Free opportunities to become a Software Developer
As some of you may know I’ve been supporting and helping Lucia to pivot from Economics, Operations and Customer Support to make a career change and become a Front-End Developer.
One of the many good parts is discovering a new world full of opportunities that range from non-profit organizations up to generous scholarships to access different courses that would help you take the first steps into the Software Development world.
I’m sharing the programs to learn to code that I’ve found the most fascinating for different reasons. Hopefully, it would inspire others to take action across the world. I hope this encourages other people to make a change in their career.
The Odin Project: the all-around program
When we talk about The Odin Project, we’re probably talking about one of the most inspiring and complete online curriculums. It’s backed up by a fantastic open source community, and the quality of the content is unbelievable good.
You’d find content that covers the basics of Web Development, Backend with Ruby and Ruby on Rails, Databases, Front-End with HTML, CSS and a pretty long list of JavaScript lessons and, finally, 14 lessons on getting hired.
freeCodeCamp: web development and certifications
If you are interested in getting official free certifications and learning specifically Web Development, mostly on the Front-End side, then freeCodeCamp is a great course for you. You’d also gain real experience by working for non-profit organizations.
Khan Academy: accesible first steps
If you’re convinced of learning how to code but still didn’t decide what kind of programming you’d like to learn, Khan Academy offers a video series where you’d be able to determine the basics to step into the programming world. Unlike other programs more focused on web development, this course focuses initially a little bit more in the logic using JavaScript as a first excuse.
After the initial lessons, you’d get your hands dirty, and you’d start creating your first web pages using HTML and CSS, that eventually would grow in complexity into more interactive and sophisticated apps (including databases). There are also some interesting lessons for using JavaScript to develop small video games.
interviewing.io: practice anonymous technical interviews
Learning to program is one of the many different steps a person would need to go through. That’s why I find interviewing.io a pretty helpful service. It lets you do anonymous technical interviews with volunteers from big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and more.
Inspiring on-site projects in the Bay Area
Code Tenderloin welcomes and helps people going through education and opportunity.
Girl Develop It a nonprofit organization that exists to provide affordable and judgment-free opportunities for women interested in learning web and software development.
Hack the Hood Bootcamp it’s a 6-week bootcamp that people of color to build websites for small, local businesses. You’ll graduate from our Bootcamp with your own portfolio of actual client work.
CodeNow helps people to gain the skills to build apps, do well in college and get internships. It’s also present in Chicago and Boston.
Gameshead is a youth program in Oakland that uses video games design, development and DevOps to engage, prepare and train low-income youth and youth of color ages 11 to 24 in the Bay Area — and advance tech inclusion.
The Hidden Genius Project offers a 15-month intensive immersion program with a holistic mentorship experience that provides computer science, software development and entrepreneurship training to black male high school students.
Girls to Women supporting girls as they design their futures for successful womanhood offering a 12-week global technology entrepreneurship program.