Skillsoft Buys Codecademy for $525M(skillsoft.com)
skillsoft.com
Skillsoft Buys Codecademy for $525M
https://www.skillsoft.com/press-releases/skillsoft-to-acquire-codecademy-a-leading-platform-for-learning-high-demand-technical-skills-creating-a-worldwide-community-of-more-than-85-million-learners
123 comments
Co-Founder and CEO here. We started Codecademy and launched on HN 10 years ago. I'm so thankful to this community for helping us to get started and to see up the momentum! We're committed to making sure that the product stays as great as the one you've used for years (and gets even better!).
Looks like these were the first two HN threads:
Show HN: Codecademy.com, the easiest way to learn to code - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2901156 - Aug 2011 (232 comments)
Codecademy Surges To 200,000 Users, 2.1 Million Lessons Completed In 72 Hours - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2914854 - Aug 2011 (75 comments)
Show HN: Codecademy.com, the easiest way to learn to code - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2901156 - Aug 2011 (232 comments)
Codecademy Surges To 200,000 Users, 2.1 Million Lessons Completed In 72 Hours - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2914854 - Aug 2011 (75 comments)
I taught myself Python using Codecadamy in 2010 and I've since increased my salary 720%. Wanted to just say thank you for all of your team's efforts that touched so many lives like my own.
Seconded, would love to hear your story! I too learned python with a little help from CA but I'm struggling to find the right niche.
I started out as a sysadmin for a tiny software company and I was barely doing any automation. I started to realize through forums, etc that I needed to get into this scripting thing if I didn't want to be drowning in work so I was fiddling with batch/powershell stuff for the Windows servers. However, I was stuck on the few Linux boxes so I started poking around for what language I should learn for that and landed on Python. Spent a bunch of time going through the CA course and got fairly comfortable with the language but still hadn't really done anything with it.
I always wanted to work for a big company so I managed to land a role at a large network provider and when they found out I was interested in scripting they dubbed me the automation guy so I started writing a huge python/expect script that could do automated troubleshooting on these vendor systems that previously could only be navigated with SSH commands. Basically I truly learned Python doing this along with reading "Fluent Python" cover to cover. I recall days of frustration chasing bugs when I finally tracked it down to copying variables from lists without doing deepcopy() and having them modified later. My coworkers complained about speed to load data so I had to learn about multithreading and GIL so I could lazy load data. Then an old coworker reached out about a snazzy new startup so I went there to do this newfangled DevOps thing.
The DevOps role is where I was forced to round out my overall language awareness (not exactly learning the languages) so I could help manage the CI/CD pipelines and supporting infrastructure. For example, I had to learn that C# was compiled and developer machines were special snowflakes that compiled things differently. Days of frustration digging into to "compiles on my machine, your TeamCity is broke" type stuff. I had to use a lot of my sysadmin knowledge to prep machine images and do VMWare bootstrapping stuff which requires some healthy scripting. I was one of a few Linux guys so I was dubbed Hadoop dude (bought an O'Reily Hadoop book and read cover to cover) and my python scripting came in handy here plus had to buff up on bash. Started getting frustrated with the dynamic nature of Python and not being able to hand a script off to someone and expect it to work on their machine so I did some googling and learned that I needed to learn a compiled language. Golang sounded cool so I started teaching myself this. Startup life was getting to be a drag so I took an opportunity and another massive corporation doing Cloud stuff (new hotness, right?).
Massive Corporation was trying to govern triple digit AWS accounts with a newly hired team of 4 people--what could go wrong? The only way to be successful at this is to code automation. At this point I had to live and breath Golang/Python/AWS-SDK to survive. At this point I was being nudged into taking a people manager role and I'd been around the block enough to know in my bones that bad leadership was the source of a lot of engineer frustration so I felt obligated to at least try it. Now I'm pretty much full time leader and haven't coded anything in about a year but my job now is to spot talent, call BS, and nip bad ideas/programs in the bud.
I can't tell you how many stupid, pointless technologies I dug into and then fixed that provided no immediate benefit whatsoever but I learned to spot patterns which is invaluable. For example, I screwed around with Artifactory as a result of left-pad-gate [1] at DevOps job and got a working system together so now at massive corporation I'm helping some teams learn basics of artifact management even though it's not really part of my job. All of these experiences add up to value for a technology company.
I learned most of my skills from making the "mistake" of curiously trying to help someone fix something and then ending up three days later at 2AM writing some script and thinking to myself "What the hell was I thinking?" but it's always provided more value for me than them in the end.
None of this would be possible if I didn't live in the trenches and absorb systems into my bones via programming. Best advice I can give is to be curious, then be helpful, and then be stubborn. Throw in a few dashes of RDD [2] for self-preservation.
[1] - https://medium.com/quid-pro-quo/what-should-we-learn-from-th... [2] - http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/10/resume-driven-development.h...
I always wanted to work for a big company so I managed to land a role at a large network provider and when they found out I was interested in scripting they dubbed me the automation guy so I started writing a huge python/expect script that could do automated troubleshooting on these vendor systems that previously could only be navigated with SSH commands. Basically I truly learned Python doing this along with reading "Fluent Python" cover to cover. I recall days of frustration chasing bugs when I finally tracked it down to copying variables from lists without doing deepcopy() and having them modified later. My coworkers complained about speed to load data so I had to learn about multithreading and GIL so I could lazy load data. Then an old coworker reached out about a snazzy new startup so I went there to do this newfangled DevOps thing.
The DevOps role is where I was forced to round out my overall language awareness (not exactly learning the languages) so I could help manage the CI/CD pipelines and supporting infrastructure. For example, I had to learn that C# was compiled and developer machines were special snowflakes that compiled things differently. Days of frustration digging into to "compiles on my machine, your TeamCity is broke" type stuff. I had to use a lot of my sysadmin knowledge to prep machine images and do VMWare bootstrapping stuff which requires some healthy scripting. I was one of a few Linux guys so I was dubbed Hadoop dude (bought an O'Reily Hadoop book and read cover to cover) and my python scripting came in handy here plus had to buff up on bash. Started getting frustrated with the dynamic nature of Python and not being able to hand a script off to someone and expect it to work on their machine so I did some googling and learned that I needed to learn a compiled language. Golang sounded cool so I started teaching myself this. Startup life was getting to be a drag so I took an opportunity and another massive corporation doing Cloud stuff (new hotness, right?).
Massive Corporation was trying to govern triple digit AWS accounts with a newly hired team of 4 people--what could go wrong? The only way to be successful at this is to code automation. At this point I had to live and breath Golang/Python/AWS-SDK to survive. At this point I was being nudged into taking a people manager role and I'd been around the block enough to know in my bones that bad leadership was the source of a lot of engineer frustration so I felt obligated to at least try it. Now I'm pretty much full time leader and haven't coded anything in about a year but my job now is to spot talent, call BS, and nip bad ideas/programs in the bud.
I can't tell you how many stupid, pointless technologies I dug into and then fixed that provided no immediate benefit whatsoever but I learned to spot patterns which is invaluable. For example, I screwed around with Artifactory as a result of left-pad-gate [1] at DevOps job and got a working system together so now at massive corporation I'm helping some teams learn basics of artifact management even though it's not really part of my job. All of these experiences add up to value for a technology company.
I learned most of my skills from making the "mistake" of curiously trying to help someone fix something and then ending up three days later at 2AM writing some script and thinking to myself "What the hell was I thinking?" but it's always provided more value for me than them in the end.
None of this would be possible if I didn't live in the trenches and absorb systems into my bones via programming. Best advice I can give is to be curious, then be helpful, and then be stubborn. Throw in a few dashes of RDD [2] for self-preservation.
[1] - https://medium.com/quid-pro-quo/what-should-we-learn-from-th... [2] - http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/10/resume-driven-development.h...
this is amazing to read. thank you so much! would love to hear your story -- I'm zach@ if you want to shoot a note over.
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Congrats Zach! I owe you a lot. I started using Codecademy in 2011 or 2012 when I was in high school and it was one of the main tools I used to teach myself programming. Fell in love with the hobby/profession and it's what I'm doing (and still love doing) 10 years later!
awesome! would love to hear more (and to tell our team!). shoot me an email!
I was a freshman in college in Fall of 2011 and took the python course because I was starting to regret majoring in business.
10 years later I'm a senior engineer and can take care of my family for life. I wouldn't be where I am today without the start you and the company gave me. Thank you and best of luck in whatever you choose to do in the future.
10 years later I'm a senior engineer and can take care of my family for life. I wouldn't be where I am today without the start you and the company gave me. Thank you and best of luck in whatever you choose to do in the future.
this (and every other story in this thread!) really makes everything worth it. would love to hear as much as you're comfortable sharing over email!
I discovered Codecademy in late fall 2011, while miserable in my first semester of law school. I had no idea how to code, and had only found it after stumbling on PG's essays for the first time (which led me to google "learn to program"). I dropped out of law school after a year and ended up a self-taught data scientist. Codecademy was only a part of my journey, but you kicked it off. Congrats, and thank you.
congratulations to you on your new career! i almost became a lawyer too ;)
Hi Zach, I owe a great deal of thanks to you and the rest of the Codecademy team for providing me (and millions of others) with the tools to make a career transition. Hope this is just the beginning, can't wait to see what's next!
(Also, great to see someone from my high school class doing huge things. Well done!)
(Also, great to see someone from my high school class doing huge things. Well done!)
Congrats Zach to you + Ryan! I was just talking to my co-founder (Shahed Khan) yesterday and you came up in conversation as someone he really admires. :)
Best of luck in this new chapter for your company, your team, your loved ones, and your life.
Best of luck in this new chapter for your company, your team, your loved ones, and your life.
It actually turned my life around. I was in school and wasn't feeling challenged, but we had a web design class by a shaggy haired, bearded metalhead in his 50s who did it as a part time job, he started his career with punch cards, had seen just about everything. I was a depressed kid in a poor area and no parents, I didn't really have the attention span for learning to program the classic way so I loved what I learned from Codecademy, it was really engaging.
I got an internship at the guy's old company and dropped out of school shortly after to work there full time, since then I've done so many things, moved to the US to work for Microsoft, built some really cool software, worked at all these places I couldn't even imagine 10 years ago. It's crazy to think that it all started in a small classroom going through Codecademy, I don't think anything else would've captured my interest in the way your website did. Thank you.
I got an internship at the guy's old company and dropped out of school shortly after to work there full time, since then I've done so many things, moved to the US to work for Microsoft, built some really cool software, worked at all these places I couldn't even imagine 10 years ago. It's crazy to think that it all started in a small classroom going through Codecademy, I don't think anything else would've captured my interest in the way your website did. Thank you.
I started learning HTML/CSS on Codecademy about 8 years ago when I was in early highschool. Now about to graduate from college with my CS degree. Thanks for making a great service that helped shape my life
I remember the thread. Reading about it on HN back then I started programming stuff outside of game scripting. I had just finished high school. At a meetup it led to my first job. It’s been a good 10 year career and couldn’t have gone better in this regard. Thank you for Codecademy which was life changing for me.
Your courses in Java and python were some of my first introductions to programming in middle school and I now work as a full time software engineer. Thank you sincerely for all your contributions. I hope codecademy continues to flourish.
thank you so much! glad to hear the java and python paid off ;)
Congratulations, Zach! It's been very cool watching Codecademy go from electrifying prototype to media darling to quiet giant.
Thank you and congrats! I took a Python course on codecademy and it led to a career change and basically a complete life transformation. You convinced me, and I’m sure a lot of others “Yes, I can do this.”
this is why we show up to work in the morning! thank you so much. if you have more you want to share, shoot me an email!
Congrats! It's been great to watch your journey. I've always recommended Codecademy to my friends who wanted to learn to program. I can safely say you helped three people get into the industry.
I'm thinking back to the first time I cracked open a Java 101 book, which was a truly impenetrable and frustrating experience. I didn't even get the tooling stable enough to print hello world. It took me a few years later to engage with Code Academy to realize that programming is accessible and enjoyable.
So many of us owe you all a huge debt of gratitude. I have a stable career and lifestyle in part to your work which made programming accessible to people like me.
So many of us owe you all a huge debt of gratitude. I have a stable career and lifestyle in part to your work which made programming accessible to people like me.
this is why we started the company! it killed me in college, but it didn't have to be that hard. so glad we could play a small part in your career!
Thanks so much! Codecademy taught me to program and it’s something I’m still getting paid to do 10 years later. Amazing product!
I know the opportunity to grab half a billion dollars was nearly impossible to pass up, almost all of these acquisitions result in the destruction of the original business and the abuse of the employees and customers involved.
Your site helped me find a new career! I am so much happier in my new life. Congratulations!!!
Thanks a lot and congrats to you and the team for this big milestone! I accelerated my webdev journey via Codecademy, even learned Python I believe. It's a wonderful platform that I still recommend to folks who come to me for advise.
Congratulations, Zach! Codecademy was a huge inspiration for me and a whole generation of edtech founders. It’s been amazing watching the company transition from a wildly viral consumer company to an enterprise powerhouse.
This feels a bit strange. I remember Codecademy as the first wow moment where I saw items being discussed here also being discussed "in the real world".
You're also reminding me that I've been on here for 10 years.
You're also reminding me that I've been on here for 10 years.
Congratulations Zack! I learned to program at Codecademy and it has played a very important role in my life/career. I'm working as an Engineer in an ed-tech company. This was all enabled by you and your team!
Thanks again
Thanks again
Like everyone else in this thread. You changed the trajectory of my life for the better. Came across your website as a business major fall of 2013 and never looked back!
InspiringAF now use your freedom to do even more...
It was well played; it somehow helped me have supplements on my dev learnings. I do appreciate the work you guys put in.
quite fun looking through your activity on HN, right back to a :- Show HN: Codecademy.com, the easiest way to learn to code
very cool
very cool
Will you continue to work on Codecademy? What's the next chapter?
Congrats Zach! - Kelvin
Congrats! I'm curious, are you a millionaire now? :)
First time I ever programmed was using Codecademy around 2013.
I was always an average student in school. Never had the motivation/curiosity to study since I felt it was all pointless. Never had any programming/computer classes in school.
I completed the python course that was available at the time that eventually guides you to build your own version of battleship with 2 players. It was an eye-opening experience for me.
I started to view all my math/chemistry/physics problems as “programming problems”, it really made learning fun for me. My grades changed drastically for the better with little extra effort. And more importantly Im now working as a SWE years later.
So thank you Codecademy :)
I was always an average student in school. Never had the motivation/curiosity to study since I felt it was all pointless. Never had any programming/computer classes in school.
I completed the python course that was available at the time that eventually guides you to build your own version of battleship with 2 players. It was an eye-opening experience for me.
I started to view all my math/chemistry/physics problems as “programming problems”, it really made learning fun for me. My grades changed drastically for the better with little extra effort. And more importantly Im now working as a SWE years later.
So thank you Codecademy :)
I was teaching a high school computer course when I discovered Codecademy in 2012. We spent three weeks using their introduction to JavaScript programming. Students learned basic programming working at their own pace. Everyone was engaged, and most students enjoyed this part of the course.
I worked all over the room, answering questions and seeing how students were doing. The site kept track of progress with game-like points and badges. The last week of the semester, students created two interactive web pages using what they'd learned. These two projects were similar to programming labs I had done in past years, but the instructions were much shorter because Codecademy prepared them much better; and the results were better because students were more competent and felt more confident from their Codecademy work.
In subsequent years I continued to use Codecademy for JavaScript and added HTML instruction around 2014 based on their site too. Overall I think hundreds of students benefited. Many thanks.
I worked all over the room, answering questions and seeing how students were doing. The site kept track of progress with game-like points and badges. The last week of the semester, students created two interactive web pages using what they'd learned. These two projects were similar to programming labs I had done in past years, but the instructions were much shorter because Codecademy prepared them much better; and the results were better because students were more competent and felt more confident from their Codecademy work.
In subsequent years I continued to use Codecademy for JavaScript and added HTML instruction around 2014 based on their site too. Overall I think hundreds of students benefited. Many thanks.
Thanks for sharing this. Do you still have your code for your battleship game?
All of my earliest programming projects have been lost to time.
All of my earliest programming projects have been lost to time.
One of my few regrets is leaving old computers/disks at my parents house when I moved out. I didn’t value them at all at the time - they were old crappy computers.
So my Commodore 64 and 128 and all the software I spent my childhood writing were thrown away. I had a full BBS program that I wrote when I was 14 along with a half dozen BBS games. Would love to see that code!
So my Commodore 64 and 128 and all the software I spent my childhood writing were thrown away. I had a full BBS program that I wrote when I was 14 along with a half dozen BBS games. Would love to see that code!
I lost all my youth code to a monkey virus (nasty boot sector propegator that someone placed on a computer in the college where my mom was studying nursing). Before I knew what was going on it had spread to every floppy and hard drive that I had and had destroyed all the data. Three years of work gone. At that age it felt like most of my life had evaporated.
It was almost ten years before I started building serious personal projects again.
It was almost ten years before I started building serious personal projects again.
Maybe that's for the better... my code from when I was 15 years old haunts my GitHub, and that's not even my first GitHub account.
My first major programming project was in high school circa 2005. A basic graphing calculator written in JAVA with Spring and all the UI elements made in MS Paint.
I wish I still had that code.
I wish I still had that code.
Another thanks to Codeacademy :)
I got my feet wet and learned basic Python through them. Really got me over my fear of programming being crazy hard and the my fear doing something "wrong" to mess up my computer. Took a couple more years before I really got invested, but codeacademy cracked opened a door which led to a few more.
The other day I had the top down after cutting out of work early to go flying, and thought “life is good.”
I got my feet wet and learned basic Python through them. Really got me over my fear of programming being crazy hard and the my fear doing something "wrong" to mess up my computer. Took a couple more years before I really got invested, but codeacademy cracked opened a door which led to a few more.
The other day I had the top down after cutting out of work early to go flying, and thought “life is good.”
I learned the very basics to become a developer from Codeacademy. Back in 2015 I was a front line support technician at a small hardware startup who did Codeacademy in my free time, which was considerable. My first daughter had just been born and that really gave me motivation to learn and achieve my full potential. My boss was the only software engineer at our company and so was often overloaded with work, so he gave me small tasks to do, starting with learning regular expressions to massage a few thousand lines of data into something useful, and then getting to make PHP edits to Wordpress, and even some Visual C++.
I more than doubled my income from that job to my next job, propelling me to the middle class, and have since achieved consistently high pay raises over the last seven years without much difficulty.
As someone who dropped out of high school due to family issues and lack of motivation, I hope free resources like Codeacademy always exists on the internet and will be a pathway for those who have the aptitude to learn to code. For my personally it totally transformed my life as I was basically destitute before I got my first job as a web developer.
I more than doubled my income from that job to my next job, propelling me to the middle class, and have since achieved consistently high pay raises over the last seven years without much difficulty.
As someone who dropped out of high school due to family issues and lack of motivation, I hope free resources like Codeacademy always exists on the internet and will be a pathway for those who have the aptitude to learn to code. For my personally it totally transformed my life as I was basically destitute before I got my first job as a web developer.
100%. I met an AWS architect who told me his story of learning to code. He was a cab driver who took a software executive home one night and on the drive asked the guy what he did. He said he ran software teams/products and the taxi driver got some advice on how to move industries. The executive said check out a coding bootcamp. The taxi driver did, saw the cost, and decided he would learn on his own. He basically pulled the listed skills that the bootcamp taught and found free courses that focused on each of those.
He did it all via self learning. Obviously this individual was special and most people wouldnt be able to teach themselves how to code entirely on their own but these types of courses exist and will continue to exist as a free or low cost option for those people. Then there are the rest of us who have 15 paid courses that we will never start :)
He did it all via self learning. Obviously this individual was special and most people wouldnt be able to teach themselves how to code entirely on their own but these types of courses exist and will continue to exist as a free or low cost option for those people. Then there are the rest of us who have 15 paid courses that we will never start :)
> Obviously this individual was special and most people wouldnt be able to teach themselves how to code entirely on their own
I'd disagree. Sure online learning tools such as CodeAcademy and free videos on YouTube are useful and can provide a great leg up. But I know quite a few folks who pivoted their careers from non-programming jobs back in the 90's and none of these learning aids were available. We just used books, vendor documentation and whatever random stuff was available on the fledgling web and usenet groups to get us going.
I don't think it takes a "special individual", it just takes a bit of willpower and attention.
I'd disagree. Sure online learning tools such as CodeAcademy and free videos on YouTube are useful and can provide a great leg up. But I know quite a few folks who pivoted their careers from non-programming jobs back in the 90's and none of these learning aids were available. We just used books, vendor documentation and whatever random stuff was available on the fledgling web and usenet groups to get us going.
I don't think it takes a "special individual", it just takes a bit of willpower and attention.
> I don't think it takes a "special individual", it just takes a bit of willpower and attention.
In my mind this is a statement that contradicts itself. Having the prerequisite willpower and attention is the special attribute.
In my mind this is a statement that contradicts itself. Having the prerequisite willpower and attention is the special attribute.
I feel like I learned willpower and attention (directed focus towards a goal) by playing online RPG games which required grinding for EXP and leveling.
> I don't think it takes a "special individual", it just takes a bit of willpower and attention.
Self-studying from scratch to the level where you're a valuable hire requires falling in love with the work. I don't think anybody has the willpower to work through, think through and internalize all the stuff we work with daily if they don't find it at least a bit fun, and a lot of people don't. It does take a "special" individual, though not in the sense that they're better than anyone else.
Self-studying from scratch to the level where you're a valuable hire requires falling in love with the work. I don't think anybody has the willpower to work through, think through and internalize all the stuff we work with daily if they don't find it at least a bit fun, and a lot of people don't. It does take a "special" individual, though not in the sense that they're better than anyone else.
For people without mentors or exposure to the craft, they often have no idea why or where to start. They don't even know enough to select a book to start with. Add to that the immense complexity they face just to get python or .net working.
When I started all I had to do was turn on the computer (booted to a BASIC interpreter), type a few lines, and hit F2.
When I started all I had to do was turn on the computer (booted to a BASIC interpreter), type a few lines, and hit F2.
> For people without mentors or exposure to the craft, they often have no idea why or where to start.
I think you missed my point. My point was that it doesn't take being a "special" person to get started. These days all you do is type "How do I learn to be a programmer" into google and you'll get a general gist of where to begin. The assumption that people are that utterly helpless makes my mind boggle.
> Add to that the immense complexity they face just to get python or .net working.
Ok, I'll let you get away with .NET, but getting python installed and starting it from the command line is not immensely complex. Even my brother who is technology averse managed to do this without even asking for my help.
> When I started all I had to do was turn on the computer (booted to a BASIC interpreter), type a few lines, and hit F2.
You were lucky, when I were a lad, the computer turned on and presented me with a monitor ROM prompt, then I had to work it out from there ;)
I think you missed my point. My point was that it doesn't take being a "special" person to get started. These days all you do is type "How do I learn to be a programmer" into google and you'll get a general gist of where to begin. The assumption that people are that utterly helpless makes my mind boggle.
> Add to that the immense complexity they face just to get python or .net working.
Ok, I'll let you get away with .NET, but getting python installed and starting it from the command line is not immensely complex. Even my brother who is technology averse managed to do this without even asking for my help.
> When I started all I had to do was turn on the computer (booted to a BASIC interpreter), type a few lines, and hit F2.
You were lucky, when I were a lad, the computer turned on and presented me with a monitor ROM prompt, then I had to work it out from there ;)
A similar line of thought made me think about the usefulness of apps like Duolingo. People who learned languages back then did it with textbooks and most serious learners still do. Do we really need new methods other than spaced repetition (of which software is a slightly more efficient version of flash cards)?
I think most of us 'old' people taught ourselves and I'm certainly not special. It just takes an interest in whatever you're doing. Before the Internet we had the manual to read, and that's about it.
With the Internet, it's real easy to lose focus and bounce around between topics.
With the Internet, it's real easy to lose focus and bounce around between topics.
Thank you for sharing your story! (I'm a former skills instructor, although not at CA.) Hearing about this kind of life-change makes my day. :)
I'm glad for all the people in this thread, for whom Codecademy worked, but I strongly suspect it worked for them because of their drive, and not because of the quality of Codecademy.
~1 year ago I pointed some friends that wanted to learn Python towards Codecademy (because it's just the most prominent example of it's kind of platform). Just out of curiosity, I looked over their shoulders, and I'm glad I did.
From what I could the tell the course offered very little beyond a Python REPL in terms of guidance. It didn't teach the difference between a variable name `foo` and a string `"foo"` (one of the most common struggles for newbies), at a point in the course where it assumed that knowledge to complete a step. And all it gave as feedback were bad error messages (IIRC 1:1 the one of the Python interpreter, which are very hard to interpret for newcomers). I was baffled that the flagship learn-to-code-platform had that level of quality after ~10 years of operation.
~1 year ago I pointed some friends that wanted to learn Python towards Codecademy (because it's just the most prominent example of it's kind of platform). Just out of curiosity, I looked over their shoulders, and I'm glad I did.
From what I could the tell the course offered very little beyond a Python REPL in terms of guidance. It didn't teach the difference between a variable name `foo` and a string `"foo"` (one of the most common struggles for newbies), at a point in the course where it assumed that knowledge to complete a step. And all it gave as feedback were bad error messages (IIRC 1:1 the one of the Python interpreter, which are very hard to interpret for newcomers). I was baffled that the flagship learn-to-code-platform had that level of quality after ~10 years of operation.
I've never use codeacademy, but with exercism and the like the exercises are all very much "puzzles" rather than actual software engineering challenges. I want to see database problems, architectural questions, networking, reverse engineering, security concepts, API authoring, etc.
So as you describe, they're not great for starting out with programming, and for advanced programmers, string manipulation exercises just don't teach you anything.
So as you describe, they're not great for starting out with programming, and for advanced programmers, string manipulation exercises just don't teach you anything.
Are you aware of any online courses that teach these things?
There are plenty of video courses, stuff on Udemy teaching you databases, etc.
I think it's an untapped market for the webbased coding challenges, although quite hard to pull off if you are needing to have a database for the users to interact with, etc. The same would apply for any network-based challenge, or ones requiring interacting with an API, etc.
I think it's an untapped market for the webbased coding challenges, although quite hard to pull off if you are needing to have a database for the users to interact with, etc. The same would apply for any network-based challenge, or ones requiring interacting with an API, etc.
If you've ever played with HackTheBox / TryHackMe (hacking playground) they provide VPN config details where you connect and can access all sorts of services, DBs etc to hack.
I imagine a similar solution could work for coding, networking etc training.
I imagine a similar solution could work for coding, networking etc training.
Yeah I have, and they're really good. We need something similar for software engineering.
HN: make it so!
HN: make it so!
For me codecademy broke down stuff into easy steps but went into depth eventually. What I started to dislike about codecademy is that they are eventually dumbing down their lessons. There used to be comprehensive Javascript course, which they retired. That course went into details about prototype, inheritance chain and other things like that. Instead they released a course that doesn't even acknowledges that part of JS, just shows to make a class with ES6+.
Although I still think services like Codeacademy and Exercism are really useful, what you've said describes my main gripe with them, which is that these services are seemingly designed for people who have already maneuvered their way into programming to some extent. Someone who wants to learn programming from scratch probably won't get much out of having a "hello world" exercise thrown at them followed by FizzBuzz. Not only does the value of such exercises not necessarily translate to someone who has yet to fool with computers themselves, but these systems overall fail to educate new programmers on the many things that matter besides language constructs for a particular language. In my opinion, these are tools designed by programmers for programmers. Not that there's anything wrong with that... but not once have I become proficient in a language by doing online code challenges in a REPL; I always learn by doing, as was recently the case for me delving into C++ via an Arduino project. The C++ skills I momentarily learned online didn't stick because FizzBuzz isn't really applicable to anything (obviously I'm kind of oversimplifying things here).
Ten years ago when I tried it, it was the closest I as a non-coder ever come to a REPL. Thanks to Codecademy I got my start and learned I can do it. It’s been my career since. So for it’s audience (me ten years ago) it ain’t bad. Nothing was as inviting as approachable.
I remember using codecademy the day they launched, January 2012, to start learning Javascript. The interactive CLI based courses were a breath of fresh air from the old school W3 style tutorials that I had gotten stuck on. It sent me down the path of building a serious career and making a six figure salary that I could have never dreamed of otherwise as a high school dropout.
Thanks codecademy.
Thanks codecademy.
Same feeling. Then, following the path of https://www.freecodecamp.org/, that has to be one of the most inclusive tech endeavours out there.
It did include me.
freeCodeCamp was 5 years ago the foundational first step on a path to my current 6 figure salary in a job that enjoy a lot more than any previous one of my other careers.
I never learned well with videos, so codeCademy interface (which I think inspired freeCodeCamp’s) was a great innovation for me.
freeCodeCamp was 5 years ago the foundational first step on a path to my current 6 figure salary in a job that enjoy a lot more than any previous one of my other careers.
I never learned well with videos, so codeCademy interface (which I think inspired freeCodeCamp’s) was a great innovation for me.
I thought freecodecamp is mainly a collection of Videos? At least that's what its been like every time I tried.
The web and JavaScript is the same as codecademy - no videos.
Same comment as above! Thanks for sharing your story!
I get a feeling that the comments here read like eulogies. Maybe that's just me due to exposure to skillsoft over the years.
Took them as validation anecdotes -- sort of like thank yous to the team. Kind of really like these threads!
That being said, I've now asked a few folks about Skillsoft and they weren't that bullish about it. Kind of just hoping for a good return for the employees at Codecademy who worked hard to get to this stage (an exit).
That being said, I've now asked a few folks about Skillsoft and they weren't that bullish about it. Kind of just hoping for a good return for the employees at Codecademy who worked hard to get to this stage (an exit).
At this price the deal probably minted quite a few new millionaires, so I think it’s a good thing for people who worked on something for 10+ years.
It’s no S1 but for a lot of early contributors it’s probably a ticket to never having to work again.
It’s no S1 but for a lot of early contributors it’s probably a ticket to never having to work again.
For me it’s certainly a big thank you to the Codecademy team!
So how are the new owners going to squeeze more than $525 million out of it?
Another thing that makes me suspicious is that Skillsoft just went through chapter 11 bankrupty summer of 2020. It's near the start of a pandemic and people are at home yet these guys struggle? Also look how many owners skillsoft has passed through.
Same way they all plan to, ads and selling data.
Jack up the price, reduce the free content, develop b2b packages
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Congratulations to the Codecademy team! I always really wanted to join Codecademy and wrote about my experience being rejected 3 times over the past 7 years in a recent post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29025401. I've always rooted for them and wished them great success, their product has helped millions learn to code, including myself.
I learnt coding with Codecademy back in 2013. I was 32 years old with a career in marketing. Their Python class was the perfect introduction to coding in general and I got hooked instantly. I took my first job as a software developer 6 years ago after an intense 2 years of self learning following the codecademy class . I'm now senior data engineer in a pretty big company in Europe. I feel blessed for discovering Codecademy.
A big thanks to them. I owe them my new career.
A big thanks to them. I owe them my new career.
How is Codecademy pronounced correctly, "code academy" or "code cademy"?
“Codec ademy"
Along with others I joined Codecademy shortly after launch after seeing it on HN (2012). My coding journey started much earlier, having no direction and trying to learn from one of those giant Visual Basic books I talked my parents into buying from a bookstore in the mall in the 90's. Went to college (early 00's) with hopes of learning there, but I was too far behind and not really interested in the focus, so switched to a business degree.
Graduated and started work as an Accountant and hated the repetitiveness, so picked up some VBA and Access.
Real breakthrough for me was the Codecademy Python class and the benefits of the short form format. Get frustrated, take a break and come back fresh the next day or two.
That along with seeing Wes McKinney's Intro to Pandas talk around the same time ('13?) changed my career.
Real breakthrough for me was the Codecademy Python class and the benefits of the short form format. Get frustrated, take a break and come back fresh the next day or two.
That along with seeing Wes McKinney's Intro to Pandas talk around the same time ('13?) changed my career.
In 2011 (April) at a Baltimore Hackathon I unsuccessfully pitched the same idea that is Codeacademy (Codacademy launched in June, July or August i think) for others to join/help me work on. Later creating CodePupil(dot)com but like everything I started it was pretty much solo and within a few years would lose steam.
My comment is more so to tell others never to give up or at least try not to. Many who don't see great reward ...monetarily or as Zach is seeing here and has seen people being gracious for helping them learn an invaluable skill/changing and enriching their lives.
My comment is more so to tell others never to give up or at least try not to. Many who don't see great reward ...monetarily or as Zach is seeing here and has seen people being gracious for helping them learn an invaluable skill/changing and enriching their lives.
Since my university's curriculum was stuck in the 90s, I used Codecademy to teach myself JS, and Ruby. Thank you Zach, and everyone who has been part of the team!
I emailed [email protected] back in September of 2011 with ideas for the site, and Zach got back to me in no time. Been cheering for Codecademy ever since.
Congrats, guys!
Congrats, guys!
With each new opportunity to learn to code without the expense of a four-year degree in Computer Science, don't we reach a point at which either:
1) The four-year degree in CS is actually seen as something of a negative indicator
2) We acknowledge the silent part out loud, e.g. "the college degree is a signal, not a delivery mechanism for professional skills."
?
I'm saddened that we're comparing a degree in CS to a subscription to Codecademy.
I am curious if you've gotten a degree yourself, and whether that degree was from a reputable school. My CS degree is one of my proudest and most difficult accomplishments in my life.
The difference in someone with a 4 year CS degree and a bootcamp graduate is jarringly apparent and one that I have uncomfortable experience with.
My following statement will cause me to be downvoted, because the truth makes people uncomfortable. Computer Science education is a rite of passage, like getting a black belt, becoming a priest, doctor or anything else that requires intense study with peers for extended period of time.
The CS degree at a top school is more than a signal, its a badge of honor and respect. You may choose to ignore it to your own peril.
I am curious if you've gotten a degree yourself, and whether that degree was from a reputable school. My CS degree is one of my proudest and most difficult accomplishments in my life.
The difference in someone with a 4 year CS degree and a bootcamp graduate is jarringly apparent and one that I have uncomfortable experience with.
My following statement will cause me to be downvoted, because the truth makes people uncomfortable. Computer Science education is a rite of passage, like getting a black belt, becoming a priest, doctor or anything else that requires intense study with peers for extended period of time.
The CS degree at a top school is more than a signal, its a badge of honor and respect. You may choose to ignore it to your own peril.
My first thought is that "writing code" is not the same as CS, of course.
Second, your comment about "a reputable school" is interesting and indeed, probably, part of the disagreement with some people. On one hand, I'm open to the idea that someone can get a rigorous computer science education at any school, regardless of the prestige or admissions rate or rankings. On the other hand, I work with a bunch of people who are in some stage of earning an undergraduate degree through various online programs, and I sometimes see them doing schoolwork when things are slow (e.g. on a night shift), and I'm shocked that it confers college credit. I'm talking about classes on basic algebra that I learned in the 8th or 9th grade. Someone with a master's degree from a similar program bragged about writing his entire "master's thesis" in one sitting while drinking and receiving a grade of 100%... Anyway, it bugs me that they might think of their degree(s) as equivalent to mine. It's also easy to imagine that they might end up having a low opinion of all college degrees afterward, not realizing how much more rigorous the experience can be at other schools.
Second, your comment about "a reputable school" is interesting and indeed, probably, part of the disagreement with some people. On one hand, I'm open to the idea that someone can get a rigorous computer science education at any school, regardless of the prestige or admissions rate or rankings. On the other hand, I work with a bunch of people who are in some stage of earning an undergraduate degree through various online programs, and I sometimes see them doing schoolwork when things are slow (e.g. on a night shift), and I'm shocked that it confers college credit. I'm talking about classes on basic algebra that I learned in the 8th or 9th grade. Someone with a master's degree from a similar program bragged about writing his entire "master's thesis" in one sitting while drinking and receiving a grade of 100%... Anyway, it bugs me that they might think of their degree(s) as equivalent to mine. It's also easy to imagine that they might end up having a low opinion of all college degrees afterward, not realizing how much more rigorous the experience can be at other schools.
Funny how people without aeronautics degrees built first rockets.
Degree is just a paper that certifies you.
There are many people i know that acquired more knowledge outside than their classes.
Don’t compare graduates with people fresh out of boot camp. There are people who never stop learning after boot camp, they build skills over time and can even surpass “degree” holders.
But like i said, if that paper certifies and allows you to become lawyer great, but that doesn’t mean a person who spent 4 years studying law is any different.
> "Funny how people without aeronautics degrees built first rockets."
Goddard and von Braun both had a PhD in Physics. Yeah, funny, isn't it?
Goddard and von Braun both had a PhD in Physics. Yeah, funny, isn't it?
Lol the first rockets were built in China and were pioneered by Tipu Sultan in India, guess not all knowledge is college taught.
A badge of honor and respect is also known as a “signal.” Not that signaling is inherently bad, quite the opposite, signaling is essential. But it would be great if we could discover cheaper and more accessible ways to signal.
PS: I don’t think a CS degree is just signaling, but it could be improved an order of magnitude if the incentives of the professors and the institutions were aligned with teaching people marketable skills.
PS: I don’t think a CS degree is just signaling, but it could be improved an order of magnitude if the incentives of the professors and the institutions were aligned with teaching people marketable skills.
Yes I totally understand your point of view. I spent almost a decade paying off a six figure debt for my CS degree. The funniest part? I learned almost nothing about web development in school. No marketable skills that would have really helped me when I first started my actual job! How can I argue this is a good thing?
Well, the best analogy I can think of is a black belt in karate. It takes 10 years or whatever to get that. It has no marketable purpose. Why do it? The answer is more than "to get a job". It's about Discipline. Focus. Intense research into fundamentals. Stretching your limit if what you can learn in a weekend. Writing half a page of assembly code on a piece of paper. Debugging a C program. Red black trees. These have no purpose, but when reflecting on these experiences, I would not trade them for a second for "Intro to Javascript and HTML".
Well, the best analogy I can think of is a black belt in karate. It takes 10 years or whatever to get that. It has no marketable purpose. Why do it? The answer is more than "to get a job". It's about Discipline. Focus. Intense research into fundamentals. Stretching your limit if what you can learn in a weekend. Writing half a page of assembly code on a piece of paper. Debugging a C program. Red black trees. These have no purpose, but when reflecting on these experiences, I would not trade them for a second for "Intro to Javascript and HTML".
But should most people do it primarily for that reason? At the end of my 4½ years, I think not.
The longer my career has gone on - the more I realize the value of my CS degree.
Early on in my career I used to think my CS degree was a waste. But the more people I worked with that DIDN'T have a CS degree - it became clear to me how much value the degree had.
All the seemingly theoretical / non-practical things we learned - I would see others get stuck and unable to progress. And for me, these were just things I understood inherently.
Sure, I think if you only ever plan to work in startups and be a mid-level engineer - maybe a degree isn't worth it. But I think it's definitely worth it if you have bigger ambitions for your career.
Early on in my career I used to think my CS degree was a waste. But the more people I worked with that DIDN'T have a CS degree - it became clear to me how much value the degree had.
All the seemingly theoretical / non-practical things we learned - I would see others get stuck and unable to progress. And for me, these were just things I understood inherently.
Sure, I think if you only ever plan to work in startups and be a mid-level engineer - maybe a degree isn't worth it. But I think it's definitely worth it if you have bigger ambitions for your career.
Probably 1. There indeed is very little need for a CS degree for most web front-end/backend because very smart people (nearly all of who have CS degrees) pre-packaged very complex stuff together well enough that even people with modest skills can create salable code by gluing it all together, much like a plumber or electrician using off-the-shelf parts. So the software industry will bifurcate into a saturated, lower-paid market of these front-line coders and a handful of jobs requiring CS knowledge that build the tools, libraries, and services the front-line coders are putting together. That reduction in demand will lead to less CS majors and very few CS majors will be found doing that type of coding.
I learnt to program using codecademy !
I learned python through codecademy back in 2016 and today I work with development professionally
I've been working an an alternative to codeacademy, particularly one focused on closing skills gaps before job placement, and on building a tighter knit community. from a business perspective, this is great news for me I think xD
Off topic, but what is the point of having a cookie consent dialog come up on the site, when on a mobile device, you can't press 'accept' when choosing required cookies only?
Seems very hostile, and a way to have users agree to all the cookies regardless.
On a Samsung S9.
Seems very hostile, and a way to have users agree to all the cookies regardless.
On a Samsung S9.
Congratulations to the whole Codecadamey team! Know lots of folks there who have worked very hard and I hope this exit is beneficial to them. I wish them nothing but success (and hope Skillsoft can retain and grow the talent)!
Welp, I signed up with the service in January of 2012 but I'm done with Codecademy now. When Skillsoft bought Element K, it did not go well for the majority of us there. Not only that, but they were my biggest competitor in sales. So not only was I not impressed with how they treated a company after buying it, but it's almost out of principle that I wouldn't support a company that has been such a barrier to success for me.
I started my IT career with Skillsoft training for A+ certification nearly 20 years ago.
Good times. Thanks Skillsoft, good luck with the transition Code Academy
I signed up for Codeacademy, apparently, a long time ago to check it out. I say apparently because I have 0 recollection of ever using the platform. However, Codeacademy became incredibly spammy with their emails and reminded me of their existence.
In the recent weeks, I started getting 2-3 marketing emails a week. I got angry and deleted my account. This posed an interesting experience:
1. To prove it was me who requested the account deletion, I had to sign out and sign back in.
2. Upon signing out and signing back in, I navigated back through the menus to delete my account.
3. I discovered I had to prove that it was me who is requesting to delete the account by signing out and signing back in.
This was an infuriating infinite loop. After browsing through the forums, I figured out the problem was that I hadn't signed in for so long that my password was probably expired. So, I changed my password and viola, I could delete my account.
With my account deleted, I happily went on my marry way.
Next day, a Codeacademy marketing email arrived. I was absolutely furious. Turns out they retain your email for marketing purposes even after you delete your account. So, I issued a GDPR request and finally, the emails stopped.
Codeacademy, I ask you from the bottom of my heart,
What. The. Fuck?
In the recent weeks, I started getting 2-3 marketing emails a week. I got angry and deleted my account. This posed an interesting experience:
1. To prove it was me who requested the account deletion, I had to sign out and sign back in.
2. Upon signing out and signing back in, I navigated back through the menus to delete my account.
3. I discovered I had to prove that it was me who is requesting to delete the account by signing out and signing back in.
This was an infuriating infinite loop. After browsing through the forums, I figured out the problem was that I hadn't signed in for so long that my password was probably expired. So, I changed my password and viola, I could delete my account.
With my account deleted, I happily went on my marry way.
Next day, a Codeacademy marketing email arrived. I was absolutely furious. Turns out they retain your email for marketing purposes even after you delete your account. So, I issued a GDPR request and finally, the emails stopped.
Codeacademy, I ask you from the bottom of my heart,
What. The. Fuck?
Does codeacdemy hire codecademy?