Awesome Quincy Larson Email Archive

This repository is an archive of Quincy Larson's weekly email newsletter.

If you find these learning resources to be worth your time, consider supporting the nonprofit with a tax-deductible donation: https://donate.freecodecamp.org or with a monthly donation via their Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/m/4797564/

A big thanks to Sourabh Joshi for creating this repo and helping maintain it. He's a software engineer from Bengaluru who works at https://quso.ai.

September 11, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published an interactive Python course for beginners. You'll build a series of projects to get familiar with variables, data types, conditionals, loops, functions, input validation, error handling, and more. You don't need any prior programming experience to follow along. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-interactively/

2. Design patterns are ways to solve programming problems that you can reuse in a ton of different situations. This new freeCodeCamp handbook will talk you through 23 of the most popular patterns, all with C# example code. You'll enjoy classic hits like the Factory pattern, Decorator pattern, and silky smooth Observer pattern. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-design-patterns-handbook-learn-popular-design-patterns-with-c-code-examples/

3. You've probably heard of Claude Code for AI-assisted development. But what about its OpenAI equivalent, Codex? We just published a crash course that'll teach ya Codex for background automation, pull request ops, and jacking into external tools like Notion and Supabase. You'll put these concepts into practice by building and deploying your voice-controlled Flappy Bird game, then porting it to an iOS and Android app using Expo. Watch out for that pipe! (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/openai-codex-crash-course/

4. What actually happens when a Linux program asks the kernel to do something? We just published a new tutorial that guides you through the complete lifecycle of an x86-64 system call. You'll learn how Linux finds the correct handler then returns results. You'll also see how vDSO can obviate the need for some system calls entirely. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-a-system-call-actually-works-in-linux/

5. AI security tools are compressing the time between discovering a vulnerability and exploiting it. Security teams can't just patch everything in order of severity anymore. Now many of them are adopting exposure management to triage vulnerabilities based on risk. This freeCodeCamp tutorial will teach you about dependency audits, code reachability, Software Bills of Materials, compensating controls, and least-privilege access. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-ai-is-breaking-traditional-patch-management/

Quote of the Week: “In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.” – Python maintainer Tim Peters in his Zen of Python essay. If you want to read the full essay just open up your python prompt in your terminal with the command python or python3 and type “import this”

September 4, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a deep dive into how engineers make chips. This course follows Nvidia's GB300 Blackwell Ultra GPU from raw silicon wafer through design, fabrication, and deployment in a data center. You'll learn about transistor architectures, electronic design automation, cleanrooms, EUV lithography, and High Bandwidth Memory. The course also explores data center power, networking, export restrictions, and other constraints on the global semiconductor supply chain. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-ai-chips-are-made/

2. Learn Excel formulas and functions to get things done faster. This course will teach you how to leverage cell references, error handling, conditional logic, and aggregation. You'll also get practice with modern lookup functions like XLOOKUP, INDEX, and XMATCH. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-excel-formulas-and-functions/

3. I've been sharing a lot of quantum computer-related tutorials, and this is another one. And no you don't need a million dollar quantum computer for this. You'll learn how quantum compilers map and route operations, and why they sometimes need to insert expensive SWAP gates. You'll also learn about how connectivity affects circuit depth and accumulated errors. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-quantum-connectivity-shapes-what-your-quantum-computer-can-actually-compute/

4. This Flutter mobile app dev tutorial will teach you the Builder design pattern. You'll use it for UI carousels, HTTP requests, and more. You'll also compare it with the constructor and factory patterns, and learn which you should use when. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-builder-design-pattern-a-better-approach-to-complex-object-construction/

5. OpenTelemetry is a powerful open source library for understanding what's happening inside a distributed application. This guide will teach you how traces, logs, spans, and context propagation work together to boost observability. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-opentelemetry-works/

Quote of the Week: “The spread of semiconductors was enabled as much by clever manufacturing techniques as it was academic physics.” — Chris Miller, in the excellent book Chip War about the semiconductor industry

August 28, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a visual introduction to data structures and algorithms. It's chock-full of graphics that show how these work. It uses everyday analogies to explain arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, hash tables, trees, graphs, and more. Check it. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-data-structures-and-algorithms-visually/

2. Learn how the now-famous transformer architecture powers ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and most other AI systems. This short documentary tells the story of the eight Google researchers who developed it while trying to improve machine translation. You'll learn how Transformers process text in parallel and use “attention” to track the relationships between words. (9 minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-paper-that-created-modern-ai-the-story-behind-the-transformer/

3. Let's build a knowledge graph using Python and the Neo4j graph database. freeCodeCamp just dropped a new full-length handbook. It'll teach you how to model data as nodes, load everything, then query using the Cypher query language. You'll also learn about indexes, query planning, multi-hop searches, and extracting structured relationships from text. Plow through this and share it with a friend. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-knowledge-graph-with-python-and-neo4j-handbook/

4. Muse Spark and the Muse Code terminal agent just dropped a few weeks ago. And you'd better believe we're already all over it with a comprehensive course. You'll learn how to call the model with Python or TypeScript, build workflows with LangChain, create custom skills, and connect external tools through MCP. Then you'll use these tools to build a complete social platform with a Go backend, SQLite database, responsive frontend, and Docker Compose. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-ai-agents-apis-and-full-stack-apps-with-meta-muse-code-muse-spark/

5. If you add a CDN cache to your site and it makes things slower, you know you done messed up. Here's a great post-mortem from a dev who breaks down why crawlers often encounter cold caches and how they can pile on the latency. The moral of the story is don't blindly assume your optimizations will work. Always verify them with real-world metrics before you log off for the weekend. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cdn-cache-made-my-site-slower/

Quote of the Week: “Bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships.” - Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux and Git

August 21, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will teach you how to code your own reinforcement learning framework from scratch in pure C. You'll implement the systems that help your agent observe its environment, choose actions, receive rewards, and improve through experience. I'd normally attempt this in Python, but considering that Python itself is written in C, this'll give you a much deeper understanding of what's happening under the hood. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/building-a-reinforcement-learning-framework-from-scratch-in-pure-c/

2. The world runs on crusty old legacy codebases. Some of these were elegantly written by devs who knew what they were doing. But a lot of it is spaghetti that no one had the guts to touch. Until now. This new freeCodeCamp guide will show you how to use AI tools to understand legacy codebases, document their behavior, and modernize them incrementally. You'll also learn where human review and automated tests fit into the process. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/modernize-legacy-applications-with-ai/

3. Learn how to roll your own multi-agent system that reviews pull requests for you. You'll learn how to slice n' dice the review process for your new team of specialized agents. You've got a security expert agent, as well as one that's focused on code quality, testing, and documentation. You'll voltron their powers using the fan-out and fan-in pattern. And no course would be complete without an exploration of AI failure modes, database design, and orchestration tools. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-system-design-for-ai-agents-build-a-production-ready-multi-agent-pr-reviewer

4. Wanna build your own Discord bot using Python? This handbook has got you covered. Everything from registering your bot to configuring its permissions, connecting it to your custom Python scripts, responding to messages, and other events. You'll also learn how to lock down sensitive credentials like your bot token. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-basic-discord-bot-with-python/

5. Finally, learn how to build your own multi-agent financial research system using the open source LangChain Deep Agents harness. You'll create specialized agents that can investigate a market, coordinate their work, and synthesize their findings into a research report. If you're into finance, this is a solid primer on multi-agent systems and context management. Go get that alpha. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-multi-agent-trading-research-system-with-langchain-deep-agents-handbook/

Quote of the Week: “Don’t comment bad code. Rewrite it.” — Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger, authors of the seminal C book The Elements of Programming Style way back in 1974

August 14, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will teach you how low-level computer graphics work by coding your own software renderer in C. You'll learn how to represent images as pixel data, draw graphics to the screen, and transform 3D objects into 2D images. This'll teach you what's really happening under all those layers of abstraction in modern game engines like Unreal. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-low-level-graphics-in-c-build-a-software-renderer-from-scratch/

2. Learn how Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks work from the ground up. This handbook explains the browser mechanics that make CSRF attacks possible, and how malicious websites can exploit a user's authenticated session. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/csrf-from-scratch-browser-mechanics-attacks-and-spring-security-implementation-handbook/

3. If you're studying engineering but don't know much about Python, this is a good place to start. You'll install a development environment, then learn the absolute basics. Run calculations, analyze data, and visualize your results. You'll get plenty of practice turning mathematical models into code. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/python-for-mechanical-engineering

4. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook that will teach you emerging best practices for building agents that interact with multiple users. Think the creepy merchant from Resident Evil 4. What're ya' sellin'? First you'll learn how authorization flows work. Then you'll manage access tokens and give your agents narrowly scoped access to external tools like GitHub and Slack. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-agent-per-user-oauth-slack-github/

5. Finally, learn how to test AI-powered features in your Flutter apps. Model output is stochastic (read: unreliable) which makes traditional testing approaches a lot freakin' harder. This handbook will show you how to isolate model integrations, control dependencies, and write reliable tests without making unnecessary calls to external APIs. If you're building mobile apps with AI features, this is well worth bookmarking. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-test-ai-features-in-flutter-full-handbook/

Quote of the Week: “C has the power of assembly language. And the convenience of... assembly language.” — Dennis Ritchie, creator of the C programming language

August 7, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course on Claude Code. These agent harnesses change so fast, and we want to keep you up-to-date. You'll learn how to set it up and give it context into your codebase. Then you'll dive into workflows for keeping your agent cranking through tasks. If you feel left behind right now, don't sweat it. This will bring you right back up to speed. (90 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/claude-code-full-course/

2. And if you want to go way deeper into agent-assisted development, here's a massive course on LangChain and LangGraph. You'll use Python to build agents that can call tools, retain state, and coordinate multi-step workflows. You'll also learn about human-in-the-loop systems, multi-agent architectures, and workflow automation. Don't attempt this in one sitting lol. (24 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/agentic-ai-using-langgraph-build-ai-agents-automate-workflows/

3. For you DevOps heads out there, boom. New handbook. Learn how to leverage Kubernetes Operators to define custom resources and write controllers. You'll also use reconciliation loops to keep your cluster in its desired state. Let's automate as much ops as we safely can. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-kubernetes-operators-a-handbook-for-devs/

4. Learn about quantum circuits and coherence. Yes I did watch that trippy 2013 horror movie. This new handbook will teach you concepts like noise, qubit connectivity, gate fidelity, measurement errors, and how circuit depth affects your results. Obligatory no quantum computer required. It's OK I don't have one either. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-your-quantum-circuit-works-in-a-simulator-but-fails-on-real-hardware-full-handbook/

5. Node.js has a Dual Write Problem. When your app needs to update its database and publish an event, one of those operations can succeed while the other fails. This tutorial will teach you how the Transactional Outbox Design Pattern keeps these operations consistent by storing both updates in the same database transaction. If you're building distributed systems, this can save you a lot of grief. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-fix-the-dual-write-problem-in-node-js-with-the-outbox-pattern/

Quote of the Week: “Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.” — Marcus Aurelius way back in 170 AD

August 1, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will teach you how to build your own super duper reliable APIs using TypeScript and Express. TypeScript is just JavaScript with static types, so if you know some basic JS you're all set to crush this course. You'll learn how to structure your server, define routes, validate incoming data, handle errors, and catch common data type faux pas before they rear their ugly heads in production. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-bulletproof-apis-using-typescript-in-express/

2. We also dropped a comprehensive new course on Additive Manufacturing. Building things with atoms instead of just bits is all the rage in the 2020s. You'll learn how 3D printers work, and how your choice of resin or metal will affect the finished part. You don't need to buy hardware to learn. Just dive in, draft some designs, then take them to your local library or hackerspace for printing. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-3d-printing-additive-manufacturing/

3. Oh and we just published a full-length book on DevSecOps. Just for you. (And the other two million people I send this to. But don't worry you're my favorite.) It'll walk you through designing infrastructure, automating deployments, and securing your delivery pipeline from day one. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-production-ready-devsecops-platform-from-homelab-to-aws-full-book/

4. I also recommend learning about Kubernetes Operators, which can trick your cluster into sorta managing your apps for you. This handbook will give you the skinny on controllers, reconciliation loops, and other key Kubernetes concepts. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-kubernetes-operators-a-handbook-for-devs/

5. Finally, take a tour through one of the internet's oldest traditions: publishing joke Request for Comments documents on April Fools' Day. Learn about proposed standards for transmitting data via carrier pigeon, controlling coffee pots over the web, and flagging malicious network packets with an “evil bit”. This is my culture. These are my people. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-internet-s-longest-running-joke-a-field-guide-to-the-april-fools-rfcs/

Quote of the Week: “The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.” — Computer scientist Andrew Tanenbaum in his 1981 book “Computer Networks”. We've gotten a few new standards since then ;)

July 24, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course to help you prepare for Anthropic's new Claude Certified Architect Foundations exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who's passed almost every developer certification exam under the sun. He'll teach you how to design agentic systems, use Claude Code workflows, manage context, structure outputs, and more. Even if you're not taking the exam, this is a good way to get up to speed on agents. (13 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/claude-certified-architect-foundations-prep-for-anthropic-s-new-certification-exam

2. If you like software gore, freeCodeCamp just published an article written by a CTO that explains why even the most expensively-trained LLMs still make up random crap. You'll read horror stories about support bots who invented company policies, lawyers filing court briefs with fake citations, and AI agents deleting production data. You'll also learn about the field of interpretability research and how scientists are working to understand this phenomenon so they can dial the nonsense back a bit. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/that-s-embarrassing-why-frontier-ai-still-makes-things-up-and-what-to-do-about-it/

3. freeCodeCamp instructor Ania Kubów created this short history of the 1980s trademark fight between Apple Computer and the Beatles' record label Apple Records. It resulted in a pretty absurd arrangement where Apple couldn't use musical names for alert sounds in the Macintosh operating system. But one rogue Apple sound designer quietly revolted against this judgement, producing such easter eggs as “Sosumi.” When you read it out loud, it's: “so sue me.” (7 minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-an-apple-engineer-pranked-billion-dollar-lawyers-and-won

4. Ania also created this tutorial for developers who want to experiment with multi-agent coding. You'll build and deploy your own full-stack habit tracker app. Instead of relying on one agent to do everything, you'll use a tool called TRAE IDE to break your spec down and delegate tasks across multiple specialized agents. (20 minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/multi-agent-coding-deployment-with-trae-ide

5. Finally, if you love building mobile apps in Flutter as much as we do, you're going to love this new freeCodeCamp handbook. You'll learn how to wield the mighty blade that is the Observer Design Pattern. It allows for one event to trigger several independent reactions without tightly coupling all of your components together. The wisdom in this handbook is a great first step into the realm of Event-Driven Architecture. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-observer-design-pattern-handbook-event-driven-architecture-domain-driven-design-in-dart/

Quote of the Week: “The models are astonishing, honestly more capable than I predicted they’d be by now. And they still make things up, confidently, in production, in ways that range from funny to business-ending.” — CTO and software engineer Omer Rosenbaum in his “That's Embarrassing” freeCodeCamp article

July 17, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Python course for absolute beginners. First you'll learn key concepts like variables, data types, string manipulation, operators, conditionals, and loops. Then you'll apply these skills by building six projects from scratch. If you're new to programming, this is an excellent place to start. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-beginner-s-guide-to-python-hands-on-projects-to-get-you-coding/

2. And if you already know some JavaScript, freeCodeCamp just published a course on building full-stack mobile apps using React Native. You can code along at home and build your own grocery list app that runs on both Android and iPhone. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-full-stack-mobile-development-with-react-native/

3. In 1956, Edsger Dijkstra was sitting in an Amsterdam coffee shop with his future wife, thinking about efficient routes for taking her shopping. In just 20 minutes, he came up with his now-famous shortest-path algorithm. This new freeCodeCamp video will teach you how Dijkstra's algorithm works and why it now powers technologies like GPS navigation, network routing, supply chains, and robotics. (22 minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/understanding-dijkstra-s-algorithm/

4. Learn how to containerize a Node.js app with Docker, then automate its build and deployment using GitHub Actions. You'll build a task management API using Express and PostgreSQL, package it with a multi-stage Dockerfile, and use Docker Compose to run everything locally. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/containerize-a-node-js-app-with-docker-and-deploy-with-github-actions/

5. And finally, if you want to understand the research behind modern image generation tools like Stable Diffusion, read this review of the landmark 2015 paper “Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics.” You'll learn how diffusion models gradually turn structured data into noise, then reverse that process to generate plausible output. We'll also dive into Markov chains, noise schedules, image denoising, and inpainting. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-paper-review-deep-unsupervised-learning-using-nonequilibrium-thermodynamics/

Quote of the Week: “The existence of React Native makes React.js one of the most useful skills to learn. It's crazy that 70% of your knowledge from learning how to make websites can carry over to building iOS AND Android apps.” — Ben Awad, Software Engineer and past freeCodeCamp podcast guest

July 10, 2026

1. The freeCodeCamp community just published a new intermediate TypeScript and React course. You can code along at home as we take a JavaScript project and refactor it to be fully type-safe. You'll also get some reps with useState, custom prop types, and passing function props between components. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/level-up-your-react-skills-with-typescript/

2. We also answer the question of why so much of the internet breaks when Amazon's US-East-1 region goes down. freeCodeCamp instructor Beau Carnes traces the history of 6 AWS outages and their causes. A network upgrade typo, a single missing DNS record, and other seemingly no-big-deal's that suddenly go catastrophic. (16 minute YouTube video): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-does-the-internet-keep-breaking-a-deep-dive-into-aws-us-east-1/

3. freeCodeCamp just dropped a beginner-friendly crash course on agent workflows. You'll learn about structured JSON outputs, guardrails, human approval loops, and secure sandboxing. This course also includes a case study in using OpenClaw as a personal assistant. After all, who doesn't want to live dangerously? (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-agents-for-beginners/

4. I've professed my love for Flutter many times. We use this open source framework to build all of freeCodeCamp's mobile apps. So I'm hyped about this new tutorial that shows you how to profile Flutter codebases with DevTools and find all the janky bits. You'll catch expensive paint operations, unnecessary widget rebuilds, and synchronous work on the main isolate. You'll also learn how to read the DevTools frame timeline, use the CPU profiler, inspect rebuilds, catch memory issues, and verify that your fixes actually worked. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-fix-app-jank-profiling-flutter-apps-with-devtools/

5. This new tutorial will show you all the hidden engineering work that goes into making AI projects that don't fall over at the first puff of a stiff breeze. You'll learn about auth, retrieval, prompt versioning, guardrails, evaluation, logging, cost controls, fallbacks, deployment discipline, and more. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-hidden-engineering-behind-ai-products-what-devs-should-know/

Quote of the Week: “AI disincentivizes you from learning about the pieces. Feeling dumb hurts. When you're trying a thing and it doesn't make sense, you feel pain. When you try a thing and it just goes as expected, you feel good. AI has made it easier to avoid that pain and feel that reward. And what used to be an up-front cost you would pay to learn the pieces so you could get the reward of solving the puzzle – now that's a slot machine. And your choices are go learn the pieces so that you can actually solve the puzzle correctly or keep pulling the slot machine until hopefully the correct answer comes out. I'll be real. I kind of miss feeling dumb.” — Theo Browne, software engineer

July 3, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a beginner-friendly course on the command line. If you've ever admired a developer blazing through their terminal, this course is for you. You'll learn key commands for navigating through file systems and writing data. This skill will pay off whether you go into security, DevOps, or data science. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/command-line-basics-for-beginners/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a short video that shows why computers have such a hard time reliably counting money. Machines store numbers in binary rather than base 10, which means simple decimals like 0.1 and 0.2 often get stored as approximations. Tiny rounding errors may seem harmless, but at scale they can cause serious problems like in the 1999 classic movie Office Space. As a result, financial systems no longer use floating-point math for currency and now use integers instead. (6 minute YouTube video): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-computers-can-t-count-money/

3. Learn how to write your first quantum circuit in Python. You don't need a physics degree to understand this. You don't need access to a quantum computer to test your code. Instead you'll use the powerful Qiskit library running on a regular laptop. First you'll learn how qubits and quantum gates work. Then you'll build one of the most famous experiments in quantum computing: the Bell State. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-write-your-first-quantum-circuit-in-python-a-beginner-s-step-by-step-guide/

4. If you want to understand one of the most useful probabilistic data structures in computer science, read this Bloom filter Python tutorial. A Bloom filter can tell you whether something is definitely not in a set, or possibly in it, using only a bit array and a few hash functions. This makes it extremely memory efficient, even for very large datasets. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-bloom-filters-work-build-one-from-scratch-python/

5. And finally, if you've ever had an API return messy data that quietly broke your app, this TypeScript guide is worth reading. It focuses on a practical problem: TypeScript helps at compile time, but external data can still come in as null, undefined, or the wrong shape at runtime. You'll harden your codebase against this using framework-agnostic guard utilities like safeArray, safeString, safeNumber, and safeObject. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/defend-your-js-app-against-unsafe-data-with-typescript-guard-utilities/

Quote of the Week: “The tools we use will change, but the fundamentals of every engineering discipline will remain.” - Grady Booch, software engineer and creator of Unified Modeling Language, speaking on his excitement about AI-assisted coding tools

June 27, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course on Distributed Data Parallelism, a key technique for training large language models across multiple GPUs. You'll use Python and PyTorch to get hands-on with all-reduce, broadcast, and other primitives that make DDP work. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/scaling-your-ai-models-with-micro-ddp/

2. Learn how to build your own OpenClaw-like agent from scratch. You'll start with a chatbot template, give it persistent personality, and schedule its tasks with cron jobs. Along the way you'll get exposure to tool calling, context engineering, deployment, and other building blocks of production AI agents. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-ai-agent-in-telegram-with-vercel-cursor-composio/

3. Automate complex workflows in Notion. You'll learn a ton of tricks for fully leveraging this productivity tool and launching your first worker. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-notion-workers/

4. We also dropped a new mobile app development tutorial. As you may know, freeCodeCamp uses Flutter for building our iPhone and Android apps. You'll learn Flutter tips for separating data, presentation, and domain layers, along with managing state boundaries. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-structure-large-flutter-applications-for-scalable-and-maintainable-growth/

5. This is an inspiring read from the first visually impaired person in Brazil to earn a degree in Cyber Defense and Information Security. He's also the first blind researcher to publish a vulnerability in the U.S. National Vulnerability Database. He shares how he learned and the accessibility barriers he's had to push through. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-i-became-brazils-first-visually-impaired-cybersecurity-graduate/

Quote of the Week: "Many people told me this would be impossible. But I learned early that the biggest limitations are not in the body. They are in the mind." — Blind software engineer and security researcher Juan Mathews Rebello Santos in his freeCodeCamp article about how he became the first blind researcher to publish a vulnerability in the U.S. National Vulnerability Database

June 19, 2026

1. Learn the architectural patterns that apps use when a single server and database are no longer enough. This tutorial teaches you about splitting monoliths into services, load balancers, database bottlenecks, caching, asynchronous background work, idempotency, monitoring, autoscaling, and designing for failure. This is a practical overview of the tradeoffs involved in keeping large systems both fast and reliable. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-large-scale-platforms-handle-millions-of-daily-transactions/

2. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on building your own self-healing CI/CD pipeline. First you'll build a Node.js and Express app with webhooks. Then you'll learn how to wire in GitHub, OpenAI, and n8n. Your pipeline will be able to detect failures, analyze logs, generate patches, and even open pull requests on your behalf. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-self-healing-ci-cd-pipeline-with-ai/

3. The Saga Pattern helps microservices roll back distributed transactions when part of a workflow fails. This guide walks you through an orchestrated saga built with NestJS, gRPC, PostgreSQL, and Sequelize. You'll learn the difference between choreography and orchestration, how compensation-based rollbacks work, and why observability matters so much in production systems. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-saga-pattern-in-node-js-roll-back-distributed-transactions-across-microservices/

4. If you keep hearing about chain-of-thought prompting and want to understand why it matters so much, this paper review is a good place to start. It explains the core idea in plain English: instead of asking a model to jump straight to an answer, you prompt it to reason through the intermediate steps first. The article walks through the 2022 paper's experiments and shows how this approach improved arithmetic, common sense, and symbolic reasoning benchmarks, especially for larger models. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-paper-review-chain-of-thought-prompting-elicits-reasoning-in-large-language-models/

5. As a dev, you should know about the operational side of managing a fleet of domain-specific models in production. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to avoid model rot by setting up a model registry, routing requests through a version-aware gateway, and using a manifest-based delivery system so that edge devices only sync the weight deltas they actually need. This is a thoughtful guide for anyone moving from model experimentation into real-world AI systems engineering. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-production-architecture-for-small-language-model-fleets/

Quote of the Week: “People worry that computers will get too smart and take over the world. But the real problem is that they're too stupid and they've already taken over the world.” — Pedro Domingos, computer science professor and machine learning researcher

June 12, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a beginner's guide to building your own dataset by gathering data from the web. In this course, freeCodeCamp software engineer Ania Kubów will teach you how to use web scraping APIs and computer vision to extract structured JSON from images and text. By the end of the course, you'll have built your own app that searches the web for data and stores it locally for future use. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/web-scraping-for-beginners-2026/

2. If you're interested in data science and healthcare, this tutorial should be right up your alley. You'll validate a chest X-ray dataset to catch corrupted files, mislabeled attributes, and data leakage. You'll work through six core preprocessing steps, including scaling, normalizing, and denoising. Then you'll build a full pipeline using Python and OpenCV. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-preprocess-medical-images-for-machine-learning/

3. freeCodeCamp also published this in-depth guide to information security that will teach you about Attribute-Based Access Control. You'll learn how to write logic that evaluates users, resources, actions, and the environment at request time. You'll see how this approach is superior to older Access Control List approaches, and why the extra flexibility is often worth the added complexity. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-attribute-based-access-control-helps-you-write-better-authorization-rules/

4. Send this list of open source tools to the university students in your life. It will introduce them to Jupyter Notebook, GeoGebra, Blender, and other useful sanity-saving software libraries. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/open-source-tools-every-stem-student-should-know-about/

5. Tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a talk on how to start a career in tech using open source learning resources. Estefania Cassingena Navone, who runs our Spanish YouTube channel, walks through freeCodeCamp's certifications, daily coding challenges, and other resources. She explains why contributing to open source is the best way to build developer skills, strengthen your portfolio, and improve your odds of landing that first tech job. (1 hour YouTube talk): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-start-your-career-in-tech-with-freecodecamp-full-talk-in-spanish/

Quote of the Week: “I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today, and the incredible advances that we've had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.” — Linus Torvalds, software engineer and creator of Linux and Git

June 5, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Docker course that will teach you DevOps concepts and production app containerization. First you'll learn how Docker's container architecture works, and how it's different from traditional virtual machines. Then you'll get hands-on practice with common Docker commands, networking modes, volumes, bind mounts, image layers, and custom Dockerfiles. At the end of the course, you'll containerize a website and deploy it to the cloud. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/docker-full-course/

2. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on building your own specialized agent. Prolific teacher Ania Kubów will show you how to deploy a production-ready Slack chatbot using Node.js, Express, Slack Bolt, PostgreSQL, and Infrastructure-as-Code using Render blueprints. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-your-own-ai-agent/

3. Learn how to spot problems in LLM-generated code like bloated components, messy state, weak data fetching patterns, and missing types. This tutorial will show you how to refactor the code into structures that are way easier to maintain. Remember, kids: despite the AI hype, your actual skills still matter. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/stop-trusting-ai-code-blindly-a-react-code-refactoring-case-study/

4. A lot of apps work great on your own machine, then fall apart the second you put them in the hands of real-world users. This Flutter tutorial will show you how mobile apps handle spotty networks, offline states, widget rebuilds, async pitfalls, memory leaks, and other rubber-meets-the-road problems. If you build mobile apps, this is well worth bookmarking. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-production-ready-actually-means-in-flutter/

5. And finally, if you're interested in embedded systems, freeCodeCamp just published a full-length handbook on building Bluetooth apps using Zephyr OS. You'll start with BLE fundamentals like GAP, GATT, services, and characteristics. Then you'll write real firmware for handling connections, reading sensor data, and building BLE peripherals that a phone can talk to. It also touches on security, debugging, power optimization, firmware updates, Bluetooth Mesh, and LE Audio. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-bluetooth-applications-with-zephyr-os-a-handbook-for-devs/

Joke of the Week: “Why is it so hard to find DevOps professionals on Mars? Because there's no Terraform there yet.” — Dangertwin88 on Reddit

May 29, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Figma course that will teach you how to design your own apps and websites. You'll learn about wireframes, color palettes, reusable components, layout grids, and more. Then you'll practice those skills by designing your own food delivery app, fitness tracker app, and donut shop website. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-figma-for-ui-ux-design

2. The freeCodeCamp community focuses on teaching core programming skills, but we also teach a lot of advanced AI and machine learning. This new course on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) goes way beyond simple chatbot stuff to cover challenges you'll face when deploying real AI systems to production. You'll learn about vector databases, chunking, similarity search, observability, security layers, and more. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/production-rag-with-langchain-vector-databases/

3. LaTeX is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife for formatting text and equations in academic papers. Pretty much every PhD student I know uses LaTeX. And now you can harness this open source tool through freeCodeCamp's new 41-hour course. You'll practice formatting mathematical proofs, code blocks, and vector graphics. You'll even write your own custom LaTeX package. (41-hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-latex-in-41-hours/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a full length handbook on DevOps automation with Bash and Python. You'll work through five production-style scenarios: detecting abnormal AWS spend, correlating logs with trace IDs, spotting infrastructure drift outside Terraform, validating secret rotation, and automatically rolling back slow deployments. This is a practical guide for people who want to automate the work that ops teams actually do. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-bash-python-for-real-devops-automation-handbook-with-production-use-cases/

5. We're big fans of Flutter at freeCodeCamp, and use it for building our open source iPhone and Android apps. We just published a new tutorial that will teach you Flutter error handling concepts like result types, monads, typed exceptions, and more. You can use these tools to catch failures before they cascade, and to harden your mobile app codebase. (21 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/advanced-error-handling-in-dart-records-result-types-monads-and-freezed-exceptions/

Quote of the Week: “The details are not the details. They make the design.” — Charles Eames, designer, architect and filmmaker

May 22, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course that will teach you how to think in code. You'll learn a variety of key scripting language concepts: scope, closures, hoisting, execution context, prototypes, propagation, memoization, multithreading, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have a new mental framework for understanding how JavaScript and other programming languages work under the hood. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/think-like-the-javascript-engine/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course on Manus, a new workflow automation tool that runs inside of a sandboxed cloud computer. This beginner's course will walk you through using an agent to run deep research, gather data, and take actions on your behalf. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-build-automated-workflows-with-manus-ai/

3. Learn emerging best practices for staying private online. This tutorial will explain key concepts like browser fingerprinting, first-party tracking, metadata, and device telemetry. You'll see how privacy is more about separating your identities and reducing data exposure than it is about any one magic tool. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-protect-your-privacy-online-in-2026/

4. Learn how to build your own Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) agent with Python and Claude's Tool Use API. This tutorial will show you how to replace a fragmented manual workflow with an AI agent that can chain tools together and save a structured report. You can follow along at home and set up OpenOSINT, run investigations, and expose the tools to Claude Code through an MCP server. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-autonomous-agent-in-python-using-claude/

5. If you're interested in machine learning, freeCodeCamp just published an analysis of the now-famous “Language Models are Few-Shot Learners” academic paper. We explain few-shot learning and in-context learning in plain English. Then we walk through the paper's methodology, model architecture, experiments, and long-term impact. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-paper-review-language-models-are-few-shot-learners-gpt-3/

Quote of the Week: “Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true, and the tendency to miss lunch.” — Tim Berners-Lee, creator of HTML and inventor of the World Wide Web

May 15, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a beginner-friendly course on Claude Code. You can use this command-line tool to inspect your local codebase, run terminal commands, execute tests, and handle a ton of your boilerplate code. This course starts with setup, then moves into practical workflows like project scaffolding, autonomous debugging, multi-file navigation, and architectural audits. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/claude-code-for-beginners/

2. If you're looking for a beginner-friendly path into DevOps, earning an AWS certification may be the way to go. freeCodeCamp just published a course to help you prepare for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. This course is newly updated for 2026. You'll learn cloud computing concepts, architecture, deployment models, and more. (13 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-study-course-pass-the-exam-with-this-free-13-hour-course/

3. My Stanford hackathon documentary is live. 15,000 students from around the world applied. Of these, only 1,000 were admitted. These elite few competed for more than 500k in prizes. Stanford flew me out to film all three days of the event and interview more than 100 devs. You'll see robot boxing, llamas, and tons of project demos. One dev got attacked out of nowhere by a bipedal robot right in the middle of my interview. (100 minute documentary): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/inside-stanford-elite-student-hackathon-full-documentary

4. Learn how to build production-ready AI features into your mobile apps using Flutter. This full-length handbook will teach you how to implement streaming responses, safety filters, and prompt injection protection. You'll also learn about graceful degradation, cost management, and app store policy gotchas. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-production-ready-ai-features-with-flutter-handbook-for-devs/

5. Learn how to make your interfaces more intuitive through Human-Centered Design principles. You'll get exposure to academic theories like Fitts's Law, Hick's Law, Jakob's Law, the Goal-Gradient Hypothesis, the Doherty Threshold, Postel's Law, Occam's Razor, and more. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-apply-academic-theories-to-human-centered-web-design-handbook/

Quote of the Week: “We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” — Alan Turing

May 8, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course on how the JavaScript Event Loop works. JS is famously single-threaded. Yet it can still power apps without freezing up. This course will show you how. You'll learn about the Call Stack, Web APIs, Task Queues, Microtask Queues, and the Event Loop itself. The instructor uses clear animations and step-by-step diagrams throughout. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mastering-the-javascript-event-loop/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full length handbook on embedded memory architecture. If you've ever wondered why the same code can run fast in one scenario and slow in another, memory is often the reason. First you'll learn the differences between ITCM, DTCM, and DDR memory. You'll also learn about linker scripts, firmware memory profiling, and more. If you're interested in embedded systems, this is well worth bookmarking. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/itcm-vs-dtcm-vs-ddr-embedded-memory-types-explained-handbook/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Rachel Fernandez. She's a computer science student and Stanford's youngest instructor. We talk about the state of computer science education in 2026, why C++ is still an important language, and how developers can use AI tools without “deskilling” themselves. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/stanford-s-youngest-instructor-talks-infosec-ai-and-catching-cheaters-rachel-fernandez-interview-podcast-217/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook that explores how one team built a codebase-aware AI reviewer. They moved their architectural rules and team memory out of Slack threads and into files the agent can actually read, like AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md. The handbook also gets into guardrails, like keeping the reviewer read-only by default. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-unblock-ai-pr-review-bottleneck-handbook/

5. And finally, if you're a front end engineer working with microservices, this article should help. You'll learn how to deal with multiple service contracts, partial failures, and distributed state. This guide also explains the Backend-for-Frontend pattern. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-navigate-microservices-as-a-frontend-engineer/

Quote of the Week: “I feel very lucky that I had to learn from the textbook, that I had to write the papers, and that I had to learn how to communicate on my own. I feel very lucky that I didn’t have AI tools when I was in high school.” — Stanford Computer Science instructor Rachel Fernandez on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 1, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you Information Technology fundamentals. You'll learn about hardware, networking, security, databases, DNS, Cloud, Git, and even some Linux basics. This is a good starting point for a career in IT, systems administration, network engineering, and it doesn't hurt for developers in general to understand these concepts. Dig in. (13 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-hardware-cloud-devops-networking-security-databases-dns-git-and-linux/

2. I filmed a new full-length documentary! Stanford invited me to cover their hackathon, TreeHacks 2026. In total, 15,000 students from around the world applied. Of these only 1,000 were admitted. These elite few competed for more than 500k in prizes. I filmed all 3 days of the event and interviewed more than 100 devs. You'll see robot boxing, llamas, and tons of project demos. One dev got attacked out of nowhere by a bipedal robot right in the middle of my interview. You can watch the documentary in full right now. (100 minute documentary): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/inside-stanford-elite-student-hackathon-full-documentary

3. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on 3D web development with Blender and Three.js. You'll build an interactive "cozy cafe" portfolio from scratch while learning how 3D art and web development fit together. The course covers subdivision modeling, texture painting, lighting, and performance optimization. You'll make your scene interactive so people can click around and explore it. By the end of the course, you'll have built two complete 3D scenes and learned how to deploy them to the web. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/3d-web-development-with-blender-and-three-js/

4. Learn how to dockerize your own Go project. First this beginner-friendly tutorial explains containerization in plain English. Then it walks you through building a Dockerfile for a Go app. You'll learn about images, containers, volumes, and Docker Compose. If Docker still feels a bit abstract to you, code along at home and you'll feel the concrete start to set. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-dockerize-a-go-application-full-step-by-step-walkthrough/

5. Learn how to use Toyota's “5 Whys” technique to get past surface-level fixes and diagnose the real cause of a problem. This tutorial shows how you can move from symptoms to system-level causes by repeatedly asking why, then checking each answer against your evidence. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-symptoms-to-root-cause-how-to-use-the-5-whys-technique/

Quote of the Week: “A computer once beat me at chess. But it was no match for me at kickboxing.” — Emo Philips

April 23, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published an automation for beginners course. You'll learn how to automate your routine daily tasks by piping together triggers and actions. By the end of the course, you'll have your own Model Context Protocol server that can share info between your productivity apps and your agents. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/reclaim-your-time-master-automation-with-zapier/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length handbook on data quality. You'll learn the most common ways that bad data enters a system, and how to prevent it. You'll get exposure to the different layers where data validation needs to happen: front end, back end, database, business logic, and data ingestion. The handbook will also walk you through testing strategies to keep bad data out of your projects. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-quality-handbook-data-errors-the-developer-s-role-validation-layers/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Jessica Rose. She's a developer and teacher who's worked on open data projects at Mozilla and on lots of open source projects. We talk about how the whole world is hard right now, and how embracing that difficulty instead of avoiding it can make you a better thinker. She also shares why building “silly little things” is one of the best things you can do as a learner. Her online bootcamp is called the Bad Website Club and is based on the freeCodeCamp front-end development curriculum. It starts on April 24. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-friction-max-your-learning-with-software-engineer-jessica-rose-podcast-216/

4. AI Governance may sound like something only managers need to worry about. But in practice, it's us developers who have to actually build the responsible AI systems. You can bookmark this new freeCodeCamp handbook and code along with four hands-on Python projects: a model card generator, a bias detection pipeline, an audit trail logger, and a human-in-the-loop escalation system. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ai-governance-handbook-build-responsible-ai-systems/

5. There are so many conflicting takes on AI and how it's changing the field of software engineering. This new essay by a CTO and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor will help you find the signal in the noise. He lays out a practical roadmap for strengthening your fundamentals, getting better at debugging, and building a stronger proof of work. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-new-definition-of-software-engineering-in-the-age-of-ai/

Quote of the Week: “Folks who are overly-focused on AI tools may tell you: ‘Don’t bother building expertise.’ I say: what a deeply suspect piece of advice.” — Developer Jessica Rose, who runs the Bad Website Club, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

April 17, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course on software system design fundamentals. You'll learn about databases, scaling, load balancing, and designing APIs with both REST and GraphQL. Once you grasp all these concepts, you'll be able to build better apps, websites, and back-end tools. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-software-system-design/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length handbook on data quality. It'll introduce you to the types of data errors that silently break systems. Learn how to avoid missing fields, bad formats, logical inconsistencies, duplicate records, and more. You'll also learn how validation works across your front-end, back-end, database, service layer, and test suite. This is well worth bookmarking. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-quality-handbook-data-errors-the-developer-s-role-validation-layers/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Mark Mahoney. He worked as a dev then spent 23 years as a computer science professor. He also teaches thousands of devs through his programming courses he built on top of his own open source platform. We talk about why learning programming the hard way is still the right way, how to avoid deskilling yourself with LLM tools, and why now is a great time to study computer science. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-learn-programming-and-cs-in-the-ai-hype-era-interview-with-dev-and-prof-mark-mahoney-podcast-215/

4. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on using OpenAI's new Codex tool. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has decades of experience writing code manually. So it's fun to watch him put coding agents through their paces. You'll learn how to manage big context windows, work with sessions, sculpt your project guidance files, and use sandboxing to minimize the ever-present risk that your agents are going to go WarGames on you. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/openai-codex-essentials-ai-assisted-agentic-development-course/

5. And if you're wanting to get started with Infrastructure as Code, this Terraform tutorial is good eats. You'll learn Terraform's core workflows, then use them to manage applications, databases, networking, secrets, scaling, and deployment pipelines in a massively repeatable way. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-started-with-terraform/

Quote of the Week: “The best way to learn is just build, build, build, get stuck, get yourself unstuck, and try to take away new lessons every time you do that.” — Computer Science professor Mark Mahoney on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

April 10, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new Python course that will teach you how to program your own aerial drone. You don't need to own a drone. You'll use the PySimverse simulator to practice autonomous flight. First you'll learn the basics of drone components, 3D movement, and common computer vision tasks. Then you'll learn about navigation, image capture, hand gesture control, autonomous following, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-ai-drone-programming/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a massive course that will teach you how to program NVIDIA's H100 GPUs using CUDA. You'll learn about CUTLASS optimizations, multi-GPU scaling, and the primitives developers use to train large models. (24 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cuda-programming-for-nvidia-h100s

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Chris Griffing, a software engineer who has spent 15,031 hours coding live on Twitch. After high school he spent 10 years doing odd jobs at ski resorts so he could focus on snowboarding. He taught himself programming at age 28 by building websites for his friends. We talk about how learning Go made him a better Rust developer, why he thinks it's good to become a polyglot, and how he uses LLM tools while still building most codebases manually. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lessons-from-15-031-hours-of-coding-live-on-twitch-with-chris-griffing-podcast-214/

4. If you've ever wanted to build a video editor or live streaming tool that runs entirely in a browser, this handbook is worth bookmarking. You'll see how the WebCodecs API can give you low-level, hardware-accelerated control over video processing. You'll learn key concepts like video frames, codecs, containers, and muxing. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-webcodecs-handbook-native-video-processing-in-the-browser/

5. Kubernetes doesn't have a built-in user database. Instead it relies on a chain of authenticators. This course will teach you how x509 client certificates work, why they're not ideal for human users in production, and how to instead deploy your own self-hosted browser-based OpenID Connect login. (29 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-authenticate-users-in-kubernetes-x509-certificates-oidc-and-cloud-identity/

Quote of the Week: “There will be room for experts, despite AI tool improvements. The way that we get things done may change. But that was always going to happen.” — Software Engineer Chris Griffing on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

April 3, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course on AI-assisted software development. You'll learn common terminal workflows and tips for “pair programming” alongside LLM tools. You'll also get exposure to tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw. At the end of the day, the entire goal of using these tools is to build more features without compromising the maintainability of your codebase. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-tools-for-developers/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a beginner level course on AI literacy for everybody that you can also share with your family. First you'll learn about the two traits that define artificial intelligence: autonomy and adaptivity. Then you'll build your own image classifier right on your own phone or laptop. This course also delves into considerations like algorithmic bias and the environmental costs of training LLMs. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-literacy-for-everybody/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Landon Gray. He's a software engineer who spent years working at agencies, then taught himself AI-assisted software development. We talk about why Large Language Models are just raw fuel, and why the harness code around them matters so much more. We also talk about his contributions to the Ruby Machine Learning ecosystem. Even at his level of experience, Landon still firmly encourages devs to build their professional network through conferences and talks. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-happens-when-the-model-can-t-fix-it-interview-with-software-engineer-landon-gray-podcast-213/

4. Learn how to build your own QR code generator using JavaScript. This tutorial will walk you through generating QR codes entirely in a browser without the need for a backend. You'll learn how to validate input, clear previous output, and use a JavaScript library to render the code instantly on the client side. Then you'll see how to extend the project with downloads, custom styling, WiFi support, and more. (7 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-qr-code-generator-using-javascript/

5. I'm thrilled to announce that the Bad Website Club is back for another Responsive Web Design bootcamp based on freeCodeCamp's curriculum. It starts April 24 and runs for 10 weeks. You can join our Discord community and tune in for live streams. It's led by volunteer devs who are passionate about helping folks learn CSS and JavaScript fundamentals. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/bad-website-club-bootcamp-based-on-freecodecamp-rwd-cert/

Quote of the Week: “LLM tools accelerate everything. But if you’re doing the wrong thing, they just accelerate that and proliferate that everywhere. So you still have to have the fundamentals and know how to design software and think about software.” — Software Engineer Landon Gray on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 27, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will walk you through using the popular AI-assisted development tool Claude Code. You'll learn about Code Harnesses, Agentic Loops, Sandboxing, and other key concepts. By the end of the course you'll be able to spin up an entire fleet of agents to help you fix bugs and build out new features. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/claude-code-essentials-exampro/

2. We also published a course on the Hugging Face tool ecosystem. You'll learn how to connect your models, datasets, and deployment tools into a single unified build pipeline. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/deploying-ai-models-with-hugging-face/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Chris Coyier. He's a front-end dev who built CodePen and the influential CSS Tricks blog. He shares his thoughts on front-end development tools and how he thinks they're 90% of the way to where he ideally wants them. He also explains why highly skilled devs who are working on novel problems don't need to worry about AI disrupting their careers. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-world-still-needs-people-who-care-codepen-founder-chris-coyier-interview-podcast-212/

4. Learn how to secure your Kubernetes Cluster. This in-depth tutorial starts by exploring real-world security breaches at big companies like Tesla, Shopify, and Capital One. Then it walks you through how to prevent each of these types of attacks by hardening your setup. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-secure-a-kubernetes-cluster-handbook/

5. Tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a new Spanish-language course on SQL and relational databases. It covers tables, foreign keys, queries, data manipulation, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-sql-course-for-beginners-in-spanish/

Quote of the Week: “I’ll probably be explaining CSS border-radius tricks into the dirt with a stick after the apocalypse.” — Software Engineer and prolific teacher Chris Coyier on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 20, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new YouTube course that will teach you beginner Front-end Development skills like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can code along at home and build a variety of projects: your own interactive quiz game, a currency converter app, and even a Trello-style kanban board. Along the way you'll learn how to use APIs and local storage to extend the functionality of these bite-sized apps. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-19-web-dev-projects-using-html-css-javascript/

2. Learn how to properly test your software and ensure it doesn't break when you add new features. Prolific freeCodeCamp instructor Beau Carnes teaches this course. He'll introduce you to the Testing Pyramid and show you how to balance fast unit tests against complex end-to-end user journeys. You'll also learn how to automate some of this testing using an open source library called Playwright and an LLM testing tool. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/software-testing-with-playwright/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Luke Ciciliano, a software engineer who has hundreds of freelance clients. He shares tips for building your own software consultancy in your city and winning clients. He's confident that AI tools are actually creating MORE potential small business customers, not fewer. He walks through how he engages clients and closes deals, and why he thinks building long-term relationships is the key. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-land-freelance-clients-with-small-business-whisperer-luke-ciciliano-developer-interview-podcast-211/

4. More and more apps are relying on probabilistic LLM output alongside deterministic API calls. This makes life harder for devs who now need to ensure that hallucinations don't escape to end users. freeCodeCamp just published this advanced observability tutorial that will teach you emerging best practices and architectural patterns for dealing with this. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-end-to-end-llm-observability-in-fastapi-with-opentelemetry/

5. Learn how to containerize your MLOps pipelines. This tutorial is the result of hard-won deployment wisdom. The author spent three weeks debugging a Python library error due to dependency conflicts. His eventual answer: containerize entire project with Docker. This tutorial will show you how to structure your containers with multi-stage builds. You'll also learn how to set up experiment tracking with MLflow, versioning with DVC, GPU passthrough, and other advanced techniques. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/containerize-mlops-pipeline-from-training-to-serving/

Quote of the Week: “We don’t always appreciate how technologically illiterate a lot of society still is. No matter how low-code, no-code, or simple these tools become, there’s always going to be a large group of people who either can’t do it themselves or just won’t. They may be intimidated by it, or they may not want to risk doing it badly. I’ve come to appreciate that no matter how simple the tools get, there’s always going to be work there for somebody to do.” — Software Engineer and prolific freelance dev Luke Ciciliano on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 13, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive DevOps course that will teach you how to deploy your apps to production safely. You'll build your own CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery) pipeline. Along the way you'll learn about branching strategies, Jenkins Freestyle Jobs, GitFlow, Maven, and more. This is a perfect way to build your skills over spring break. (17 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ci-cd-in-production-with-jenkins/

2. Learn how to fine-tune an LLM to incorporate your own proprietary data. This is super useful if you need off-the-shelf LLMs to do novel tasks that they weren't originally optimized for. This course will teach you all about Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning, and how to use techniques like LoRA and QLoRA to train models on consumer-grade hardware. No data center needed. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-to-fine-tune-llms-in-12-hours/

3. On this week's podcast I interview software engineer Justin Searls who ran his own software development agency for 15 years. At age 38, he retired and moved to Japan. He has some controversial takes on AI-assisted development. He talks about how he thinks software development is ceasing to be a team sport and his vision of a future where individual devs just work directly for the clients who are paying them to build projects. Justin also shares tips for how folks entering the field can use emerging tools to get an edge over more experienced devs. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/there-are-2-kinds-of-devs-one-of-them-is-screwed-justin-searls-interview-podcast-210/

4. Learn how to protect your sensitive data by running your LLMs locally. This quick tutorial will show you how to get up and running with Ollama, Python, LangChain, and LangGraph. It will also walk you through the various trade-offs you face when you avoid sharing your data with big tech companies. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/protect-sensitive-data-with-local-llms/

5. Learn how agents are changing the field of software development. This in-depth tutorial will get you hands-on experience with building your own Flutter mobile app using Antigravity and Stitch. You don't even need to know Flutter. You just need to understand the core concepts and make the architectural decisions. You'll quickly see how sophisticated these tools have gotten over the past few months. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-ai-agents-are-changing-development-by-building-a-flutter-app/

Quote of the Week: “If you're out there learning programming right now, build your new project, build it to be valuable, and see it through to completion.” — Software Engineer Justin Searls on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 6, 2026

1. If you're interested in learning about AI infrastructure, freeCodeCamp just published this new course that will help you pass the NVIDIA Infrastructure and Operations Certification Exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. He'll introduce you to key concepts like GPU architecture, CUDA, and use cases for Accelerated Computing. Even if you decide not to pursue the certification, you'll still learn a lot from this course. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-nvidia-certified-associate-ai-infrastructure-and-operations-certification-exam/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a new course that will teach you full-stack JavaScript development by building your own professional-grade Loom-style screen-sharing platform. You can code along at home as you watch instructor Beau Carnes create a Next.js app, then add screen and mic capturing using standard media APIs. Then you'll learn how to store video data in the cloud, and automatically transcribe it. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/loom-clone-next-javascript-mux/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview Carl Brown who runs the Internet of Bugs YouTube channel and has worked as a dev at Amazon, IBM, and startups for over 37 years. He's extremely opinionated on the state of software development, and I'm here for it with popcorn in hand. He argues that many devs should target roles at smaller companies instead of in “big tech”. He also talks about how everyone will face ageism eventually, and he recommends a consulting career as an escape hatch. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ultimate-dev-skill-is-integration-testing-podcast-interview-with-internet-of-bugs-podcast-209/

4. You may have heard the term DevOps, or Development and Operations. Well now there's another emerging field, MLOps, or Machine Learning and Operations. freeCodeCamp just published an MLOps for beginners Python course that will teach you how to take your models beyond Jupyter Notebook and into production environments. Along the way, you'll learn tools like Hugging Face, MLflow, and Databricks. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mlops-with-mlflow-and-databricks/

5. Learn how to enjoy the code review process with what Abbey Perini calls “pull request therapy.” She explains her own struggles with perfectionism, her anxiety from hostile reviewers she's encountered in the past, and how she's overcome these hurdles to become a prolific contributor. Abbey also shares tips to help you identify friendly open source projects. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learning-to-enjoy-code-reviews-with-npmx/

Quote of the Week: “When an engineer fixes a bug, they can often think back to the exact trade-off they made when programming. And they can understand why that trade-off ultimately caused that bug.” — Software Engineer Carl Brown on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 27, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will take you deep into the modern Kubernetes ecosystem. You'll implement advanced industry standards such as Gateway API for traffic management, CloudNativePG for managing PostgreSQL databases, and cert-manager for automated HTTPS security. By the end of the course, you'll have the confidence to manage production-grade environments. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-kubernetes-through-production-ready-practice/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive Notion course. It's not just a fancy notebook – you can use it as a full-blown operating system. You can code along at home and build your own task manager using Notion's “Software Legos” philosophy. Then you'll integrate your project with mail and calendar functionality, dashboards, and other advanced features. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lean-notion-in-12-hours/

3. On this week's podcast I interview software engineer Shawn “Swyx” Wang, who runs the AI Engineer conference. We talk about three areas of research to further improve model performance: world models, multi-modality, and models that learn. Shawn also shares which skills he thinks are the most important for developers going forward, and why you should switch your own self-teaching from “just-in-case learning” to “just-in-time learning”. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-three-paths-ai-could-take-from-here-shawn-wang-swyx-interview-podcast-208/

4. Learn how to guide agents to write secure code using a robust framework of rules and tests. Software engineer and recent podcast guest Sumit Saha shares his step-by-step process by building a Node.js shopping cart app using an agent. Instead of just using naive “one-shot” prompts, he leverages server-side validation and test-driven development. Well worth reading. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-guide-ai-with-rules-and-tests/

5. Learn the Python you need to know to build your own agents. This course starts by teaching you core Python syntax and best practices before moving on to NumPy, Pandas, and SQL. With these tools in your toolbelt, you can manage the data that fuels modern AI tools. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-and-build-autonomous-agents/

Quote of the Week: “However uncertain the developer job market may be right now, let me assure you: high-agency junior devs will always find a way.” — Software Engineer Shawn “Swyx” Wang on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 20, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you the fundamental concepts, protocols, and architectures of computer networking. You'll learn key network engineering topics like topology, subnetting, flow control, routing, IPv4 addressing, DNS, and more. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/computer-networking-fundamentals/

2. And we just published our second-ever chess course. This time you'll learn the Italian Game, one of the most common chess openings. This handbook and accompanying video course are taught by freeCodeCamp engineer Ihechikara Abba, who has a chess Elo rating of 2285. He will lay out the many traps that white can set for black, and how to not fall for them. (full-length handbook and 1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-chess-italian-game-handbook-traps-for-white/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Robby Russell, creator of the OhMyZSH command line tool and host of a popular podcast about software maintainability. We talk about how a “Don't let that happen again” culture often leads to precautions that stifle codebase momentum, and how to reverse this. Robby also shares tips for reducing your team's dependency on that one developer who's been there for years but could die at any time. Finally, he shares his nuanced perspective on LLM tools and how he uses them to speed up his workflows. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-maintaining-a-codebase-is-so-damn-hard-with-ohmyzsh-creator-robby-russell-podcast-207/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length book on Product-Led Research. This is a must-read for any manager within a tech company. It's written by a CTO and security researcher named Omer Rosenbaum, who says: “if you manage Research like it's Development, things aren't going to go well for you.” He breaks down the most common research frameworks and methodologies, and contextualizes them through a series of case studies. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/product-led-research-a-practical-guide-for-randd-leaders-full-book/

5. If you're a Python developer and use the Django web development framework, this tutorial will help you optimize the heck out of your APIs. Mari will teach you how to use profiling and logging to find bottlenecks in your codebase. Then she'll show you how to get extra performance through caching, so you can serve users at scale. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-optimize-django-rest-apis-for-performance/

Quote of the Week: “There's this tendency for developers to think: we could just rip this code out and rewrite it to be simpler or faster. But we underestimate just how much complexity and time and energy went into building a piece of software that has actually been running in production.” — Software Engineer and codebase maintainability expert Robby Russell on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 13, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you how to use the security-focused Kali Linux operating system. You’ll learn how to identify, exploit, and defend against real-world vulnerabilities. You'll also build a solid foundation in penetration testing, network security, and vulnerability assessment. Most importantly, you'll learn how to think like a security engineer and leverage tools of the trade like Nmap and Wireshark. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-cybersecurity-and-ethical-hacking-using-kali-linux/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a guide to passing the Certified Kubernetes Administrator Exam. Beau Carnes teaches this course, which will walk you through key DevOps concepts. You'll start by setting up your K8s practice environment. Then you'll bootstrap a multi-node cluster and your control plane. You'll learn about Helm, High Availability Autoscaling, CoreDNS, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-kubernetes-administrator-certification-and-pass/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Tapas Adhikary. He's a software engineer who runs a firm of 20 developers who build projects for companies around the world. He's also a prolific teacher, having written more than 300 programming tutorials. We talk about the changing nature of software engineering, tips for building your own fully-remote software development firm with clients abroad, and lessons he's learned from mentoring more than 500 developers. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tips-from-a-20-year-developer-veteran-turned-consultancy-founder-tapas-adhikary-interview-podcast-206/

4. And Tapas also just published a full-length handbook on freeCodeCamp Press that you can read right in your browser. It will teach you modern React data fetching best practices. You'll learn how to leverage Suspense, ErrorBoundary, and the new Use API. If you're interested in web development, this is well worth bookmarking. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-modern-react-data-fetching-handbook-suspense-use-and-errorboundary-explained/

5. Finally, I'm proud to share this new DevOps course that freeCodeCamp instructor Gavin Lon just published. You'll learn how to take a full stack app on your local machine and ship it to a fully containerized production environment. Along the way, you'll learn about CI/CD pipelines, Docker images, launching containers, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have a professional-grade pipeline that automatically builds and deploys updates with every push. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-production-ready-pipeline-with-docker-cicd-and-hostinger/

Quote of the Week: "The biggest change in software engineering today is the expectations. Clients are looking for speed of execution, and that is changing everything. The old hierarchy is getting merged, and even a junior dev is expected to bring a solution mindset." – Software engineer and agency owner Tapas Adhikary on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 6, 2026

1. Learn to code in Python from one of the greatest living Computer Science professors, Harvard's David J. Malan. This is the 2026 version of the famous CS50 course. It will teach you Python programming fundamentals like functions, conditionals, loops, libraries, file I/O, and more. If you're new to Python, or to coding in general, this is an excellent place to start. (25 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50-2026-free-computer-science-university-course

2. And a few weeks ago I had the honor of interviewing Harvard CS50 professor David J. Malan on the freeCodeCamp podcast. I was hyped to ask him how he uses emerging LLM tools, and where he thinks the software engineering field is heading. I had a LOT of questions for him and he answered all of them. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50-prof-david-j-malan-on-why-you-should-learn-programming-slowly-podcast-197/

3. That Harvard computer science course will get you started with programming. But where do you go from there? freeCodeCamp just published a helpful tutorial that will help you bridge from beginner projects to building real-world applications that solve real-world problems. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-go-from-hello-world-to-building-real-world-applications/

4. freeCodeCamp also just published a comprehensive intro to OpenClaw. If you've heard of Clawd Bot or Moltbot, this is the same tool, which they renamed to avoid confusion with the Claude LLM tool. OpenClaw is an agent and messaging gateway that lets you automate digital tasks through platforms like Discord. First you'll learn how to set it up. Then you'll learn security practices like implementing Docker-based sandboxing to protect your host system while your agent executes complicated workflows on your behalf. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/openclaw-full-tutorial-for-beginners

5. You may be using Bluetooth as you read this. It's been a key networking tool since 1999, and now it's getting 3 major upgrades: Passive Scanning, Bond Loss Reasons, and propagation of Service UUIDs. If you're interested in network engineering or IoT–style devices, this tutorial is well worth your read. (90 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-aosp-16-bluetooth-scanner-works-the-ultimate-guide/

Quote of the Week: "There’s something liberating about realizing that at the end of the day everything reduces to zeros and ones. It’s not magic. And once students see that, they think: OK, I got this." — Harvard computer science professor David Malan on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 30, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on relational database design for beginners. You'll learn SQL fundamentals, entity-relationship modeling, normal forms, data types, indexing strategies, query optimization, and more. Database design is a key developer skill that isn't going away. This course will help you build a strong foundation in it. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-relational-database-design/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a Python machine learning course that will teach you how to train large neural networks using several Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in parallel. You'll learn pipeline parallelism from scratch by applying three different approaches: naïve stop-and-wait, GPipe with micro-batching, and the interleaved 1F1B algorithm. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-pipeline-parallelism-from-scratch/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Sumit Saha, a software engineer who runs a developer agency with clients throughout Asia. We talk about his observation that “the hunger for learning is dying.” He says people are increasingly drawn to shortcuts over taking the time to truly understand concepts. He shares his information diet, and his tips for expanding your skills. We also have a lightning round where he explains 5 key developer concepts through helpful analogies. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-stay-curious-as-a-dev-in-the-ai-hype-era-with-sumit-saha-podcast-205/

4. Learn how to build your own Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)-powered search engine. You can code along at home and build the app using TypeScript, Next.js, and PostgreSQL. Your users will be able to upload documents, then search through them using LLM-powered semantic search. This is a great hands-on tutorial with tons of code examples and emerging best practices. (45 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-an-ai-powered-rag-search-application-with-nextjs-supabase-and-openai/

5. Learn how to use the Builder pattern in Python. This software design pattern simplifies constructing complicated objects by separating their construction from their representation. The author of this tutorial, Bala Pria C., has now written 37 Python tutorials with the freeCodeCamp community. I love her clear style and her clear code examples. And I think you will, too. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-the-builder-pattern-in-python-a-practical-guide-for-devs/

Quote of the Week: "In software engineering, we live and die by stability and security. The entire industry is run on maintainability. If you write code using AI codegen or some vibe coding tool, it will be a mess. You’ll lose control. You can use LLM help at the function or class level, but you have to carefully instruct it for anything bigger than that." - Software engineer and agency founder Sumit Saha on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 23, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new Python Data Structures & Algorithms course that will help you understand key Dynamic Programming patterns. These approaches come up all the time in technical interviews. You'll learn Constant Transition, the Grid Pattern, Two Sequences, Interval DP, Non-Constant Transition, Knapsack-like problems, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-dynamic-programming-through-dynamic-visuals/

2. If you're interested in building projects on top of Large Language Models, freeCodeCamp just published a Python course on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). You'll learn how to turn documents into embeddings then store them in vector databases. The course will also walk you through building your own Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-rag-and-mcp-fundamentals/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Mike McQuaid. He's a software engineer who maintains Homebrew, an open source package manager used by tens of millions of developers. We talk about how big open source infrastructure gets maintained and what a career in open source really looks like. Mike also shares how he uses LLM code generation tools, and which developer skills he thinks will be the most important going forward. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-most-important-skills-going-forward-with-cto-homebrew-maintainer-mike-mcquaid-podcast-204/

4. And next week I'm interviewing the author of this new handbook that freeCodeCamp just published: How Execution Context Works in JavaScript. If you're a JS dev, this is essential reading. You'll learn about interpretation vs compilation. Then you'll see how Node.js and the V8 engine load and execute code. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-execution-context-works-in-javascript-handbook/

5. Finally, this weekend you can build your own fully-playable horror game based on the legendary “The Backrooms” liminal space. For some reason my kids are terrified of this weirdly normal-looking office setting. You'll build your own environment using Unreal Engine 5 and the Blueprints visual scripting tool that abstracts away all the C++ code for you. Throw in a body-cam style camera perspective and some creepy monsters and you'll have the perfect way to scare friends and family alike. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-the-backrooms-game-in-unreal-engine-5/

Quote of the Week: "Past You and Future You are almost like two different people. If you design your tools and your systems well, Future You will constantly be thanking Past You." — Homebrew Lead Maintainer Mike McQuaid on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 16, 2026

1. I spent three days at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts recording a documentary about the world's largest collegiate hackathon. More than 3,000 student developers participated in this year's UC Berkeley Cal Hacks hackathon. Over the course of 36 hours, they built a broad array of projects, then demo'd them to judges from industry. I now present to you the finished documentary. I hope you find it both enjoyable and inspiring. (80-minute documentary): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/inside-cal-hacks-2025-36-hours-at-the-worlds-largest-collegiate-hackathon/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a new course on building your own custom Kubernetes operators and controllers from scratch. You'll learn everything from the internal architecture of Informers and Caches to advanced concepts like Finalizers and Idempotency. If you're interested in DevOps, this is the course for you. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-your-own-kubernetes-operators-with-go-and-kubebuilder/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview a corporate lawyer who learned programming at age 37 then ultimately got a job as a software engineer at Google. He talks about his journey and how he leveraged freeCodeCamp's coursework. He also talks about how the coding part of the job is getting easier with LLM tools, which makes other aspects like critical thinking all the more important. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/first-developer-job-at-age-38-with-lawyer-turned-software-engineer-zubin-pratap-podcast-203/

4. Learn how to select the best GPU for economically training your models and running inference workloads. This no-nonsense guide will help you understand why certain specs matter more than others. It will also help you navigate around common pitfalls when buying or renting GPUs. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-choose-the-best-gpu-for-your-ai-workloads/

5. Learn how to benchmark embedding models using your own custom data. This course will walk you through leveraging Vision Language Models for precise text extraction. You'll also learn how to use LLMs to generate synthetic evaluation data. Finally, you'll get exposure to the rigorous statistical tests that can help you find the best models for whatever hardware you have on hand. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-benchmark-embedding-models-on-your-own-data/

Quote of the Week: "When LLMs can do a lot of the autocomplete and the code generation for you, it comes down to your design work, your judgment, your taste, your analysis, your code review. You're going to be managing an LLM for at least 10% of your work. And that comes down to communication. What is a spec? What is a good prompt? It's communication. It is helping the LLM understand your goals." — lawyer-turned-software engineer Zubin Pratap on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 9, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a book that will teach you the math that powers most AI systems. Even if you haven't studied math since high school, you may find this book helpful in expanding your understanding of the layers of abstraction underpinning these emerging tools. You'll learn key concepts in statistics, linear algebra, calculus, and optimization theory. You'll also get a healthy dose of mathematical history. (free full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-math-behind-artificial-intelligence-book/

2. And if you're finding the sudden surge in AI tools to be overwhelming, freeCodeCamp just published this practical guide to using them effectively. This tutorial will separate the utility from the hype. You'll learn how to minimize hallucinations with Context Management. You'll also learn about agentic tools and in-editor assistants. It even has tips for how to prevent your own developer skills from atrophying, so you can adopt these tools without becoming overly dependent on them. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-not-be-overwhelmed-by-ai/

3. freeCodeCamp also published a course on React Optimization. You'll learn key React design patterns to achieve a screaming-fast front end. This course covers memoization, derived states, throttling, debouncing, concurrency, virtualization, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-optimize-react/

4. Learn modern music production using the popular FruityLoops Studio Digital Audio Workstation tool. This FL Studio course will teach you sound design fundamentals, mixing, filters, drum sequencing, basslines, synth melodies, and even advanced concepts like kick drum ducking. You can play along at home and by the end of the course you'll have your own bass house track you can share with your friends. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-music-production-with-fl-studio/

5. And in case you missed my year-end announcement, we just launched Version 10 of freeCodeCamp's JavaScript certification, along with updated Python, SQL, and Responsive Web Design certifications that you can earn. We even launched our beta Spanish and Mandarin Chinese curricula. (10 minute announcement article with tons of data): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/christmas-gifts-freecodecamp-community-2025/

Quote of the Week: "In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." — John von Neumann, mathematician and creator of von Neumann computer architecture, which is almost certainly used in the device that you're reading this on

December 24, 2025

1. 2025 has been an amazing year for the global freeCodeCamp community. And we’re thrilled to cap it off with the launch of several Christmas gifts for you. We just launched Version 10 of freeCodeCamp's JavaScript certification, along with updated Python, SQL, and Responsive Web Design certifications that you can earn. We even launched our beta Spanish and Mandarin Chinese curricula. (10 minute announcement article with tons of data): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/christmas-gifts-freecodecamp-community-2025

2. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview the son of an Indian textile worker who's now been working as a dev for 16 years. Santosh Yadav has managed to climb the ladder at Indian and European tech companies without needing to become a manager himself. He shares practical tips for devs who don't want to become managers, but do want to continue to ascend. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-promoted-as-a-dev-without-becoming-a-manager-staff-engineer-santosh-yadav-interview-podcast-202/

3. And now for some advanced learning resources to tide you over the holiday break. First, learn eBPF Tracing for when you're debugging Kubernetes apps, but your logs are failing you. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-debug-kubernetes-apps-when-logs-fail-you-an-ebpf-tracing-handbook/

4. Second, learn how to perform secure hashing using Python's hashlib module. This is helpful for storing sensitive information, verifying file integrity, and other cybersecurity purposes. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-perform-secure-hashing-using-pythons-hashlib-module/

5. Third, learn how to build your own Log-Structured Merge Tree from scratch as a new way to store data in your apps. These work by “appending new data to the existing data, instead of looking for something that exists and updating it. In other words, you don't have to spend any CPU cycles thinking about where to store data. You just append it at the end.” (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-lsm-tree-storage-engine-from-scratch-handbook/

Quote of the Week: “The day you stop waiting for your manager to tell you what’s broken, and you start fixing the things everyone else is ignoring, is the day you start moving up.” — Software Developer Santosh Yadav on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

December 19, 2025

1. I'm thrilled to announce that freeCodeCamp just launched our new Python certification curriculum. You can learn Python by building projects right in your browser. You'll learn a ton of fundamental programming concepts through our extensive theory sections. Then you'll apply that theory and get lots of reps with Python syntax by building projects. You can sit for the final exam and earn a certification that you can add to your LinkedIn or portfolio website. This is just one of the six certs in Version 10 of freeCodeCamp's Full Stack Developer Curriculum. This Python module is years in the making, and I think you're going to learn a lot from it. (comprehensive interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-python-certification-is-now-live/

2. Learn game development fundamentals by building your own 2D pixel art tower defense game. You'll use the popular Unity game development framework. You can code along at home and learn how to set up 2D tilemap levels, animate pixel-art characters, build towers, and spawn enemy waves. Then you'll learn how to export your game to be playable on Windows, Android, and in a web browser. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-2d-pixel-art-game-in-unity/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Jason Lengstorf, a college dropout who taught himself programming while building websites for his emo band. 22 years later, he's worked as a developer at IBM, Netlify, and run his own dev consultancy. He shares his observation that many CEOs over-estimated the impact of AI coding tools and laid off too many developers. He says the developer job market has already rebounded a bit, but will never be the same. He shares tons of tips for how to land roles in the post-LLM labor market. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ai-is-going-to-replace-devs-hype-is-over-22-year-developer-veteran-jason-lengstorf-podcast-201/

4. Learn modern web development techniques by building your own sales dashboard app using React, JavaScript, and Supabase. You'll start by architecting your database schema. Then you'll set up session management. Finally, you'll implement real-time data operations. By the end of the course, you'll have a dashboard app you can show off to your friends. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/supabase-for-beginners/

5. Now you can learn Spanish on freeCodeCamp. We just launched our Spanish curriculum today, which we've been working on all year. You'll learn proper Spanish pronunciation, greetings, introductions, numbers, and more. You'll also learn how to type Spanish characters like this one ñ on your phone and computer. We already have more than 200 steps live, with the rest of the CEFR A1 level going live in 2026. ¡Aprendamos! (fully interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-a1-professional-spanish-curriculum-beta-is-now-live/

Quote of the Week: “The promise was that AI was going to replace developers. We’re seeing pretty clearly that’s not the case. Anything beyond a toy, anything that requires maintenance or significant feature development, you can’t vibe-code that. The strongest developers in the future are the ones who have the right skills to leverage AI effectively.” — Software Engineer Jason Lengstorf on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

December 12, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just launched our new JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms Certification. You can now take the final exam and earn this verified cert, then add it to your LinkedIn, CV, or personal website. This is version 10 of the core freeCodeCamp curriculum. The community collectively spent thousands of hours developing all this to serve as your shortest path to acquiring programming fundamentals. (300 hour interactive curriculum – announcement article and FAQ): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-javascript-certification-is-now-live/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a project-oriented course on building your own AI agents using the n8n framework. You'll learn about vector databases, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, multi-workflow builds, and more. You can code along at home, and by the end of the course you'll have a variety of agentic projects you can show off to your friends. (4 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-n8n-to-design-develop-and-deploy-production-grade-ai-agents/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Kunal Kushwaha. He's a software engineer and prolific computer science teacher on YouTube. After years of preparation, he failed India's Engineering Entrance Exam not once but twice. But he persevered. He built his own learning path by contributing code to open source projects. In his short career as a developer, he's worked at small startups as well as at a big UK cloud provider as their field CTO. He shares tons of tips for learning new skills, being productive while working remotely, and his thoughts on the Indian higher education system. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-your-own-learning-path-using-open-source-with-kunal-kushwaha-podcast-200/

4. Tell your friends who are learning English: freeCodeCamp just launched our English for Developers curriculum. You can learn vocab, grammar, reading, and listening – all through stories set in a Silicon Valley tech company. This is level A2 English, meaning it's lower intermediate. We'll introduce other CEFR levels in the coming months as well. (interactive curriculum with certification – announcement article and FAQ): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-a2-english-for-developers-certification-is-now-live/

5. freeCodeCamp also published an advanced Python course that will teach you about sequence models and Neural Machine Translation. You'll learn about historical breakthroughs, architectural innovations, and mathematical insights as you reproduce the findings of 7 landmark AI papers using the PyTorch machine learning library. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/building-nmt-from-scratch-pytorch-replications-of-7-landmark-papers/

Quote of the Week: “Open source saved my career. It gave me credibility, proof of work, skills, projects to showcase, and a network.” — Software Engineer Kunal Kushwaha on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

December 5, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a Git and GitHub for beginners course. Git is a powerful version control tool that most developers now use to build software projects together. GitHub is a popular platform that adds tons of collaboration features on top of Git. You'll learn the basics of both in this course, which covers branching, merging, pull requests, and other key concepts. Well worth your time. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/git-and-github-crash-course-for-beginners

2. freeCodeCamp also just launched our new Responsive Web Design Certification. You can now take the final exam and earn this verified cert, then add it to your LinkedIn, CV, or personal website. This is version 10 of the core fCC curriculum. The community collectively spent thousands of hours developing all this as your shortest path to front-end development skills. This announcement and comprehensive FAQ will help you figure out where this fits into your journey toward your learning goals. (100+ hour interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-responsive-web-design-certification-is-now-live/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Andrea Griffiths, who taught herself programming using freeCodeCamp while working in construction. She moved to the US from Colombia when she was 17, and within 6 months she joined the US Army. She ran a chain of gyms before landing a support role at a tech company, then ascended to Product Manager and ultimately Developer Advocate at GitHub. She shares tips for busy parents who want to learn new skills, and how to stay focused in an increasingly distracting world. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tips-from-serial-career-changer-github-andrea-griffiths-podcast-199/

4. freeCodeCamp also just published a new Harvard CS50 course that will teach you R, a popular programming language for statistical computing and data science. You'll work with real-world datasets inside the RStudio Integrated Development Environment. You'll learn about Vectors, Matrices, Data Frames, filtering, visualizations, and more. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-r-programming-from-harvard-university/

5. It is with great pride that I announce our Top Open Source Contributors of 2025. It's been a super productive year for the global freeCodeCamp community. As we start our 12th year as a community, we’re firing on all cylinders, pushing forward more steadily than ever toward a future of open source education. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-top-open-source-contributors-2025/

Quote of the Week: “Take a moment to stop and think about what it is that truly matters to you. And then start making the changes that you need to make.” — Andrea Griffiths on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast talking about her decision to learn programming and launch into an entirely new career

November 26, 2025

1. Before modern Large Language Models, scientists and developers worked with more fundamental Natural Language Processing tools. freeCodeCamp just published a handbook that will help you understand the tools that power chatbots, machine translation, text summarization, and more. You'll learn how computers analyze syntax, model semantics, and interpret context. Then you'll use popular Python libraries to apply those concepts to real projects. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-nlp-techniques-and-tools-in-your-projects-full-handbook/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook that will give you a nuanced understanding of one of the trickier aspects of JavaScript development: Closures. First you'll learn about functions, parameters, and lexical scope. Then you'll learn how a Closure "closes over" a variable to keep it safe, while still granting you access to its values through function calls. If this sounds complicated, it is. But fear not – this handbook will give you tons of code examples of Closure mechanics, and teach you when to use them. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-closures-work-in-javascript-a-handbook-for-developers/

3. On this week's podcast I interview two university students who won a 24-hour hackathon. They built a project that helps people who are losing their vision learn how to read Braille. Alison Co and Cindy Cui talk about how, in the middle of the night, they decided to completely rip out their project's AI component. It made their code run so much faster. They share tips for succeeding at hackathons, and also for landing internships at companies like Shopify. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/when-not-to-use-ai-in-your-hackathon-project-with-mlh-winners-cindy-cui-and-alison-co-podcast-198/

4. Flexbox is a powerful CSS feature that lets you build user interfaces that fit any screen size. If you’ve ever struggled to center something with CSS or tried to make columns line up nicely, well, Flexbox simplifies this dramatically. freeCodeCamp just published a Flexbox for beginners course where you'll learn both the concepts and the code syntax while building a responsive website navigation bar. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-css-flexbox-for-beginners-free-2-hour-course

5. When you're working with Large Language Models, every additional token adds cost and latency. Microsoft just open-sourced a tool called LLMLingua that will compress your prompts and other context window data. freeCodeCamp published this tutorial to help you understand how this works and how you can add it to your Python projects. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-compress-your-prompts-and-reduce-llm-costs/

Quote of the Week: “Care less about school. It took me too long to realize that I should be doing more projects hands-on instead of worrying about trying to get like a 95 on a quiz that was worth 10 percent of my grade.” — Developer and university student Cindy Cui on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

November 21, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this beginner-friendly back-end development course. You'll learn how to build your own web servers and APIs using Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. freeCodeCamp's website and mobile apps are built using these tools, which make up the popular MERN stack. You'll also get some exposure to database architecture, security principles, testing best practices, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/intro-to-backend-web-development-nodejs-express-mongodb/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive Blender and Three.js course where you'll build your own 3D portfolio piece: a render of an adorable home office. If you're interested in 3D rendering and computer graphics, this is the course for you. You'll learn key concepts like Quad Topology, Raycasting, OrbitControls, and more. By the end of the course, your 3D model will be live on the web so you can share it with your friends. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-cute-room-portfolio-with-threejs-blender-javascript/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I had the honor of interviewing Harvard CS50 professor David J. Malan. Over the years, freeCodeCamp has published many of his computer science courses, which millions of people have now taken. I was hyped to ask him how he uses emerging LLM tools, and where he thinks the software engineering field is heading. I had a LOT of questions for him and he answered all of them. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50-prof-david-j-malan-on-why-you-should-learn-programming-slowly-podcast-197/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook on using Docker with Node.js. You'll learn how to set up Docker and Docker Compose. You'll also learn fundamental concepts like Volumes, Images, and Containers. This is an excellent resource for you to read through and code along with. Bookmark it for future reference. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-to-docker-with-nodejs-handbook/

5. Level up your JavaScript implementation skills with this new freeCodeCamp course on Clean Code. You'll learn how to detect “code smells” and refactor your JavaScript accordingly. You'll also learn how to use ESLint and Prettier to automate some of the more error-prone aspects of shipping code. (1 hour watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/level-up-your-javascript-detect-smells-and-write-clean-code/

Quote of the Week: “There’s something liberating about realizing that at the end of the day everything reduces to zeros and ones. It’s not magic. And once students see that, they think: OK, I got this.” — Harvard computer science professor David J. Malan on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

November 14, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a Discrete Mathematics for beginners course. It'll teach you tons of math concepts that are key to modern Machine Learning. You'll learn some Number Theory and Combinatorics, then use Python to explore the Pigeonhole Principle, the Stars and Bars Principle, Stirling Numbers, the Chinese Remainder Theorem, and more. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-discrete-mathematics/

2. We also published this JavaScript course on the open source n8n agentic workflow automation tool. freeCodeCamp instructor Gavin Lon will teach you core concepts like working with loops, trigger nodes, webhooks, and more. You can code along at home and build 4 real-world projects, including a chatbot and an emergency notification app. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-complex-workflows-with-n8n-and-master-ai-integration/

3. On this week's podcast I talk with a dev who taught herself programming at age 27. Abbey Perini worked as an admin at a recruitment agency and has a unique perspective on the developer hiring process. She shares practical tips for applying and interviewing. She also shares how she has adapted to her adult ADHD diagnosis, and how she stays focused on shipping code. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/applying-into-the-void-with-recruiter-admin-abbey-perini-podcast-196/

4. Learn the popular Vue.js front end JavaScript framework. You'll learn Vue's core building blocks like components, reactivity, template syntax, dynamic data binding, and asset handling. By the end of the course, you'll have a simple Vue app that you can show to your friends. Also note that I recently interviewed Evan You, the creator of Vue, on the freeCodeCamp podcast. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-vuejs-javascript-framework-course/

5. Learn how to run an open source LLM locally on your own hardware using Ollama. This is a great way to unlock the power of LLMs without the privacy and security tradeoffs of using public LLM websites and APIs. This freeCodeCamp guide will walk you through the setup process and give you a feel for the options at your disposal. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-run-an-open-source-llm-on-your-personal-computer-run-ollama-locally/

Quote of the Week: “People get jobs years down the line because someone remembers them from an interview and wishes they could have hired them then.” — Software Engineer and former recruitment agency admin Abbey Perini on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

November 7, 2025

1. Learn how cryptography works, and how developers use it to secure both data and communication. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will teach you Python functions for symmetric and asymmetric encryption. You'll learn about SHA-256, AES, RSA, and public / private keys as well. You'll even code your own command-line cryptography tool. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cryptography-for-beginners-full-python-course-sha-256-aes-rsa-passwords/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course on building your own 3D games that run in a browser using Three.js and Blender. You'll learn how to model characters, design levels, detect collisions, and make the camera follow your playable character. You'll even deploy your game to the cloud so your friends can play it. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/creative-web-development-with-threejs-and-blender/

3. On this week's podcast I interview a self-taught developer with nearly a decade of software engineering experience. Patrick Hartley had to drop out of college to provide for his family. He taught himself programming while working at a thrift store, getting experience by freelancing and building his own apps. After 10 years as a dev, he turned down opportunities at big tech companies so he could continue working remotely from Oklahoma City. He shares tips for building foundational Python and JavaScript skills, surviving meetings as an introvert, and landing remote roles – even when you're competing with the global developer talent pool. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/he-turned-down-a-faang-dev-job-to-keep-working-remotely-with-patrick-hartley-podcast-195/

4. Learn Event-Driven Architecture. freeCodeCamp published this advanced JavaScript handbook that will teach you about Event Loops, Task Queues, Call Stacks, Backpressure, Websockets, Pub/Sub, and more. Take your full stack development skills to the next level and be sure to share this with your developer friends. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/event-based-architectures-in-javascript-a-handbook-for-devs/

5. freeCodeCamp also published our first ever guitar course. You'll learn beginner music theory concepts like chords and scales. You'll then map them to the guitar fretboard. You'll also learn guitar-specific techniques like barre chords. I learned guitar during the pandemic and am having an absolute blast with it. I hope you will, too. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/guitar-theory-course-for-beginners-learn-fretboard-major-scale-and-triads

Quote of the Week: “I'd be happy sitting in a basement coding 8 hours a day. But I'm growing a lot faster trying to be an extrovert.” — Self-taught Software Engineer Patrick Hartley on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 31, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course taught by legendary Harvard computer science professor Dr. David J. Malan. This comprehensive cybersecurity for beginners course will teach you how to secure accounts, databases, and entire software systems. Dr. Malan also shares tons of practical tips for securing your privacy in an increasingly adversarial world. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-cybersecurity-from-harvard-university

2. freeCodeCamp also published a guide to passing the Certified Kubernetes Administrator Exam. Beau Carnes teaches this course, which will walk you through key DevOps concepts. You'll start by setting up your K8s practice environment. Then you'll bootstrap a multi-node cluster and your control plane. You'll learn about Helm, High Availability Autoscaling, CoreDNS, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-kubernetes-administrator-certification-and-pass/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview a software engineer who got his first developer job at age 45. Eric Carlson is a self-taught software engineer at Cisco. In his early 20s, he worked his way up to manager at the busiest Domino's Pizza in Canada. He eventually went to college and studied liberal arts, then worked as a teacher for two decades before teaching himself programming using freeCodeCamp. He was able to gradually pivot into a developer role within the big telecom company where he was working. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/first-dev-job-at-45-interview-with-self-taught-freecodecamp-grad-eric-carlson-podcast-194/

4. Learn how to build high-performance mobile apps using Google's open-source Flutter framework. freeCodeCamp uses Flutter for our Android and iPhone apps, and it's way easier than maintaining two separate app codebases. This Flutter handbook will teach you how to efficiently lay out your apps with minimum widget rebuilds. You'll learn state management techniques, asynchronous patterns, and image caching best practices. You'll also learn how to use Isolates and lazy loading to make your apps really snappy. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-scalable-and-performant-flutter-applications-a-handbook-for-devs/

5. Learn Serverless Architecture using C# .NET and Azure cloud. This jam-packed course will teach you common microservice patterns, Onion Architecture, IoT functions, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/serverless-and-microservices-with-c-and-azure/

Quote of the Week: “Most developer stories about learning to code involve having time to do things like go to meetups, build side projects, grind LeetCode, and so on. I didn’t have time or energy to do any of these things with a baby at home. So I found another way into my first developer job. For me, I had to find a way to get paid to code at my non-coding job. First I found a way to code for 5% of my job, then 10%, then a jump to 50%, and finally a jump to a 100% coding role.” — Software Engineer Eric Carlson on how he transitioned into a developer role within his current company at age 45, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 24, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a massive course that will teach you almost every major data structure and algorithm that may come up in a developer job interview. You'll learn about Time Complexity, Space Complexity, and Big O Notation. Then you'll learn concepts like Trees, Graphs, Dynamic Programming, Backtracking, and more. (49 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-technical-interviews-by-learning-data-structures-and-algorithms/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook that will teach you React for beginners. React is a powerful front end development library that tons of companies use to make their websites more interactive. If you already know some basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, this handbook is for you. You'll learn about JSX, components, event handlers, hooks, and more. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/react-handbook-for-beginners-learn-jsx-hooks-rendering/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast: from injured athlete to self-taught software engineer. I interview Kaleb Garner who earned a university scholarship to play baseball. But after a career-ending injury, he dropped out and moved back in with his parents. While working at an optometry office, he used freeCodeCamp to learn programming. We talk about how he was able to land his first developer job after only 20 carefully-researched applications. He also shares tips for making your network and your skillset more layoff-resilient. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-injured-athlete-to-software-engineer-with-kaleb-garner-podcast-193/

4. This SwiftUI for Beginners course will give you the tools you need to build your first iPhone app. You can code along at home and build your own movie browsing app with powerful search features and the ability to stream movie trailers. You'll learn about navigation, API networking requests, SwiftData, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-swiftui-and-create-an-ios-app-from-scratch/

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp published an advanced Python tutorial on Machine Learning Lineage. This is important to establish the safety of mission critical AI systems. You'll learn about ETL Pipelines, Data Drift Checks, Model Tuning, and Model Risk Assessment. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-end-to-end-machine-learning-lineage/

Quote of the Week: "If they won't hire you without a degree, they weren't a good fit for you anyway." — Software Engineer Kaleb Garner on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 17, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course on how to build your own MCP server with Python. Model Context Protocol Servers are like APIs for AI agents. Lots of developers are now building them to help agents interact with their websites' data more accurately. This course will teach you how to leverage the open source FastMCP library to build a calculator project that agents can then directly interact with. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mcp-essentials-and-how-to-create-secure-agent-interfaces-with-fastmcp

2. Learn how to pass Google's new Generative AI Leader Certification Exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. He'll give you a business-level understanding of Google Cloud's gen AI offerings. By the end of this course, with the help of Andrew's practice materials, you'll be ready to sit for the exam. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-google-generative-ai-leader-certification-exam/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Evan You. He's the creator of the popular Vue front end development framework and the Vite JavaScript build tool that a lot of devs use as a boilerplate for their new projects. As a self-taught developer, he shares tips for getting involved in open source and ultimately leading open source projects and attracting sponsors. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/evan-you-from-art-school-kid-to-open-source-legend-podcast-192/

4. Teach your apps how to learn. This comprehensive Machine Learning fundamentals course will walk you through building systems smart enough to create their own algorithms. You'll use C++ to implement a Preceptron, which will then look at images of shapes and figure out ways to reliably label them. (interactive course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/machine-learning-tutorial-how-to-program-without-creating-your-own-algorithms/

5. Strix is a relatively new open source tool for testing the security of your apps and identifying vulnerabilities. It's essentially an AI-powered white hat attacker that you set loose in your codebase. This tutorial will explain how it works and how you can use it to harden your apps against common exploits. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-strix-the-open-source-ai-agent-for-security-testing/

Quote of the Week: "When I build things, I often start by prototyping the end developer experience I want for myself — then I reverse engineer from that to the implementation details." — Software Engineer Evan You on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 3, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new in-depth course that will teach you full stack development fundamentals from the ground up. It covers front end development tools like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Then it moves to back end development tools like Node, SQL, and TypeScript. You can code along at home and build a variety of projects while getting exposed to a ton of concepts. (47 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/become-a-full-stack-developer-with-one-video/

2. We also just completed work on this new Go programming course where you build your own movie streaming app. Go is a fast back end language, and here we're pairing it with the Gin-Gonic web server framework. As you build this project, you'll also integrate your movie database with OpenAI's API to analyze data and give your users personalized movie recommendations. (15 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-full-stack-movie-streaming-app-with-go-react-mongodb-openai/

3. On this week's podcast I interview the self-taught developer who built freeCodeCamp's relational database curriculum, and is now designing our daily coding challenges. Tom Mondloch shares how he finished community college and wasn't sure what to do next. So he spent the next few years working odd jobs in the great outdoors. He used freeCodeCamp to learn modern development tools and started contributing to open source projects. He shares tips for brushing up on your skills after you've taken a long break from programming. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lone-wolf-dev-turned-open-source-super-contributor-tom-mondloch-podcast-190/

4. When browsing the web, you may see the error message that something has been “blocked by CORS policy.” CORS stands for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing. When fetching data, if the domain of the requester is different from the domain of the receiver, your browser will reject that request. It's an important security measure, but it can also be a headache for developers trying to maintain their web apps. Luckily, freeCodeCamp just published this tutorial – chock full of theory and code examples – to help you understand the basics. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-fix-cross-origin-errors/

5. You've probably heard people throw around terms like Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and Generative AI. But what do they mean in relation to one another? This quick article breaks down the jargon for you in plain English. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/machine-learning-vs-deep-learning-vs-generative-ai/

Quote of the Week: "Just start. Find an open source repo. Find an issue. Even if it’s just a typo. Fix it and move on from there. That’s how you gain experience and grow as a developer." — Software Engineer Tom Mondloch on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 27, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published an in-depth Python course that will walk you through training your own Large Language Model. If you have some basic programming skills and want to get deeper into Machine Learning, this is an excellent place to start. You'll learn about key concepts like Reward Modeling, Supervised Fine-Tuning, Mixture-of-Experts Layers, RMSNorm, RoPE, KV caching, and more. Dive in. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-an-llm-from-scratch-theory-to-rlhf/

2. We also published a Python course that will help you build production-ready AI systems. This no-nonsense course will take you step by step through building a sophisticated data pipeline that scrapes training data, cleans it up, and ensures its integrity before feeding it into your model. I love this dude's relentless teaching style. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-enterprise-grade-ai-project/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Ihechikara Abba, a software engineer with a Chess Elo of 2285, which puts him among top players. We talk about his recent freeCodeCamp course on checkmate patterns, and how improving your chess game can also improve your programming. He also shares tips for getting into embedded systems development with Arduino. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-chess-and-become-a-better-developer-with-ihechikara-abba-elo-rating-of-2285-podcast-189/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a course on building advanced AI agents. You'll use Python to implement interactive voice agents and intelligent research assistants. This course will even expose you to multi-agent workflows. You'll use sample codebases and popular tools like LangChain and LiveKit to code along at home. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-advanced-ai-agents/

5. Memory leaks are one of the most common performance issues with React apps. This JavaScript tutorial will walk you through the most common ways they afflict your apps. Then it'll equip you with the tools you need to track memory leaks down and fix them. It's chock full of code examples for Event Listeners, Timers, Subscriptions, and Async Operations. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/fix-memory-leaks-in-react-apps/

Quote of the Week: "If you don't like playing the social media game, contributing code to open source projects can serve as an alternative to building up a social media presence." — Software Engineer Ihechikara Abba on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 20, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive front end development course where you build your own browser-based code editor. You can code along at home and build your own single page app development environment with tabs for editing your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Along the way, you'll learn some intermediate JS techniques that allow for instant live preview, so you can see the results of your code changes right away. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-your-own-code-editor/

2. I also made a quick announcement about some big improvements to our core Full Stack Development curriculum. In short, we're breaking down our new coursework into a series of six new certifications you can earn along the way to the capstone cert. These include Python, Relational Databases, Front End Libraries, and more. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/introducing-freecodecamp-checkpoint-certifications/

3. freeCodeCamp also just published this new course that will help you pass the Databricks Data Engineer Associate certification exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. He'll introduce you to key concepts like Clusters, Structured Streaming, Data Lakes, and more. (8 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-databricks-data-engineer-associate-certification-exam-and-pass/

4. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview two legends in the self-taught developer community: 100Devs founder Leon Noel and prolific teacher Danny Thompson. We spent the entire hour talking about the developer job market, and how it's changed due to interest rate changes and AI hype uncertainty. Danny and Leon have helped thousands of people navigate the developer job search, so they have tons of practical advice. You'll learn about common misconceptions people have about résumés, recruiters, Applicant Tracking Systems, knockout questions, and more. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/playing-the-developer-job-search-game-to-win-in-2025-with-danny-thompson-and-leon-noel-podcast-188/

5. Finally, enjoy this breezy read about Cosine Similarity and the role it plays in Large Language Models. As its author, Manish, says, Cosine Similarity is “a bridge between human language and machine understanding. It allows a model to treat meaning as geometry, turning questions and answers into points in space.” Not only will you learn the math involved, you'll also see it implemented in Python code. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-does-cosine-similarity-work/

Quote of the Week: "If your goal is to ship something right now, you should use AI. But if your goal is to build something you can understand and talk about in front of employers, you shouldn't be using AI right now." — Software Engineer Danny Thompson on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 13, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a GameDev for beginners course that will help you build your first 2D platformer game. First you'll learn the basics of the open source Godot game engine, and its Python-like GDScript programming language. Then you'll dive into Godot's editor, custom tile sets, game mechanics, scoring, checkpoint systems, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have your own game that your friends can play in any browser. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-game-development-by-building-your-first-platformer-with-godot/

2. freeCodeCamp just launched our daily coding challenges. You can solve these programming puzzles using Python or JavaScript. Build up your data structures + algorithms skills each day, right in your browser or in the freeCodeCamp iPhone or Android app. We're launching with a backlog of 30 challenges that are live now. See how many you can solve. (article with more details): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/introducing-freecodecamp-daily-python-and-javascript-challenges-solve-a-new-programming-puzzle-every-day/

3. Learn how to build your own secure PHP web apps using the popular open source Symfony framework. This intermediate course is taught by Beau Carnes, who has many years of experience as a software engineer and as a high school special ed teacher. He'll quickly fill you in on Symfony's security features, which enable you to query encrypted data without ever even needing to decrypt it on your MongoDB database server. You can code along and home and build your own secure personal finance app while applying these new concepts. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-secure-web-applications-with-php-symfony-and-mongodb/

4. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Ania Kubów. She's a software engineer and a prolific programming teacher on YouTube. She shares tips for how to keep your focus and expand your skills in today's increasingly distracting world. She's passionate about building games, and has lots of advice for getting into GameDev by using JavaScript-based browser games as an entry point. We also talk about the JS13k competition that she judges each year, where devs build entire games that fit within just 13 kilobytes. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-focus-on-building-your-skills-when-everythings-so-distracting-with-ania-kubow-podcast-187/

5. I also recommend reading this quick post by a freeCodeCamp community member on the importance of Hackathons. They opened all sorts of doors for him in his job search. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-every-student-should-join-hackathons/

Quote of the Week: "My worry is that with AI now people just stop learning the fundamentals. But then how do you fully understand something, really? You should definitely still learn the fundamentals before using all these AI tools." — Software Engineer Ania Kubów, who has taught some of YouTube's most popular LLM-focused courses, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 6, 2025

1. Learn about AI-assisted coding from a software engineer who's maintained freeCodeCamp's platform and infrastructure for the past 7 years. Mrugesh was initially skeptical of AI tools but has recently used them to great effect. And he wrote this handbook to help you do the same. He says experienced developers can complete tasks faster with AI assistance. But they need to know how to use these tools effectively. And they also need strong foundational programming skills. This handbook is a no-nonsense guide to emerging tools and best practices. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-an-expert-in-ai-assisted-coding-a-handbook-for-developers/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course on building your own AI agent from scratch using Python. You'll implement the agentic loop. Then you'll endow your agent with the ability to read, write, and execute code. Finally, you'll supervise your agent as it goes through and makes fixes to an intentionally buggy codebase. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-ai-coding-agent-in-python/

3. For this week's podcast, I've changed the format. I now start off the show with a few minutes of freeCodeCamp community updates and useful news about programming. Then I do a shorter, more focused interview with a software engineer. This week I talk with Ankur Tyagi, a freelance developer and prolific contributor to freeCodeCamp's open source learning resources. He's worked at Volvo, Barclays, Accenture, and other multinationals. He shares his own tips for leveraging AI tools, and why he doesn't think they'll result in fewer jobs for devs. He also has tons of tips for running your own developer consultancy. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-ai-as-an-accelerator-not-a-crutch-with-freelance-engineer-ankur-tyagi-podcast-186/

4. The freeCodeCamp community also just published our first-ever Mandarin Chinese course. It's aimed at absolute beginners. It'll teach you fundamentals of the language and help you prepare for the standardized HSK exam. As you may recall, we've published beginner courses on Spanish and German as well. We eventually hope to have courses on a wide range of world languages at many levels of proficiency. I started learning Mandarin 23 years ago and I can tell you this course just scratches the surface. But it should be a good starting point for you if you're curious. (11 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mandarin-chinese-for-beginners-full-hsk-1-level/

5. Learn the graph algorithms that power Netflix's video recommendation engine and Google Maps' routing logic. This Python tutorial will introduce you to Breadth-First Search, Depth-First Search, Dijkstra’s Algorithm, and other key computer science concepts. It includes plenty of code examples to help you understand these powerful programming structures. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/graph-algorithms-in-python-bfs-dfs-and-beyond/

Quote of the Week: "To build any complex software, you need a lot of good engineers. You need engineers who can think about problems. You need engineers who can drill down into your own tasks and your own use cases." — Software Engineer Ankur Tyagi on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

August 30, 2025

1. The freeCodeCamp community just published this Python Machine Learning course where you'll learn how to control a robotic arm using computer vision. You'll set up serial communication between Python and a cheap Arduino microcontroller board. Then you'll learn how to detect physical objects using the open source Python libraries MediaPipe and OpenCV. You'll also learn how to manipulate servo motors and LED displays. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/use-arduinos-for-computer-vision/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course that will help you prepare for the Google Professional Cloud Architect Certification exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. You'll learn about Infrastructure as Code, Serverless Architecture, networking, monitoring, logging, and more. (16 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-google-professional-cloud-architect-certification-exam-and-pass/

3. Three.js is a powerful 3D rendering tool that tons of artists use to build games and interactive experiences that can run right inside a browser. This new freeCodeCamp course will walk you through building 5 practical projects. You'll learn about foundational concepts before moving on to textures, dynamic particle effects, and interactive physics. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-3d-web-experiences-with-javascript-and-threejs/

4. On this week's podcast, I interview Emmett Naughton, a software engineer who taught himself programming over several years while working as a janitor at a hospital. He talks about making ends meet while raising a family and recovering from getting laid off twice. He also shares how discovering he had sleep apnea and treating it dramatically improved his thinking. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-hospital-janitor-to-developer-with-emmett-naughton-podcast-185/

5. The Bag of Words algorithm is an important method that machine learning engineers have used to turn text into numbers so they can train their models. This tutorial will teach you how Bag of Words works, using Python code examples. It also describes the limitations of Bag of Words, and how scientists have gone on to create Word2Vec, GloVe, and other algorithms for mapping the relationships between words. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-bag-of-words-works/

Quote of the Week: "I was mopping floors in an outpatient surgical recovery room listening to the Code Newbies podcast when I first heard an interview with Quincy." — Software Engineer Emmett Naughton on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, sharing how he discovered the freeCodeCamp community and dove deeper into programming

August 23, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published our first-ever chess course, taught by a software engineer on our team who has an ELO rating of 2285, putting him among top competitive players. Ihechikara Abba will teach you how to think strategically and checkmate your opponents. This beginner-level course starts off with algebraic chess notation and identifying the squares. Then you'll learn several endgame patterns. We published both a handbook and an accompanying YouTube course for you to reference and share with your friends. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/checkmate-patterns-in-chess-for-beginners

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive course on how to build your own AI shopping agent. Software Engineer Ania Kubów will teach you how to use Node, LangChain's LangGraph, Gemini, MongoDB, and other popular tools to build your agent. By the end of this course, your agent will be able to autonomously perceive, plan, act, and respond to your users. It will also be able to decide when it has enough information to respond, and when it needs to first reach out for external information by searching product databases. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/building-an-ai-powered-e-commerce-chat-assistant-with-mongodb/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview a developer who dropped out of college and worked as a park ranger, preventing Yogi Bear from stealing pic-a-nic baskets. In all seriousness, he performed important preservation work and even hiked the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. He shares tips for learning programming even when you have no money, and how to surround yourself with ambitious peers who can help you learn faster. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-drop-out-to-backpacker-to-self-taught-developer-with-dominick-monaco-podcast-183/

4. Alibaba just dropped the latest version of their Qwen LLM and already the freeCodeCamp community has a comprehensive course on how to train it from scratch. You'll learn about its architecture, Training Hyperparameters, Muon Optimization, RoPE Positional Embeddings, inference, text generation, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-and-train-qwen3-from-scratch/

5. Learn the field of System Design from a dev who applies the principles both to software development and to his day-to-day life. You'll learn about scalability issues, the CAP Theorem, Caching & CDNs, Rate Limiting, and other key concepts. (50 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-key-system-design-principles-behind-high-traffic-platforms-like-gaming-and-job-discovery/

Quote of the Week: "Big change happens in small increments. Big change is possible with really small, consistent effort." — Software Engineer Dominick Monaco on how he iterated his way to working as a developer over time, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

August 16, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this full length book on how to architect a database using SQL and relational database management systems. This book is aimed at beginners, and includes a Jupyter Notebook you can interact with as you follow along. It will teach you Postgres and a bit of SQL. Then you'll learn how to design and maintain efficient, secure databases that support complex data-driven apps. (Full length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-design-structured-database-systems-using-sql-full-book/

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive data science course on Time Series Forecasting with Python. You'll learn about key Time Series components like trend, seasonality, and residuals. You'll start by building some baseline models. Then you'll dive into Cross-Validation, Exogenous Features, Prediction Interval Generation, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-time-series-forecasting-in-python/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Edidiong Asikpo about her journey from medical school into software engineering. She talks about Nigeria's tech scene, how to break into tech when you live outside the Silicon Valley ecosystem, and how she transitioned from mobile app development to DevOps. Tons of actionable tips here. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/abandoning-med-school-to-become-a-software-engineer-with-edidiong-asikpo-podcast-182/

4. freeCodeCamp also published this in-depth guide to passing the Google Cloud Associate Engineer certification exam. Andrew Brown will teach you about Infrastructure as Code, Serverless, Google Kubernetes Engine, data storage solutions, and more. If you're interested in a career in DevOps, take a gander. (11 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-google-cloud-associate-cloud-engineer-exam/

5. Learn how the popular Next.js web development framework handles caching and rendering. This course uses the latest version of Next.js – version 15. It will teach you all about Static Site Generation, Server-Side Rendering, Incremental Static Regeneration, and other important concepts. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-nextjs-15-caching-and-rendering/

Quote of the Week: "To this day, I remember when my first open source pull request got merged. It was one of the best days of my life. I was so, so happy. I couldn't believe that a code contribution that I made was now part of an application used by thousands of people." — Software Engineer Edidiong Asikpo on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

August 9, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive beginner course on modern Front End Development using React and Tailwind CSS. You can code along at home and build your own React project. Along the way, you'll learn about component-based development, utility-first styling, state management, and more. By the end of the course, you’ll have foundational knowledge that you can use to build more of your app ideas. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-and-tailwind-css-for-front-end-development/

2. Learn about Zero-Trust Architecture and how to implement it. “Trust no one, verify everything.” That's the approach that these authentication systems take to minimize risk of intrusion or attack. This security tutorial will teach you about Role-Based Access Control, JWT Token Management, Continuous Verification, and other approaches to architecting your apps. (50 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-implement-zero-trust-authentication-in-your-web-apps/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Dilip Krishnamoorthi. He's a senior software engineer who works at Sony building user interfaces for Playstation game consoles. We talk about how he dropped out of a traditional Indian university and used an inexpensive distance learning program to finish his engineering degree for about the cost of a Playstation 5. He also shares what it's like to work in Bengaluru – the Silicon Valley of Asia – and contrasts that with San Francisco where he now works. Dilip loves learning new tools and shares his thoughts on AI agents and tips for keeping up with the state of the art. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/senior-playstation-engineers-tips-for-learning-new-tools-and-getting-things-done-podcast-184/

4. freeCodeCamp also published this handbook on how to leverage React and Next.js streaming functionality to turbo-charge your app loading speeds for your users. Instead of waiting for the server to send one big bundle of HTML, streaming lets you progressively send blocks as others finish rendering. This makes your app feel much smoother. If you're serious about performance and user experience, this is the handbook for you. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-nextjs-15-streaming-handbook/

5. And if you want to go even deeper into React, freeCodeCamp also published this advanced handbook on Shared State Complexity. What happens when several different parts of your app need to access and update the same information at the same time? This handbook breaks down several approaches to addressing this fundamental problem. You'll learn about State Management, The Context API, Prop Drilling, and more. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/shared-state-complexity-in-react-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "History has taught us: never underestimate the amount of money, time, and effort someone will expend to thwart a security system. It's always better to assume the worst. Assume your adversaries are better than they are. Assume science and technology will soon be able to do things they cannot yet. Give yourself a margin for error. Give yourself more security than you need today. When the unexpected happens, you'll be glad you did." — Bruce Schneier, software engineer and security expert

August 2, 2025

1. Don't be content merely knowing how algorithms work – understand WHY they work the way they do. freeCodeCamp just published this advanced Python course that will level up your computer science knowledge. CS Professor Qiang Hao will help you refine your algorithmic thinking and your intuition for translating abstract mathematics into working code. He touches on Sorting Algorithms, Divide-and-Conquer Algorithms, Amortized Analysis, the Master Theorem, and more. Put your thinking cap on and dive in. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/algorithm-analysis-deep-dive/

2. Learn Object-Oriented Design Patterns using Java. This interactive course built by prolific freeCodeCamp contributor and computer science professor Dr. Mark Mahoney will teach you the Composite Pattern, the Observer Pattern, the Visitor Pattern, and more. (interactive course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/object-oriented-design-patterns-with-java/

3. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive course on cloud-based AI engineering. AWS software engineer Suman Debnath will teach you all about LLM Embeddings, RAG, Multimodal Models, and LangChain-powered Agents. You'll build an end-to-end app that automates insurance claims: claim creation, document management, data retrieval, and more using a variety of AWS services including Bedrock. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-enterprise-ai-embeddings-rag-and-multimodal-agents-using-amazon-nova-and-bedrock/

4. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Nick Taylor, a Montreal-based software engineer and prolific open source contributor. He shares tips on getting started contributing to open source projects, and then converting that track record into job opportunities. He also talks about the changing nature of working in tech, and how he gets mileage out of both emerging AI tools and time-tested open source libraries. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-turn-open-source-into-a-job-with-nick-taylor-podcast-181/

5. And if you're already working as a developer and are keen to climb the ladder at your organization, this is the article for you. freeCodeCamp contributor Shruti Kapoor wrote this detailed guide to progressing from Senior Engineer up to Staff Engineer. She shares her own journey upward at big tech companies. Then she breaks down the differences in engineering roles and the typical promotion process. She shares practical tips for evaluating your own readiness and building a portfolio of work that will impress your higher-ups. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-promoted-from-senior-to-staff-engineer-tips-from-my-experience/

Quote of the Week: “The real skill for working with AI is communication. If you can’t explain precisely what you want, the tool will churn out junk. Soft skills suddenly matter a lot.” — Software Engineer Nick Taylor on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

July 25, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course that will teach you how to gracefully answer common LeetCode-style questions you'll get asked during developer job interviews. It covers essential data structures and algorithmic patterns. You'll build up your intuition so you can recognize which patterns to apply, and how to avoid brute force solutions. You'll start by learning fundamental data structures like Arrays, Sets, and Hashmaps. Then you'll bust out Python and learn about Big O Notation, before moving on to more advanced concepts like Sliding Windows, Binary Search, Backtracking, and Priority Queues. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-structure-and-algorithm-patterns-for-leetcode-interviews/

2. And if you want to go much deeper into Python Machine Learning, this week we also published a comprehensive Computer Vision course. You'll use the open source PyTorch library to implement one of the most influential convolutional neural networks: Visual Geometry Group Networks (VGGNets). You'll learn the theoretical origins of VGGNets and the math that powers them. Then you'll fire up Colab and start implementing one for yourself. Whenever you're looking for courses on advanced topics like this, remember to use freeCodeCamp's search bar. We have thousands of tutorials, books, and full-length courses like this. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/implement-vgg-from-scratch-with-pytorch-deep-learning-theory/

3. Want to get a developer job? Be shameless. That's the advice of this week's freeCodeCamp podcast guest, Namanh Kapur. He's a senior software engineer at LinkedIn and has a ton of hot takes on where the field is heading. He shares tips for how to interact with recruiters, which foundational developer skills he thinks you should prioritize learning, and how to get hired in what he calls the “post-LeetCode world.” (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/we-are-truly-in-the-hackathon-era-namanh-kapur-interview-podcast-180/

4. Not every codebase is run by a team of developers. A lot of projects are built by a single person who's just iterating on their ideas and trying to find customers. That's where this week's Ultimate Tool Stack for Indie Hackers comes in. Manish breaks down a lot of Lean Startup Methodology and translates it into specific tools you can use to quickly build the first version of your products. He covers prototyping tools, payment gateway tools, analytics, and more. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ultimate-tool-stack-for-indie-hackers/

5. freeCodeCamp also published this quick guide for more experienced developers. It shares some practical tips for incorporating AI tools into your day-to-day programming workflows. Author Spruce Emmanuel doesn't pull any punches or sugar-coat any of his observations about the utility of these tools or the future of manually writing most code. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-ai-effectively-in-your-dev-projects/

Quote of the Week: “Let's get one thing straight: AI is here to help, not to replace. Your job, my job, was never just to write code. Writing code was always just a part of it. Our real job is to build software solutions that work.” — Spruce Emmanuel, developer and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor, in his article on incorporating AI tools into your software development workflows

July 18, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive guide to AI app security and the most common vulnerabilities. You'll learn about Threat Modeling, Prompt Injection, Data Poisoning, supply chain risks, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-to-build-security-into-ai/

2. JavaScript is the most popular language on the planet. But it's also super duper prone to errors. Luckily, freeCodeCamp just dropped this comprehensive handbook to help you understand how JavaScript's error handling works. You'll learn about Try-Catch, Error Rethrowing, the Finally keyword, and the Error Object itself. We also show tons of example code that you can scrutinize and learn from. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-javascript-error-handling-handbook/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview a developer who had to apply to 800 jobs, but eventually landed one. Braydon Coyer started out building mobile apps in high school. At one point his iPhone game even out-sold Angry Birds for a day or two. He shares tons of strategies for applying for developer roles, sane ways to integrate AI into your developer workflows, and how to switch from mobile app dev to full stack dev. This dude is a blast. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/799-rejections-but-he-got-the-job-braydon-coyer-developer-interview-podcast-179/

4. I'm a huge fan of data visualization, and I love me some D3.js. So I was jazzed about this new course that'll help you shore up your Data Viz fundamentals. You'll go from bare-bones scatter plots to dynamically updating charts with fancy animations. If you want to learn how to make your data more accessible and more fun, this course is for you. (90 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-interactive-data-visualization-with-svelte-and-d3/

5. As you may know, freeCodeCamp is a big open source project. And we have tons of developers who jump in to help us improve our curriculum and our codebase. But it's common for many of them to lose steam and drop off the map. This guide will help ensure that this doesn't happen to you. It'll give you actionable tips for setting open source goals, finding the right projects to get involved in, engaging with fellow devs, and more. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-sustainable-open-source-contribution-routine/

Quote of the Week: "When I was learning to code, the big picture didn’t click until I needed to solve real problems. That’s when variables and arrays started making sense — not in theory, but in practice." — Software Engineer Braydon Coyer on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

July 11, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive course that will teach you how to build apps using the LAMP Stack – Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. This is a classic toolchain that a huge number of websites still use to this day. You can code along at home and build your own clone of Google Calendar – complete with multi-appointment support and booking conflict logic. Then you'll use JavaScript to add a dynamic user interface. This project will help you expand your horizons and get in some serious reps. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-google-calendar-clone-with-php-mysql-and-javascript/

2. You may have heard the term “vibe coding”, where you write the specifications for your app, then hand it over to code generation agents who write the code for you. This approach has been a bit polarizing in the developer community, with vocal critics and vocal advocates. My advice is don't listen to any of them. Think for yourself. freeCodeCamp just published this course that will introduce you to vibe coding tools like n8n – an open source workflow automation tool – so you can wire together APIs and services without needing to write a ton of code manually. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-vibe-code-with-help-from-n8n/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Joe Hill. He's a software engineer who works on a data platform for NASA. Joe taught himself programming for 4 years while working as a janitor. As the single father of two Autistic boys, he first used his programming skills to build an iPad app to help them learn how to talk. He shares tons of practical tips for learning new skills and for getting things done inside big orgs. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-freecodecamp-to-nasa-with-data-engineer-joe-hill-podcast-178/

4. Learn how to write Python tests so you can make your codebase more robust. This tutorial will teach you the basics of pytest and show you tons of examples. You'll learn about Markers, Fixtures, Parameterization, and more. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-pytest-a-guide-to-testing-in-python/

5. Tell your gardener friends: freeCodeCamp just published a tutorial on how to monitor the moisture of your soil using an Arduino microcontroller. This tutorial will show you what hardware to get and how to wire it up. Then it'll walk you through the code you'll run, and explain how everything works. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-a-resistive-soil-moisture-sensor/

Quote of the Week: "Becoming tool agnostic is one of the biggest strengths you will ever have as a programmer. If you walk into a place and they say "we use XYZ", you can go “Great. I'll learn it." That is so powerful." — Software Engineer Joe Hill on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

July 6, 2025

1. We just published a full-length interactive book by computer science professor and freeCodeCamp contributor Dr. Mark Mahoney. It will teach you the foundations of both back end and front end web development. You'll learn some Node, Express, SQLite, GraphQL, Web Components, React, and more. Mark even built his own open source “code playback” system to walk you through the book's code step-by-step with detailed explanations. Pretty cool. (full interactive book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/an-animated-introduction-to-web-development-from-back-to-front/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive guide to the Google Cloud Cybersecurity Certificate exam. You'll learn the basics of being a Cloud Security Analyst such as System Safeguarding, Risk Management, and Threat Analysis. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/beginners-guide-to-cloud-cybersecurity/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Back End engineer Tai Groot about Go, TypeScript, and Rust. We dive into the Developer Experience VS Performance tradeoffs of each of these programming languages. One piece of advice Tai shares: Rust is a superb language for rewriting an older codebase... but never use it to write your first version of something new. He also shares tips for running open source projects, and for senior engineers who want to mentor new devs who are entering the field. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/rust-vs-go-vs-typescript-which-back-end-language-is-for-you-with-tai-groot-podcast-176/

4. The freeCodeCamp community uses Flutter to build our Android and iOS apps. It's a great way to maintain several apps with a single codebase. And one of the most important features developers get out of a mobile app is Local Notifications. This comprehensive tutorial will show you how to use the open source Awesome Notifications library to share updates with your users and remind them of time-sensitive events in your app. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-local-notifications-in-flutter/

5. Finally, did you know that JavaScript is now one of the most popular languages for writing games? You can build some pretty sophisticated experiences that run right in a browser. This guide will walk you through five powerful JS libraries you can use to simplify your game development workflow and get your game in front of players as quickly as possible. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-frameworks-for-game-developers/

Quote of the Week: "Running an open source project taught me more about software design and communication than any job I’ve had. You have to think about every decision from the perspective of a stranger reading your code." — Software Engineer Tai Groot on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

June 29, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new handbook on how to build your own custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. The entire MCP paradigm was just invented 7 months ago, so let me explain how it works. Before MCP, you needed to write custom connector code for each data source your LLM used – such as calendars, map APIs, and sensor data streams. Sure – tools like LangChain helped with this. But MCP makes things so much simpler. You just lay out how your data is structured. That way when an LLM connects, it can figure out how to get whatever data it needs all on its own. This MCP approach is an excellent complement to the Retrieval Augmented Generation technique developers were using last year. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-custom-mcp-server-with-typescript-a-handbook-for-developers/

2. Many of the recent breakthroughs in AI tools have been thanks to the Transformer Architecture pioneered at Google. This course will teach you how Transformers work, and how they're evolving. You'll learn about Attention Mechanisms, Positional Encoding, Activation Functions, and Normalization. Transformers! More than meets the eye! (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-evolution-of-the-transformer-architecture-used-in-llms/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Kelly Vaughn. She's a software engineer who went from building apps for freelance clients to running her own full-blown developer agency. She shares tips for scaling up your business in your community and not burning yourself out in the process. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-therapist-to-six-figure-freelance-dev-podcast-176/

4. Learn how to build your own embedded systems – from smart fridges to home security systems. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive handbook that will teach you Firmware Design from the ground up. You'll learn about the Sense-Process-Act cycle that governs the behavior of most devices. Then you'll learn about low-level system design and modern best practices. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-embedded-systems-firmware-basics-handbook-for-devs/

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp also published our first-ever course on the German language. Learn how to speak the native language of more than 100 million Europeans with this A1-level course for absolute beginners. You'll learn grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and a ton of common phrases you can use while traveling. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-speak-german/

Quote of the Week: "There’s a difference between freelancing and running an agency. Freelancing is a hustle. Running an agency is about systems, people, and risk." — Software Engineer Kelly Vaughn on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

June 21, 2025

1. The freeCodeCamp community just released three new sections of our Certified Full Stack Developer curriculum: React Hooks and State, Testing, and Performance. These include dozens of lectures, workshops, and interactive labs. As you progress through the coursework, you'll build your own fully playable Tic Tac Toe game, color picker, and more. We'll continue to publish the remaining modules throughout 2025. If you start the curriculum now, you can be one of the first people to earn the cert when we add the final exam and capstone project in early 2026. (fully interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-in-your-browser-freecodecamp-full-stack-curriculum-mid-2025-update/

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive course that will help you earn the Google Cloud Data Analytics certificate. You'll learn about SQL, BigQuery, data visualization, data lakehouse architecture, and more. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/beginners-guide-to-cloud-data-analytics/

3. Logic and reason underpin all of software development. And this freeCodeCamp handbook will teach you how to think critically when testing your code. You'll learn how to use Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, Contrapositives, Truth Tables, and other philosophical tools to map out all the places where your software can go off the rails. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-logic-philosophy-and-science-of-software-testing-handbook-for-developers/

4. Learn the fundamentals of data communication and networking in this new freeCodeCamp handbook. You'll learn about routing, switching, Network Topologies, the seven layers of the OSI Model, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-data-communication-and-networking-handbook/

5. Finally, you may practice good operational security on your laptop. But what about your phone? This quick article will give you some practical tips for locking down your phone. (7 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-improve-your-phones-privacy/

Quote of the Week: "A top coder sees a program graphically. A data structure as a hierarchy of relationships, a program as a network of data pipes. The first and only time they reduce pictures to words is when they write code." — Robert Wagner, Programmer and Computer Science professor

June 14, 2025

1. Learn how to build your own full-stack JavaScript apps. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on the popular MERN Stack. MERN stands for MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js. These are the key tools that a lot of modern web apps use, including freeCodeCamp's platform itself. You'll learn how to build your user interface, handle data routing, and even rate-limit your back end API – so you can stop your app from getting overwhelmed by all those bots out there that are scraping the web for LLM training data. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-mern-stack-in-2025/

2. Learn MLOps by building your own system that can run sentiment analysis on YouTube videos. The emerging field of ML Ops is a hybrid of Machine Learning and System Administration (AKA Ops). This comprehensive course will give you a solid project-oriented intro to MLOps. You'll learn about Data Preprocessing, AI Model Benchmarking, Hyperparameter Tuning, Ensemble Techniques and more. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mlops-by-creating-a-youtube-sentiment-analyzer/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview former CTO and prolific programming teacher Hitesh Choudhary. He shares lessons he's learned from personally mentoring dozens of software engineers over the years. He also talks about India's higher education system. And he gives tons of tips for managing your time as a developer. I had a blast learning from Hitesh and I think you will, too. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-electrical-engineering-student-to-cto-with-hitesh-choudhary-podcast-175/

4. freeCodeCamp published a new handbook on the emerging architecture paradigm of Micro Frontends. You'll learn why this approach is gaining so much steam among software engineers. This handbook will teach you all about Module Federation, Cross-Window Messaging, the Shadow DOM, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/complete-micro-frontends-guide/

5. And we published a handbook on Apple's code signing process. If you want to publish mobile apps in the Apple store, this handbook is a real lifesaver. It would have saved freeCodeCamp's team a ton of time when we were publishing the freeCodeCamp iOS app. We're going to publish a lot more hyper-specific handbooks like this in the future to make developers' lives a bit easier. Bookmark this and you can come back to it when you're ready to publish your first app. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/apple-code-signing-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "You will not get opportunities unless you prove yourself first. And for proving yourself, there is no hiring manager coming to your door and saying, ‘Hey, please build something for me.’ You have to prove it by contributing to open source." — Software Engineer and programming teacher Hitesh Choudhary, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

June 7, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published our first-ever chemistry course. Over the years we've published hundreds of courses on math and computer science, and we're gradually adding other academic subjects as well. This is an excellent starting point for beginners, and a great refresher for folks who want to get back into learning chemistry. Chad, the instructor, has taught chemistry for more than 15 years. He'll teach you the absolute basics of matter, chemical bonding, and scientific notation. Then you'll dive into more intermediate topics like thermodynamics, kinetics, and electrochemistry. (35 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/general-chemistry-college-course/

2. Learn low-level game development by building your own Candy Crush-style match-3 video game using the C programming language. That's right – instead of using a powerful game engine like Unreal or Unity 3D, you're going to use some of the most fundamental tools imaginable. You'll implement the core game logic, detect player input, and even add bursts of animation using the Raylib graphics library. This is a fun way to spend an afternoon while getting reps with the world's most widely run language. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/c-game-development-with-raylib/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview software engineer and O'reilly programming book author Joe Attardi about the many changes he's seen during his 21 years in industry. He talks about how AI tools are changing development, and how he thinks devs with a strong foundation in computer science are best positioned to fully leverage these tools. Joe's one chill, humble dude. I had a blast learning from him. And I think you will, too. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-survive-in-tech-when-everythings-changing-w-21-year-veteran-dev-joe-attardi-podcast-174/

4. freeCodeCamp published a couple handbooks this week, too. This first one will teach you how to build your own AI agents using open source tools like LangChain and LangGraph. You'll learn about automation workflows, agent loops, multi-agent collaboration, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-open-source-llm-agent-handbook/

5. And this second handbook will take you on a deep dive into the world of Front End Monitoring. You'll learn how to collect performance data, error data, user behavior data, then make sense of these insights through modern reporting tools. If you're serious about leveling up your full stack development skills, I think you'll find this to be well worth reading. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-front-end-monitoring-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "Computer Science fundamentals are more important than ever. As a software engineer, I want to understand things. I don’t like just taking stuff at face value. I want to know why it works and what’s going on behind the scenes." — 21-year industry veteran Joe Attardi on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 30, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a full course to help you learn Python for Data Science. This beginner's course covers popular Python libraries like Pandas, NumPy, and scikit-learn. First you'll learn how to configure your development environment. Then you'll dive in and practice key skills like Data Extraction, Dataframe Concatenation, Data Visualization, and even some basic Machine Learning. (17 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-for-data-science-full-course

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length handbook that you can read right in your browser on the emerging field of Agentic AI Systems. Agents can go out and attempt tasks in the real world for you. Think of a shopping agent that knows your shoe size and preferences, and tries to find you the best deal on bowling shoes. You'll also learn how these systems use planning and goal setting rather than predefined actions. You can code along at home with the handbook and by the end of it, you'll have your own simple Python and LangChain-powered agent. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-agentic-ai-handbook/

3. On this week's podcast I interview a senior dev who was just laid off last week at Microsoft, and he walks us through everything. He has nerves of steel and seems totally unfazed by his coming job search. He talks about the role that both long-term planning and daily trail running have played in giving him resilience. It's clear to me that he's taken the time to prepare himself and his family for just about anything. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/laid-off-but-not-afraid-with-x-senior-microsoft-dev-mackevin-fey-podcast-173/

4. If you're traveling this summer, you might benefit from reading this guide on how attackers most commonly use technology to exploit travelers. You'll learn how to defend yourself against fake wi-fi networks, phony travel sites, shady SIM card vendors, ATM skimming, and more. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-attackers-target-travelers-and-how-to-defend-yourself/

5. Learn how to run an inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer in “Headless Mode”. Instead of functioning like a traditional computer with a keyboard, mouse, and screen, you can set up your Pi to perform tasks in the background, then access it remotely through a network protocol like Secure Shell (SSH). This way you can have a dedicated home automation server or a surveillance system. This tutorial will walk you through everything you need to know to get your headless server online. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-your-raspberry-pi-headlessly-with-vs-code-and-ssh/

Quote of the Week: "One of the things I love about computers is there are so many different rungs on the ladder of abstraction. And each layer has its own interesting challenges. When I moved from Intel to Microsoft, I went from very low-level hardware-adjacent development to cloud development at internet scale. But everything I had learned earlier helped me ramp up quickly at that higher level of abstraction." — MacKevin Fey on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 23, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course on building AI agents using the open source LangChain LangGraph Python framework. This course will teach you fundamental Agentic AI concepts like Elements, Type Annotations, and Retrieval Augmented Generation. You can code along at home, and by the end of the course you'll have built 5 different agents you can show to your friends. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-langgraph-and-build-conversational-ai-with-python/

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive guide to Relational Database Management Systems. You'll learn key database architecture concepts and how to diagram them. You'll also learn about Relational Algebra, Data Normalization, Schema Design, SQL Queries, and more. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-database-management-systems/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview a developer from Iraq about her journey into tech. She has managed to build out her professional reputation through live-streaming herself participating in online coding and data science competitions. She shares tips for making friends with other developers – even when you're living far away from tech hubs like Silicon Valley. (90 minute watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-make-developer-friends-when-you-dont-live-in-silicon-valley-with-iraqi-engineer-codelife-podcast-172/

4. Learn what JavaScript Linting is and how it helps you write better code. This tutorial will also teach you about Abstract Syntax Trees and why they're so useful for representing code. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-javascript-lint-rules-work-and-why-abstract-syntax-trees-matter/

5. I'm thrilled to announce that freeCodeCamp just published our first-ever course on a world language. This full-length Spanish for Beginners course will teach you basic grammar and vocabulary so you can speak at a CEFR A1 Level. The instructor has more than 17 years of experience teaching Spanish to beginners. ¡Vámonos! (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-a1-level-spanish/

Quote of the Week: "I had never coded before I started my Computer Science degree. I felt behind compared to my peers. But I started searching online. I found freeCodeCamp. Just being able to write code in the browser and see the output – that was what made coding feel practical and doable." — Iraqi Software Engineer Code;Life on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 16, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will help you learn modern Android app development. You'll learn how to use Android Studio alongside the Kotlin language, a popular alternative to coding in Java. The final project involves building a clone of the Uber app – complete with map integration and real-time location tracking. (60 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-kotlin-and-android-60-hour-course/

2. And after you're done with that 60 hour course, try this other 60 hour course ;) It's a full-length Generative AI bootcamp led by CTO and AI enthusiast Andrew Brown. You'll learn powerful tools like Juptyer Notebook and Ollama. You'll also get exposure to the latest applied machine learning techniques. This course is designed to be reasonably accessible to non-developers as well, so any curious person can learn how to harness the power of these new tools. (65 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-genai-65-hour-bootcamp/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview software engineer and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor Sam Crombie about life in San Francisco startup purgatory. Sam left his job at Microsoft to go through Y Combinator, and is currently trying to find product-market fit as a lone-wolf developer. We discuss how useful AI coding tools really are, tips for getting people to care about your apps, and how parents can help their kids get scholarships for Ivy League schools. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ditching-a-microsoft-job-to-enter-startup-hell-with-lonewolf-engineer-sam-crombie-podcast-171/

4. Learn how to build web apps faster with Vite, a new JavaScript front end build tool. Vite means quick in French. And this quick course wastes no time in showing you the ropes. You'll learn about Hot Module Replacement, Optimized Dependency Prebundling, Intelligent Caching, and more. (1 hour crash course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-vite-for-a-better-web-development-workflow/

5. Learn how to become a better analytical programmer by analyzing five different JavaScript implementations of the classic Rock-Paper-Scissors game. Along the way, you'll learn how to use visual tools for code comparison, and learn how to diagram codebases using Mermaid.js. I hope this helps you broaden your horizons as a dev and appreciate the many ways you can accomplish simple tasks with code. (2 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-an-analytical-programmer-compare-five-projects/

Quote of the Week: "You can do all the user research you want. But at some point, you just need to put your project out there. My biggest false starts came from not launching. I've learned that you can’t just theory-craft forever. You have to actually ship." — Sam Crombie on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, sharing lessons from startup “pivot purgatory"

May 9, 2025

1. Learn Next.js by building your own Dropbox-style file storage app. This beginner-accessible course will help you learn full stack JavaScript using modern tools like React and PostgreSQL. You'll also learn how to design intuitive user interfaces, database schemas, file hierarchies, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-a-dropbox-clone-with-nextjs/

2. Kubernetes (often shortened to k8s) is a powerful open source tool for deploying services to the web, then monitoring them and scaling them as needed. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive handbook that will teach you key k8s concepts like Pods, DaemonSets, StatefulSets, and more. If you code along at home, by the end of this handbook you'll deploy an app to a k8s cluster in the cloud. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-kubernetes-handbook-devs-startups-businesses/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Shashi Lo. He's a software engineer at Microsoft who grew up the child of refugees. He dropped out of art school and taught himself programming by building projects for local businesses. He shares techniques he uses to continue to learn skills even while he's busy raising his 4 kids. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-art-school-drop-out-to-microsoft-engineer-with-shashi-lo-podcast-170/

4. Improve your C++ programming skills by building your own audio plugin. freeCodeCamp is proud to publish this intermediate course by a developer and 3x Grammy-nominated producer and saxophone player. You'll learn native app development with the open source JUCE library, which is used in a lot of Digital Audio Workstation apps. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/improve-you-c-skills-by-coding-an-audio-plugin/

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp also published this Front-End Performance Optimization Handbook this week. You'll learn JavaScript tricks to ensure your web apps load quickly. You'll learn how to minimize file size, make fewer server requests, optimize images, and more. There are tons of techniques in here that I hadn't even heard of. This is well worth reading if you're serious about improving your web development skills. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-front-end-performance-optimization-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "An ideal code review would be a small set of code changes that are easy to understand. You can pretty much read the code like a paragraph and understand what’s happening. Smaller pull requests help you avoid regressions, and save time for both the code author and the code reviewer." — Shashi Lo on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, talking about best practices he's learned while working as a dev at Microsoft

May 2, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Calculus course that will not only teach you math concepts, but will also show you how to implement them in Python code. Math professor Ed Pratowski will teach you college-level calc concepts like Limits, Integrals, Derivatives, Parametric Equations, and more. You can code along at home using Jupyter Notebook to implement these mathematical expressions and interact with them visually. This will help you solidify your understanding of these abstract concepts. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-college-calculus-and-implement-with-python/

2. Python has its own Node.js-style web development framework called Django. And freeCodeCamp just published a crash course that will help you get up and running with it. You'll learn about Django's Model-View-Template design pattern, its admin dashboard, and its “batteries included” design philosophy that makes building web apps relatively straightforward. By the end of this crash course, you will have built your own first Django app. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/django-crash-course-for-beginners

3. freeCodeCamp just published yet another comprehensive handbook by CTO Omer Rosenbaum on how Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) works. Note that even though IPv6 came out 13 years ago, IPv4 still handles a majority of web traffic. This handbook will teach you the basics of how IP addresses work. You'll also learn about Network Addressing Schemes, Packet Fragmentation Handling, Header Fields, Subnet Masks, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-ipv4-works-a-handbook-for-developers/

4. Learn how to build your own DevOps pipeline using 100% freely available open source tools. This intermediate tutorial will show you step-by-step how to configure your cloud environment, set up Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment, and orchestrate your containers. You'll also learn how to secure and monitor everything. (45 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-production-ready-devops-pipeline-with-free-tools/

5. Learn how to run multiple virtual machines on a single Linux computer using a tool called a hypervisor. This is helpful for running multiple servers or doing cross-platform testing of your apps. This tutorial will introduce you to Network Bridges, Guest VMs, and the Cockpit VM manager. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/turn-ubuntu-2404-into-a-kvm-hypervisor/

Quote of the Week: “If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.” — technology writer Robert X. Cringely in an old issue of InfoWorld magazine

Apr 25, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Python course that will walk you through building your own Llama 4-style Large Language Model. You'll learn about the inner workings of LLMs: Transformer Block Architecture, Feedforward Networks, Rotary Positional Embe