In a world where more and more people turn to the internet to learn, coding and programming courses are growing massively in popularity.
As more people take to the internet to learn how to code and program, it isn’t a surprise to see a surge in the number of courses on offer.
In fact, the huge variety of courses out there makes it much harder to find the right one.
One course growing in popularity is FreeCodeCamp. FreeCodeCamp prides itself on providing its learners with high-quality content for free.
Yes, you read that right, FreeCodeCamp is free. Today, we want to see just how good FreeCodeCamp is, therefore, we’ve put together a review.
In this FreeCodeCamp review, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about this platform and show you what you can expect.
If you’re interested in learning more about what FreeCodeCamp has to offer, be sure to stick around!
A FreeCodeCamp Overview
FreeCodeCamp is unlike any online learning platform we’ve ever reviewed. This platform is a non-profit organization that prides itself on teaching people all the necessary coding skills and knowledge they need.
Founded in 2014 by creator Quincy Larson, FreeCodeCamp was released to help students up their coding game.
The aim of the platform is to take students from beginners to advanced-level experts in web development and programming.
Mr. Larson used his own coding knowledge and skill set to produce a course that teaches students to code and program exactly the way he was once taught.
Aside from teaching learners how to code, the platform also gives students the opportunity to put their skills to good use with practice within other non-profit organizations.
Now you know more about FreeCodeCamp, we can start looking at the pros and cons of the platform.
What Do We Like About FreeCodeCamp?
Let’s start with what we like about FreeCodeCamp. You’ll be happy to hear there’s a lot more we like than we dislike.
Free-To-Use
Let’s start with arguably the best thing about FreeCodeCamp. FreeCodeCamp is completely free to use.
Yes, you read that right, students have complete access to the platform and its content without having to pay a penny.
This is something most online learning platforms can’t or simply don’t offer.
If you were to learn how to code on other platforms such as Udemy, you would have to pay to purchase the course or pay for a monthly subscription.
This is incredible because it gives anyone and everyone the chance to learn how to code and program. All you need to take part in the course is an internet connection.
Certification Included
We love how students can be awarded certification at the end of the course. This isn’t something every online learning platform offers, which is a shame because it’s a great touch.
Having the possibility of earning certification at the end of the course gives students something to work towards.
Above all else, it’s simply a nice gesture that shows you’ve accomplished something. Simple things like this go a long way to keeping customers happy.
Practice What You’ve Learned
We were impressed with how this platform ensures students have the opportunity to practice what they’ve learned.
Unlike any other platform, FreeCodeCamp gives its students the opportunity to practice their coding skills with other non-profit organizations.
Aside from giving crucial help to non-profit organizations, this ensures that every student gets the chance to put what they’ve learned into action.
This practical experience reinforces what the students have learned and gives them a chance to see if coding is something they want to do one day.
Ease Of Use
It is important that any online learning platform is easy to use and visually on point. It doesn’t matter if the platform is free to use or paid for, this is a minimum expectation.
As a result of the platform being free to use, we first thought that this platform wouldn’t look or feel that great. However, we were quickly mistaken. FreeCodeCamp’s website is super simple, clean, and easy to navigate.
While it may not be the most exciting learning platform in the world, it’s certainly one of the best to use. Instead of cramming everything on the page, it is clear that Quincy Larson values simplicity.
Pages couldn’t be clearer, it takes very few clicks to find where you’re going, and you never face an information overload.
These factors make the platform much more enjoyable to use. No wonder more and more people join FreeCodeCamp every month.
What Don’t We Like About FreeCodeCamp?
It’s only fair to now look at the things we don’t like about FreeCodeCamp. Below are the things that we weren’t pleased with when visiting the platform. Luckily, there are only a few.
Technical Problems
Considering FreeCodeCamp was founded by an expert in the field of coding and web development, we didn’t expect to encounter any technical problems. However, we were faced with a few.
Before we share the technical issue we faced on this platform, it is worth noting that these issues didn’t ruin our experience and that small errors like this can be understood with free, non-profit platforms.
The main technical issue we faced when reviewing FreeCodeCamp was 404 errors.
On occasion, mainly when we searched for something in the search bar, we were greeted with a 404 error message.
While this isn’t a massive problem, it’s still something that shouldn’t happen on the platform, particularly one built for coding.
There Aren’t Actually Any Courses
This one might seem pretty strange but FreeCodeCamp doesn’t actually have any specific courses. Instead, the platform has a large collection of articles, videos, and lessons for you to follow.
Don’t worry, each lesson is easy to find and follow, with the overall experience not being impacted, but for us, we can’t help but think the platform would feel better if it had a specific course section.
Even though the organization of FreeCodeCamp’s platform is pretty great, a dedicated course section would only make things even easier.
What Can You Learn With FreeCodeCamp?
If you’re planning on using FreeCodeCamp’s free resources to learn about coding and web development, it’s a good idea to know what you can expect to learn about.
At the time of writing this, FreeCodeCamp has 10 different things you can expect to learn about.
This figure could change as content is added or removed, but for now, these are the topics you can earn certification in:
- Responsive Web Design
- Front End Libraries
- JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures
- APIs and Microservices
- Data Visualization
- Scientific Computing With Python
- Quality Assurance
- Information Security
- Machine Learning With Python
- Data Analysis With Python
Does FreeCodeCamp Have Quality Content?
Coding is a complex practice that requires a large amount of knowledge and experience to be successful.
Therefore, if you plan on learning about it online, the content has to be of real quality for you to get the most out of it.
At the end of the day, the content published by an online learning platform is what makes the platform good or not.
We can happily say that the content on FreeCodeCamp is excellent. When we see a course for free, it’s not uncommon for us to be skeptical regarding its validity and accuracy.
However, in the case of this platform, we have nothing to worry about. The content on FreeCodeCamp is reliable, accurate, clear, and very easy to take onboard.
Despite not offering a specific course, the lessons and resources the platform provides are valuable.
Admittedly, the content on the website is geared more toward beginners looking to start their coding journey, but there’s nothing stopping professionals from using the resources to refresh their knowledge.
The way the content is presented is also great. The presentations are clear and the content is very easy to understand.
What Features Does FreeCodeCamp Offer?
As far as features are concerned, FreeCodeCamp doesn’t have much to offer. Having said that, there are a number of neat things the platform offers its students that make a difference.
The best of these has to be the opportunities students are given to put their new knowledge into practice.
Giving learners the chance to work for other non-profit organizations is pretty incredible. It’s also something we’ve never seen another online learning platform offer.
The second feature that makes FreeCodeCamp a solid option is the addition of verified certification.
Receiving verified certification at the end of your learning is a great way to ensure students get the most out of their lessons.
This also gives students the chance to head out into the world of coding with some form of certification behind them.
As we said earlier, this is also a great gesture that shows students how well they have done.
Apart from these two features, FreeCodeCamp doesn’t have any other key features that enhance the overall experience of its students.
In all fairness though, what else can we expect from a free platform?
How Is The Learning Experience?
When it comes to the overall learning experience FreeCodeCamp delivers, we had no complaints. Learning is relaxed, relatively easy, engaging, and full of important information.
Whilst the classroom-styled learning experience might not be for everyone, we found that each presentation ran smoothly and covered everything we needed to learn about.
Despite this more traditional style of learning, we also found that the resources provided varied in terms of how they were delivered.
Aside from delivering virtual school lessons, this platform also has a large collection of videos and written work to look at.
Most of the time, these other sources of information help to reinforce what you’ve already learned from the experts.
The only thing we would change with the learning experience is the repetitiveness of the learning.
Every now and again, it would be nice to learn through more practical lessons. Something as simple as a quiz would help change things up a bit.
How Does FreeCodeCamp Make Money?
After everything we’ve said, you might find yourself wondering how FreeCodeCamp makes the money to keep operating.
After all, the services this platform offers are 100% free. Well, the answer is actually a lot more simple than you might first have thought.
While nobody can say for sure, it is widely believed that FreeCodeCamp makes its money from donations and contributions.
Of course, all of the money given is then reinvested into the running of the organization.
Anyone can contribute or donate to the organization via the online platform. If you enjoy the lessons and have a few dollars spare, you might wish to donate to the organization to help ensure its future.
Is FreeCodeCamp Worth It?
If we had to say right now, is FreeCodeCamp worth it, we would say, yes, absolutely FreeCodeCamp is worth it. For starters, you have nothing to lose as the platform is completely free.
Secondly, lessons are loaded with valuable information and important content. Thirdly, the platform will reward you with verified certification, and finally, the platform is clear, straightforward, and super easy to use.
What’s not to like?
Final Thoughts
FreeCodeCamp is a free-to-use online platform that will teach you everything you need to know about coding and programming.
Primarily aimed at beginners, there are 10 brilliant modules to learn about and a wide range of tools to help you do it.
While the platform is quite basic and unexciting, which is expected with a free course, everything you need can be found quickly and effortlessly.
There are some downsides to using FreeCodeCamp, the lack of an established course being one, but any faults we found didn’t impact our overall learning experience.
At the end of the day, FreeCodeCamp is an amazing non-profit organization that makes coding accessible to millions of people around the world.
It may not be as fancy or as detailed as paid courses, but for us, it has everything you need to get started, presenting wonderful opportunities along the way.
Why don’t you check out FreeCodeCamp for yourself now and see what you think?
