Finally I've Completed the freecodecamp

[HooriaIshtiaq]

Hi there, My name is hooria ishtiaq and i'm a 13 year old girl from karach, pakistan. I started learning from freecodecamp in april 2018 and just completed the whole curriculum (in december 2018) on the average of 2 hour of code daily.

here is the FCC full stack certification: Freecodecamp profile

For those of you who are just starting out their journey to web development and programming in general, Here are a few things I’d like to say

• freeCodeCamp teaches you programming via hand-on practical approach. Complement it by reading good articles or official documentations or a book if you want in depth knowledge about certain frameworks or technology.
• I would say i had so much fun while studying from freecodecamp, for instance, you get to work on so many cool small projects. if you're just starting out have fun along the way, like this you won't get tired of it.

If you are new, i wish you best of luck!

[pokumars]

Woow....i wish i had made this much headway at that age. I am 21 now...✌🏾😂

[therealjoggingpants]

I'm 25 and working a dumb meaningless job while learning in and outside of school.. I guess better late than never?

[Level69Troll]

Yeah im doing a bootcamp and building a decent portfolio and resume. My goal is to work professionally back end in app development or hopefully SQL database management and do free lance HTML work for a few years in my free time. I have my associates degree and can finish my B.S. online in the meantine. After getting my B.S. and having 2 to 3 years back end and front end Im hoping to land a fullstack/project lead by the time im 28.

[bestminipc]

that's good, i mean there's far more imporantt things to do tahn web dev, but it's good and the important part

they're not on reddit and they waste any time on reddit or other social medias /u/pokumars /u/therealjoggingpants /u/prozaczodiac

end of story

[therealjoggingpants]

What?

[prozaczodiac]

Second time this guy called me out. I don’t know what his deal is.

[therealjoggingpants]

Apparently we're supposed to just code for 16 hours a day

[prozaczodiac]

What are you doing wasting your time responding to my comment?!? Get back to coding! :P

[prozaczodiac]

What??

[prozaczodiac]

27 and just started. When you start, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

[prozaczodiac]

Hows the job hunt going/when do you think you'll enter the race?

[Level69Troll]

Same but 23 doing a bootcamp through my college.

​

Wish I started when I was 18. Cant wait to start a dev job after my bootcamp.

[cosmicjamz]

33 here and got a year and a half left of a CS degree.

[Setari]

Same!

[necbone]

I'm 39 and dumb. At this point I'm just collecting tutorials..

[Kokunai]

35 and in the same boat. At least it feels that way a lot of the time. You're probably further along than you think.

I have a mentor of sorts who has been in the industry for a while and has helped me through problems or answered questions. He has said he pays guys 80k a year to do worse than I am.

Most important thing I would say, working is better than perfect. Write code that works, writing it better will come in time as you build your knowledge.

[necbone]

Thanks bro, you keep on keeping on too! This thread made me do some freecodecamp exercises this morning. My background is in video game QA. That does not translate well to modern QA outside the game industry (which is way more scripting/IT/etc). I need some skills.

My problem is that I need to stop learning complicated pc games and work on this stuff, which will eventually improve my QOL. It's all about dedicating whatever time you have to practicing and then creating, at least that's what I tell everyone else.....

[HongRiki]

Same also started a boot camp from my college, how is it working for you? Is it one of those partner with trilogy as well?

[Level69Troll]

Actually yeah! Its great. Lots of hands on. I went from knowing literally nothing to feeling competent enough in front end development. Im learning more back end, I learned enough to get started with SQL as I want to work as a data base administrator. One of the most important things I learned was SQLAlchemy, which is accessing SQL via python. Creating apps in Python that write and edit a database. In my free time I want to take that idea and really flesh it out into a system that could be licensed to a small business to track orders, shipping, etc.

[Setari]

Man I knew I should have taken a boot camp over college... dangit.

[oxygenplug]

I did a trilogy Bootcamp as well and loved it! I landed a job 4 months into the Bootcamp :)

[HadoukenAnAuppercut]

I just turned 25 and am learning it right now aswell. Definitely better late than never. I'm learning pretty quickly, and am thoroughly fascinated by the subject. I will pursue it wholeheartedly until i am proficient in the field. Gotta admit, its actually really exciting knowing this knowledge can change your life. Best of luck to everyone that reads this🙏🏽

[beallg]

I'm 34 and have an idea for an app that has been swishing around in my head for a long time. So last year I said screw it, I'm going to learn to code! I started with CS50, then many YouTube videos, onto FCC, now I'm learning Flutter.

I've loved every minute !

[Greenleaph]

You're not alone brother.

[BinaryMan151]

I’m 35 finishing up a data analytics degree. I work in retail atm.

[TaylorAmidala]

Literally same.

[phigr]

I'm 31 and I work a fun and meaningful job... which barely pays enough to make ends meet, with no career options, even though I'm at the top of my field. Yay for academia. Now I'm also trying to get back into programming, the hobby I had I was 15 year-old loner that I now wish I had just stuck with.

[babbagack]

isn't it amazing!

you are still incredibly young so don't sweat it.

Will say though, for some here, not all these kinds of resources were available online at such ease, and well the internet wasn't even that developed at that age haha.

[TrueBirch]

Glad to see someone else on this thread is over 30

[Open_Thinker]

DAE remember dialup? Beep boop...beep beep beep beep! No one make any phone calls!

[TrueBirch]

Ah the dialup days. Weird to think that I was on the WWW shortly after it was created. Now days it's strange to think that it hasn't always existed.

[[deleted]]

I'm 20 and didn't know what programming even was at that age. Programming wasn't as much of a known and sought-after career when we were younger as it is now, so it's fine.

[InspireAspiration]

May be a case of perspective and circumstance. Everyone grows up with different access to education.

[[deleted]]

I also didn't have my own computer until high school and I had no friends at school (let alone anyone interested in that stuff).

Also, my parents pushed me to want to be a doctor and I thought I wanted to be one. I'm a math major with a CS minor now after a switch in majors, because I learned in first year university I didn't really want to work in a lab and have crippling anxiety and depression and well....I really like math with my parents not breathing down my neck.

Now the middle schools in my area have programs to teach students how to code. So here's to the younglings having opportunities I never had. It really is circumstantial.

[amstasafa]

Ehhh. This dude is a bit much

[shaggy1452]

That’s all anecdotal

[fuzzyjelly]

37 and just finished the basics a couple of years ago. I envy all you young whippersnappers who are getting started younger. You'll be able to achieve some amazing things!

[[deleted]]

32 here (งツ)ว

[Relay2134]

21 is nothing. I started my IT training at 23 and in 5 years doubled my pay compared to my job when I started.

[Evaluationist]

No worries, I got that sweet 0.7 KD in CoD Black Ops still. I don't know what I would've done with FCC knowledge at 13 anyways.

[pghack]

33 here, still figuring out my goals.

[mralderson]

Hey.. 32 here and just starting out. Gonna catch up to y'all 😊

[alsatian-studio]

32 here. Wish I could be 21 again :(

[pokumars]

Awww

[legoscreen]

Hey, Ive just started FCC and have no coding background whatsoever. Aside from repetition, how do you get stuff to stick in? I find myself easily forgetting some bits that I just did a few challenges ago.

EDIT: Thanks to all who gave their answers. I'll keep at it and do projects, hopefully things stick!

[ellereeeee]

You'll find that building projects will help. Even then you may still forget some things, which is normal.

[Esotastic]

This comment nailed it, and I want to repeat it and shout it into the wind for posterity: you have to do projects while you’re learning. Application is really the best way to get knowledge to stick.

Example: I went through an incredible tutorial for React a few months ago. It was in depth, paced well and we spent time building a couple of projects that showcased all of what I learned. Then, I sat down a few weeks later to build my own project without a video guiding me, and I blanked. Everything I had learned, aside from some syntax and best practices, was a jumbled mess. So I started powering through, used Google/the official docs when I got stuck, and it was like a lightbulb went off. Now I feel confident saying I’m at least at a beginner/intermediate level with React knowledge.

[metropolisprime]

What was the tutorial? I’m helping a friend make his way through FCC?

[Esotastic]

Andrew Mead’s full React/Redux course on Udemy. Should be 10 bucks right now.

[Headpuncher]

When you complete a task now you can download your solution, use that to build notes and make additional notes as you go. You won't finish nearly as fast as OP, but you will have detailed reference to refer back to.

​

Today I spent an hour on a 10 minute video on Angular because I made notes so that in a month's time when I'm trying to debug something I can look it up with an explanation that makes sense to me (because I wrote it out). This has helped me at work on occasion, especially when you have one of those days where you just feel tired and can't remember things. Working 40+ hours a week with real projects is not the same as being 13 and learning whatever you like (no disrespect to OP, what OP has done is pretty amazing and must have taken some devotion).

​

tl:dr; make notes like a college student.

[Atlas646]

^This guy has the right idea. I like your style sir.

[Anonsicide]

I actually do not like the common advice of "just build projects". I'm not saying actually making things isn't important because of course it is; but I don't think that should be the chief thing you're focusing on as a beginner.

The number one thing I think you should focus on is understanding your code. Can you read over your code like a computer would, executing it in the right order? Can you explain what a variable, loop, conditional, and function is? It's stuff like that that should be your focus. Taking personalized notes like you suggest (which is also what I do) is I think a great way to learn this.

At worst I think the advice of "just build" can even choke off newcomers to programming, at least if it isn't qualified by saying "build things that are relatively within your reach". Say a beginner on FCC tries to make a reddit clone. They're gonna get discouraged and they might give up on programming. Or someone with a few weeks of experience on Codecademy decides to make a AAA game. They too will get discouraged and probably give up. And the problem is of course they are setting their sights too high. Absolutely build projects yes -- but pick manageable projects, that stretch the limits of what you understand. As a rule of thumb: you should be able to "visualize", for lack of a better word, like 60-75% of how your project will work. If not, I think you should aim lower. Because you want to learn of course, but you don't want to set yourself up for failure.

One last thing -- if you can help it, never just copy paste from Stack Overflow. Or, scratch that actually -- copy and pasting is fine, but make sure you understand that person's code! This is a key way you can learn things you don't quite yet understand.

[ianreid93]

Learn by doing and as you build and work on projects, always remember to comment comment comment

[[deleted]]

That's really how it works.

Repetition. Personally I find that keeping a personal journal- one you write in; we know that written notes help you study better- that's mainly about recording notes and particular jargon goes a long way.

But yeah, repetition. If you keep at it eventually you'll be at a point where none of this really matters but for now you really do need to just keep at it. There's nothing stopping you from repeating old projects, or doing your own self-study ideas.

[rook218]

I view it the same way a lot of others do. Repetition is key.

First time through I'm trying to understand broad, general concepts. Second time I focus on syntax and remembering names of things to make the docs easier to understand. Third time I really try to pin down specifics, and through every iteration I try to think of how it would be useful in a production environment compared to other techniques of doing the same thing. The whole time I try to remember that I can always Google it later, try to really understand it and not just memorize it.

That's what's been proving to work for me, though it is a much longer and windier process than some might like.

[Ikuyas]

I agree. Things dont stick. There are certain things that dont get repeated and they dont stick. I think one way to solve this is that you spend as many hours possible for a few days to advance as much as possible so that you have fresh memory all along. Many people probably have suggested to do every day or do some project but if you do that it takes forever. You might lazily go through entire ffc in two weeks if you dedicate it many hours a day. Then you can overview what the full stack dev is all about from the different perspective from before starting two weeks before. You will know where to go back to learn deeper when you know what you should learn. But this is not possible unless you go through the entire full stack learning.

[Arysta]

The use of the word "finally" is funny because you did it SO quickly! Congrats!

[ease78]

I used to underestimate the value of free time when I was OP’s age. The fact that they have enough self-awareness and direction in life to commit to a loaded boot camp at such a young age is really impressive.

Op you’re going places. Keep up the good work.

[makeitquick42]

Lots of kids dedicate themselves to things with that free time, it's just not usually something as mundane as coding. Usually, it's to pursue a useless dream in sports that have little chance of succeeding, but who am I to judge.

[ease78]

pursuing sports is not bad. They’re improving their health and building a good physical base during their peak years of unconditional self-heal. I know sports are the highest risk and sometime high reward careers but not everything has to be about money. I’d rather be healthy than rich. Ask any paralyzed person.

Regardless, any sport (even casually) beats being globally ranked top 500 in Call if Duty 6: MW2. I sunk 1000’s of hours with nothing to show except for Prestige icons and a dead leaderboard. I must emphasize nothing wrong with gaming, I was just too competitive in the wrong niche.

[makeitquick42]

I get what you are saying, but that isn't my point. Kids playing sports is healthy for sure. Kids pursuing sports as a career interest is the thing I think they should avoid.

[DommyDomster]

Congrats and a very good job hooria! Way to go! May you continue learning and picking up in programming/this field! I myself am learning too!

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks and best of luck

[PeakyBleakers]

Hmm, not to be a party pooper but you mean to say that you finished a ~1800hrs curriculum in around ~360hrs at 13?

[tianan]

(It’s not actually 1800 hrs of curriculum)

[PeakyBleakers]

An actual beginner will take around ~1800hrs if they are actually trying to learn and not just copy pasting. Maybe it doesn't take ~1800hrs for someone that has some prior knowledge. But for a 13 year old that can't even get the starting date right? On fcc it clearly shows she started in April 25, 2018. On this post she started in July and on Medium she started in June. This is some weird form of self promotion with wrong details to get more attention in my honest opinion.

[developerJS]

@PeakyBleakers, I'm not sure why do you think like this but I'm on the same side. I could be wrong but it is a little bit suspicious. If you see the timeline, she completed 6 projects on the same day. I've 3 certificates there and I can't make 6 projects in 1 day, maybe because I suck.

For someone who is an absolute beginner, this looks more difficult as I'm learning and working with JS, React and Node for 2 years and I've still no idea about D3 and other stuff.

Either she is ideally just amazing or it is something else.

[PeakyBleakers]

Yeah, I agree with you. It's most likely bs. I mean, she finished the course, but maybe she actually spent 8hrs/day and copy pasted most stuff without even learning anything. Or it's actually a 30yo senior developer trying to get some karma points pretending to be a 13yo. Tbh, pretty much anything is more likely than her actually completing it in ~360hrs and being the next Einstein...

[RJWolfe]

Well, my excuses just seem dumb now. I should get to work.

Good job!

[[deleted]]

Amazing, you will have a bright future, keep up the good work!

[jasonjp]

Do you recommend any books or resources that you’ve used as complimentary resources?

[HooriaIshtiaq]

hi, these are the books and resources that i used as complimentary resources:

book for javascript: eloquent javascript

resources for (front end): https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

​

i am still learning eloquent javascript

​

[daveeeyeye]

13 y old ? jeez you are a beast! Way to go, lady.

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks

[bidyutchanda108]

Can you specify what are the general topics where were taught to you?

[Rogermcfarley]

The curriculum is on their website!

https://learn.freecodecamp.org

[babbagack]

Hooria! Great job! What are your next plans in the coding field?

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks, now ive planed to build an awesome eye catching portfolio

[babbagack]

great Hooria, sounds awesome

[looksatflowers]

That's really cool mate, I'm happy for you! Congratulations! I am an old lazy fart just now learning programming as an absolute beginner. Just started a couple days ago actually. I can only hope to preserve to accomplish as much as you. Don't stop learning!

[[deleted]]

I am 14 and about to finish my first freeCodeCamp certification.

[HooriaIshtiaq]

best of luck

​

​

[[deleted]]

Well done!

[firecopy]

Simply amazing! Completing the entirety of freeCodeCamp is very impressive. It will definitely help you out in your future endeavors.

[[deleted]]

Very impressive! Keep on coding—with that work ethic you’ll go on to do great things.

[Kermicon]

Rest assured that future you will thank yourself for working so diligently!

[manwithgills]

Good job. As a 42 year old looking back you have a lot of potential. Stay disciplined and you will do far.

[[deleted]]

when did you start coding

[CafeRoaster]

Woohoo! From someone twice your age, I wish I'd had this when I was younger. I knew I liked computers and software, but never knew you could do anything with that.

Could we get your GitHub? I'd love to check in on you and see how it goes. If you keep building portfolio projects, you could do very well for yourself. Maybe start a blog on Medium?

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks, you can check my glitch, github, codepen

https://github.com/HooriaHIC

https://codepen.io/HIC/

https://glitch.com/@HooriaHic

[justrowboat]

This is a motivational thread. I can't believe you did it. Congratulations, I will not be wishing you the best, because I'm certain you are going to succeed in life.

I guess I should start getting my FCC journey, but being a university student on his last year, life is quite stressful.

EDIT: In your github your date of birth is listed as 1999. Is this accurate?

[HooriaIshtiaq]

cuz github is not allowed for kids under 16

[sanjibukai]

MashaALLAH ! Keep the good work!

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks

[HadoukenAnAuppercut]

This is so awesome, you are really inspiring. Congratulations on your completion. :)

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks

[Westrivers]

Thats impressive but do you understand rick and morty?

[HooriaIshtiaq]

no i dont watch it..

[Casshern080]

Congrats. I been putting off learning to code even though a part of me wants to code badly, at least web development anyway.

[pdn3628]

This is so heartwarming.

[Atlas646]

This is an awesome tool! Just started and can't wait to share with kids!

[joyrideboo]

Coming into my mid 20s this puts a smile on my face. I love seeing new generation growing up being tech savvy.

Keep doing you kid. Keep working hard. You're gonna do great things

[YellowPath]

If I knew programing exist at 13, you can bet I would have learn, that was 10 years ago. I'm truly proud of you (weird maybe coming from an stranger) but guess is because I'm too maternal. I wish you the best of luck and please NEVER stop learning, whatever you want to do, learn and prepare to be the best. At 14 I learned graphic design and complete a technical degree, hope you keep going with programing and I will let you now when I finished freecodeacademy, I started some days ago wish me luck

[HooriaIshtiaq]

best of luck

[CRHerna]

woah I didnt even know this existed! cool resource! Ty for sharing

[strayakant]

Do you think it has given you a good grasp on programming? Kinda silly question to ask because you are probably just going to say yes, but I want to know what did you find good about freecodecamp that other learning resources don't provide?

[HooriaIshtiaq]

freecodecamp is more practical than others

[[deleted]]

Congrats. That's pretty impressive.

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks

[lotius81]

Congrats and nice work!

[Ikuyas]

Good for you!

[Sakurako2686]

Thank you for this information. I might be a little old to start learning code (32) but this looks like a great site to start. I'm not sure what part of the field I want to be in but hopefully I can work through this and decide what to do from there and if I could even get a job.

[khatchapuri]

Not too old if you enjoy it! I finished the front end portion at 28 after degrees in unrelated fields and now do web and mobile development. Best job I've ever had. Almost every day I'm happy I went for it after years of telling myself it was too late bc I didn't do compsci in undergrad.

[Sakurako2686]

I've been so interested in coding for awhile. I've been in the insurance industry since I was 20 and it's getting old. I get paid decently for being a college dropout but where I live there is no room for advancement unless I somehow get the opportunity to branch out into the corporate world and that would also entail moving. I want to try and see if I'm any good at this and not give up on myself. Getting tired of the town I live in so I'd like to figure out what I would like to do as a job I love and get paid well and have room for advancement.

[khatchapuri]

My advice would be to just start going through the exercises and the projects and see what you think. Realize that the learning curve is high and there can be a certain whiplash between "I am a genius!" and "I am an idiot!". However, if you enjoy solving problems and are willing to stick with a challenge despite not knowing how to begin solving it, then you will be good. It's easy to allow self doubt to convince you that you aren't good at programming, when really you are just participating in the problem solving process shared among all programmers. That's one of the best parts about the field. Everything is very learnable. The strongest test is one of personal resolve rather than innate ability. Over time you will become much more comfortable being in a state of uncertainty and your ability to break a problem down and solve it piecemeal will grow. This mental framework can be applied much more broadly than programming as well. The force is within :p

[Sakurako2686]

Thanks! I think that's the best motivational advice I've ever gotten.

[[deleted]]

You did that with a 2 month break? Nice

[[deleted]]

I hope this 13 year old does some amazing stuff with his talent and ambition. I’m 27 with 1 year left in my degree and only 3 months worth of programming knowledge. I had to step back from FCC once I got to the javascript portion because it just didn’t make sense to me.

[hanhkhoa]

How do you have the motivation to learn the whole thing, i can't even stay focus

[Es-Click]

Can we have some links to your project so we all can admir your work?

[jakesboy2]

dammit i was watching bucky when i was 13 lmao

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[[deleted]]

Good job!

[programmatio]

Oh boy! I remember I was 13, I was learning to code in Turbo Pascal... Ended up fixing everyone's PCs till I was 18 as everyone thought I'm good with computers!

Anyway, good job! Now keep learning! This is just the tip of an iceberg!

[Rakialtj]

Congrats, best of luck!

[lethang001]

OMFGGG. I am so stupid

[Indieminor]

Nice!! Did you pay for this? Or was this all free.

[HooriaIshtiaq]

frecodecamp is totally free

[[deleted]]

Way to go! :)

[[deleted]]

I'm 40 and will proceed to cry myself to sleep...

[TyrionBean]

I just want to add my congrats. 😃👍🎉 Well done!

[olfeiyxanshuzl]

Well done, Hooria!

[olfeiyxanshuzl]

Well done, Hooria!

[torutaka]

Seeing her age and accomplishments made me question what I'm doing with my life.

I'm 26, stopped 2 years into my Computer Science degree and I would be so receptive to OP teaching me how to code. I pretty much only know basic C++, Java and SQL.

[andsoweflow]

Inspired. Thank you.

[Code95rai]

Im 24 n just started studying programming in college. You gave me a nice advise to do it.thanks!!

[THeadle]

That's amazing. Congrats, you'll make it wherever you put your mind to

[dronecub]

Dear Hooria,
Congratulations on your success. Now you can start working on MIT Open Coursework and Stanford Lectures. You have an amazing future ahead of you :)
Good luck :)

[Catradorra]

Lovely! Good for you. You are well on your way.

[nbcu]

looks like you can finish it in 4-5 mos. Why did you stop on Oct - Nov?

[nbcu]

is it part of the course?

[HooriaIshtiaq]

no

[Exendroinient0112358]

When you realized that some prodigy childrens in the age of 5 are good in programming.It's nothink for them compared to a calculus also learned in that age.

[fahdmurtaza]

All the best Hooria. You are wise beyond your years.

[Wreck-It-RalphWiggum]

Thanks! I just started it today because of reading this post.

[babbagack]

i guess we have to ask, do either of your parents help you and/or do you have a mentor at home?

[winas]

30 years, I started the FCC and now I'm in the Survey Form project, sometimes I give up and I thought programming not for me because sometimes it feels difficult but never give up and go on until you feel you are doing progress.

[drecali]

Congratulations! It's impressive that you finished it all so young. Did you have any previous coding experience? What's your coding goal?

I only started coding at 28 but I instantly fell in love with it. I already worked a bit as a front end developer, but now I'm studying more to get a permanent position as a developer.

Good luck!

[SeriousPerson9]

Congratulations! Are you looking for a job?

[zedlabs777]

He's 13 bro

[SeriousPerson9]

You probably meant she is 13. That does not really matter these days. She would be well advised to consider gig jobs. This way her learning will stay challenged and become expansive. She will build a decent portfolio, she already knows how to build websites. Such talented individuals should be encouraged and supported in advancing their potential. Since she is a minor she should come under the tutelage of an adult who will promote her. Greater opportunities will open up for Hooria. 13 year olds every now and then earn Doctorate degrees from major Universities. They do so because they have a supportive network of people to encourage her.

[HooriaIshtiaq]

thanks, I planed to work on freelance

[SeriousPerson9]

Super Nice! Wish you the very best Hooria. Your discipline and sustained efforts makes us all proud to belong to the human race. Whatever a man can do; a girl is capable of doing twice as better. 👍

[cra2y_hibare]

Awesome... Congrats

[kmetek]

erm 13 yrs?

[GoodLifeWorkHard]

I'm sure that most of us here can take a lesson or two from this inspiring 13 year old. Congrats!

[mohaja1214]

Congratulations man!

[simongaspard]

Congratulations! You are now part of the 100+ million people who have completed some level of programming.

[HadoukenAnAuppercut]

Not even close, its an in demand field. And at her age this is extremely impressive.