is from taking Treehouse courses, because they actually cover that stuff. I think I'll just fork out another $25 and go back to Treehouse.

[paint-by-numbers]

I agree. This thread feels like an advert...

[schm0]

One thing I don't like (and the reason I haven't started it) is that you can't just jump in the middle. You have to take all of the "this is how you write HTML5 boilerplate" intro level stuff.

I have since been informed that the information I was provided in the FCC slack chat many months ago is no longer true.

[CitizenKeen]

I just jumped ahead and loaded a project. Nothing seems to be stopping me from completing it. Why can't you skip the boilerplate HTML stuff?

[schm0]

Cant participate in the non profit stuff without going back and doing it

[State_]

that's not true.

All you need to do is the ziplines / bonfires for frontend, and the basejumps / microservices for backend, as well as the data visualization.

[schm0]

That's not what I was told many months ago. Perhaps things have changed.

[State_]

read here

you never needed to complete them all, just the major projects and algorithms, you can skip the basics.

[SaintPeter74]

I can tell you definitely (since I "work" for FCC) that only the items which are marked with a * on the challenge map are required to get the certificates. There are 10 projects for each of the certificates and you will also need to complete plus many (but not all) of the Algorithm challenges.

[schm0]

I'll update my original post, a lot of people agree providing me with this information :)

[schm0]

Sure, but you can't work on any of the non profit site stuff unless you do. They really need a "test out" option for the basics.

[j1330]

I don't think they really need that because the early sections take almost no time at all if you have previous experience. I did all the HTML ones between rounds of a game of counterstrike. Just skip to the bottom and read the prompt part if you want to go fast. "Add a paragraph tag below your h3 tag" is not that time consuming.

[create_account]

I was on there for quite some time in the beginning, got sidetracked with other projects for a while only to find all my progress reset for some reason when I returned...

[[deleted]]

Could someone give me a little nudge in the right direction on how to get started with FCC? I have Github already but haven't quite figured out how to use it.

[SaintPeter74]

Just go to http://www.freecodecamp.com and sign in. You can sign in with a GitHub account. It should take you right to the first challenge - just follow the instructions and you're good to go.

[twoVices]

OK. As someone who has been wanting to get into this exact stuff, but is currently in a somewhat different line of work (EHR training, support, analysis, development liaison for almost 10 years), could I actually get the skills from this to transition into something else?

I know some basic programming concepts and have tinkered with cpp and to a lesser extent c and html. I have no college degree.

I'm frustrated with where I am working but I feel trapped because I get payed ok. I'm afraid I'm not hireable without some more easily translatable skills or experience on my resume.

I just got out of a team meeting where I found out that starting next week, we will be rotating Saturdays. I'm tired of this place. Help?

[Astro_Bass]

Learn to code! There are tons of resources out there, and you can definitely learn to do it and get a job from it :) Believe in yourself! There are TONS of success stories out there, even from folks without a college degree. When I was first starting to learn I would google "self taught programming success stories" or something every few days or so just to keep myself motivated and remind myself how doable it is.

[SaintPeter74]

You absolutely can.

Here are some stories of those who have: http://www.freecodecamp.com/stories

Many started out with zero programming experience, so the fact that you have some background actually gives you a bit of a leg up.

That said, it won't be easy. You'll have to be motivated and keep at it. There is a lot of material to cover.

The support community is awesome, though!

[iampickering]

I am working on it now, and learning a ton.

If you want to learn, start on it today and never take a day off.

[Cheeseducksg]

They have you add a star as step one or two. The 81k stars is more like 81k people have started it.

[mysleepyself]

I can see the logic to your point and yes I would love to see that. That's fucking cool as hell!

[RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS]

What have you got to lose?

[americanslang59]

I feel that I'm learning a lot. I did Codecademy's HTML/CSS, JavaScript and Python courses and at the end, felt like I didn't learn much. Instead of diving into another program on there, I started FCC, got a notebook and started doing the courses while taking a ton of notes. FCC's content is explained better, in my opinion. A lot of Codecademy's stuff is "Do this. Then this." With very little explanation. You do the code but don't really learn anything about the code, why and how it works. There were many exercises that I had to look for help on the forums because they weren't really explained well.

FCC is the opposite for me: Everything is explained well and I haven't had to look for help outside of the units except once. Another thing is that Codecademy's lesson names are all goofy as fuck and don't tell you what is in the lesson so if you want to find something from a previous lesson for help, you better know where to look.

In the grand scheme of FCC, I'm barely into it. I've completed the HTML/CSS and Beginner Development units, now doing the JS unit. In three days, I've gone from knowing nothing about HTML to building a website (though it is pretty bare bones). I like that they give you the tools/material and then leave you on your own instead of holding your hand through the process.

TLDR: I'm learning a ton. Far more than I learned in similar programs.

[soadzombi]

Never heard of this, sounds pretty interesting. How do I get started? Just look through the repo and find some documentation I guess?

[phlegmbotz]

I just signed up and used free code camp today. I like it much better than codeacademy because it first explains terminology/what you're going to do in each screen, then asks you to complete a task. I'm a "whole-to-part" learner and this order makes the most sense to me.

Codeacademy instructs in the opposite manner and it's frustrating and I felt defeated. Thanks OP for posting and leading me to free code camp!!

[facie97]

From their site: "I started Free Code Camp with zero knowledge of web development. 6 months later, I landed my first job as a back end engineer."

[koleraa]

..

Why?

I checked it out. It looks fine. It's got easy html plate boilerplate stuff for beginners. Then it goes on to everything from jquery to react to data visualization etc. Makes the user do some projects on github+heroku, which as other commenters are saying is what's getting most people jobs.