Codecademy Partners With The White House

http://blog.codecademy.com/announcing-meetups-and-our-partnership-with-t

by bproper • 15 years ago

93 56 15 years ago

blog.codecademy.com

jleader2• 15 years ago

They mention Los Angeles Code Academy meetups, I live in LA and know some people interested in learning to code, and in an admittedly brief search I haven't been able to find any evidence of such meetups.

Samuel_Michon2• 15 years ago

The first meeting is on February 7th in Santa Monica:

http://www.meetup.com/codeyear/Los-Angeles-CA/

kafkaesque2• 15 years ago

Wow! I just found out about Codecademy and immediately signed up! It looks pretty cool!

I basically have no programming experience, only a tiny bit.

Do you know what the requirements are to attend the meeting? Or what it'll be about?

Thanks for your help in advance!

nhangen8• 15 years ago

Wow, these guys have had incredible success in the press, almost as if they were first to market. Since they aren't, and there are many sites doing things like this already, I wonder what the secret is.

Is it their investors? Is it the name? Is it something I'm missing?

timjahn• 15 years ago

I agree with you, I'm confused as to why they're constantly talked about. The idea is nothing new and there's plenty of competition. Personally, I think it's just the industry's current shiny thing.

Regarding the constant press, I'd be willing to bet it's the investors. Money talks, right?

frasertimo• 15 years ago

Geez, way to be so cynical guys.

I think it's because they have a great UI, they respond to feedback, they've worked hard at marketing it, they impressed some VCs, and all the million other reasons that start-ups succeed. Don't complain about it, ask why.

chaser7016• 15 years ago

I'm confused ... who is their competition?

What other sites make learning this stuff easy and fun for the masses? Also offer it as a free service? I'm not aware of others...

zds4• 15 years ago

I'm Codecademy's cofounder. I can tell you our investors have very little to do with our press - we've used them rarely, if ever, to get press thus far.

ddrmaxgt37• 15 years ago

One factor you aren't thinking about in this is the founders. I know one of them personally, and let me tell you. He is amazing. On the day I met him I knew he would be very successful.

ludicast4• 15 years ago

I agree. Codeschool.com is way cooler (for now at least) and codecademy is slaughtering them in the press.

chrismanfrank• 15 years ago

Does Codeschool have as many people signed up as codecademy? That could be one reason for the press. I would guess Codecademy has more users because it's free and you can start learning within 10 seconds of landing on their homepage.

aroberge• 15 years ago

Codecademy appears (for now) to be entirely free - which is not the case at all for Codeschool.com. To me, a free site is "way cooler" (to use your expression) than one that requires a fairly pricey monthly subscription.

pmorici• 15 years ago

The difference I see between CodeSchool and Codecademy is that Codecademy's front page is targeted to people with zero prior experience. CodeSchool on the other hand is pushing classes for learning CoffeeScript, jQuery, and Rails. People with no prior experience aren't going to know what the heck those are or why they should care. Codecademy's proposition on the other hand is straight forward, "Learn to code". Note there is no mention on their main page of what language. It's like they are doing for coding what Apple did for the PC marketing in the sense that Apple doesn't really focus on the processor memory details etc...

javery• 15 years ago

The key difference is they took a broad approach vs. a narrow approach. Most sites like this focus on current developers - codeacademy has focused on non-programmers which makes a much better story.

dmor• 15 years ago

IMO it is a combination of effective product, great marketing and hustle, well timed pr, air of inevitability making people forget their competitors. (disclaimer, Twilio is a Codecademy partner -- I suppose you could also read these as reasons why we are a partner)

nhangen8• 15 years ago

So here's a question from someone getting ready to raise an Angel round. Do investors help bring groups together in this fashion, or am I reading into it too much?

I'm not saying that to judge, I truly want to know.

When you say well timed PR, how does that work? Is it a PR person on staff, or friends in high places? Coming from someone on the outside looking in, it's amazing, and I'd love to generate just a fraction of that type of publicity.

zds4• 15 years ago

thanks, danielle!

mlinsey• 15 years ago

In general, press for early stage startups is something you get because you work hard at it, have an effective strategy to get it, and (sometimes) have the resources to hire help to get it. In this way it is not unlike achieving success in other parts of building a startup. Very little of it is the press looking at all of the companies in the space and blessing the ones they deem best.

PG wrote an essay on this topic that's somewhat old but still on-point: http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Edit: That said, I'd add that I disagree that there is nothing new or special about the Codecademy product vs. it's competitors. I'm not sure I really understand why it's better myself, but I have certainly seen it inspire and click well with more new coders than other such sites, so there's probably something I'm missing specifically because I'm not a beginner.

zds4• 15 years ago

Thanks, mlinsey. I'm Codecademy's cofounder and I'm glad you've seen people enjoyed the experience. As you said, it is indeed something you get because you work hard at it.

nhangen8• 15 years ago

have an effective strategy to get it

This is the part I'm trying to learn more about...

zds4• 15 years ago

I'm Codecademy's cofounder - we work hard to make our product and we have a lot of satisfied users. As a lot of other people have alluded to, there's no "secret." We work all the time to build awesome stuff and we're lucky that people notice.

nhangen8• 15 years ago

Who do you have running PR? As an entrepreneur, I'd love to know how you do it.

capkutay• 15 years ago

I'm sure CodeLesson is wondering where their White House endorsement is.

SatvikBeri• 15 years ago

As someone interested in learning to code who ultimately signed up for Codeyear instead of Codeschool or Team Tree House:

-Codecademy offers to teach me how to build an app -Codeschool offers to teach me how a bunch of different programming languages (which is the easy part), with no clear instructions on how to put that together into an app -Teamtreehouse does offer to teach how to build an app, but they're full of videos. Their introduction to HTML lesson is 30 minutes of video!

So Codecademy has a massively better first impression than its competitors.

tnorthcutt• 15 years ago

Today, we’re proud to announce that we will be working with the White House to get more kids and adults learning to code. With their Summer Jobs+ program, the White House has been working on finding jobs for hundreds of thousands of people over the summer.

Did anyone else's stomach turn when they read this part? I think it's great that Codecademy want to help people learn to code and are effectively reaching such a large audience. However, I also think it's absolutely revolting that such a program exists at the federal government level. I think that's ridiculously beyond the scope of what the government should be doing.

Remove some/most/all of the hindrances to running a business and hiring employees (convoluted and rage-inducing tax and HR regulations) so that more businesses would be willing and able to launch, expand, and hire. That would create jobs, including probably thousands of coding jobs.

</rant>

thmcmahon• 15 years ago

You think it's beyond the scope of government to be assisting low-skilled people to gain skills and employment in quality jobs in industries with a future? I don't.

By all means reduce regulation to encourage job growth, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

mseebach• 15 years ago

I don't think there's much a government of 350 million people can actively do to help here. Any practical, on-the-ground effort is bound to drown in bureaucracy.

But this is not, as I read between the lines, what is going on here: This is a PR/photo-op thing where the White House puts it's considerable PR clout behind CodeAcademy's meetup push - maybe there's some spare change to hire a couple of CA coordinators, but nothing significant.

superuser2• 15 years ago

Okay. Let's try a government that conforms to your scope. No welfare, so employment is necessary for survival. No mandates for health insurance, facility safety or minimum wage.

A few already-wealthy individuals form companies that offer jobs with 18-hour days, no weekends, no vacation, no health insurance, and just enough pay to keep the employees alive. Anyone who can't work (even for medical reasons, or because of the employer's negligence) is left to die on the street, their position easily filled by a new hire. Employers realize that, so long as nobody starts it, competition is voluntary. Any startup threatening to raise the market value of labor is quickly purchased and disbanded or undercut on price until it fails. Those few people become fabulously wealthy until everyone else catches on and nobody can afford to buy things anymore.

Hm... sounds familiar. We went through this more than 100 years ago. Foxconn and other Chinese companies are still doing it. This is what happens when government doesn't step in with its "revolting" "hindrances" like making you pay people a living wage.

Stop whining about government and come up with a business plan that doesn't depend on slavery.

</rant>

ericd4• 15 years ago

Consumer protections aren't what set programmer wages at $100/hr+. Your entire premise is wrong.

Cushman2• 15 years ago

Eh, I'll bite. We've got a bunch of entrepreneurs here-- has anyone reading this tried to start a business, overcome every major impediment to that goal, and been on the cusp of true success, only to be foiled by the insurmountable obstacle of government paperwork?

I won't argue that the government makes running a business easier, or that there aren't legitimately oppressive or protectionist regulations that should be taken off the books. But if a failed business owner tries to tell me that they would have gotten away with it if only they didn't have to pay taxes or comply with labor laws, well... That sounds to me like a business I'm just as happy doesn't exist.

ericd4• 15 years ago

It's not preventing me, but it periodically takes me away from more important things and makes my company less efficient. It's not the most important thing they could do, but it would be an accross-the-board efficiency gain, and simplifying things would likely close some of the tax loopholes.

ryannielsen• 15 years ago

As someone who's just spent the past few months dealing with year-end paperwork at the city, state, federal and corporate level (the paperwork required to set up a 401(k) is incredible), I can honestly say paperwork required to start up and run a business is not a hinderance to starting up and running a business.

What is a hinderance? Finding talent. What would make that easier? Universal healthcare. More retirement security. A better education system. More open borders. Those three items would lead to a more fluid and talented work force, which is exactly what I need.

Removing paperwork? Meh. Yes, I wish the state of CA was less inept and more streamlined, and I wish setting up a business took only one click on a website. But the paperwork and regulations certainly are not preventing me from continuing with my business, and some of them are at least helping ensure I live the lifestyle that I do.

rgarcia• 15 years ago

I agree with your point, but I think directing it at the White House program is somewhat harsh. Judging by its description[1], it seems to me more like a program to alleviate the problem of frictional unemployment[2] (something that even the most conservative economists would agree is a policy problem[3]). Sure, getting rid of regulations would increase the demand for labor (more businesses => more jobs available), but that still leaves the problem of whether the supply of labor is correctly trained/prepared/etc. for the jobs available.

[1] http://www.dol.gov/SummerJobs/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frictional_unemployment

[3] http://books.google.com/books?id=-X6YnkmadD4C&pg=PA214&#...

mkramlich• 15 years ago

Yes I want a 100,000 people with no prior experience or proven talent in the area to take a few web-based tutorials and then start sending out those resumes for programming jobs.

Codecademy Partners With The White House

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