Free Code Camp First Impressions (Yup, another one!)

Despite my initial goal to remain committed to only a few resources, I decided to peek at Free Code Camp the other day for reasons which may later become clear.  I have always been interested in Free Code Camp and they do have a fair amount of success stories.  For those who are not familiar, Free Code Camp focuses on JavaScript development and puts the user through a 1600 (!?) hour program to get them there.  You begin with 800 hours pf practice doing lessons like Code Academy or TreeHouse and then you move into working with nonprofits to help them out and to build your own functional portfolio.  My impression is that if you work through it you will get a job, probably before you finish your 800 hours with nonprofits.  However, it has a deadly reputation in terms of difficulty.

I am around 4 hours into Free Code Camp, and I really like it so far.  They do a nice job of helping you set up your infrastructure.  You link to GitHub, Twitter, and a host of other resources if you wish.  They also help you tour through the general chat rooms and the room which features people in your area.  Spoiler alert: the Tennessee rooms aren't very active.  Finally, you begin on your Free Code Camp journey which features a long list of lessons and strange metaphorical titles for code exercises such as Waypoints, Ziplines, and Bonfires.

I have finished my first major module, which was of course pretty easy since I have gone through 3 other basic HTML and CSS courses before.  I am now about halfway through the Responsive Design and Bootstrap course.  As always, this should not be seen as a full review, because I am nowhere near done.  However, I am far enough in to offer my general early impressions.

One good thing is the people hanging out in the chat rooms seem supportive and fun.  It's not hard to see how a person could just hang out there for hours.  I just introduced myself as the beginner exercise says to do and got lots of responses.  I also saw people giving and getting feedback on code which was cool to see.  Compared to Code Academy or TreeHouse's forum system, this is much better.  You are not posting and hoping someone responds, but you can actually converse in real time.
Next, this thing is polished.  It functions more or less like Code Academy, but I like their prose a lot better.  It is clear, doable, and fun.  So far, I have not had the experience where I look at the directions, read them, and groan in confusion and I have been through around 85 little modules.  Additionally, the site is robust without being cluttered and the map is pretty clear and straightforward if not a little intimidating.

Finally the best part - if you can finish this you will be ready to apply for jobs.  There are a host of stories of folks who have learned to code on Free Code Camp and the program does provide you with the real world experience you need to go on the market.  Whereas TreeHouse badges are of limited utility in a job hunt, Free Code Camp has you covered.

The only negative I can see so far is that I know there are insanely tough challenges lurking ahead.  Every blog or review you read speaks on this, Some even threaten to be as long as 100 hours!   I don't mind if it takes a long time as long as I am not utterly confused and am actually making progress.

On a personal level, I know I should just tick with the other resources I am working with, but I wanted to experience Free Code Camp.  Also, I love the repetition of covering the material more than once, and I wanted to be able to write some type of review on it for my loyal readers here!  As I make more decisions and make more progress I will update the blog!


Resources in Progress:
Total hours into Programming: 118 (4 since last time )
Days into Programming/Hours per day: 2.6 Hours Per Day (Goal:3.0)

Progress on Shaw's Learning Ruby the Hard Way: Finished Exercise 1-13
*Going to get back to this soon, my son has been using the Ipad to watch Diamond Minecart and Stampy Longnose lately!  

My Text game: 3 hours, 118 lines
*Not sure I am coming back to this one, but I will leave it here.  

TreeHouse (3637 Points, 42 Badges)

Free Code Academy: On Course 2: Responsive Design with Bootstrap

Code Academy Points: (759 points, 79 badges)

Progress on Hartl's Tutorial Ready to start Chapter 3! 

Progress on Gaddis' Starting out with Python: Done With Chapter 1, Appendix A,B
*I am dumping this for now, Python is not for me right now.  

Resources Finished:

Josh Kemp's No Degree, No Problem 8/14/2015

Chris Pine's Learn to Program 8/9/2015

Created a Program for Teaching Evals 9/6/2015

TreeHouse Make a Website Track 8/17/2015

TreeHouse Ruby Basics 8/20/2015
TreeHouse JavaScript Basics 8/22/2015
TreeHouse Console Foundations 8/24/2015 
TreeHouse Git Basics 8/25/2015
TreeHouse Installing a Ruby Environment 8/26/2015
TreeHouse Making a ToDo Rails App 8/31/15
TreeHouse Ruby Logical Operators 9/4/2015
TreeHouse Ruby Collections 9/5/2015
TreeHouse Loops 9/6/2015

Free Code Camp HTML5 and CSS 9/6/2015

Code Academy Make a Website Course 7/29/2015

Code Academy Ruby Course 8/5/2015

Code Academy HTML and CSS Course 8/24/2015