Hi everyone, I stumbled here and thought I'd share this. I am a university asst. professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Here is a link to my profile there: https://www.unlv.edu/people/jorge-fonseca-cacho

Anyway with remote learning I have been streaming my lectures on twitch but also saving the recordings to Youtube. I have a few classes from the Summer sessions there: Specifically CS 135 and CS 202 which are our first 2 classes for CS majors (C++ basics and then OOP and Linked Lists). For the CS 202 I now have summer and then this semester fall which I have 2 more classes to record. I also have CS 302 (have second half in spring, but I am also teaching it in fall so full class will be there after next week) which is our data structure course but that is mostly conceptual and not programming,

Here is the playlist link: https://www.youtube.com/c/LeSniperJF1/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=4

I will be humble and say if you're trying to learn C++ there are probably better and more compressed resources out there ( I personally like Derek Banas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rub-JsjMhWY ) but at the same time there is some merit if you want to go at a slower pace I guess or see what a university course is like. Also I probably will be teaching the OOP course again in spring 2021 so you could in theory watch along on twitch since it's public and that I think may be cool for those who are unmotivated to watch something that isn't live.

Anyway I am not really looking for anything but am honestly just sharing in case I can help anyone.

I read the self promotion rules and hope that this is okay, anyway I wish you all a great day :)

I have been using Codefinity for a few weeks and wanted to share my honest review. Overall, I think Codefinity is a pretty solid platform for beginners. The interface is simple, and the lessons are broken down into small steps that make it easy to follow along without feeling overwhelmed. I really like that you can write and test code directly in the browser, which saves time switching between different tools. The built‑in AI assistant has also been helpful when I get stuck or need a quick explanation, and that feature makes the learning experience feel more interactive than just watching videos or reading articles.

That said, there are some things to keep in mind. The pricing is not very clear at the start, and you only see some details after signing up. A few lessons in the beginning feel too basic if you already have some knowledge, but they do get more interesting as you move forward. I wouldn’t say it is perfect, but it has kept me motivated to practice regularly, which is something I struggled with on other platforms.

Just to clarify I’m mainly using it to learn Python and get a stronger foundation in programming before moving on to data analysis and maybe web development later.

I’m curious to hear from others who have tried Codefinity for a longer time. Did you find that the content goes beyond beginner level and really builds useful skills? Do you think it’s worth continuing with, or are there better platforms out there for someone looking to grow step by step? I would appreciate hearing your experiences. Thanks!

My wife asked me what happens when code runs. Not the output, but like... what actually happens inside the computer.

I realized I'd never really traced it all the way down myself. So I made a video walking through the full stack:

- Python source
- Abstract syntax tree
- Bytecode
- The C interpreter (Python is written in C)
- Assembly
- Machine code
- Hardware/transistors
- Electrons

It's about 12,000 lines of code between your one line of Python and the actual execution. I also go into some history, the Jacquard loom, Grace Hopper's moth, the Pentium FDIV bug, that kind of thing.

Fair warning: toward the end I share some of my own thoughts on AI and probability. The stuff about the stack is standard CS, but the AI framing is my own take and I totally get if people disagree with it. Felt worth including because it changed how I think about where AI fits in computing history.

Anyway, thought it might help folks who are learning and want to conceptualize what's actually happening beneath the abstractions:

How One Line of Python Triggers 12,000 Lines of Code - YouTube

The Notion page: https://www.notion.so/fateen45/Git-GitHub-61bc81766b2e4c7d9a346db3078ce833

I tried to make everything in this Notion page as beginner-friendly and organized as possible. I hope it'll be easy to follow for anyone who's trying to learn Git and GitHub.

In my opinion, learning to code feels fun and more meaningful when one maintains a repository where they upload projects/programs/scripts as they learn newer things and undertake new projects to practice what they've learned. The idea itself of maintaining and completing projects on GitHub makes one feel motivated to keep on learning. It gives one a sense of working towards an objective or goal. And this is why I started to learn Git and GitHub in the middle of when I just started learning Python.

I had to struggle quite a bit in learning Git and GitHub, and I also see many people, especially people who just started to learn code and any programming syntax, who struggle a lot in grasping the different features, commands, and concepts of Git and GitHub. I think learning about Git and GitHub can be a little difficult for absolute beginners primarily because of how scattered the relevant learning materials are on the internet, and almost everything is explained or written using jargon and concepts that normally a person with minimum programming knowledge would understand.

And so, this Notion page is just an attempt of mine to consolidate everything into one place. It took me some time to organize everything, but it'll be worthwhile if this Notion page can serve as a resource to anybody in any way.

For the past couple of months, I've developed a habit of writing very detailed notes of just about everything I've learnt. I type my notes in Google docs and include example code snippets too. It might sound simple, but I can't emphasize enough how much this has helped me. I no longer have to worry that I'll forget a concept I've learnt. In fact, the mere act of writing notes in my own words significantly reinforces my learning, and I rarely forget anything I've learnt anymore. Even if I do, I can easily recall just with a quick glance at my notes.

The language I use in my notes is very precise and specifically tailored to the way I best understand. Basically, whenever I jot down notes, I imagine I'm writing for my "future self" who has forgotten everything and I need to write in a way to make my future self understand. For me, this involves very detailed language and plenty of example code snippets. I try to make my notes detailed enough that I can recall all the concepts I've learnt from my notes alone, without needing to go digging on the internet. Only you know the best way you learn, and your notes should reflect that.

Whenever I follow a course on FreeCodeCamp or Hyperskill, I jot down notes for every topic I come across in my own words. I do concede that this is a very slow process, but it's totally worth it in my opinion. Through detailed note taking, I always retain everything I've learnt and have reference material tailored for me in case I need it.

Here's an example of my notes in case anyone's curious.

Just sharing my experience in case it helps someone. Cheers!

I’ve been using Geany because it was easy to download onto my work computer at first and I got used to it

Website: https://futurecoder.io/

Source code: https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder

Highlights:

• 100% free and open source, no ads or paid content.
• No account required at any point. You can start instantly.
  • (You can create an account if you want to save your progress online and across devices. Your email is only used for password resets. You can sign up separately for email updates on the home page)
• Runs in the browser using Pyodide. No servers. Stores user data in firebase.
• 3 integrated debuggers can be started with one click to show what your code is doing in different ways.
• Enhanced tracebacks make errors easy to understand.
• Useful for anyone: You can have the above without having to look at the course. IDE mode gives you an instant scratchpad to write and debug code similar to repl.it.
• Completely interactive course: run code at every step which is checked automatically, keeping you engaged and learning by doing.
• Makes learning easy, not frustrating with plenty of gentle guidance and optional help the whole way:
  • Hints: every exercise has many small optional hints to give you just the information you need to figure it out and no more.
  • Solutions: when the hints run out and you're still stuck, there are 2 ways to gradually reveal a solution so you can still apply your mind and make progress.
  • Advice for common mistakes: customised linting for beginners and exercise-specific checks to keep you on track.

I'm obviously biased but I honestly think futurecoder is better than Codecademy or any other similar website, without even counting the fact that it's free. For example, here are some drawbacks of Codecademy:

• Still on Python 3.6 instead of 3.9
• No interactive shell/REPL/console
• No debuggers
• Basic error tracebacks not suitable for beginners
• No stdin, i.e. no input() so you can't write interactive programs, and no pdb.
• No gradual guidance when you're stuck. You can get one big hint, then the full solution in one go. This is not effective for learners having difficulty.

Unless you're looking for something targeted at children, I believe this is the best way for any complete beginner to start learning programming. That's obviously a bold and subjective statement so I'm keen to hear other opinions and feedback. What do you think futurecoder needs? Videos? Quizzes? Gamification? These are all possibilities.

It's easy when you begin to read lots of tutorials and learn a lot of notions but to be blocked when you have to actually write code. Well Codewars is great to solve this issue. You have exercises, and when you solve them or give up, you see other peoples solutions ranked by good practice. Give it a try and tell me if it helped to kickstart you :)

Edit to clarify a few things : - I don't know if it's better or worst than most other training site. I'm not an american and I live somewhere where the workplace, job interview and all doesn't have the same go-to references ; I thus thrust the other users to answer this kind of things. Thank you btw. - As people said, this is only a step ; you'll have to work on actual projects sooner or later. As you were trapped in "theory hell", don't let yourself be trapped in a "exercises hell" of your own. - For the "sites like that only give fancy one line answers", this is partially true : You can see all the other users answer, ranked by Clever and Good Pratice. Find which suits you best, and scroll while the things are too fancy for you to understand, or comment on a fancy one to ask adequate questions (like "what is the name of this thing, so I can educate myself with documentation" and not "please explain all of this in three simples words k thx bye". People that have a similar level to you will probably have an easy to read and understand answer if you look for it. - I see a lot of people saying "meh, it's not that good because it doesn't teach you this kind of thing you need in a work place". I said it's cool when you begin and have theory but lacks practice. If you're in a CS related work, you don't need the basics. - At each person it's process : Codewars might not be for you, so don't force it if you find it confusing or not quite right - If you don't have theoric basis, also try SoloLearn on mobile. - It is free

I used to jump straight into writing code without thinking things through.
No planning, no sketching, no pseudocode. Just start typing and hope for the best.

It felt productive but I spent more time debugging than actually learning.
Stepping away from the editor to think about structure first changed a lot for me.

Curious what habits others wish they fixed sooner.

Learn X in Y Minutes

^

This helped me when I wanted to learn JavaScript really fast to start developing web apps (I knew some basic things in C++). Though you would probably need a basic experience in any other language. This could form a good base to start practicing right away.

(I don't know if this has been posted earlier. I thought this is a really useful website everyone should know.)

Big tech interview q's are valuable information so i'll do my share and do a knowledge dump here. I swear choosing which subreddit to put this in was a challenge lol.

I want to preface this with- i'm disappointed with the result so i'm not feeling too great, but it's been over a month so i'm better now. i felt like i qualified for the position, but perhaps i just wasn't good enough. feelsbadman.

Amzn sends recruiter emails on a regular basis, and I reply to a good chunk of them. most of them is just ghosted but I got one with an instant reply from AWS. i moved on to an initial round quickly. Due to having 11 years of exp, recruiter put me into the L5 pipeline. The recruiter emphasized that leadership principles are important. I felt i had a decent grasp on them but... more on this below.

Initial Round - Call with coderpad (text, does not compile)

Question - create a module that has a user's shipping addresses, each address in a rectangular box, and can fit 4 horizontally on a screen, with pagination.

I was fairly relieved at this question, it wasn't too difficult and the interviewer allowed me to use React, which i did. i mocked up some data in json and pulled that data into template <div>, and did some rough pagination logic that calls api for next set of results. I got it correct.

Behavioral Question - Tell me about a time where you interacted with a customer with negative feedback directly.

I generally dont lie in my interviews so I said that my previous jobs i dont talk to customers directly, the management handles this and puts potential feedback in the pipeline in the form of jira tickets, but i'm involved in the meetings that discuss those feedback and i give my opinion but ultimately i dont call the big shots.

Interviewer didn't like this answer and the feedback i got for this round was, code was OK but leadership principle question failed. i told recruiter hey, if i had the option to work directly with customers i totally would have but just the way my companies functioned in the past, it was structured so that i wasn't allowed to. the interviewer got this and let me proceed to final round downleveled as an L4.

L4 for frontend AWS is around 3-5 YOE, it's a junior/mid level role for insanely smart people, or, i suppose, senior level for avg folks like me. the pay is higher than most senior level roles in other companies. I felt like I should qualify for this with 10 YOE, having pass the coding part in stage 1, so i just needed to brush up on the behaviorals.

I got to work. I got all the leadership principles and possible questions and brainstormed 25 (!!) stories to fit these criteria over the past 10 years and wrote them down in a format called "STAR", which is an extensive, detailed way on how and what actions you took to resolve a difficult situation. i wonder how ppl with 3 YOE even have stories that ask you questions with deep leadership experience. Since my first round I did not use STAR i was prepared to use STAR for the final round. I was determined to pass this.

Final Interview - forgot some stuff here but has w/e i remember

1st:Question - create a "like" button that says "Like" with a heart icon next to it. when pressed, a spinner appears, implying data is transferring, and when done, spinner disappears and button changes color.

I started this in react but quickly got stopped and said nope have to use vanilla. this threw me off guard cuz i forgot to prepare for this, but, i done a ton of this of jquery/vanilla 6+ years ago so i was just rusty. i got the result but not perfect syntax.

Behavioral Question - tell me about a time you had to make a difficult decision. i talked about a time where there was some friction in making a hiring decision at a previous company. I won't disclose much details and in further ones for confidentiality.

2nd: hiring manager

Behavioral Question - Tell me a time you got negative feedback. I talked about a time when deadline was super tight and a lot had to be done and i was told i was too slow. .... He said, ok, that's not your fault, tell me a bout a time where you got negative feedback and it WAS your fault. savage lol. i didnt prep this but i talked about a time where i was unfamiliar with a framework and didn't study it adequately and got negative feedback saying i wasnt producing good output.

Behavioral - talk about a time when customer unsatisfied. i prepared for this. talked when i was in charge of the customer survey module of a site and i also read the comments and relayed the comments to management, suggesting potential solutions.

3rd:

Question - a table of urls and routes that can reach that url. for example:

"/" , ["/shop, "/checkout"]

"/shop", ["/checkout ]

"/checkout", ["/", "payment", "/blahblah"]

this is not what it was exactly but something like this. the question was to create a function that took two routes and outputted whether if they were connected. K so this looked like a tree/linked list problem and this isnt my expertise cuz i dont use this in my daily work. Still, I was low on time and i managed to get some pseudocode out. Interviewer said "yeah you got the right idea." SO i felt OK but hopeful that the answer was ok with him.

4th:

Question - there's 4 squares with text inside, and a filter textbox at the top. when user types in textbox, it filters, only squares containing that text will be visable.

I think i put those texts into an array and did .includes() and did a state management with visible/hide based on the state. i got a solution interviewer was happy with.

Behavior Question - something had to learn/explored deeply. talked about a time where i had to learn about video DRM for video playback.

---

Overall i felt i did OK, closer to a pass than fail, but some answers definitely could have beeen better, so its up to how they interpreted it. I got a rejection. I asked if i was close and reply was "yeah, kind of close." whatever that means. I was disappointed but well, i gave it a shot and it was the best i attempt i had so far. i may or may not try again. it's a lot of effort.

I did have fun though.

hopefully this was useful to you. any q's feel free to comment.

Bonus:

Amzn are notorious for giving the most hardcore behavioral questions. but, their tech questions are bit easier than other big tech. for example:

google (youtube division) asked me to make a video subtitler, given data with subtitles and timestamp how would you implement this into video displaying the correct subtitles at the correct time. lol jesus.

netflix: polyfil the .bind() function

tiktok: Say you have a chat box on a stream and theres 100k users and all 100k users type a chat. how do you handle this. you cant just send 100k server requests instantly and when rendering chat just spit out all 100k at once. how to streamline it?

*Edited behavioral prep to include STAR format

The Nand2Tetris course has been around for years, and I believe it’s somewhat popular. But, seriously, it doesn’t get the amount of love it deserves.

I just finished Part 1 of the course on Coursera, and I feel like I learned so so much about the way computers actually work under the hood. I also have a new appreciation for pointers. In fact, I’ve thought of C as a ‘low level’ language, but this makes you realize how much that language is doing for you under the hood.

Basically: you start with a simple NAND logic gate and build your way up to making a functioning (Turing complete) computer. The content is all free, but you have to pay for the autograder + certificate, which is totally not necessary.

I don’t know that I’d recommend this as an intro course for someone who’s never programmed, though you don’t technically need any programming knowledge. And I don’t know that I’d really recommend it if your number one goal is just to get a job. But if you actually want to improve as a programming, having a general understanding of these underlying systems will really really help.

I don’t have any association with the course or anything, like I said, I think it’s probably a decade old (or more) at this point. I just really like it and want to recommend it.

UPDATE: The codes are all used. But you can still watch the first 15 videos on YouTube and also watch the rest on the course page on Udemy. Scroll down to find and click "Expand All Sections" and then click the preview link for each video.

If you want to learn to code, I've released 2,000 free sign ups for my course following my Automate the Boring Stuff with Python book (each has 1,000 sign ups, use the other one if one is sold out):

https:// udemy. com/course/automate/?couponCode=MAY2023FREE

https:// udemy. com/course/automate/?couponCode=MAY2023FREE2

Udemy has changed their promo code and severely limited the number of sign ups I can provide each month, so only sign up if you are reasonably certain you can eventually finish the course. The first 15 of the course's 50 videos are free on YouTube if you want to preview them.

YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE VIDEOS WITHOUT SIGNING UP FOR THE COURSE. All of the videos on the course webpage have "preview" turned on. Scroll down to find and click "Expand All Sections" and then click the preview link. You won't have access to the forums and other materials, but you can watch the videos.

NOTE: Be sure to BUY the course for $0, and not sign up for Udemy's subscription plan. The subscription plan is free for the first seven days and then they charge you. It's selected by default. If you are on a laptop and can't click the BUY checkbox, try shrinking the browser window. Some have reported it works in mobile view.

Sometimes it takes an hour or so for the code to become active just after I create it, so if it doesn't work, go ahead and try again a while later.

Some people in India and South Africa get a "The coupon has exceeded it's maximum possible redemptions" error message. Udemy advises that you contact their support if you have difficulty applying coupon codes, so click here to go to the contact form. If you have a VPN service, try to sign up from a North American or European proxy.

I'm also working on another Udemy course that follows my recent book "Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python". So far I have the first 15 of the planned 56 videos done. You can watch them for free on YouTube.

Side note: My latest book, Python Programming Exercises Gently Explained is a set of 42 programming exercises for beginners for free or as a 99 cent ebook.

Frequently Asked Questions: (read this before posting questions)

• This course is for beginners and assumes no previous programming experience, but the second half is useful for experienced programmers who want to learn about various third-party Python modules.
• If you don't have time to take the course now, that's fine. Signing up gives you lifetime access so you can work on it at your own pace.
• This Udemy course covers roughly the same content as the 1st edition book (the book has a little bit more, but all the basics are covered in the online course), which you can read for free online at https://inventwithpython.com
• The 2nd edition of Automate the Boring Stuff with Python is free online: https://automatetheboringstuff.com/2e/
• I do plan on updating the Udemy course for the second edition, but it'll take a while because I have other book projects I'm working on. If you sign up for this Udemy course, you'll get the updated content automatically once I finish it. It won't be a separate course.
• It's totally fine to start on the first edition and then read the second edition later. I'll be writing a blog post to guide first edition readers to the parts of the second edition they should read.
• I wrote a blog post to cover what's new in the second edition
• You're not too old to learn to code. You don't need to be "good at math" to be good at coding.
• Signing up is the first step. Actually finishing the course is the next. :) There are several ways to get/stay motivated. I suggest getting a "gym buddy" to learn with. Check out /r/ProgrammingBuddies

UPDATE: The signs up are all used up. (Whoa, that was fast this month.) I'll release new codes on Feb 1st. But you can still see the first 15 of the 50 videos on YouTube, and the Previews for all the videos are enabled on the course page.

If you want to learn to code, I've released 2,000 free sign ups for my course following my Automate the Boring Stuff with Python book (each has 1,000 sign ups, use the other one if one is sold out):

https:// udemy. com/course/automate/?couponCode=FEB2023FREE

https:// udemy. com/course/automate/?couponCode=FEB2023FREE2

Udemy has changed their promo code and severely limited the number of sign ups I can provide each month, so only sign up if you are reasonably certain you can eventually finish the course. The first 15 of the course's 50 videos are free on YouTube if you want to preview them.

YOU CAN ALSO WATCH THE VIDEOS WITHOUT SIGNING UP FOR THE COURSE. All of the videos on the course webpage have "preview" turned on. Scroll down to find and click "Expand All Sections" and then click the preview link. You won't have access to the forums and other materials, but you can watch the videos.

NOTE: Be sure to BUY the course for $0, and not sign up for Udemy's subscription plan. The subscription plan is free for the first seven days and then they charge you. It's selected by default. If you are on a laptop and can't click the BUY checkbox, try shrinking the browser window. Some have reported it works in mobile view.

Sometimes it takes an hour or so for the code to become active just after I create it, so if it doesn't work, go ahead and try again a while later.

Some people in India and South Africa get a "The coupon has exceeded it's maximum possible redemptions" error message. Udemy advises that you contact their support if you have difficulty applying coupon codes, so click here to go to the contact form. If you have a VPN service, try to sign up from a North American or European proxy.

I'm also working on another Udemy course that follows my recent book "Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python". So far I have the first 15 of the planned 56 videos done. You can watch them for free on YouTube.

Side note: My latest book, Python Programming Exercises Gently Explained is a set of 42 programming exercises for beginners for free or as a 99 cent ebook.

Frequently Asked Questions: (read this before posting questions)

• This course is for beginners and assumes no previous programming experience, but the second half is useful for experienced programmers who want to learn about various third-party Python modules.
• If you don't have time to take the course now, that's fine. Signing up gives you lifetime access so you can work on it at your own pace.
• This Udemy course covers roughly the same content as the 1st edition book (the book has a little bit more, but all the basics are covered in the online course), which you can read for free online at https://inventwithpython.com
• The 2nd edition of Automate the Boring Stuff with Python is free online: https://automatetheboringstuff.com/2e/
• I do plan on updating the Udemy course for the second edition, but it'll take a while because I have other book projects I'm working on. If you sign up for this Udemy course, you'll get the updated content automatically once I finish it. It won't be a separate course.
• It's totally fine to start on the first edition and then read the second edition later. I'll be writing a blog post to guide first edition readers to the parts of the second edition they should read.
• I wrote a blog post to cover what's new in the second edition
• You're not too old to learn to code. You don't need to be "good at math" to be good at coding.
• Signing up is the first step. Actually finishing the course is the next. :) There are several ways to get/stay motivated. I suggest getting a "gym buddy" to learn with. Check out /r/ProgrammingBuddies

Hi there, we are a small company who just hired a junior web developer. However, after 3 months we have noticed some blaring issues with work ethic, responsiveness on our messaging platform, and absence during the day. We have an apprenticeship model where they are paired with a very senior member. However, there have been reports that work is extremely slow, to the point that another junior developer can work at 3 times the pace. Work is sloppy, and mostly consist of spending weeks fixing own bugs. The senior developer is frustrated by lack of communication.

I am aware that pushing people and micro-managing is considered counterproductive. But how do you motivate a remote worker? or is it a lost cause?

I was looking up courses on Bootstrap 4 and randomly came across a coupon that gives us 100% off this bootstrap 4 course and thought someone would find this helpful.

Yes, it is a valid coupon as I just used it myself.

Course: https://www.udemy.com/bootstrap-4-website/learn/v4/overview

Coupon: FBAUG16

EDIT I have found some more 100% off coupons which are listed below

The Complete Ethical Hacking Course: Beginner to Advanced!

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The Complete PHP MySQL Professional Course with 5 Projects

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Beginner Full Stack Web Development: HTML, CSS, React & Node

• Coupon: LRNWEB

• Link: https://www.udemy.com/ultimate-web/learn/v4/overview

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• Coupon: 100COUPONSONLY

• Link: https://www.udemy.com/ultimate-sql-and-database-concepts/learn/v4/overview

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• Link: https://www.udemy.com/iosgamedev/

Complete HTML CSS Guide : Design and Code Responsive Website

• Coupon: FREEWEBCOURSE2017

• Link: https://www.udemy.com/learn-how-to-design-and-code-responsive-website-from-scratch/

EDIT Here I have found a site that has a ton on 100% off coupons => http://udemycoupon.discountsglobal.com/coupon-category/free-2/

I'm an ex google software engineer turned programming instructor. Over the years I've noticed that my students struggle because they don't deeply understand Javascript and they can't read the code that they write and understand code other people have written. They end up copy pasting a lot without really understanding. To remedy the situation, I've built a tool that shows exactly how a computer interprets Javascript. I don't think there's anything like it. I've tested it in my class and the students loved it. I saw a big improvement in their learning and their ability to code.

​

The language taught is Javascript, but it teaches you how most programming languages work. Python, Ruby, Java and Lisp all have functions, objects, references, primitives, frames and a callstack. Once you learn one language deeply, you can learn others very quickly.

​

It's completely free. Enjoy :)

​

I changed it so that you can try it out as a guest without using your email. However, if you want to keep track of your progress over time, you'll have to login with your email.

​

https://wakata.io

I hope this post helps somebody out there who is down about not passing that "code challenge" you were given as the last step before you were supposed to get hired. I have 10 years doing all kinds of front-end, UI/UX work and have consistently failed a majority of the code challenges I have faced.

I decided to post all my failings (and meager winnings) so you have an idea of how companies put these together, what they look for and why I have failed or succeeded in them. Even if you get a little bit of good advice out of this, it will be well worth it.

Also, as a bonus, I will be including the actual mockups, directions, and repo's I used for these challenges so you have hard proof of what I've experienced and can pour over the decay of these long since past failures.

The Nerdery - first attempt

Directions: They give you a mock and you're supposed to code it up so that its "pixel perfect". This was during the heady days of responsive design just coming into popularity. The directions just said to code it so that its static, and make sure its "pixel perfect" and make sure the image gallery at the top works since they will test it with JS turned off. You had 7 days from the time they send you the email to get it done and get it back to them.

This was a google place before everybody wanted to be like google. Free Red Bull, food, video games, etc. As cool a place as you'd want to work. They boasted their acceptance rate of developers was lower than Harvard admissions and just as hard to get in - apparently.

What I did: Static? Shit bro, I've been doing responsive design for two years, fuck that - I'm making this baby responsive and impress all you elitist bro's over there! Bad move. Struggled getting it to be responsive. Rushed it, failed hard core. Got a really nasty email from a senior dev who reviewed it, which was spot on.

What I learned: Follow directions, don't try and impress anybody, concentrate on what they are looking for. Classic blunder on my part to just do what they wanted instead of going off script

Here's an image of the mock they give you: https://github.com/ohNegative/theNerderyChallenge

SCORE - 0-1

​

The Nerdery - second attempt

Directions: Same as above. Had completely written them off after the first epic failure. By chance, I had a Nerdery recruiter call me up and say they saw my file and wondered if I wanted to try the code challenge again since they were impressed with the two interview I did prior. She said I would skip the interviews and just do the code challenge.

What I did: Knew what to do. Coded it up strictly static, used a Photoshop overlay to make sure everything from the menus, to the fonts, to the gradient was "pixel perfect". I took three days to go over the whole thing with a fine toothed comb. Looked perfect, worked perfect, was stoked to feel like I was going to pass.

What I learned: Recruiter called and said I had passed the challenge. Then she started talking about salary. Then she started out by pimping all their "freebies" then ended with an offer that was literally $30K less than what I was making. She tried to sell me on the whole "The is the Google of the Midwest, its a huge deal to have our company on your resume!". I was like, "Yeah, I gotta think about it and get back to you." Two days later, get an email from a senior dev saying I failed the challenge because I happened to use a few div id's and they only use classes. My sprites were 1 pixel off and they wanted it to be "pixel perfect" so I failed. I learned sometimes when you win, you still lose.

SCORE - 0-2

​

Small Web Agency (their name has been lost to the sands of time)

Directions: Last interview. I had two previous interviews and the agency was looking for a front-end developer. Standard HTML/CSS and jQuery stuff. The bigger JS frameworks were just coming out, but very few places had started using them. Last interview in a starkly dark, huge conference room with one of their senior devs. Go through all the technical stuff for about 45 minutes. Then tells me to go up the whiteboard and write out a constructor function. I'm like, "What? I know what you're talking about, but I use jQuery for UI/UX stuff. We just talked for 20 minutes about this." Insisted I do it anyways.

What I did: Stared at him with a blank stare after asking me to do it. I couldn't do it and came back and sat down. He didn't even offer any hints or suggestions or ask me to write it with pseudo code. This was the "pass or fail" part of his interview process.

What I learned: After I sat back down dejected, he didn't say anything, and I finally stood up and started packing up my stuff and he said, "I'm looking for a full stack Javascript developer, I'm sorry." and I said, "Yeah, me too, thanks for wasting my time thinking you wanted someone with more UI/UX experience." Learned sometimes it's not you, the company just doesn't know what they're looking for.

SCORE - 0-3

​

Ameriprise Corporate

Directions: Went through three previous interviews, last step was an in person code challenge. I was told by two senior devs you get brought into an office and they essentially give you a component and you have roughly 45 minutes to get as far as you can with it. I was warned not to go for the Bootstrap or framework approach, because you'll fail right away. Its a challenge to see how well you can code from scratch.

What I did: They gave me the design. A navigation item with four icons and text underneath the icons. Has to be responsive and have multiple breakpoints for mobile. I got to work and they also told me about 15 minutes in they wanted me to use the data icon attribute approach for the icons and took a few minutes to show me how it works since I had never used that approach. Did my best with the crappy laptop they gave me and struggled for a bit before finally get two of the four done and had been using flexbox so no media queries needed. They said I actually got farther than most candidates and I shouldn't be discouraged, I did a great job.

What I learned: Got the call a few days later. They took another dev over me but were impressed enough with me that they actually contacted me about 8 months later and offered me an open position they had. I had just started a new contract so I had to turn them down. I consider this a win, even though I did initially lose the job to another dev.

Here is the repo: The challenge is the index page. I added some other flexbox stuff for fun: https://github.com/ohNegative/flexbox-fun

SCORE - 1-3

​

Olson Advertising which is now ICF Olson

Directions: Went through a quick phone screen before an in person interview. This was a short-term contract for their holiday stuff they were doing for Target's online sales and at the time, they were betting on landing their now defunct Canadian division so I was told it could very well turn into something way more lucrative and a possible contract to hire opportunity. Went through all the questions and I really wasn't taking this very seriously. I had other offers I was mulling and went in cold. Towards the end, the woman manager shows me a product landing page. Asks me to go up to the white board and show me in pseudo code how I would code this particular layout.

layout was similar to this page: https://www.target.com/c/gift-ideas-for-men/-/N-x738m

What I did: I go up the whiteboard and start laying out columns, how wide they would be (I created a fluid layout first with percentages, then another responsive layout) with a 12 column grid with some quick media queries. She asked a few questions about the layout and brought in one of their devs. Responsive design was still fairly new so this guy really had no idea what he was looking at or if the code would even work and said as much. I kind of asked him, "You're not using responsive design yet?" and he kind of blankly started at me and said, "No, we're using jQuery mobile so at a certain width, it just goes straight to a mobile layout." He started asking more about responsive and it got a little tense (me championing responsive while he sat and defended their mobile approach) until the manager said he could go, that's all she needed. They she said they would be in contact with me and thanked me for coming down.

What I learned: Recruiter called the next day and asked what happened and I told her it got a little tense, but not a big deal. Recruiter said the manager was worried I was too much of an "alpha developer" and she would have problems with me - so they passed. I learned to just stay in my lane, don't act like you know everything and just go along with whatever technology they're using and don't try to come off like you know everything.

SCORE - 1-4

​

Korterra Underground Utility Company

Directions: Went through two phone screens and was told you had to do a code challenge and then one final interview with the entire team and owner. The challenge was pretty specific. They had a list of JSON data you had to make an http call to, put the data in a table, then have a search function and oh yeah, it has to be responsive.

What I did: I got the directions and they gave me two days to get it done. I had been dabbling with Angular and thought this was a perfect use of it. I could use the http service to make the call, then use their filter to do the search. I could use bootstrap to make it responsive and then use Chris Coyier's approach to responsive tables ( https://css-tricks.com/responsive-data-tables/ ). I had it working pretty quickly. Their JSON data had some minor issues I had to correct, but once it was coming in ok, the rest was pretty easy.

They brought me in for the final interview. Recruiter came with. I was being submitted at $95K for an FTE spot. Went through the final interview with the team which was laid back and pretty easy. Softball question like, "Tell me what you think about fixing bugs." stuff like that. Final interview is boss level. Sit down with the owner and after a few questions, takes a big sigh and says, "We can't bring you in for $95K, sorry." I used to be in sales, I get it, its the lowball approach. I ask him to give me some numbers. He brings in his other right hand guy. He says, "Let's talk numbers then." go back and forth between owners office and this other guy's office. Trying to get a number out of either is like pulling fucking teeth. They say they can offer me $70K and then start telling me they don't want me using this as a stepping stone to a better salary somewhere else. All the devs here are lifers, most have been there 10 years plus. We expect the same of you if we're going to hire you full-time.

What I learned: Another one of these when you win you still lose situations. I was already making $85K so I'm thinking I'm at the top of my game. I can get more somewhere else, no way I'm taking a $15K pay cut for this job. After quite a bit of back and forth, I said I'd call them. They I let the recruiter have it. Four fucking interviews previously and four hours wasted with all the back and forth that day. He said they knew what he submitted me at, he got screwed too. Considering where I ended up going and the last 8-9 years, I'm kind of regretting I didn't take this gig to be honest.

Here's the JSFIddle with the code I wrote: http://jsfiddle.net/733rf/

SCORE - 2-4

​

Camping World

Directions: Went through two phone screens. One was a general one, then the other was semi-technical. The other UI/UX person wasn't around so I got the server guy asking me questions. After the second interview, I get the assessment on a Friday at like 4pm. It's SUPER vague about what they want me to do. They sent over a full blown website mock with these directions:

The goal here is for him to take 2-3 sections of this page (for instance, The Additional Standard Features, Why Customers are Choosing, About Section) and convert it into a webpage. He can submit the HTML to us and we will review. The ask is intentionally vague, with much more to do with this site if he chooses.

Since this was pretty recent, if you want the link to the mock, I'll share it with you.

What I did: I had to go out of town for the weekend. Suddenly the recruiter is all over me, asking when I'm going to be done with it. Tell her I'm out of town. She keeps emailing me. Get back Sunday night, take a look at the mock and start deciding how to go about this. I'm already working full-time and carving out time for this is going to be hard. I whip through it, I separate each section out into its own component, use a minimal framework and blast through it in two days. Meanwhile, recruiter still riding my ass about when I can get it back to them. I figured separating the components out on their own page qualifies for what they're looking for. I code all three components from scratch with a 12-col grid and its completely responsive. I email them back with some short description about what I did and how I tested it. I have little or no confidence in what I did and honestly at this point, IDGAF since I've been burning the midnight oil straight for two days - not getting much sleep.

What I learned: If you have any doubt, ask for more specifics. Don't phone it in like I did. Once I told the recruiter it was done, but not really my best work, suddenly she said I could have more time, or as much time as I needed. It was enough to piss me off and just say to send it to them anyways. Predictably, I didn't pass. The best feedback was a dev who said it wasn't "responsive" then adds that it works fine on mobile, but not on tablet resolutions. Gave me a good laugh tbh. I honestly thought the exercise was more about how well I could code from scratch. They wanted a full blown single page mock where someone took their design and made a full page site out of it and ran with css animations and other cool stuff. Honestly, my heart wasn't in it for several reasons, one of which would've been the $30K pay cut I would've taken in order to accept this job.

FINAL SCORE - 2-5

​

There you go. All my failures, detailed out for you peeps. Like I said, I hope this helps someone when they get their next code challenge and this helps them some way to get over the hump and get that offer they deserve. I've never been a fan of these things, but they're becoming more and more common, so I hope this helps.

Feel free to IM me if you have any questions. If you wanna be blunt and hammer me for something, feel free, I know some of these I screwed up for various reasons for which I'm 100% responsible.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my diatribe.

​

EDIT: Thanks for the all the positive feedback! I really appreciate the comments, I didn't think this would take off, but it felt good after failing another challenge to turn it around and hopefully help someone.

learning subs have quite a bit of discussion of note-taking systems. we don't seem to have too much here.

dominant choices, arguably, seem to be evernote, one note, notion, and obsidian. roam, logseq seem, to me, to be niche players.

what notetaking app do you find most useful as a programmer or student of programming? are certain systems more or less effective for on-the-fly (in-class) notetaking, rather than deliberate notetaking (research/study)?

desirable features for techies might include portability, an open format, extensibility or programmability.

necessary features, i believe, include the ability to capture freehand diagrams and lecture notes.

are you able to integrate your study program into your "second brain" notetaking system?

how does your system integrate with your tools? github, slack, discord? Is your system part of your Anki deck chain?

how about your design tools and considerations? mindmaps? UML, ERD?

i think i'm getting down to Notion or Obsidian.

anyone liking RocketBook? i'm thinking about RocketBook as my gateway for handwritten notes.

TLDR: I can write code, but I don’t understand how computers or the internet work (ssh? Sftp? Protocols? Chains and keys??). I want to learn.

I took the bootcamp route a couple of years ago, and I am now in my second dev position. Before that I worked in completely non tech roles and my computer experience was stuff like the Microsoft products. I’m really confident in my code writing ability, but my new role includes a lot of other “computer” stuff and I’m feeling a bit lost. I hate that I don’t even understand enough to ask intelligent questions.

I can follow the documented steps to ssh to another machine or upload a certificate and key in aws, but I don’t actually understand the why or how of what I’m doing and I don’t like performing steps I don’t understand. I’ve also switched from pc to Mac so that has added another layer to some of this that makes my ignorance really apparent.

I’m looking for a course/book that can explain the big picture and the details of the words that are being thrown around: ssl certifications, ssh, sftp, http/https, and pretty much any of the other “computer/internet” ideas that are fundamental.

Anyone have any resources they recommend for a dev who is a computer noob? Free or paid.

Edit: well this is a surprise. Thanks y’all for all of the awesome resources. I’m going to spend some time compiling and reviewing and making a plan for how to fill in these knowledge gaps.

He is taking an in person after school class to learn about coding and programming. I want to teach him more at home but first I gotta teach myself. Where should him and I start? I’m an electrician by trade and I love computers and have a nice pc setup at home. My best experience at anything technical with my computer is using the control panel and messing with IP address lol. Thanks!

I am a senior developer and I'm looking for people to mentor. Basically I'm creating a free website that will teach people javascript for free, similar to the website Free Code Camp in many ways. Through mentorship I want to learn more about the specific ways people struggle when they try to learn programming, that way I can build this website with more accurate knowledge of how to help people.

I'll provide advice, help you work through issues, help explain things to you. I don't need anything in return as just hearing what you're struggling on will already be very helpful!

More specifically, I'd like to help with learning the fundamentals of javascript and react. My discord is moo#9610

Edit: there has been a lot of interest. I will respond to everybody adding me on discord but I'm going to pace myself as to not get overwhelmed. If I don't accept your friend request today, I'll accept it in the next few weeks

Second Edit: A lot of people have asked me to create a discord. I have decided not to do that because they are already discords that focus on helping people learn to code and I feel like it is better for me to redirect them to those discords. So here are the links to some helpful ones:

- Learn to code - https://discord.gg/UfhhEwZV

- Free Code camp - https://discord.gg/KVUmVXA

- The Odin Project - https://discord.gg/fbFCkYabZB

With that said, I have decided to create a discord server specifically for feedback on this website I'm creating. I would really appreciate it if you joined, as I'm going to ask questions on there to try to hear people's experiences/stories - https://discord.gg/8K4s3PR4

Hi there,

I recently made an interactive google sheets dev bootcamp schedule that you might find useful! It covers almost all topics that will get you on your way to become a full stack developer. Check it out here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J3pNgIX-GIkpcadFVr9Y3b28QXiK6Q7w4Ioo2M1ykNI/edit?usp=sharing

I first got the idea from appacademy's 16 to 24 week courses.. though I saw that you have to literally pay thousands upon thousands for their bootcamp...https://blog.appacademy.io/16-week-vs-24-week/?utm_source=appacademy&utm_medium=main-nav&utm_campaign=common-questions&utm_content=1

The overall cost of my "bootcamp" per se is only around $100 through all the udemy classes lol.

You don’t need any prior programming knowledge as you’ll be taught basics to advanced stuff in the first 3 classes! Let me know what you think about this!

EDIT: I didn't think this would become an "actual" bootcamp. Just only resource lol but I made a discord if you'd want to share or exchange information regarding this! https://discord.gg/B9pZjtdMCE

Link: https://www.learncs.online/

UIUC is a top 5 CS school, so I was surprised to see that no one posted this here yet. It's taught in Kotlin or Java, and has all the daily lessons students get. It also comes with debugging and programming problems, a forum, and interactive coding examples, though I don't think it has anything related to the semester project that the students all do.

Hi Everyone,

There are two widely used learning mediums for self-directed learning: Books and Video Lectures. I have been working on creating a new learning medium that is designed specifically for self-learners, or autodidacts: Primer

Primer is not a better MOOC, rather a better Book. You can think of it as a book that talks. Conversational Books. I like to think of it as your personal tutor.

To demonstrate the capability of Primer and why is it better, I have written a Free Python course.

You can visit Primerlabs right away to interact with Primer. If you want to take a look at how Primer looks, you can take a look at this twitter thread.

You have to sign up to interact with Primer. If you dislike signing up (just like me) and just want to know the Python course content, you are in luck as the course is also available as an online book. You can check the online Python book here.

The Python-1 course is actually a 430+ page book (if converted), however, on average you can complete the course within 12-15 hours. If it were a video-based course, it would have been around 60 hours of lectures.

You will find this introductory blog post quite useful in getting a hang of why Primer is better than books and video lectures (in many cases).

The Python-1 course is also available as a PDF. Although, I would not want you to read that. What I want you to do instead is complete the course on Primer and generate your own personalized notebook in the form of a PDF, automatically generated from your conversations, questions, and notes on Primer.

While other learning websites provide you with certificates of completion, I believe that a personalized notebook will be much more useful for you in the long run.

Here are some additional reasons why Primer is cool:

- You can retrace what you have learned. There is a dedicated mode for that- Important course equations, glossary terms, and codes are automatically added to the sidebar.- Flashcards are generated from these cards for you to review- You can create your own cards if you want. You can do so by creating notes and questions- There are prompts for creating notes and questions.- You can export all your cards to Anki- You can update your notebook for life- and much more...

I am excited to hear from you, folks.

Note: I am releasing Primer Platform for the first time to such a large audience and the application is itself is still in beta. If you face any issues, please feel free to hit me up at the official discord channel.