The freeCodeCamp Podcast 4jm2f

This week freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Phoebe Voong-Fadel about her childhood as the daughter of refugees, and how she self-studied coding and became a professional developer at the age of 36. Phoebe worked from age 12 at her parent's Chinese take-out restaurant. She was able to study history at the London School of Economics, before working in higher ed. She left her job to raise two kids due to the high cost of childcare in the UK, and spent years self-studying coding before becoming a software developer at age 36. I recorded this podcast live and I haven't edited it at all. I want to capture the feel of a real live conversation, with all the human quirks that entails. As with all my podcast episodes, I start by performing a classic bass line. Can you guess what song this bass line is from? It's from 1989. Phoebe has earned multiple certifications from freeCodeCamp, and also published a number of articles on our publication. How Phoebe went from stay-at-home mom to Front End Web Developer at age 36: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-i-went-from-stay-at-home-mum-to-front-end-web-developer-39724046692a/ Phoebe's review of Harvard CS50: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cs50-course-review/ The BBC Take-away Kids documentary, which Phoebe said is what her childhood was like, working from age 12: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-47007812 Phoebe's website, with her portfolio and links to her socials: https://www.thecodinghamster.com/ You can watch a video version of my interview with Phoebe here: https://youtu.be/WomQr-jRO1c If you've read this far, consider ing our 501(c)(3) public charity, and aiding us in our mission to create more free learning resources for everyone: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate  

She's worked in tech for over a decade as a developer at several tech companies, including Amazon and Netlify. She has gradually progressed to senior developer and now CTO. Links we talk about during the interview: Cassidy on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cassidoo Cassidy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cassidoo

In this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson discusses AI and the future of education with Seth Goldin. Among other things, Seth is co-founder of College Compendium, an education charity, and studies computer science at Yale. Also, the quote Quincy mentioned isn't by Ben Franklin. It's by William Blackstone in 1769 who said: "the law holds that it is better that 10 guilty persons escape, than that 1 innocent suffer (innocent person be convicted)." Seth's free "Google Like a Pro" course: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-google-like-a-pro/ Seth's free "The Ethics of AI and ML" course: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ethics-of-ai-and-ml/ Follow Seth on Twitter: https://twitter.com/seth_goldin Seth's recommended article "ChatGPT is a Blurry JPEG of the Web": https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web Klara and the Sun book Seth recommended: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klara_and_the_Sun Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.

On this week's episode of the podcast, I interview Logan Kilpatric, a software engineer and ChatGPT creator Open AI's first-ever Developer Advocate hire. The week Logan started, ChatGPT hit 100 million s. During our conversation, Logan shares his journey from Illinois to Harvard, NASA, and now the world's most-watched tech company, Open AI. Along the way, he ed the board of NumFOCUS, which oversees Data Science Python libraries like NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib. This is my long, intimate conversation with an emerging star in the AI and Machine Learning world. Logan is also a prolific freeCodeCamp.org contributor. It was a blast talking with Logan for nearly two hours. I think you'll dig it. You can follow Logan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialLoganK  

On this week's episode of the podcast, I interview orchestral musician-turned software engineer Jessica Wilkins. Jessica found success in the extremely competitive field of classical music, playing the Oboe in orchestras, recording sessions, and even at major events such as the NFL awards on national television. She started her own business – a sheet music e-commerce website. This not only helped her survive in the high cost of living city of Los Angeles – it also helped her learn web development. During the pandemic, many of her performance and recording gigs were cancelled. This inspired her to dive much deeper into coding. She now works as a software engineer at freeCodeCamp, and has contributed substantially to freeCodeCamp's core curriculum. Also, her many freeCodeCamp tutorial articles have more than 400,000 readers each month. During our conversation, Jessica talks about the insane pressure she faced as a musician, where standards are incredibly high. So many people want to be professional musicians, and there is so little money in the industry. Jessica was a rare case of finding success. But even that success could not dissuade her from diving into software development. This is a long, intimate conversation with one of the sharpest minds behind freeCodeCamp.org. It was a blast talking with Jessica for more than two hours. I think you'll dig it. Some timestamps in case you want to skip some our lengthy discussion about music education and the music industry: - 0:00:00 My bass intro. See if you can guess this 1970 classic bassline. - 0:01:00 Our discussion of Jessica's upbringing by a school teacher and single mom, and her journey into classical music - 1:07:00 Jessica Learns to code and builds a profitable sheet music e-commerce business - 1:35:00 Jessica's decision to go all in on software development - 1:44:00 Contract work and thoughts on what caused recent tech layoffs Links we talk about during the interview: One of Jessica's articles - 40 JavaScript Projects for Beginners – Easy Ideas to Get Started Coding JS: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-projects-for-beginners/ The Black Excellence Music Project, Jessica's first React project: https://blackexcellencemusiroject.com/ Danny Thompson freeCodeCamp Podcast interview: https://freecodecamp.libsyn.com/site/were-back-danny-thompsons-journey-from-chicken-fryer-to-software-engineer Danny's LinkedIn course that Quincy mentions: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/linkedin-profiles-for-technical-professionals/main-visuals-on-your-profile

In this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Per Borgen about AI engineering and interactive developer education. Per is the co-founder and CEO of Scrimba and is a software engineer. Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Links we talk about during the interview:  Per's HTML + CSS course: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-html-and-css-from-the-ceo-of-scrimba/  Per's JavaScript course: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/full-javascript-course-for-beginners/

In this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Robby Russell. Robby created the open-source project Oh My ZSH. 

Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Beau's YouTube course style guide: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-create-a-great-technical-course/ How I got a second degree and earned 5 developer certifications in just one year, while working and raising two kids https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-i-got-a-second-degree-and-earned-5-developer-certifications-in-just-one-year-while-working-and-2b902ee291ab/ Beau's personal website: http://carnes.cc/

I'm Quincy Larson, teacher and founder of freeCodeCamp.org. And each week, I'm bringing you insight from developers, entrepreneurs, and ambitious people who are getting into tech. Today I'm ed by Kylie Ying. She's a software engineer and a teacher at freeCodeCamp. We talk about Kylie's 5 years at MIT, her time at CERN working on the Large Hadron Collider, competitive figure skating, and even poker-playing AIs. I hope these weekly freeCodeCamp podcasts are firing you up about learning more about technology. Tell your friends about the freeCodeCamp podcast. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Links to things we discuss:  - Kylie review of her 5 years at MIT (20 minute watch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtujJjKmfN0 - Kylie's video about CERN's Large Hadron Collider (17 minute watch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmJ44z9hl8c - Kylie's Machine Learning for Everbody course (2 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/machine-learning-for-everybody/ - Kylie's Hot Dog or Not Dog Neural Networks course (2 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/convolutional-neural-networks-course-for-beginners/ - Real Genius movie trailer – classic 80s movie about graduate school (2 minute watch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuv7SIVNkx8

Dhawal Shah is creator of Class Central, a popular search engine for online courses. Dhawal talk about the history of online courses and the Massive Open Online Course revolution of the early 2010s. We also talk about his childhood growing up in India, and how his life changed one day when he won a computer from a Cartoon Network sweepstakes. Tell your friends about the freeCodeCamp podcast. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Links we discussed: Dhawal's article: Here are 850+ Ivy League Courses You Can Take Right Now for Free: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869/ Dhawal's article: I uncovered 1700 Coursera Courses that Are Still Completely Free: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/coursera-free-online-courses-6d84cdb30da/ Dhawal on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dhawalhshah Dhawal's 3 recommended Massive Open Online Courses: - Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects: https://www.classcentral.com/course/learning-how-to-learn-2161 - University of Alberta's Mountains 101 Course: https://www.classcentral.com/course/mountains-101-7455 - Stanford's Data Structures and Algorithms Course: https://www.classcentral.com/course/algorithms-18869

I interview Bruno Haid. He's a software engineer and tech founder from Austria. We talk about growing up in the European countryside, his early ion for computers, and ultimately his move to San Francisco, where he's founded several tech companies. Bruno's super excited about embedded systems and custom hardware. He's building home appliances that incorporate open source software and open datasets. We talk about so many topics here. From Star Trek to the European Pirate Party. I hope these weekly freeCodeCamp podcasts are firing you up about learning more about technology. Tell your friends about the freeCodeCamp podcast. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. A couple interesting links from our discussion:  "Only Amiga" song from Comdex 1987: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWeO5IkCssk Halt and Catch Fire TV Show trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWrioRji60A  

Today I'm ed by Dr. Curran Kelleher. He's a data visualization expert and has taught a number of in-depth data visualization courses on freeCodeCamp's YouTube channel. We talk about what it's like to get a Ph.D. under one of the pioneers of data visualization.  We also talk about how he uses his visualization skills in industry, his many years living in India, and his love of teaching. I think you're going to walk away with a deeper understanding of data, the human brain, and how we process information. You'll also learn some practical career tips. I hope these weekly freeCodeCamp podcasts are firing you up about learning more about technology. Tell your friends about the freeCodeCamp podcast. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Some relevant links from our discussion: Curran's 20-hour Data Visualization with D3 course on freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-visualizatoin-with-d3/ "Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps" book Curran mentions: https://www.esri.com/en-us/esri-press/browse/semiology-of-graphics-diagrams-networks-maps Curran's portfolio of work: https://github.com/curran/portfolio Bret Victor's talk "Inventing on Principle"： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGYGl_xxfXA

On this week's podcast, I meet with Arian Agrawal in New York City to talk about her journey into tech startups. Arian grew up in New York and studied at MIT. She worked in finance for a few years, then built her own Ecommerce Marketplace startup with a friend. Along the way, Arian went through the South Park Commons startup accelerator, and she now leads their New York City branch as a partner. We talk about technology, startups, and her journey from finance to building products. I hope you're digging these weekly freeCodeCamp podcasts. Be sure to leave us a review. And a few episodes so you can learn on the go. Tell your friends about the freeCodeCamp podcast. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Arian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgrawalArian Arian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arian-agrawal-46639439/ South Park Commons: https://www.southparkcommons.com/  

Today I'm ed by Joel Spolsky. He's co-founder of Trello and Stack Overflow, and author of the iconic developer blog Joel on Software. I hung out with Joel in his New York City home to discuss his 4-decade-long career as a developer and a CEO. He shared his insights on software engineering, product design, running companies, and how he uses AI as a tool. This interview is the culmination of years of learning from Joel through his blog and using the tools he's helped make. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. The Joel Test: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-steps-to-better-code/ Making Better Software video course series from the early 2000's playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBfisaHMr-8&list=PLcIkt5s7w8D0ywp0CBmNFWRTFZic3pWNn

Today I'm ed by Kevin Miller. He's a senior developer and host of the Coder Conversations YouTube channel. Kevin studied ing in Texas and worked overnight for 7 years at hotels, making only $11 an hour. But his knowledge of spreadsheets lead to him learning more about programming and automation. After spending a year living with his parents and teaching himself to code full time, Kevin landed his first developer job. He immediately tripled his income.  Kevin has since worked as a dev at several Fortune 500 companies. But it's been a bumpy ride. He's been laid off 3 times due to mergers and employers just running out of money. He started Coder Conversations as a way for him and fellow developers to talk about technology and share career advice. He now has 200 episodes. I hope you're digging these weekly freeCodeCamp podcasts. Be sure to leave us a review. And a few episodes so you can learn on the go. Tell your friends about the freeCodeCamp podcast. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech. Coder Conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@coderconvos254 Kevin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevm254    

This is it – my full FREE 2023 book in audiobook format. How to Learn to Code and Get a Developer Job. Written, read, edited, mixed, and mastered by me, Quincy Larson. The text version of the book (also free): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-book/ Table of Contents - Preface: Who is this book for? - 500 Word Executive Summary - Chapter 1: How to Build Your Skills - Chapter 2: How to Build Your Network - Chapter 3: How to Build Your Reputation - Chapter 4: How to Get Paid to Code – Freelance Clients and the Job Search - Chapter 5: How to Succeed in Your First Developer Job - Epilogue: You Can Do This Additional Reading: Article: How to Contribute to Open Source: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-contribute-to-open-source-projects-beginners-guide/ Article: We fired our top talent. Best decision we ever made: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/we-fired-our-top-talent-best-decision-we-ever-made-4c0a99728fde/ Article: How to negotiate your developer job offer salary: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/salary-negotiation-how-not-to-set-a-bunch-of-money-on-fire-605aabbaf84b/ Article: How to ask for a raise as a developer: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/youre-underpaid-here-s-how-you-can-get-the-pay-raise-you-deserve-fafcf52956d6/ Article: Why recruiters are an underrated tool in your toolbox: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-tech-recruiter-red-pill-967dd492560c/  

Today I'm ed by Lynn Zheng. She's a software engineer at freeCodeCamp and at Salesforce. Lynn grew up in Shenzhen, China – the computer hardware capital of the world. Both of her parents were engineers. And from an early age, they encouraged Lynn to learn math and computer science. She got into the prestigious Computer Science program at University of Chicago, where she earned both Bachelors and Masters degree – all by the age of 21. I met up with Lynn at the Redwood City Public Library in the heart of Silicon Valley. But they didn't have any study rooms available. so we climbed to a nearby rooftop and recorded there. We talk about Lynn's many game development projects, which culminated in Learn to Code RPG, a Visual Novel game where you learn to code and get a developer job. And we talk about her experience working as an engineer at one of the largest tech companies in the world, even as she's stuck in work visa limbo. Next week will be our 100th episode, and I've got something extra special in store for you. Tell your friends about the freeCodeCamp podcast. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech. Learn to Code RPG: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-rpg/ Lynn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lynnzheng08 Lynn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruolin-zheng/  

Ben Dunphy studied international relations and had a short career in finance. Among other things, he co-authored a bill that eventually got ed in his state of New Hampshire. But Ben saw the writing on the wall – that technology was becoming one of the most powerful ways to affect change. He learned to code and moved to San Francisco, where he and I first met back in 2013. He built Real World React – a series of evening events and corporate training programs – and ultimately helped launched conferences like Reactathon and JAMstack conf. And now he's helping run the AI Engineer Summit. I talk with Ben about his journey into tech and the lessons he's learned along the way. And if you're considering creating a tech event in your city, boy has Ben got some tips for you. I hope you're digging these weekly freeCodeCamp podcasts. Be sure to leave us a review. And a few episodes so you can learn on the go. Not only do we have Spanish and Chinese podcasts, but we just launched our Portuguese podcast as well. And tell your friends. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech. Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Benghamine Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamindunphy/ The Rise of the AI Engineer article by Shawn Wang AKA Swyx: https://www.latent.space/p/ai-engineer The AI Engineer Summit Oct 9, 2023 through Oct 11 in San Francisco: https://www.ai.engineer/summit The Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/    

Eric Leung grew up in Oklahoma and learned a lot of math in high school. His friends wanted to go to medical school and he originally planned to them. But instead he got interested in the emerging field of bioinformatics – math applied to medicine. After 6 years in graduate school, he made the big decision to leave without completing his Ph.D. But he was able to transition into the field of data science, and he now works as a data scientist at Disney. Eric and I met up at a public library here in Dallas, Texas to talk about his journey into data science, including his time spent learning through freeCodeCamp and ultimately contributing to our open source codebase. We also share our love of the US public library system, where we met to record this and where Eric worked when he was younger. And we talk about the ancient board game of Go. If you dig this podcast, you should leave us a review in whichever podcast player you're listening. It helps more people discover the show. some of our previous podcasts to your phone so you'll have something to listen to the next time you're offline. And tell your friends. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech.   Eric Leung's freeCodeCamp articles: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/erictleung/ Eric on Twitter: https://twitter.com/erictleung The Standup Maths Minecraft Speed Run Cheating Scandal we talk about during the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ko3TdPy0TU The AlphaGo documentary about Deep Mind's efforts to conquer the ancient game of Go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXuK6gekU1Y XKCD comic on when to automate things: https://xkcd.com/1205/ Math for Programmers book: https://www.manning.com/books/math-for-programmers Street Fighting Math MIT course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-098-street-fighting-mathematics-january-iap-2008/

Today I'm ed by Patrick San Juan, a software engineer who first learned to code in his 30s. I've known Patrick since the early days of freeCodeCamp. He has always been a positive, ive force within the community. Patrick grew up the son of first-generation immigrants from the Philippines. His family didn't have much money, and what they did have, they plowed into his education. He studied economics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, then went to work at a charity focused on helping underserved youth. After 5 years, Patrick decided to transition into a career where he could better his family. And for him, that meant learning to code. I hung out with Patrick at the Alameda Public Library, in the San Francisco Bay Area where Patrick lives. We talk about the ups and downs of his journey into tech. Patrick doesn't sugarcoat anything. Getting a job as a developer is hard. But he's proof that with sustained effort, you can build a career for yourself in tech. I'm proud of Patrick and his achievements. And I'm proud to be the first person to ever interview him for a podcast. If you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. And tell your friends about this show. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech. Patrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricksanjuan/