Written by
Janosch Herrmann
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Learning how to code has become one of the most popular quests worldwide. Millions of people around the globe want to expand their knowledge of software, coding & technology, which has created an enormous need for good training resources.
freeCodeCamp, an open-source, non-profit organization, is among the biggest players trying to fulfill this need.
But what does freeCodeCamp offer exactly? And is it the right platform for you?
Let's find out in this freeCodeCamp review!
What is freeCodeCamp?
freeCodeCamp is a non-profit organization that offers a free and interactive learning platform that helps learners understand software development topics, like web development, data science, databases and more.
The platform was created by Quincy Larson in 2014 and has since become one of the most popular learning resources for software development learners, with close to 20 million monthly visitors worldwide.
Let's discover what the platform has to offer!
Interactive learning platform
freeCodeCamp's core "product" is their interactive learning platform that offers a variety of courses. Currently, they have 12 learnings paths, which each take about 300 hours to complete (according to freeCodeCamp).
When you're learning with freeCodeCamp, you do most of the learning directly in their interactive browser application. You can go through the curriculum, completing interactive challenges along the way so that you can put what you've learning into practice directly.
When you have to practice coding, their interactive browser editor also checks if you're doing it right and gives you hints whenever you've done something wrong, so that you can learn how to fix bugs and issues yourself.
Pro & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Completely free curriculum | Limited variety of topics (only suited for software development) |
| Intuitive browser interface | |
| Strong community support |
Who is freeCodeCamp for?
freeCodeCamp's curriculum is mainly targeted at complete beginners that want to dip their toes in the software development world. The challenges and lessons guide you from absolute beginner level and make it very easy to follow along.
That being said, you might not find freeCodeCamp as useful if you have software development experience already.
For more advanced software development courses, you might want to check out platforms like Coursera, Udacity & Pluralsight
Learning & Customer support
Since freeCodeCamp is a non-profit organization, they don't offer direct learner support through chat, phone or email. However, they do have a very active community, where you can ask questions about the curriculum, share your code to get reviews from more experienced developers and generally learn a lot.
freeCodeCamp also has an FAQ page for common questions about the platform as a whole.
Overall, the support on freeCodeCamp is pretty good, given that it's provided mainly by volunteers.
If you're looking for additional, more personal support you might want to check out other platforms, like Udacity (be aware that they sell premium courses though).
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When you complete a course on freeCodeCamp, you receive a certificate of completion, like the one shown below.
These certificates aren't accredited by any organization, so they're not recognized as "official certificates", although they might still help you show your skills to potential employers.
Create a freeCodeCamp account
To create a freeCodeCamp account, just click on the "Get started" button on the freeCodeCamp homepage. From there, you can go through freeCodeCamp's signup flow with ease.
Popular courses on freeCodeCamp
Frontend Development Libraries
Machine Learning with Python
Data Visualization
freeCodeCamp instructors
The curriculum for freeCodeCamp is developed by a small team of employees the non-profit has, as well as thousands of open-source contributors that help with fixing bugs, updating the curriculum and much more. In that way, it works a bit similar to services like Wikipedia, which means that the entire platform is constantly improved by a lot of people.
Each course in the curriculum is designed by experts in the respective fields, and is improved through open-source contributions.
Summary: Is freeCodeCamp worth it?
Overall, freeCodeCamp is an awesome platform for beginners that want to learn how to code. If you're just starting out with software development, you'll love freeCodeCamp for their:
Free and beginner-friendly curriculum
Helpful community
Variety of free resources for coding beginners
freeCodeCamp
7.4
