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Why does nobody mention how awful Codecademy's projects are compared to free YouTube tutorials?
I spent 2 months on Codecademy's Python course and felt like a zombie just clicking through their cookie-cutter exercises. Then I found a 4-hour freeCodeCamp video on YouTube, built a real tic-tac-toe game in one weekend, and actually understood loops for the first time. Anyone else feel like paid platforms are just holding your hand without teaching you to walk?
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marywilson19d ago
LOL "cookie-cutter exercises" is putting it lightly. I felt like I was just filling out a digital coloring book instead of actually learning to code. Codecademy had me clicking through those little green checkmarks thinking I was a genius, then I tried to build something on my own and my brain just short-circuited. YouTube is the real MVP because you actually see someone struggle through a bug and fix it, not just watch a perfect solution appear. Those paid platforms charge you for the illusion of progress while free videos give you the actual struggle.
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kelly38519d ago
Did you catch that Atlantic article last month about how coding bootcamps and platforms like Codecademy actually teach you to pass their tests instead of teaching you to code? It basically said the same thing you did, that people get good at clicking the right answer but can't build anything from scratch. I remember the author called it "puzzle-solving without context" which really stuck with me. Your tic-tac-toe weekend is exactly the kind of hands-on learning those structured courses miss, you need to get stuck and unstuck to actually learn.
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