freeCodeCamp Podcast freeCodeCamp.org

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews The Primeagean. He's a software engineer who streams himself programming. He recently left his job at Netflix to stream full-time.
We talk about:
- Prime's journey from his teacher telling him he'll never accomplish anything in life to working as an engineer at one of the most prestigious tech companies.
- Prime's love of "Nintendo Hard" video games, and how his love of challenge propelled him to "get good" at coding
- What it's like to live stream coding in front of more than 1,000 people for a dozen hours each week
- Leaving San Francisco to move his family of 6 to a horse ranch in South Dakota
- Prime's thoughts on AI and how he thinks it will actually create more developer jobs than it destroys
I had a blast talking with this guy. Though I don't agree with everything he says, I am right there with him on AI and how it's useful but over-hyped. We'll see what future versions hold and whether a "Moore's Law of AI" is really at work here, or whether it will plateau.
I also agree with Prime that devs need to slow down and improve their foundational skills. There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.
Can you guess what song I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's from a 1996 rock song.
Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.
Also, I want to thank the 9,331 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
Links we talk about during the interview:
- Prime's Twitch, from which his YouTube videos are derived: https://www.twitch.tv/theprimeagen
- Prime's Harpoon library on GitHub, which he talks about maintaining: https://github.com/ThePrimeagen/harpoon
- A speedrun of Battletoads by The Mexican Runner, to show you how "Nintendo Hard" this game really is. 36 minutes is an excellent time for a non-pro speedrunner like Prime to achieve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTPGpA0ha9Y

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Gary Simon, a developer and designer who started DesignCourse.com and has published several courses on freeCodeCamp.org over the years.
We talk about:
- Growing up in rural Ohio, marrying young, and staying out there despite his success as a developer and entrepreneur.
- Early client work, and how he designed thousands of logos for clients before becoming an all-out web developer.
- Using his skills to help his wife start her own lactation consultant business online
- Gary's guitar shredding chops.
I recorded this podcast live and I haven't edited it at all. I want to capture the feel of a real live conversation, with all the human quirks that entails.
Can you guess what song I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's from a 1995s Nintendo game.
Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.
Also, I want to thank the 9,331 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
Links we talk about during the interview:
- Gary's Learn UI Fundamentals course on freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-ui-design-fundamentals-with-this-free-one-hour-course/
- Gary's freeCodeCamp live stream series: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/design-course/
- Gary's tool for memorizing the Guitar fretboard and it's 49 notes: https://fretastic.com/
- Gary's Retrowave Guitar music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDc2OvReYh0

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews prolific programming teacher John Smilga. John grew up in the Soviet Union. He worked construction for 5 years before becoming a developer. Today he has taught millions of fellow devs through his many courses on freeCodeCamp.
John spent his childhood in Latvia before the Soviet Union fell. He sought work in the UK as an expat hospitality worker on the tiny island of Guernsey.
But he had his sights set on moving to the US. There he worked construction and taught himself to code. He also attended online university courses to get a degree.
He met his wife, a nurse from Ukraine. Together they started a family and live together in Florida.
During this conversation, John talks about his journey into teaching the programming and computer science concepts he's learned. He talks about his free courses on freeCodeCamp and his paid courses that help him pay the bills.
John's voice is instantly recognizable by developers. He shares that this is because he has condition where is vocal cords are partially paralyzed, for which he has to receive frequent injections.
I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Can you guess what bass line I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's from a 1982 song produced by Quincy Jones.
Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.
Also, I want to thank the 9,003 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
Links we talk about during the interview:
Guernsey island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernsey
John's personal website: https://johnsmilga.com/
John Smilga on Twitter: https://twitter.com/john_smilga

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Ben Awad, a game developer who creates developer tutorials on YouTube and TikTok.
I hope you enjoy our conversation. Can you guess what bass line I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's from a 1979 song.
Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.
Also, I want to thank the 8,983 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
Links we talk about during the interview:
Ben's game, Void Pet on Android and iOS (Built in React Native): https://voidpet.com/
XKCD coming on "Real Programmers" that Quincy mentions: https://xkcd.com/378/
React Native course by Ben Awad: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-an-app-that-works-on-ios-android-and-the-web-with-react-native-web/
I can't find my Mac Control hotkeys video tutorial that I mentioned anywhere, so I wrote a quick article explaining how to use these: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mac-control-keyboard-shortcuts-hotkeys-that-work-everywhere-in-macos/

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Andrew Brown, a CTO-turned co-founder of ExamPro.co.
Andrew created this cloud certification exam prep website with another Andrew – also from Canada, who also loves Star Trek.
We talk about Andrew's early career fixing computers in the 90s, and his early freelance web development work. These ultimately lead to jobs and promotions that leveled him up to CTO.
Andrew also shares his advice to devs who want to learn DevOps and Cloud Engineering, and which certs to prioritize.
Andrew suffers from Muscle Tension Dysphonia, a disease that causes voice loss. He shares how he's using AI tools to get around this.
Andrew also talks about his love of Tetris Attack (also known as Panel de Pon or Pokémon Puzzle League). He built a frame-perfect port for competitive online play.
And of course, Andrew's favorite Star Trek episodes of all time.
Can you guess what bass line I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's the theme from a 90s cartoon.
Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.
Also, I want to thank the 8,933 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
Links we talk about during the interview:
Just a few of Andrew's many freeCodeCamp cloud cert prep courses. (He has dozens more on freeCodeCamp's YouTube channel): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/andrew/
His website, ExamPro.co: https://www.exampro.co/
American Mall simulator browser game by Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/american-mall-game/
The Greatest Generation podcast: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/greatest-generation/

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Kass Moreno, a Senior Front End Developer and CSS Artist.
Kass started learning coding at age 28 and has since built a reputation as one of the most skilled artists who work with CSS.
We talk about:
Her childhood in Mexico and in Texas Making the hard decision to drop out of architecture school Her dreadful years working as a salesperson Learning from freeCodeCamp and doing the 100DaysOfCode challenge Getting freelance clients and expanding her skills Her rapid career growth as a developer Can you guess what bass line I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's a 1982 pop classic.
Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.
Also, I want to thank the 8,904 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
Links we talk about during the interview:
Kass's portfolio of CSS art
Bruno Simon's 3D interactive portfolio using Threejs. Drive an RC car around knock things down.
1-Dimensional PacMan game that I mentions. (Be careful – it's addictive)