Maybe you've tried learning from some other websites or videos but it's not sticking? (it's them, not you!) Or maybe you're brand new to this?
Are you looking for something fun and creative where you learn by making things? With a world-class instructor, live teaching sessions and support when you need it?
Well then, this might just be the course for you!
But over the last few years, I've seen a really worrying trend...
More and more people are trying to learn to code (🥳) but they seem to be struggling more than ever (😢). And they're struggling with things that should be pretty straightforward once you've been learning for a while. People just don't seem to be getting the fundamentals.
So I started reading around to see if I could work out what was going on, and found a crazy statistic.
How could it be that so many people were trying to learn to code, but so few were actually succeeding?
I went investigating… 🕵️
I watched the most popular YouTube videos (🥱), tried the "best" online courses (😐), and even paid my friends to try to learn so I could see what happened (a mix of 😭😠🤬🙅♀️).
I dug into formal research, spoke to my friends in education, and pretty quickly came to a simple conclusion...
I started coding when I was 8. Back then, YouTube didn't exist. There weren't any "learn to code" websites. I didn't even have the internet. There was basically only one way to learn. Make stuff. Lots of stuff!
And make stuff I did! I started making games and then graduated to making little bots to play against. And as I grew older I made websites for me and my friends, and eventually for customers.
I created, I played, I experimented. I had fun!
And through this, I got really good. I learned the coder mindset, and I laid the foundations that I've built my whole career on.
But that's not how these modern courses teach. Giving you a space to practice and play and experiment is hard. It's much easier to just give you a video to watch, a quiz to take, and a certificate to print out.
But you won't learn that way. You'll be bored, frustrated, and like most other people, you'll probably quit 😞😡
The best coders are not the ones who know the most.
The best coders are the ones who have gained a total mastery of the basics. Once you've got the basics down, everything will become easy. You can go and learn whatever you want or need.
And the way to master the basics? Practice, practice, practice.
Take on different challenges. Solve different problems. And have fun learning your craft!
For the last year, we've been building a new type of course. It's designed for total beginners and it's entirely focused on learning by doing. You'll be coding from day one, and you'll be coding a lot.
And once (just once!) we're going to run it as an interactive bootcamp, where I'll be there to guide you. I'll be there to explore ideas with you, help you if you get stuck, and have fun with you! ✨
For 3 months, I'll teach you the fundamentals of programming and how to think like a coder. Then for those who want to go into web development, I'll spend another 3 months teaching you how to build beautiful, interactive websites.
If that sounds exciting, then I'd love for you to join us! 💙
The bootcamp is split into two halves. Depending on your goals, you can take part in either Part 1 or the Full Course.
January - March 2025
April - June 2025
Each week we'll have a mix of live sessions and fun projects for you to work on!
In these core sessions, I'll explain the next core programming concepts, and we'll solve a coding challenge together. Join live to participate or watch back on demand.
The most important part of the bootcamp! The more you code, the better your brain starts to piece everything together. If you get too busy in a week to do everything, this is the bit to focus on!
No-one's getting stuck in this bootcamp! Each week we'll dedicate time to working through people's problems together. If you can't attend, message me where you're stuck and then watch back later!
Discussing code is another great way to reinforce your skills. Invest some time into answering questions and helping other students get unstuck, and you'll quickly level up your own knowledge.
Our focus from day one is to get you building fun things. You'll make classic games (and bots to beat them!), interesting websites, and integrate with APIs like ChatGPT to make cutting edge projects!
At the end of the Bootcamp, we'll issue you with an official certificate to recognise your participation and completion of the course.
Show off your skills on your resume and in the Certifications section of your LinkedIn profile.
Share your certificate in your network
Exercism is an incredible platform and Jeremy is an outstanding teacher. This is going to be an amazing bootcamp.
Depending on whether you want to learn web development or some other speciality such as data science, we have two different options.
Build rock solid coding fundamentals, applicable to every speciality.
Anyone looking to develop rock solid coding fundamentals. Designed for absolute beginners or new devs wanting to reinforce their solid foundations.
3 months, part-time.
You'll have a solid understanding of coding fundamentals. You'll be ready to learn vocational skills like app development or data science.
Expand your knowledge to front-end web development.
Anyone looking to become a web developer. Designed for absolute beginners or new devs wanting to reinforce their solid foundations.
6 months, part-time.
You'll be confident creating website front-ends from scratch and well on your way to a career in web development.
Exercism is a longstanding nonprofit that's helped over 2 million people level-up their coding skills.
We've grown entirely by word of mouth. Good friends tell their friends about Exercism!
We've been one of the most trusted resources for coding education for over a decade.
Our exercises are trusted by the coding community as the perfect way to level up!
Our unique mentoring program is one of the best ways to get tips from experts!
These are the questions we get asked the most. Your question not answered here? Ping us an email!
The first session will be on January 8th 2025.
We're aiming for about 8 hours per week (See the "What your week will look like" for more details). If you can put in an hour per day, that will be enough for you to get through the main work. If you can invest an extra few hours per week, you'll be able to also complete any more advanced exercises.
Yes, you can. But it will be more expensive to sign up for Part 2 later than it is to sign up for the full course now. We recommend signing up for the full course now if you're confident you want to learn web development.
There are no formal group activities. However, we encourage everyone to share their journey and explore programming together in our Discord server. Exploring other people's code is one of the best ways to improve your programming skills. You can choose to opt-out of the community aspects if you prefer.
We'll be teaching you a special beginner-friendly version of JavaScript. We've designed it specifically to ensure you don't get bogged down by syntax or language oddities. The focus is on your learning how to code and then being able to apply that to any language, but you'll also get a big head start on JavaScript preparing you for Part 2.
No, the sessions will be streamed online and everyone will be able to ask questions and participate. You can watch them back at any time in the future.
Most exercises can be completed by reaching a certain objective. However, they are not graded and your code isn't assessed or marked. We will explore some (anonymised) code in the weekly sessions and discuss how it could be improved, but our philosophy is that you should be in the trenches coding, not worrying about passing tests.
A few exceptional students might be in a position where they're confident applying for junior jobs. But for most people, we'll recommend spending a few more months honing your skills before entering your first programming job. Job hunting can be tough, and the more refined your skills, the more likely you'll be to get that first job!
Yes, we do. We want to ensure as many people can benefit from this bootcamp as possible. Email bootcamp@exercism.org, tell me your situation, and I'll see what we can do for you.
The bootcamp starts on January 8th 2025, so you won't have access to anything until then. However, you should receive emails giving you more information. If you don't recieve those, please email bootcamp@exercism.org and we'll check everything for you.
