I found FCC 2 years ago because I wanted to learn how to code for free and i ended up completing the responsive web design course.

After that, I looked up to see if it could take me from beginner to somewhat “advanced” and basically, people said I’d have to use other resources, which led me to tutorial hell so I ended up quitting.

Now, I really want to lock in and try learning again because it’s been weighing heavy on my mind ever since then.

Right how I’ve been stuck on one specific sector of beginners JavaScript on the Odin project, I’m considering supplementing it with FCC, but I see so many negative reviews that’s I’m hesitant to give it a shot. What’s your honest opinion of FCC?

For those who don't know, FreeCodeCamp is a free (duh!) learning platform for coders. It currently offers 11 certificates. Most focus on web development, but there are a few Python certificates as well. Earning a certificate works like this: there are a series of interactive lessons, and then there are 5 projects to complete.

It took me many months, but I completed all 11 certificates (55 projects total). Here's a quick review of each certificate, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Responsive Web Design Certification

This is probably the most polished certification of them all, and it’s one I recommend to anyone considering going into front-end web development. It covers HTML and CSS for beginners. There’s a lot of repetition, and the projects are integrated pretty nicely into the curriculum to help all the information stick a little better.

My only real criticism is that the CSS lessons can feel like you’re being told *what* to do but not *why*. And afterward I had to find other tutorials on Flexbox and Grid to understand that content better. But I don’t blame FreeCodeCamp much for this because, honestly, CSS can feel pretty counterintuitive no matter what.

Prerequisites: None

Difficulty: Easy

JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures

This certification acts as a good intro to programming concepts and a guide to working with JavaScript, and I think it does a very good job of teaching the basics (variables, loops, conditionals, etc.).

However, there’s a certain point - about halfway through - where the lessons quickly become much more difficult, and I’ve seen a lot of people struggle. I think this certificate could be improved be flatting out the learning curve.

Fortunately, you really don’t need to know OOP, advanced array method, or ES6 in order to complete the certification (though you will definitely want to learn this stuff at some point). And I think the projects are all good challenges, not too easy and not too difficult.

Prerequisites: None

Difficulty: Medium

Front End Development Libraries Certification

I have to mention here that my biggest gripe with the FreeCodeCamp curriculum is that it completely skips over teaching basic DOM manipulation with JavaScript. Instead it jumps right from JavaScript DS&A to Front End Libraries, so you’re probably going to want to find a tutorial or course somewhere on DOM manipulation. Otherwise this certification is going to be ten times harder to complete.

The lessons begin with an overview of Bootstrap, JQuery, and SASS. They’re a little short, and if you really want to learn these libraries you’re probably going to have to find a more in-depth source.

After that you learn React and Redux. These lessons are not only difficult, they’re also fairly outdated at this point (it only teaches the older ‘class component’ version of React) . If you want to learn React, it’s probably best to find a more updated tutorial.

The projects are not too difficult once you've learned a framework, and you don’t have to make them too flashy.

Prerequisites: Responsive Web Design, JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Data Visualization Certification

I have a love-hate relationship with this one.

Here you learn the D3 library (used for creating graphs and charts on web pages), as well as the basics of fetching data from APIs. Compared to the previous certificates, there aren’t many learning modules. You get to the projects pretty quickly. Once I got the hang of things, I had a blast making them. These might be my only projects in the entire curriculum that actually look good. I just really enjoyed taking a ton of data and then compacting it into an easy-to-understand visual.

On the other hand, it seems like whoever wrote the lessons and whoever designed the projects didn’t communicate very well, and this caused me a lot of frustration. For example, the D3 lessons show you how to create a tooltip, which (you’d think) is a good thing because every project requires the use of tooltips. Unfortunately, the projects require you do create tooltips in a completely different way, which you might not realize until after you spend tons of time debugging. There’s also an instance where an entire library is needed to complete a project, but the nowhere in the certification is this library mentioned at all.

There's a lot of frustration in this one for no reason. Add that to the fact that D3 isn't typically used in most web development jobs, and I'd say this certification is skippable. But if you do skip it, you'll probably still want to learn how to use APIs somewhere else.

Prerequisites: Responsive Web Design, JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms, Front End Development Libraries

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Relational Database Certification

This is actually my favorite certification in the entire curriculum. It’s taught very well with a lot of repetition, and the projects are nicely integrated within the lessons. I learned so much.

This certificate teaches the basics of relational databases (using PostgreSQL), of course. But also nano, bash, and git.

I highly recommend this one.

Prerequisites: JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms

Difficulty: Medium

Back End Development and APIs Certification

The lessons offer a pretty broad overview of Node, Express, and MongoDB, but it gives you enough knowledge to complete the projects.

For the projects, a boilerplate is provided with a completed front end - you just need to complete the back end. Four of the 5 projects are microservices, some of which can be completed pretty quickly.

I didn't think this certification was too difficult at all, but I also didn't come out of it feeling like I understood Node/Express/Mongo very well.

Prerequisites: JavaScript DataStructures and Algorithms

Difficulty: Medium

Quality Assurance Certification

There are two learning components to this section. In the first you learn how to write functional and unit tests with the Chai library. This doesn’t take too long to get the hang of. The second is a series of lessons on “Advanced Node and Express,” and honestly this has nothing to do with this certification. You do not need this “Advanced Node and Express” section to complete the projects (though you will need it in a certification down the line).

The projects are very similar to the ones found in the Back End Development and APIs Certification, except they’re all more complicated to build. One of the projects here is a “Sudoku Solver” where you actually have to write an algorithm to solve Sudoku puzzles! Once you have the projects built, you need to write tests with Chai, and, funnily enough, that’s the easy part. Writing tests actually becomes tedious by the end of this certification. But creating the logic and routes for the back end is still kinda hard.

Prerequisites: JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms, Back End Development and APIs

Difficulty: Hard

Scientific Computing with Python Certification

We take a sudden switch to Python, and I need to say that I do not like FreeCodeCamp’s Python certifications very much. The lessons are no longer very interactive. Instead, each lesson is just a 10ish minute YouTube video with a quiz question tacked onto it. It’s a difficult way to learn.

That said, I’d describe this certification as more of “Python for Beginners.” A lot of topics are covered, but I’d say 50% of it isn’t needed to complete the projects. And the projects - oh, boy - I hated some of these projects. Some have unclear instructions and, worse, some have the most tedious outputs you’ve ever seen. Honestly, be prepared to count white-space between elements.

I never want to think about the Budge App project ever again.

Prerequisites: None

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Data Analysis with Python

Here you learn about the Python libraries that are heavily used in the sciences: NumPy, Pandas, and MatPlotLib.

Again, it’s all taught in videos, but the projects are much more straight-forward (the only issue is that they have to be made in Replit, which has its issues). Honestly, I’d describe this one as learning Excel on ‘Hard Mode.’

Prerequisites: Scientific Computing with Python

Difficulty: Medium

Information Security Certification

This is an odd one because half of it is back-end web development, and the other half is learning a couple of new Python libraries.

The Python stuff is interesting. It's still video lessons, but I found two Python-related projects are actually pretty easy.

The back-end stuff is mostly about learning HelmetJS, a library that helps secure websites. However, the back-end projects are all very tough. Two of the projects are similar to the ones found in the Quality Assurance Certification - you have to build an Express, Node, Mongo back-end, add testing using Chai, and now also add security with HelmetJS.

The final project, Secure Real Time Multiplayer Game, is another beast entirely. It’s still mostly a back-end project, however, you also have to find some way of learning how to make a game using the Canvas api (this isn’t taught by FreeCodeCamp, you need to find a tutorial elsewhere). And remember the Advanced Node and Express lessons from 3 certifications ago? You now have to use SocketIO to make the game multi-player. This one took me a good amount of time to complete.

Prerequisites: Scientific Computing with Python, JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms, Back End Development and APIs, Quality Assurance

Difficulty: Hard

Machine Learning with Python Certification

Aside from the fact that I still don’t like the Python video lessons, this one wasn’t too tough to complete. You basically get an intro to TensorFlow and a bunch of ways to use it.

The projects are mostly straight-forward, and you can find lots of tutorials online that will help. However, there’s one project that isn’t *at all* covered by the videos, and there are some projects that don't have the clearest instructions. So there’s a lot of unnecessary frustration involved with completing this certificate.

Prerequisites: Scientific Computing with Python, Data Analysis with Python

Difficulty: Medium-Hard

Hi Everybody,

The end of the year is upon us. I've been on the wagon and fallen off so many times. Yet, I keep coming back. My resolution is to commit to the 100 days of code and complete the first three certificates in FCC. One step at a time until I become a Fullstack Dev.

How about you? What is your situation?

Purpose This is a review of the first 25 hours(*) of FreeCodeCamp. It's a name that comes up here quite a lot, as a course recommended for beginners. Specifically, it teaches front-end and back-end web development, wholly in the flavor of javascript.

It has consistently (and very noticeably to me, as I lurk here most days) received a lot of praise in the comments threads on here, to almost any "Should I try FCC" type threads. In fact, the comments threads have been so uniformly positive that it aroused my suspicions that it was potentially astroturfing. That wasn't a grudge against FCC. It was really a product of innate spidey-sense that the internet develops in many of us, plus a more personalized scepticism: There's so many courses out there, how could this one be so good? And specifically, could it really claim to be a "one stop shop" for an aspiring learner?

This scepticism was heightened recently when FCC started an ad campaign (on Reddit) saying no one finishes their course because they all get hired before they finish!

Well, having decided that I have some unfinished business with my own (toehold intermediate) javascript learning, I decided to have a look.

(*) This review covers the first "25 hours" of FCC. That excludes the 50 hours allocated to (the first) two (of many subsequent) personal projects - building two (extremely) basic websites. I've done enough of that, so I skipped over that bit and followed the curriculum. The 25 hours is the estimated course time allocated by FCC to that part of the curriculum, and includes:

• A little bit on onboarding

• An introduction to HTML and CSS (5 hours)

• Introduction to Bootstrap (if you haven't heard of it, chalk it up as more CSS really) (5 hours)

• jQuery (3 hours)

• Basic javascript; and OOP and functional javascript (10 hours; 2 hours)

(For any total newbies reading this, these are the elemental building blocks of making things visible on the web, and is the foundation to a career as a front-end web developer or tinkerer as well.)

Proof of completion of these units: http://imgur.com/AvRYzFb

Background I have been teaching myself code for about a 15 months, but with a very long break of about 10 months in between when I had to turn to a consulting project in my other occupation. I did no learning or practice at all in that period, so all told it's about 5-6 months of leaning, in my own time.

For the purpose of benchmarking, I'll set out roughly what my learning curve looked like:

• A couple of months with Treehouse and Codeschool

• Read a few books (the two books by Jon Duckett, and some other books on Javascript)

• After that (and in conjunction with continuing reading), built a bunch of projects based on some $10 coupon courses I bought off Udemy, and sourced on YouTube (very good source if you are prepared to sift through a lot of dross)

• Probably around the same time as this, headed over to Codecademy to fill in some gaps on my jQuery and JS OOP especially - did the whole thing and flew through the bits I thought I knew

• Continuous - bits and pieces as I need them in Bootstrap and specialist CSS topics etc, sourced from all over the place - eg Linda.com, more YouTube, more Udemy

• Did a bit of Udacity on Git and learned the command line somewhere along the way.

• Build a bunch of websites off my own initiative along the way, almost continuously - many of them simple, even silly experiments really (can I get an array to pop up like this on a screen) - these have been very important

Anyway, I'm not here to show off my progress or do a victory lap as I haven't got a job yet, so all this is really to set out what I approached FCC with. I believe I'm fairly well acquainted with what's out there, both if you spend some cash and for free.

Review

FCC is a very fine program and I would recommend it unhesitatingly to anyone as either a starting point, or anyone who is looking to consolidate their initial education in front-end webdev gained anywhere else. However, it should be pointed out (and it does not qualify the previous recommendation) that -- based on what I have seen -- I very much doubt that it is a one-stop-shop to getting hired. But stop chasing that unicorn anyway. It's fantastic and your should do it.

I flew through the course reasonably quickly as you'd expect, on and off over a handful of days in the last week. The time estimate of 50 hours for the material I mentioned above is about right if you're a total noob taking on these concepts for the first time.

This section of the course gives you some very early satisfaction in seeing you put some results up on the web. You'll gain (just barely) enough information to have a genuine web page up on the internet with some basic styling.

These initial units in HTML and CSS (and Bootstrap) are nothing more than the basics however. The same goes for the jQuery module. You're taught just the bare minimum to scrape something together to put up on a web page. The instruction however is incredibly shallow, and the concern I have is where anyone gets real skill in CSS sufficient to know really anything about what they're doing. I don't recall, for instance, anything about the concept of floats being discussed. I think someone relying solely on this instruction would lack a basic vocabulary sufficient to be able to imagine what CSS is really about.

The same could be said of the Bootstrap and jQuery material. There is no doubt this leaves you with a ton to learn. While that is true of any course of instruction, this material really does only just scratch the surface. While Codecademy's jQuery course gets you into toggle menus, dropdowns and carousels, you won't find those possibilities even hinted at in this material. It's all $(.class).css("color", "red")

I have two takeaways here. One paradoxically is: it is great that they introduce Bootstrap and jQuery so very early in the program. In my experience, I spent more time in a state of anxiety about these big features approaching on the horizon, than in took actually to learn the basis of them. It really is great to give you a taste of these up front and get that anxiety out of the way.

On the other hand, I did not notice any further material in the course at all on those topics (save for jQuery events and AJAX a little bit later). On the CSS side especially, the course leaves you with a huge amount to learn on your own steam. Of course, some of this may well be picked up in the personal projects you need to make as you progress, but you are going to have to acquire that knowledge on your own, and you may lack even the basic frame of reference as to what the possibilities are.

On the javascript side however I think the course is superb. I haven't seen dedicated material on events handling -- this seems to be left entirely to jQuery. So again, a bit of a blackspot there, but that's an easy enough one to fill in.

But what is here in the javascript sections is really, really solid. There appears to have been a huge investment of focus in programming details that many others skip over or miss out - you do a lot of array methods for instance, and then you apply these in some really interesting and quite challenging algorithm tests, like this one:

// my solution code for "Factorilize the number 5

function factorialize(num) {
var factor = 1;
var numOfFactors = num / 1;
for (i = 1; i <= numOfFactors; i++ ) {
  factor *= i;
  console.log(factor);
  }
return factor;
}

This is a really fantastic little program to be writing at only ~50 hours of instruction in! And the course drills dozens, even hundreds of these tests. This was the actual attraction to me for doing FCC at this stage, being to fill in some of these gaps in programming analytically like this.

These little projects may seem quite abstract, but when it comes time to make your own programs, and you're looking blankly at an array thinking "how do I get these things to appear this certain way in this order on the screen", it is stuff like these challenges that will really sort you out.

Conclusion I highly recommend it. FCC is not a one-stop-shop and I have to say I don't think there's a one-stop-shop in existence. I don't think there can be. (Here, for example, is a NINE HOUR course just on CSS page layouts: https://www.lynda.com/Web-Interactive-CSS-training/CSS-Page-Layouts/86003-2.html.). No one course simply "has it all".

If you're a beginner and you're asking "I'm interested in web development, should I try FCC", my answer is unequivocally: Yes.

However, if you're asking "Should I do FCC or Codecademy or [otherCourse]" my answer is, do them both.

I realize this isn't a new question; but 2023, I begin my programming journey at last. The only problem is; there is so many different sources with which to get your knowledge from. I can't believe I'm saying this but I kind of wish there were LESS options - how dumb, right? I should be happy there's so many options.

Anywho, I'm signed up to a few coding learning sites and I'm sitting here in utter confusion. I have notepads and pens I bought ready. I'm an empty cup ready to be filled with Python-flavoured Lemonade.

FreeCodeCamp is, well, as the name suggests; free. Free is great. But the word 'free' should always be taken with caution. Free means there's compromise, correct? If something is free then it's not as good as it seems to be. is this the case with FreeCodeCamp? Does anyone here know if there are people really that kind and altruistic that they'd design a website and heavy curriculum of classes ABSOLUTELY free for other people to learn with ZERO hidden agenda or reimbursement?And the classes are really well-done and easy to follow?

I'm probably asking too many questions because it's free so I need to not complain about it. I'm just doing the most research I can because I need to pick SOMETHING to learn from.

Now, on the flip-side; there's Codecademy. While not free, looks promising. Plus, because it's paid, that means you get more content, right? More to learn? More promise of getting a job in the programming field? They would have to work extra hard since it's quite pricey so wouldn't they give customers their money's worth?

FreeCodeCamp mentions thousands of people who use it get their first software developer job. And Codecademy from what I've seen, uhhh...doesn't say anything about programming employers picking out Codecademy users who pique their interest and employing them.

BUT IT'S NOT FREE...so it must be good, right?The reason I'm harping on this "not free" thing is because they got a giant sale going on right now (as you can see from the link above) and if I feel like I pass this up, I'll miss a huge opportunity to get a huge deal on something potentially better than FCC.

But, on the flip side, they're a business, and businesses employ tactics like a "holiday deal" that seems huge but it's that price every other time of the year, so they up the price then make you think you're getting in on something good when you're paying regular price. Is this what they're doing? I don't know. Maybe I need to stop thinking about money and just go with FCC.

Truth is, I'm 31 now and I can't afford to not waste my own time with something that won't help me find a job in this field. So, whichever one has the highest success rate and employment rate is the one I'm going for.

ON THE OTHER HAND; I have some classes from CodeWithMosh. Mosh is great and has thorough and well-done classes on different languages. But since they're limited on a set of videos I downloaded (Sorry, Mosh) and not on a website where the learning is seemingly endless....will I learn just as much as I would on the aforementioned sites?

There's also the question if I need to use them at all. There's a wide ocean of knowledge on YouTube (the greatest video platform in the world). FreeCodeCamp even puts their classes on YouTube so I can just quickly search without even going to their websites.The problem with YouTube, however, is that I look up something like "Python for Beginners" and there's thousands of videos. Which one do I pick??! I mean, FCC's classes are HOURS long. So there's a lot I can learn, but who says this guy or girl from this channel has more effective strategies from his/her Python class with a nicely-sized playlist cut up in different parts? Like I said; there's too many options.

Maybe I'm over-thinking everything. Should I just go through different ones, pick one that catches my ears and stick with it? Or just go with FreeCodeCamp 100%?

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND; I'm also registered to sites like 42Heilbronn, w3Schools, GeneralAssembly, CodeNewbie, RealPython and Cisco Identity oh, God, it's too over-whelming!! I'm subscribed to over 100 programming people on YouTube, as well where does it end?!?!?

It's at this point of my thought process that I stop thinking about it and go back to watching stupid videos on YouTube because I get easily over-whelmed with all of this because the first jump is the hardest. It's best for me to not think about this. I'm writing an essay on it, you should see how my brain feels racing 5,000 miles per hour thinking about all of this and my life of laziness and remedial developmental delay-ness.

Ok, I'm out of hands. I'm sorry for this long post, I just needed to get all of this out. Thank you for reading or skimming through all of this, I appreciate it.

All responses are very, very very appreciated. I look forward to one day getting to know all of you.

With love,

Ralph

Hello experienced programmers, is freecodecamp actually worth something if I want to switch profession?

Currently I work fulltime in construction, but I’m learning html, css and JavaScript (after that React, firebase, node.js, react query, tailwind css & vercel.

To get a full stack skillset. I like coding, and I want to pursue a career as freelancer / entrepreneur (my own projects)

I was wondering, is freecodecamp + portfolio worth something ? Or is a degree more important?

Hey everyone,

So I am beginning my journey to learn programming as jobs are opening up at work. And I really want to progress my career.

Now the basic list I want to go down to secure at least a secondment to this new job is

HTML CSS JScript/JQuery C#

Now a few people have recommended CodeCademy, Free Code Camp and also the Odin Project.

I have heard best things about FreeCodeCamp and quite bad things about CodeCademy - As it is apprently to hand holding and doesn't give you the skills to go away, set up a dev environment and create somehting. More just teaching you syntax.. So that is off the table.

Now have any of you used FreeCodeCamp? Will it be worth it to go through this course? As I am kind of scared of being left only with syntax reading skills. Rather than practical knowledge.

Do any of you guys have experience with FreeCodeCamp or even the Odin Project?

I have Googled around and they both seem very indepth! But what do you lot think? Are they going to give me useful skills to go away and maky my own things? Or will I be left with Syntax reading skills only :)

I have a way to go before finishing the certifications on FreeCodeCamp, and I figure it can't hurt as an intro to coding skills. And it's free. I'm not sure yet exactly what direction I'd be going in after finishing the modules. I started it to get some basics on web development and to check out what data analytics was about, so I could decide what I might want to go deeper into.

I know that FreeCodeCamp is pretty basic (at least at the modules I'm at) and it isn't a replacement for a CS degree. Probably it isn't even a replacement for a bootcamp. But, has anyone found success with finding employment using the skills and portfolio they acquired through FreeCodeCamp? Is it taken seriously by employers, as long as you can present to them that you did learn the skills and can work with them to a certain level? Is there something that you would suggest I do after to become more "hireable" once I decide which specialization I want to focus on? I don't want to do a degree (both for time and finance purposes and I have a BA in an unrelated field) but I'd be open to some other type of courses or certifications that would boost my skills in the future and make my CV seem more "professional"?

The courses change and obviously people do things at a different rate, but how long did it take you to do the courses offered by FCC?

It seems like this course on freecodecamp isn’t as polished as I thought it would be. Is there better free course available for learning python development with focus on machine learning?

I am in the beginning stages of learning how to code and was looking for a structured curriculum that allowed me to learn how to code with the goal of landing employment in the field. I was suggested Free Code Camp and so far in the 2-3 days I have used it I have nothing but good things to say about it and believe the structure and goals it sets will end up being very beneficial in the learning process. Does anyone have any success stories from using Free Code Camp, specifically, but not limited to, getting employed after learning on free code camp?

Today I completed the below 4 certificates on freecodecamp.com, I was able to do them( about 650 lessons ) in about 3 months ( by giving 1 hr each on weekday and 2-3 hrs on weekends, though I wasn't regular always )

Link to my profile in case wanna see my heat map, I have tried to be as regular as I can

- Responsive Web Design

- JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Certification

- Front End Libraries Certification

- APIs and Microservices Certification

Below is my experience and things I learnt

Even though I am not a beginner, I have worked in Java ecosystem creating web applications.

But I was quite new to JS, in past I had only used simple JS statements like document.getElementById('').value to get values of fields in form and making a AJAX call to some API using them. Before this, I had worked on my company's own JS framework where we had all scaffolding and everything laid out to us so that developer didn't need to interact with low level stuff themselves.

In short I didn't know how to build things from scratch myself.

Responsive Web Design

Topics learnt - Basic HTML, CSS, CSS grid, CSS flexbox, Applied Visual Design and Applied Accessibility courses

I knew lot of stuff from this learning path(basic HTML and CSS).

What I found helpful was Applied Visual Design and Applied Accessibility courses. They are important for making sites that is accessible by everyone. Being a good programmer is not just about making stuff for ideal condition. Things we make should be resilient enough so that they work in non ideal conditions and user still able to use our application. I also liked learning about color theory, how to choose colors for your website, how much contrast you should have between your text and background for readability.

I learnt CSS Grid and CSS Flexbox. Firstly I did a course on Scrimba.com Learn Flexbox This helped me understand basic syntax. Its easier to start with someone explaining the concept to you than you just reading a bunch of text. Next thing I did was I went through CSS-Tricks.com A Complete Guide to Flexbox I went through each CSS property and filled in the missing gaps which the above tutorial didn't cover.

I followed similar approach for CSS grid i.e. first watched videos on Learn CSS Grid and then read A Complete Guide to Grid

The projects at the end of the path were fun to do.

JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures

Topics Learnt - Basic JavaScript, ES6 syntax, Regular Expression, Object Oriented Programming, Functional Programming and debugging

I was really looking forward to this topics as it had all the real world programming stuff. I knew basic JS with few gaps here and there. I didn't knew much about object oriented programming in JS other than creating basic objects through object literal and assigning values to their properties and using them as place to store things.

Even though ES6 was released almost 5 years back, still all these syntax were new to me. I learnt many things like arrow functions, default parameters, let vs const vs var, Destructuring Assignment , rest and spread operators, class syntax.

Functional programming especially the array methods taught me how to do things concisely and without changing the array we are working on. It feels good to accomplish things with so less code after using them.It taught me how Functional programming taught me to reduce bugs by making predictable pure functions by avoiding the change of input arguments and making functions that don't have side effect(don't change other variables/properties that are outside your function).

The problem solving challenges were not too tough and I was able to solve most of them without any difficulty. These lessons wouldn't teach you Data Structures and Algorithms required for cracking interviews(better use leetcode or hackerrank for that) but the everyday problem solving skills.( These tutorials are meant for beginners to start building things and not to do bog them down by teaching theoretical stuff first )

I didn't use any other tutorial for this path as it itself was so big. Though I would like to go through JS MDN guides in future to cover my knowledge gaps.

Things I would want to study more - Asynchronous Programming ( promise, async, await ), learn more about the tricky stuff like closure and JavaScript idiosyncrasies.

Front End Libraries

Topics learnt - Bootstrap, jQuery, Sass, React, Redux

I had completed the courses for Bootstrap and jQuery in 2018. I just went through my notes once in order to review them.

I was excited to learn React and was amazed by how some of the things are so simple to do. I learnt about JSX, two types of components - stateless functional components and class components, how to use props, how to communicate between child and parent component.

I feel I have gaps in my knowledge, these tutorials are good to give you a introduction but if you wanna build real world stuff you need to dig deeper by going through React official documentation.

Still they have provided me enough knowledge for me to know where to look for what things and be able to understand official docs. Its about learning how to learn :D instead of learning that specific thing.

I built all my projects in React in order to improve my react knowledge. Some of the projects like 25 + 5 clock timer were really tough to get their tests right as there always off by 1 error. ( But we learn only from the tough things :p )

I would like to share few projects that we were required to make in order to get this certification(all of them were very interesting functionality wise as well).

• Pomodoro Timer

• JS Calculator

• Drum music playing machine

• Random Quote Machine

APIs and Microservices

Topics learnt - NPM, Basic Node and Express, Mongoose

I was finally was able to create my much hyped REST APIs :P

I discovered that I do not need to install anything on my laptop and I could code everything online. I was using repl.it as my online IDE and used MongoDB cloud atlas for my database. I really enjoyed being able to host my projects online without much effort.

This didn't cover much about Node.js and I am planning to learn it own through their official documentation.

I went through ExpressJS Tutorial to get better understanding of Express.

The tutorials didn't cover a lot of things which is kind of expected if you have reached so far, you should be able to Read, Search, (Don’t Be Afraid to) Ask on your own.

I enjoyed doing the projects especially the URL shortner( it feels good to bieng able to make something that could be useful in real life).

I also plan to do Quality Assurance Certification to learn more about unit testing and some more Node.js

I would like to share my notes which I created while going through the courses on below topics.

Responsive Web Design Certification:
- HTML5.txt
- CSS.txt
- Responsive Web Design Principles.txt
- Applied Accessibility.txt   
- Applied Visual Design.txt   
- CSS Grid.txt   

Javascript Alogrithms and Data Structures Certification:
- Baisc Javascript FreeCodeCamp.txt
- ES6.txt
- Object Oriented Programming.txt
- Regular Expressions.txt
- Debugging.txt
- Functional Programming.txt
- Basic Data Structures.txt
- Basic Algorithm Scripting.txt

Forent End Libraries Certification:
- Bootstrap.txt
- jQuerry.txt 
- Sass.txt
- React.txt              
- Redux.txt     
- React and Redux.txt   
 
API and Microservices Certification:
- Managing Packaged with NPM.txt
- Basic Node and Express.txt
- MongoDB and Mongoose Challenges.txt     

Things that are important in real world but are not covered:

• How to write clean code - how to divide your code into small logical functions , how to write good variable names and functions names that convey what they are doing

• How to debug using chrome dev tools : Google Chrome Developer Tools Crash Course Video

• How to navigate and perform basic file operations in Linux

• Version Control : Git

• How to document your code, how to follow syntax and other common practices

• How to create models/solutions for real world/abstract problem domains

I am planning to go through the things mentioned in below sites and fill my knowledge gaps. They provide a good checklist of things we should know as a front end developer.

- JS Interview Checklist (https://js-interview.com/javascript-interview-preparation-checklist/)

- Front End developer Roadmap (https://roadmap.sh/frontend)

- React Roadmap (https://roadmap.sh/react)

I would want to dig deeper into react by going through the official documentation, go through Node.js official documentation and probable learn GraphQL (an alternative to REST API)

Though all this seems to be an ambitious plan :)

Are the free code camp courses good for learning Web development, dsa and other things. Do there certificates have any value Seen some reviews some say they are good for beginners and some say that they create a sort of illusion for you that you are learning something.

Can someone tell me about there experience on it . And also please suggest some good free resources to learn JavaScript and backend Web Dev.

Hi all,

I am beginning to learn to code and I chose the "FreeCodeCamp" "Responsive Web Design" course.

Is it the right course for someone who doesn't know anything about code.

Thank You!

P.S. Your opinions are welcome.

I've tried Codecademy but I like to hold your hand through all the courses. I'm looking for a program that is really efficient in teaching me these skills and freeCodeCamp always popped up in conversation.

Is freecodecamp still relevant today? i saw a youtube video(didn't watch it) saying it wasnt but i would like some other opinions on this.

The HTML courses were easy. But the JS courses - I dont understand most of it.

I go 10 steps with no issue, easy instructions. Then I get a question and I cant get anything to write. I can use chatgpt but thats cheating, i can check the forum but most of the people that write are almost there and just miss a dumb dot or something. So what do i do? I skip to the next lesson and I copy the answer and bring it to the previous lesson to finish it.

Should I just quit and find a different way to learn? I'm already creating my own little projects.