Learn to Code for Free and Land Your First Developer Job

Introduction

Whether you want to switch careers, advance in your current job, or launch a lucrative side hustle, learning to code can unlock countless opportunities! In this special guest issue, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson shares how the platform helps people from all backgrounds learn essential coding skills and break into the tech industry. From mastering the basics and building an impressive portfolio to preparing for interviews and landing your first developer job, freeCodeCamp’s comprehensive curriculum guides you every step of the way. You’ll also find a supportive community through Discord, active forums, and in-depth articles, providing the encouragement and resources you need to stay motivated and succeed. Learn to code with freeCodeCamp and gain the skills you need to advance your career—for FREE!

Topics covered in this article include:

How to learn coding for free with freeCodeCamp’s hands-on curriculum
Balancing coding with work, family, and other commitments
Using AI wisely as a coding assistant
Building real projects, portfolios, and job-ready skills
Tips for landing your first developer job and accessing more free resources

What is freeCodeCamp?

freeCodeCamp is a nonprofit organization and online learning platform dedicated to making coding education accessible to everyone, everywhere. Their platform offers a comprehensive, self-paced curriculum covering in-demand skills such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and more.

Learners progress by building real-world projects and earning certifications, all for free! Whether you’re a total beginner or looking to advance your skills, you can practice coding directly in your browser, gain hands-on experience, and join a supportive global community of fellow learners and developers.

Why Learn Coding With freeCodeCamp?

Learning to code for free and then landing your first developer job is a bold claim, so let me back it up with some statistics. According to freeCodeCamp, more than 100,000 of its graduates now work at companies worldwide, including top tech firms such as “F.A.A.N.G.” (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google). Notable alumni include Shawn Wang, who became a software engineer at Amazon; Sarah Chima, who began her developer career at ChatDesk; and Emma Bostian, who now works at Spotify. All of them studied with freeCodeCamp, which played a significant role in their career progress.

Every year, thousands of people in the freeCodeCamp community get their first software developer job after completing the curriculum. The organization regularly publishes inspiring stories from alumni who began as complete beginners, built real-world projects, earned certifications, and then went on to secure jobs in tech.

These outcomes, along with the size of freeCodeCamp’s global community, show that with dedication and the right free resource, landing your first developer job is absolutely possible!

How You Learn With freeCodeCamp

You learn with freeCodeCamp by following their thoroughly designed, cohesive linear curriculum. It has a clear beginning and end and allows you to skip over topics you already know. You’ll start with the fundamentals: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, then advance to more complex topics, earning certifications as you complete each stage. As you progress, you’ll gain practical experience by building real projects and deepening your understanding of essential programming concepts. All of this is designed to help you become a hirable developer!

Recommended curriculum includes:

Responsive Web Design Certification
JavaScript Certification
Front End Development Libraries Certification
Python Certification
Relational Databases Certification
Back End Development and APIs Certification
Certified Full Stack Developer Curriculum

In addition to the core curriculum, freeCodeCamp offers a coding challenge of the day to help you practice consistently and sharpen your skills. You can also take advantage of language learning resources, such as English for Developers, Professional Spanish, and Professional Chinese, which are tailored for the global tech industry. For those preparing for job applications, freeCodeCamp provides interview preparation materials and resources to help you get ready for the developer job search. You’ll also become part of a supportive global community of learners and developers. Best of all, every aspect of freeCodeCamp’s platform is completely free!

With this comprehensive approach and a commitment to continually improving and expanding their course offerings, freeCodeCamp supports your journey from beginner to job-ready developer, helping you build a well-rounded education in tech.

My freeCodeCamp Certification

Education and Certifications for Tech Careers

When preparing for a career in tech, both formal education and industry certifications can help you stand out to employers. As a former school teacher himself, Quincy places a high value on traditional education. If college is an option, he recommends earning a computer science degree, as it is often the most beneficial path for those seeking a career in tech. However, he acknowledges that significant student loan debt can be a barrier, so he suggests considering community colleges and state universities. If he could change one thing, Quincy says he would wave a magic wand and make universities free for everyone! A college degree can open more doors, since some employers require it, and it may give you an edge over other job seekers who do not have one.

It’s also important to note that not all tech roles require a college degree—many employers place a high value on demonstrable skills, real-world experience, and strong project portfolios. By building and showcasing your abilities through projects and certifications, you can stand out to potential employers even without a traditional degree.

Quincy also suggests earning additional industry-recognized certifications, such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure credentials, to validate your technical skills. freeCodeCamp offers free YouTube courses for many of these in-demand certifications, led by CTO Andrew Brown, who has personally taken and passed the exams. To deepen your learning, you can also explore Andrew’s ExamPro platform. In many cases, strong skills and relevant certifications can be just as valuable as a degree, especially for roles that emphasize practical experience.

While skipping school might seem appealing, Quincy encourages those between 25 and 30 to consider earning a traditional degree. Just be mindful not to overspend in the process. Ultimately, whether you choose a degree, certifications, or both, investing in your education is a smart step toward a career in tech.

Empowering Busy Adults

freeCodeCamp was created with busy adults in mind. If you’re working full-time, raising children, caring for family, or starting over after setbacks, the program is designed for your real-life challenges.

The curriculum is crafted by educators who break down complex topics into manageable steps. Each module includes comprehension checks, practical tips, and test suites to reinforce your skills. You build in-demand, job-ready abilities for a career in software engineering, all on a flexible schedule that fits your life.

Busy schedules are not a barrier to learning with freeCodeCamp. The program is 100% self-paced, so you can fit study sessions in before work, after the kids are asleep, or during breaks. There are no deadlines to worry about. Many learners have successfully completed the curriculum while managing jobs and family responsibilities. Consistency is key, and progress adds up over time.

Getting job-ready looks different for everyone. Some learners finish in a year, while others take two or more. The important thing is steady advancement, not rushing or putting your life on hold. Each module builds your practical, marketable coding skills and brings you closer to your goal.

If you get stuck, you are never alone. freeCodeCamp’s global community is active and welcoming. Join the forums, connect on Discord, or find a local study group. Whether you need help with a coding problem or just a bit of encouragement, mentors and peers are ready to support you.

Importance Of Learning The Fundamentals

In addition to freeCodeCamp’s curriculum, Quincy emphasizes the importance of learning programming fundamentals from books written by experienced teachers. To stay in line with the learning-for-free theme, consider checking your local library first. He tells us that nothing can substitute for the value of focused hours spent with well-curated materials from qualified instructors. Personally, I learned a great deal from the Sam’s Teach Yourself Series back in the day.

And yes, the substitute I’m referring to here is AI! While AI might seem like a quick way to pick up the basics, relying on it to spot-learn the fundamentals often leaves you with spotty results.

Quincy points out, however, that once you’ve learned a language—such as a scripting language—it can be beneficial to use AI when picking up another. In this context, AI can help you quickly grasp the new language’s syntax without being detrimental, since you already have a strong foundation from the first language you learned.

AI in Coding: Tool, Not Crutch

Vibe coding, prompt coding, and AI coding—oh my! With so many code-assisting tools available, how should you approach learning to code? Quincy advises against relying on AI to learn coding fundamentals. While it might save time initially, it can cost you more in the long run. Imagine using AI to generate the foundation of a website, then continuing to build on top of it, adding new features. Without a solid understanding of the underlying, AI-generated code, you’ll struggle to troubleshoot issues as they arise. In some cases, you might even have to scrap the entire project and start from scratch. If you’re serious about landing a web development job, you need to be able to understand all code—whether it was created by AI, written by another developer, or even by yourself!

As a personal challenge, I built an Ahsoka-themed Star Wars React website (see repo), used AI as a pair programmer, and documented the process in an article series.

The pros of building with AI: it feels like having a personal mentor, you can write code above your current level, and you can ask AI to explain how each line works.
The cons: AI can sometimes misdirect you, provide inconsistent code, and lead to overdependence if you’re not careful.

After this experience, my current hot take on coding with AI is this: when you pair program with AI, you become the senior developer, and the AI acts as your junior. This approach lets you delegate tedious or repetitive tasks to the AI, speeding up your workflow and making development more efficient. The key is to stay in control—review and guide the AI’s code just as you would when mentoring a junior developer. Used thoughtfully, AI can enhance your workflow and help you grow as a developer, without falling into the trap of relying on it as a crutch.

The Importance of Hands-On Practice

Quincy explains that the true way to learn programming is through plenty of hands-on coding. He uses the analogy of a piano teacher and student: even with a great teacher, if the student only spends an hour a week at the piano during lessons, they won’t excel. Similarly, you can watch, read, and listen to excellent programming instructors, but without putting in many hours actually coding and building projects, you won’t truly learn how to program.

Now that we've discussed the value of learning to code by doing, how can you stay motivated to finish freeCodeCamp’s self-paced curriculum? One great way is by building passion projects! If you’re like me, you might be interested in creating video games. freeCodeCamp instructor Ania Kubow teaches web development through game projects like Pac-Man and Tetris. Her minimalist approach helps you focus on core programming concepts while giving you plenty of freedom to add your own styling and unique game mechanics. These side projects not only keep you engaged, but they also become valuable additions to your personal portfolio for others, including potential employers, to see.

Here are my Pac-Man (repo) and Tetris (repo) games, both inspired by Ania Kubow’s projects.

Preparing for Your Job Search

Once you complete freeCodeCamp’s web development curriculum, you’ll find a range of additional resources to help you prepare for technical interviews and the job search process. These resources are designed to strengthen your problem-solving skills, deepen your programming knowledge, and boost your interview confidence.

The Odin Project - freeCodeCamp Remix: An interactive, browser-based adaptation of the open-source Odin Project curriculum, maintained by the freeCodeCamp community. It offers hands-on projects and coding challenges based on the original Odin Project, making it easier to learn and practice web development skills without any software setup.
Coding Interview Prep: A curated collection of coding challenges, algorithm questions, and take-home projects designed to help you prepare for technical interviews and strengthen your programming portfolio.
Project Euler: A series of challenging mathematical and computational problems that help you improve your algorithmic thinking and coding skills, ranging from beginner to advanced difficulty.
Rosetta Code: A collection of classic programming tasks solved in many different languages, designed to expand your problem-solving skills and expose you to multiple ways of approaching coding challenges.

Job-Hunting Tips From Quincy’s Free Book

In his book, Quincy shares three important tips for developers seeking jobs:

You must have programming skills.
You must build your reputation.
You must network with people.

Quincy tells us there’s no way around it: you must have programming skills. Even if you pass the interview and land the job, it will be short-lived without them. You need to be capable of performing in the tech role you’re hired for and versatile enough to keep pace with the ever-changing tech landscape. If you can’t, you’ll be left behind.

In addition to your skills, you will also benefit from building up your reputation. The goal is to earn a reputation that precedes you. In other words, people you meet for the first time already know who you are and what you are capable of. With a strong reputation, you can streamline interviews, and companies might even reach out to you directly with offers.

Building your professional network can help you land jobs that are never advertised. Yes, you read that right! Companies often source talent by reaching out through their networks first, before advertising, and sometimes skip advertising altogether. For example, I secured my first paid technical writing role at the online coding school Scrimba through my network a week before it was publicly advertised. Your network can also help you recover quickly from a layoff, just as it did for people in my network: Brian Morrison landed a new job at Clerk just days after being laid off, and James Q. Quick received numerous offers after his layoff from PlanetScale.

📘 FREE Book! How to Learn to Code and Get a Developer Job

Exploring More Free and Affordable Learning Resources

Wondering where to continue your learning journey after freeCodeCamp? Here are some resources I’ve personally found valuable:

YouTube: You’ll find a wealth of instructors—like Brad Traversy, Kevin Powell, Gary Simon, and Kyle Cook (Web Dev Simplified)—who share high-quality free tutorials on a wide range of topics. They also offer paid courses, which I’ve purchased and can personally recommend.
Udemy: Purchase in-depth coding courses here (often available for just $10 during sales).
Scrimba: Features a broad range of free courses and a thriving community. Scrimba’s advanced learning system includes interactive screencasts (“scrims”) that let you pause teacher-led lessons and experiment with live code right in your browser. Their AI-powered Instant Feedback tool provides real-time code analysis, hints, and corrections to help you learn faster and more effectively. Many Scrimba instructors and courses are also featured on freeCodeCamp through their ongoing collaboration.

Invest in Yourself, The Future Is Bright!

Quincy feels optimistic about where the tech industry is headed. He urges you not to talk yourself out of pursuing a computer science degree or a career as a developer, even if the job market seems uncertain right now. While there’s a lot of hype around AI tools, they aren’t going to replace developers nearly as much as some people fear. As technology continues to evolve, the need for skilled developers will only increase to address new challenges. By investing in yourself and building your skills, you’re making a smart, long-term decision. If you’re ready to learn, build, and grow, software development is a field full of opportunity!

Quincy's Links

Website: https://www.freecodecamp.org/
freeCodeCamp Mobile App (Google Play | App Store)
Podcast: freeCodeCamp Podcast
Discord: discord.com/invite
Twitter/X: ossia
LinkedIn: quincylarson
📘 FREE Book! How to Learn to Code and Get a Developer Job

About Quincy Larson

Quincy Larson is a teacher and the founder of freeCodeCamp.org, a nonprofit community where millions of people around the world are learning to code together. Before starting freeCodeCamp in 2014, Quincy spent several years teaching and directing schools in both the US and China, where he also completed graduate work and became fluent in Mandarin. His journey into coding began with building scripts to automate school workflows, eventually leading him to work as a software engineer and freelance developer.

Quincy’s passion for education and technology inspired him to create freeCodeCamp—a 501(c)(3) public charity designed to make high-quality tech education accessible to everyone, everywhere. Today, he continues to lead the freeCodeCamp team, helping to design the curriculum, maintain the open-source platform, and grow a supportive global community of learners. Through his work, Quincy has helped tens of thousands of people land their first software developer jobs and continues to advocate for accessible, free education in technology.

My other related articles

Don't miss this episode – tune in to the Podcast now!

🎙Inside freeCodeCamp: Learning to Code in 2025 | w/ Quincy Larson

Stay up to date by following HTML All The Things on our social channels.

How to support the show

Patreon

Prices are subject to change and are listed in USD

Support the show from as little as ~$1/month
Get a shoutout at the end of the episode (while supplies last) for just ~$3/month
Help support the HTML All The Things Podcast: Click Here

Learn with Scrimba!

Learn to code using Scrimba with their interactive follow-along code editor.

Join their exclusive Discord communities and network to find your first job!

Use our affiliate link for an exclusive 20% discount!

Click our link to explore the new Scrimba 2.0 and start learning!
Make an account
You'll then have the option to upgrade to pro content (and you should see our 20% discount listed!)
Discount is for new accounts only

This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us continue to provide valuable content. Thank you for your support!

I’m excited to announce that I’m now a Torc Ambassador! As part of this global community, I’ll be sharing valuable insights from Torc’s virtual events, lessons from my own tech journey, and real-world perspectives on how teams are hiring and working today. I’ll be active in the Torc community through posts, events, Q&A sessions, and more—so stay tuned for updates and opportunities to connect. Whether you’re looking to advance your tech career or simply stay informed, I hope the insights I share will support and inspire you on your journey!

Torc is an AI-powered platform and vibrant global network that connects skilled professionals with top opportunities and forward-thinking companies. If you’re interested in joining, you can create a free profile using my referral link: https://platform.torc.dev/#/r/b5QZ7k5h/cp

Conclusion

The online coding school freeCodeCamp makes programming accessible to everyone through its hands-on, self-paced curriculum and supportive global community. Thousands of self-taught learners have landed their first developer jobs after completing the program.

As you progress, you’ll build real projects for your portfolio and gain practical, job-ready skills. Each completed course earns you a certification to enhance your resume, and specialized courses led by industry professionals can help you prepare for additional credentials, including those from Amazon and Microsoft.

You’ll spend plenty of time mastering programming fundamentals, which are an essential foundation before using AI-assisted coding tools. With a solid grasp of the basics, you can leverage AI as a valuable tool rather than relying on it as a crutch.

After finishing the curriculum, freeCodeCamp continues to support you with job search resources, technical interview preparation, and guidance for building your professional network and reputation.

The future of tech is bright, and skilled developers will remain in high demand! The rise of AI is opening new doors for those willing to learn and adapt. By investing in your skills and taking the first step today, you’re positioning yourself for lasting success in a field that values curiosity, persistence, and creativity. Whether you want to switch careers, advance in your current role, or launch a rewarding side hustle, now is the perfect time to learn to code and seize the lucrative opportunities in software development!

Let's connect! I'm active on LinkedIn and Twitter.

You can read all of my articles on selftaughttxg.com

‍

Written by...

Michael Larocca

Front-End Web Developer | Writer | Musician