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Top 6 Programming Languages for Chatbot Development

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Top 6 Programming Languages for Chatbot Development

If you’ve ever had to contact customer support for anything like a missing food delivery order or an internet outage, chances are, you’ve encountered a chatbot. While many companies offer support from people who can chat with you in real time, the wait times for that kind of service can often be frustrating. That’s where chatbots come in.

Chatbots can handle customer questions in seconds; and when they are asked a complex question, they can forward the chat session to a live agent. Companies see this as a big win: They can satisfy customers, keep them on their site, and save money on the support staff they have to hire. It’s no wonder why the global chatbot market, which was valued at $17 billion in 2020, is expected to grow to over $102 billion by 2026.

In other words, Chatbot Developers — people who create the software to automate communications for chatbots — are in high demand. So if you are looking for an exciting programming field where you will have plenty of opportunities, chatbot development is a good choice. To get into the field, you’ll need to have a good command of the programming languages used to develop chatbots, because certain languages are more suited to chatbot development than others.

6 programming languages for chatbots

Chatbots use machine learning (which gives computer systems the ability to learn from data) and natural language processing (the branch of computer science that gives computers the ability to understand text and spoken words). They are written in on the back-end that runs on a server. There are several programming languages that support these features either themselves or through third-party libraries — let’s take a look at them.

1. Python

Python is a preferred language for data projects, machine learning projects, and chatbot projects. It has a simple syntax that even beginner developers find easy to read and understand. Because Python isn’t as verbose as many other languages, it’s a relatively simple language to use to prototype chatbots and doesn’t require the extra compilation step that some programming languages need. Python also has an extensive selection of libraries for machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), including the powerful Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK), which many developers consider to be the best NLP library.

You can start learning Python in our beginner-friendly Learn Python 3 course.

2. Java

Java is also a widely used language for chatbot projects because it’s a general-purpose, object-oriented language that is platform-independent and portable. One of Java’s claims to fame is that programs written in it can run on any system that has the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed, making it a versatile language. Java allows multi-threading, resulting in higher performance than many other languages in this list. It’s also used widely in enterprise development — meaning a chatbot written in Java can be easily integrated with enterprise ecosystems. Java also has a large selection of third-party libraries for machine learning and NLP, including Stanford Library NLP and Apache Open NLP.

Our free, beginner-friendly course Learn Java is a great place to start.

3. Ruby

Ruby is another popular programming language for chatbots. It’s a high-level, object-oriented programming language that can make building chatbots simple. Like Python, its syntax is easy to read and understand. Ruby also supports a common algorithm design technique called dynamic programming, where you can modify the code at runtime to fit a system’s changing needs. Many developers swear by the language because of its clean syntax and third-party libraries that are user-friendly and well-documented. Ruby has a wide variety of machine learning and NLP libraries, including a complete framework called Stealth that was designed from the ground up for developing chatbots.

If you’re interested in using Ruby, you can learn how in our free, beginner-friendly course Learn Ruby.

4. C++

You can also use C++ to create chatbots. It has the fastest speed of the programming languages in this list, so it’s often used when performance is a priority. However, it’s also a low-level programming language, so this increase in performance comes with a tradeoff. C++ is not the easiest language to learn, and there are not many high-level libraries in the language specifically for building chatbots, which means you will have to build a big part of a chatbot from scratch. Still, it’s unbeatable when it comes to speed and performance.

You can start learning C++ in our free, beginner-friendly course Learn C++.

5. PHP

PHP was created for developing websites and web applications and has been around as long as web development has been. It’s also a great language for building chatbots. One of the advantages of PHP is that a lot of developers know it, and many websites already use the language, which makes it simpler to integrate a PHP chatbot into existing systems. In 2021, W3Techs reported that PHP was used in 79.2% of all the websites where they knew the server-side language, making it one of the most popular programming languages. There is also a framework in PHP called Botman, which provides all the tools you need to build a chatbot and integrate with other PHP web development frameworks like Laravel.

If you already know HTML, you can take our free intermediate-level course Learn PHP.

6. Clojure

Clojure is another programming language that is popular for chatbot development. It runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and can integrate seamlessly with existing systems written in Java. Clojure is a functional programming language that is a dialect of Lisp. It uses recursive functions (which refer to themselves for execution) instead of loops to iterate through lists and arrays, a feature preferred by many developers for the data processing involved in NLP.

Learn how to build chatbots

All the programming languages above have libraries or frameworks available that were created to help develop intelligent systems, including chatbots. The language you decide to learn or use to create a chatbot application depends upon the features you need and the project requirements.

If you are a beginner or are just starting to work with machine learning, it helps to know that most developers consider Python to be a great programming language to start with because of its simple syntax and the abundance of machine learning and NLP libraries available in the language.

To that end, you can start learning how to build a chatbot today with our online courses. Our Build Chatbots with Python skill path will teach you how to build chatbots from scratch, even if you are a complete Python beginner. And if you need any help while going through the course, tune into our communities on our Codecademy Forums and our Discord.

Alison Publisher Spotlight: Leigh Faulkner

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Alison Publisher Spotlight: Leigh Faulkner

As a learner, being in the classroom opens your world up to a world of knowledge, new ideas, information, and more. As a teacher, you carry the responsibility of sharing and shaping the minds of your students. The relationship between a student and their teacher sets the tone for improved engagement, achievement, and draws out their desire to learn. What better way to explore this relationship than by speaking to a member of this noble profession. This month, our Alison Publisher Spotlight is on accomplished teacher and author, Leigh Faulkner. 

Please share with our learners a bit about your background.

I started my teaching career in my home province of Nova Scotia, Canada, when I was eighteen years old. Three years later I became a school principal. After twenty-seven years in public schools, I began university teaching – first in the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada, then as a volunteer English curriculum developer in the teachers college of Danang University, in Danang, Vietnam, and finally, until retirement, as a tenured professor in Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, in Beppu, Kyushu, Japan. Since my official retirement, I’ve developed and facilitated workplace education programs, carried out organizational training needs assessments, and tutored public school, university, and apprenticeship students. For the last few years, I’ve been developing online courses, like those here on Alison.

In terms of my own education, I have a BA, a BEd, an MA, and an EdD, along with workplace education certification.

How did you get into teaching, education, and training?

As a child I was fascinated with airplanes. Career wise, I hoped to go into the air force and become a pilot. However, circumstances changed that because I was colourblind – and colourblind people do not fly planes, at least in the Canadian military. So, I made a last minute decision to attend the Normal College one-year program. In retrospect, I think it was a good career choice.

You’ve been a self-publisher with Alison for several years. What do you enjoy most about publishing on this platform?

The business model is student-friendly. Students around the world who might not be able to pay for courses have access to a vast array of courses here on Alison. A second powerful recommendation for Alison, in my opinion, is the attention to quality. The Publishing Account Manager and the review team provide excellent guidance and support during the course development process.

What lessons or takeaways have you learned as a self-publisher on Alison?

Well, I always thought that I gave careful attention to each stage of the course development process, however, I’ve gained a new appreciation of the need to give extra careful attention to detail while creating courses. A simple example is the need to check carefully that audio and video are perfectly synced. I guess another takeaway is “Don’t make assumptions!”

How has being a self-publisher on Alison changed or impacted your life?

I’ve been a life-long teacher, and being a self-publisher on Alison has allowed me to continue teaching after my classroom career came to an end. I appreciate that.

How has the adjustment from face-to-face to remote video tutoring been for you?

I miss the face-to-face interaction, but, overall, the transition to remote video tutoring has been relatively easy. I enjoy technology, so crafting courses has been satisfying. In terms of one-to-one tutoring, I found that the wide range of online resources that the student and I could access enriched the tutoring experience.

How should learners approach remote video tutoring and learning?

That’s a difficult question, since people have developed a range of successful learning skills and may have to adjust them when taking online courses. Learning takes effort and time, so I think that learners need to be patient. 

Learners need to consciously make connections between what they are learning and what they already know; in this way, they provide a foundation for the new learning. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that no course contains everything there is to know about a topic, so the learner should be ready to consult other sources for additional information or different perspectives.

Who should take your courses?

Some of my courses are designed for students in high school or university. “Mastering the Academic Desk Research Paper” and “Deep Reading” are examples. “Facilitating Adult Learning Groups,” on the other hand, is for people, perhaps in business or in adult education, who want to understand more about the principles and processes of adult group facilitation, especially when the groups are noticeably diverse. 

I would say that the course “Foundations of Effective Oral Communication” is for everyone from teen to adult. The course “Appreciating Metaphor” is intended for anyone who wants to explore the English language in a way and to a depth that perhaps they’ve never undertaken before.

Why should people be invested in continuing/furthering their studies?

I have a tagline on my personal website. It says, “Education changes everything.” I believe that’s true. I think that people can keep learning and growing and building a better future for themselves. I think there is an element of the unexpected, too, since we never know when a simple experience we’ve had or something we’ve learned will become important in defining the next life choice or career choice.

What’s the importance of studying your courses for those who aren’t pursuing careers in academia?

I like to think that all my courses are for those who are “pursuing a career in life.” That may sound flippant, but I don’t mean it to be. I have a firm belief that everything we learn, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has a place in helping to determine who we are and what our capacities are and what we can accomplish in life.

What feedback have you received from learners about your course?

I would welcome feedback, but I am still waiting!

For individuals interested in taking one of your courses, what can they expect to get from it?

In the course “Mastering the Academic Desk Research Paper,” for example, I map out in detail the processes involved, from assignment analysis, through development of a research question or thesis statement, information gathering and analysis, paper organization, the qualities of effective writing, editing and revision, and, finally, submission.

What words of advice would you give someone who would like to become a publisher on Alison?

I would say:

  • Take stock of what you know well and what you have an interest in.
  • Be prepared to carry out research to support—or correct—your ideas and to expand on them. 
  • Pay close attention to how you organize the information; there needs to be logic to the course development. 
  • Welcome feedback; your PAM and review team are tremendous supporters.

How does workplace training assessment affect employees and teams?

As a workplace educator, I’ve performed many organizational needs assessments (ONAs). These are designed to identify what skills workers have and where the skills gaps are. Central to the process is the awareness that effective teams are crucial to the success of an organization. As a result, whenever I write an ONA report, I always frame it in terms of individual and team development. 

By the way, most of the courses I’ve recommended in the ONA reports are forty-hour courses spread over several weeks, with adequate time for participants to absorb the ideas and apply them.

What has been your most important lesson or discovery when it comes to education programmes?

There are so many, but one I haven’t mentioned yet is the value I place on the knowledge and skills that participants bring to the programs. I think that participants, themselves, especially within a cooperative or collaborative structure, are the single most important resource for program success.

Students learn from their teachers/tutors. Any lessons you have learned from your students?

There have been many lessons, and one of the most important is that I don’t know everything. Maybe when I started teaching, I thought that the teacher’s role was to be the source and dispenser of all knowledge, but not anymore. I think I learn something from each and every learner I work with. I’ve especially learned that humility isn’t a bad quality for an educator.

What else can Alison and its learners look forward to from you in the coming year to two?

Currently, I’m working on a course on academic learning resources. Among other things, I taught study skills at university. I came to the conclusion that many of the resources that can enrich the academic experience go underutilized. On the reverse side, I noted that students who took advantage of learning resources were more well-rounded learners. In other words, the additional effort needed to use available learning resources paid rich dividends. I want to capture this in the course.

Any last words, advice, or wisdom you’d like to share with our learners?

Be hungry! Learn everything you can. Enjoy the learning journey! And, above all, value yourself as a learner!

Our Alison Publisher Spotlight on Leigh Faulkner shows us that teachers too are lifelong learners. To this we say, “Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.”

GUEST POST: Free Comprehensive Flashcards Sets for Most OpenStax Textbooks

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GUEST POST: Free Comprehensive Flashcards Sets for Most OpenStax Textbooks

A brief explanation of the cognitive and neuroscience 

We have an excellent neuroscientific understanding (1) of how long-term memories are stored and made more robust by retrieval practice. Explicit memory represents the memories and knowledge that we can consciously retrieve.  

The subset of explicit memory, known as semantic memory, is the long-term memory of facts and concepts. These memories are stored in the synapses of a relatively small collection of neurons that may be close together or dispersed throughout the neocortex of our cerebral hemispheres.  

These neuronal collections, which many scientists call engrams, are activated when we retrieve that long-term memory into working memory. When we retrieve this memory, the engram is activated. Because of our brain’s astonishing neuroplasticity, the synapses in that engram are strengthened, and even more incredible; additional synapses may develop. We have been able to directly image this effect (2) in living lab animals. Whenever you retrieve a memory, you make it more easily retrievable in the future. This is a prime reason why retrieval practice strengthens our ability to recall that piece of knowledge.  

There is however another effect to consider. Each time we retrieve a memory, we do so in a unique context. This context is a combination of the place, time, emotional state, other thoughts and events, current sensory inputs, and many other potential parameters.  

When we consciously retrieve a memory, the unique current context may create or activate engrams that overlap the engram of the memory we’re retrieving. After all, a neuron may have many thousands of synaptic connections. These create opportunities for a neuron to participate in many different engrams. This explains why one thought leads to another. Our brains think by association. It’s the embodiment of the old neuroscientific maxim, “neurons that wire together, fire together.”  

Every time you retrieve a memory, the current context may create a new pathway for retrieving that memory in the future. The more routes we create through retrieval practice in unique contexts, the easier it’ll be in the future to bring that memory into consciousness on demand. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there is another important type of memory called procedural memory which with worthy of a separate discussion, but we’ll leave that for another day. 

Key Takeaways 

  • Retrieval practice combined with spaced repetition are proven power tools for learning and helping us to remember what we’ve learned. 

  • iDoRecall takes spaced repetition flashcards to the next level by enabling you to link each flashcard to the exact location where you learned that piece of knowledge. This makes it easy to refresh your memory, if needed, during retrieval practice. 

  • iDoRecall has created comprehensive linked flashcard sets covering the essential facts, concepts, and formulas in over forty OpenStax textbooks. When you click the source button, a PDF of the textbook will open at the exact relevant location. Students, educators, and schools can use these flashcards for free. 

  • If you are an educator and would like to obtain a full educator’s license for free, fill out this form. 

  • Even if you don’t desire an educator’s license, please share the news of our free compressive flashcard sets with your students, personal network of educators, and parents. You can see our collection here and learn much more on our YouTube channel. 

References: 

(1) Josselyn S. A., & Tonegawa S. (2020) Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future. Science, 367(6473). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw4325 

(2) Roy, D. S., Arons, A., Mitchell, T. I., Pignatelli, M., Ryan, T. J., & Tonegawa, S. (2016). Memory retrieval by activating engram cells in mouse models of early Alzheimer’s disease. Nature, 531(7595), 508-512. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17172 

How To Make Your Machine Learning Engineer Portfolio Stand Out

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How To Make Your Machine Learning Engineer Portfolio Stand Out

When the competition is fierce and there are dozens (if not hundreds) of people applying for the same jobs, how do you stand out and catch a recruiter’s eye?

The key is a strong portfolio. A strong portfolio gives hiring managers a sense of who you are and what you can do, with tangible examples of your skills and expertise. Ahead, we’ll go over what you’ll want to include in a Machine Learning Engineer portfolio and how to build projects that’ll help you land a job.

What to include in a Machine Learning Engineer portfolio

A Machine Learning Engineer’s portfolio is similar to any other technical portfolio. You’ll want to include some information about you and your history in the machine learning field. Here are the basics:

Bio

This section allows you to tell recruiters more about who you are — the type of information that may not fit in a technical resume. Consider highlighting your passion for machine learning and explain why you got into the field. You can also include details about your current projects, your tech stack, and where you see yourself in the future.

Contact information

You’ll also want to let hiring managers know how to reach you, so don’t forget to add your name, email address, and phone number at the top of your portfolio. You can also add links to your professional social media accounts — including your LinkedIn, which is one of the primary tools for tech recruiters.

Adding a GitHub link is another good choice. As far as other social media accounts go, that depends. If your Twitter or other social media accounts are machine-learning related, then include them. If they’re more about your personal life, don’t.

Your skills

When it comes to your skills, emphasize those that apply to the type of job you want, but don’t go overboard and make it a huge list. The focus of your portfolio is the projects you include, but listing your skills provides added context.

Some of the top skills for Machine Learning Engineers include:

  • Data visualization
  • Algorithms and data structures
  • Statistical modeling
  • Quantitative analysis
  • Cloud computing

The type of machine learning projects to include in your portfolio

The type of projects you should include in your portfolio depends on the companies and industries you’re applying for. Try looking through Machine Learning Engineer postings on sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor. Make a list of a few companies you’d like to work for, and read through their job descriptions to see which skills and technologies they’re looking for in potential candidates.

Then, you can use these insights to create projects that will stand out. It helps to pick a few diverse ones so you can add more variety to your portfolio. You don’t want every project to use the same type of data set or make your skillset look more narrow than it actually is.

Use the job descriptions and your interests to build projects you’re curious about. Then, when you’re designing your projects, keep in mind the following tips:

  • Keep it relatively small. Your portfolio should include several projects, so try not to spend too much time on a single one.
  • Make it a complete project. You want recruiters to know that you can finish what you start. Don’t include any unfinished projects in your portfolio.
  • Choose an interesting topic. Remember, your portfolio also helps show hiring teams who you are as a person, so you’ll want to include projects that exemplify the types of problems you like to solve.
  • Use publicly available data sets. Using publicly available data sets is also great for coming up with project ideas. They give people a point of reference for your work, and it’s always better to use real data over toy data when showcasing your skills.

You can also build your portfolio as you learn. Many of our machine learning and data science courses teach you the skills you need while you build projects suitable for a Machine Learning Engineer portfolio. For example:

Where to host your machine learning portfolio

If you already have some web development skills, your own domain, and a hosting provider, then building and hosting your own portfolio site is a great option. But if you don’t, no worries. Most Machine Learning Engineer roles don’t require web dev knowledge.

The next best place to host your machine learning portfolio is GitHub. You can host all the code from your projects there. If you use Jupyter notebooks in your project, Github will automatically render the results of your notebooks, including charts and graphs. And for your bio and other details, you can create a simple ReadMe file in markdown and use Github Pages to turn it into a beautiful web page.

Build your portfolio with us

So now you know you need a portfolio if you plan to have a career in data science, and you know how to build a portfolio that’ll catch a recruiter’s eye. If you’re just getting started in machine learning and haven’t yet finished enough projects to flesh out your portfolio, we can help you out.

Our Data Scientist: Machine Learning Specialist career path will teach you all the skills you’ll need to kick off your career in machine learning. You’ll learn how to use Python and SQL to build machine learning models and manipulate data, and as you complete the course, you’ll build unique projects that you can include in your portfolio.

We can also help you prepare for the hiring process with advice from technical recruiters, interview prep courses, and other helpful resources you can find in our Career Center.

Machine Learning Courses & Tutorials | Codecademy

Machine Learning is an increasingly hot field of data science dedicated to enabling computers to learn from data. From spam filtering in social networks to computer vision for self-driving cars, the potential applications of Machine Learning are vast.

How Much Does a Computer Information Systems Manager Make?

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How Much Does a Computer Information Systems Manager Make?

The tech job market is growing, and there are no signs of slowing down. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, tech jobs are expected to grow 13% between 2020 and 2030, and over 667,000 new jobs will be created in tech in the next few years. And since Computer Information System Manager roles touch on so many parts of the tech world, there will likely be plenty of opportunities within this field as the industry continues to expand.

A Computer Information Systems Manager is an IT professional who oversees, coordinates, and manages an organization’s computer systems. They understand what type of technology a company needs and implement systems to meet these needs. As is the case for most jobs, your salary in this role will depend on several factors, like your location, the company you work for, and the amount of experience you have.

How much do Computer Information Systems Managers make on average?

According to Indeed, Computer Information Systems Managers in the United States make an average salary of $92,291 a year. But since that number is an average, it’s only a rough idea of what your individual salary might be. Let’s take a look at some factors that will give you a better idea of the range you can expect to make as a Computer Information Systems Manager.

What factors affect the salary of a Computer Information Systems Manager?

Location

Where you live can have a big impact on your salary, even if you’re working remotely. Generally, the cost of living is higher in bigger cities and on the west and east coasts, where managers tend to get paid the most. Sometimes, salaries are higher because there is a significant demand for managers locally. Here are some cities where the pay for Computer Information Systems Managers is currently the highest, according to Indeed:

  • Washington, D.C.: $106,907
  • San Diego, CA: $98,922
  • Alexandria, VA: $98,311
  • Philadelphia, PA: $97,454
  • Atlanta, GA: $97,076
  • Tampa, FL: $91,691
  • Fort Worth, TX: $90,864
  • Huntsville, AL: $86,794
  • San Antonia, TX: $89,749

Experience

Experience is always a factor in your salary, perhaps especially in tech jobs where employers will consider how many years you’ve been working with a specific technology or program. For a job as a Computer Information Systems Manager, the amount of broad experience you have in different facets of computer systems matters as well. After all, depending on the role, a Systems Manager could oversee the work of many technical divisions of a company, only a handful of those divisions, or just one division.

Experience in managing others is definitely crucial, since this is a leadership role. Many Computer Information Systems Managers get the role through a promotion from another management role, like Lead Developer, IT Project Manager, or IT team lead.

As a Computer Information Systems Manager, knowing both how to write software and manage networks — tasks usually handled by separate roles — means that you have the in-depth knowledge to manage people working in separate divisions of a company, thereby maximizing your salary potential.

Job description

The job description can also affect salary, as can the job title. There are many job titles that fit under the umbrella of Computer Information Systems Manager, including:

  • Computer and Information Systems Manager
  • Information Systems Manager
  • Systems Manager
  • IT Manager
  • IS Director
  • IT Security Manager

These jobs are similar. The only difference is the title and the scope of responsibilities. CTOs are also essentially Computer Information Systems Managers — they do the same type of work as the others, just at a higher level where they monitor the newest innovative technologies and create a vision for the entire company’s systems.

In that sense, CTOs occupy the higher range in terms of experience and pay (according to Salary.com, they make an average of $258,676 per year in the U.S.), while a more early or mid-career position like an Information Systems Manager will naturally have a lower salary (an average of $115,477 per year).

Company

Your salary may also depend on the company you work for. For example, some established companies may pay more for developers who they want to retain. Here are some companies currently offering above-average salaries for Computer Information Systems Managers, according to Indeed:

  • EY: $298,064
  • Accenture: $225,776
  • Citi: $214,289
  • Apple: $205,029
  • Intuitive: $184,688

Becoming a Computer Information Systems Manager

The duties and responsibilities of a Computer Information Systems Manager can vary widely depending on the job title and the size of the company. Some companies may have more than one systems management role, with each manager overseeing a unique part of the company’s technologies. Smaller companies may have only one role.

As we mentioned earlier, a CTO is a Computer Information Systems Manager who has reached the highest level. CTOs direct the technological vision of an entire company. They have to have knowledge of every part of IT, including network management, IT support, software development, cybersecurity, database development, and more.

In a very small company or startup, a CTO may interact with IT support staff, software engineers, and network admins and oversee the work they do directly. As a company gets larger, each IT division will have its own Computer Information Systems Manager who will report to the CTO.

The manager who oversees software engineers may have a title like Software Development Manager or Engineering Manager and have in-depth programming knowledge. The manager who oversees network admins and cybersecurity professions may simply be called the IT Manager and have in-depth knowledge of networking.

But whatever the title or responsibilities, the job consists of two parts — managing people and knowing technology. So to get this job, you need some experience in business administration and some hands-on experience with the tools of the trade.

Want to get started today? Here are some of the courses we recommend:

Learning a selection of the technologies above will give any future Computer Information Systems Manager a step up on the competition in the job market. And you can get started for free by signing up here.

8 Tips For Getting Hired After An Engineering Apprenticeship or Internship

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8 Tips For Getting Hired After An Engineering Apprenticeship or Internship
8 Tips For Getting Hired After An Engineering Apprenticeship or Internship

When you’re trying to land your dream job in tech, getting your “foot in the door” at an organization is half the battle. One common way that aspiring developers break into tech and land entry-level positions is through apprenticeships and internships.

These programs allow people from non-traditional backgrounds to work (and get paid!) as an engineer at an organization for a period of time, with the goal of ultimately getting hired at the end. An internship or apprenticeship is a great opportunity to demonstrate your coding skills through hands-on engineering projects, forge relationships with devs who could become your colleagues, and experience what it’s really like to work at an organization. However, depending upon the specific program, a job offer is not 100% guaranteed for all apprentices and interns.

Here’s some advice from Codecademy Software Engineers who made the leap from apprentice to full-time employee. Whether you’re wrapping up a summer internship or just want some advice for an entry-level position, these tips will help you stand out and boost your chances of getting hired.

Ask questions

If you find yourself apologizing for asking “dumb questions,” we totally get it — but there’s nothing wrong with having questions and being curious. Learning and asking questions is a hugely important part of being a Software Engineer, so “you should get comfortable doing it,” says Ana Harris, a Software Engineer at Codecademy.

As an apprentice or intern, you might worry that your questions will reveal your inexperience, explains Sylvana Santos, a Software Engineer at Codecademy. Don’t let that fear keep you from asking important questions: The sooner you ask, the sooner you’ll get unstuck. “Always ask questions and don’t be afraid to feel silly,” Sylvana says. “Most of the time, you don’t sound silly at all. You just think you do.”

Act like it’s the “real deal”

Your workload as an apprentice or intern probably won’t change majorly after going full-time, says Jenesh Napit, a Software Engineer at Codecademy. Even though you’re “just an apprentice,” you should approach your work as though you’re already hired, Jenesh says.

“As an intern or apprentice we can often think that we are not capable of doing the work of other full-time engineers and that we are getting easy tasks, but don’t be fooled — you’re getting the real deal,” Jenesh says. “So just do your best and don’t think of yourself as ‘just’ an intern or apprentice. You are fully capable and ready for the next step in your career.”

Set goals based on competencies

Apprenticeship programs are often structured so that participants have a clear understanding of the competencies they need to reach in order to be considered for a full-time offer at the end. (A “competency” is another word for the measurable knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that define success in a role.)

Ana recalls working with her mentor and manager from day one to establish those competencies and create goals that aligned with them. “We had a 30- 60- and 90-day plan, and we checked in on my progress every week,” she says.

Work with as many people as you can

Sylvana made a goal at the start of her apprenticeship to meet with as many engineers as possible, even ones who weren’t on her direct team, so she could learn about the different roles in the organization. She also mentioned this goal to her manager, who was able to keep an eye out for opportunities to work across different departments and could help facilitate introductions.

A good ice breaker if you want to get to know people outside of your department is to ask someone what they’re working on that they’re excited about. “I was very curious about what other people were working on,” Sylvana says. “I would be like, ‘Hey, I noticed you’re working on this thing. Would you mind if I shadow you and see what you’re up to?’”

Support your peers

The high-stakes nature of today’s job market can make you feel like you’re competing against your fellow interns and apprentices. While there may not be a guaranteed job offer for everyone at the end of the program, it’s important to foster a supportive environment with the other apprentices and interns, Sylvana says.

“We would help each other out if we got stuck, share tips, and give each other opportunities,” she recalls. “I think that was a big part of what makes this program successful and helped me to get the offer at the end.” Plus, you never know who you may end up working with down the line.

Get feedback from your mentor

It’s pretty standard for an intern or apprentice to get paired with a mentor who manages and guides them. Your mentor is there to help you, so “try to get their feedback and support from the very start and work with them towards a full-time position,” Ana suggests.

Mentors can also help with the less technical aspects of your career development. For example, Jenesh wishes he would have focused more on his soft skills, like communication, during his apprenticeship. “It’s hard to practice soft skills,” he says.

Keep in mind: Your mentor is also getting practice managing you, so everyone wins, Sylvana says. “A big part of being a Senior Engineer is enabling engineers who are more junior than you,” she says. “Helping people get unstuck and advising on projects is integral to them being able to move up [in their careers] as well.”

Voice your opinions

People experience impostor syndrome at every stage of their career — but it’s especially relevant when you’re first starting out. Looking back, Ana says she struggled to confidently express her opinions as an apprentice because she was so afraid of being wrong.

“I never in the past had issues with confidence or voicing my opinions, but in this particular situation — as a bootcamp grad, immigrant, non-native English speaker — I thought that I didn’t have enough knowledge and experience to be listened to,” Ana says. “Now I can tell that that approach was wrong, and that my way of thinking and understanding of engineering was most of the time correct.”

Integrating with the company where you’re interning or apprenticing can feel awkward at first (especially if you’re working remotely), but you should take advantage of any opportunities to connect with other people within your organization. Are there non-work activities that you could participate in, or clubs and ERGs that are open to apprentices?

For example, Sylvana recalls joining a book club and attending brown bag talks as an apprentice, which helped her get face time with engineers outside her team. “That was a really great way for me to show, like: Not only am I invested on the technical side and helping us get work done from an engineering perspective, but I also really like engaging in community, asking questions in those spaces, and sharing knowledge,” she says.

Hopefully this advice from people who successfully navigated the apprentice-to-engineer pipeline will help you feel confident going into an apprenticeship or internship. Remember: There’s no single path to finding a more fulfilling work life.

Ready to start applying to entry-level jobs? Check out this guide to making a Junior Developer portfolio (because, yes, you need one), plus our guide for writing a resume and some sample interview questions to practice. For even more job-search resources like portfolio projects and interview prep, head to our Career Center.

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If you’re not sure where to begin or what to learn next, this is a great place to start. Check out our top coding courses, Skill Paths, and Career Paths.

What Every Affiliate Needs to Succeed

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What Every Affiliate Needs to Succeed

Influencer marketing is a thriving business. Forbes estimated that it grew from $9.7 billion in 2020 to almost $14 billion in 2021. If you have an eye for digital marketing and can find your niche in the industry, you can use affiliate marketing to turn your life around. We’re here to help you along your affiliate journey by outlining what every affiliate needs to succeed.

Influencer marketing refers to a type of social media marketing where products and services are mentioned and endorsed by the social media star, the influencer to their audience. Affiliate marketing allows you to promote your product or service on another platform or website. Influencers become affiliate marketers by promoting a product on their personal platform.

People assume being an affiliate is just about making money, however, it’s much more than that. Affiliate marketing is about sharing information, products or services with people who can benefit from them. Being part of Alison’s Affiliate Programme means you love learning, are passionate about sharing with others, and you believe in encouraging people to empower themselves and ultimately, change their lives. 

Is Affiliate Marketing Easy?

It’s true that many individuals are leaving their 9-5 behind for a more flexible working lifestyle. The idea of being your own boss as an affiliate seems easy. However, the fast-changing digital marketing space is making it a bit difficult to create a feasible affiliate business. What this means for you as an affiliate is that you need to consider the various aspects of affiliate marketing to make it work. So, the challenges and moving parts you need to consider don’t make it impossible for you to become a successful affiliate, you just need the right tools to help you succeed.

What Every Affiliate Needs To Succeed

 

Find an Affiliate Programme

There are lots of companies that utilise affiliate marketing strategies. Choosing the right one is the key to your success. You’ve chosen Alison’s Affiliate Programme because it’s the right fit for you and your audience. Aligning yourself with a platform that resonates with you will make it easy for you to create content that your audience will enjoy.

Select a good platform

You don’t need to have a large social media following to be an affiliate. You do, however, need a digital platform you can use to share your affiliate links. A platform helps you build an audience, gain influence and ultimately, people you can invite. Some examples of great platforms are WordPress or HubSpot (for bloggers), MailChimp for e-newsletters people can subscribe to, Instagram, TikTok, or other social media platforms you regularly use.

Websites like CouponXoo are a great example using a platform that meets and delivers a need to a unique group. They’ve found their niche – people who love couponing. Here, visitors can find great deals and use the coupons to access exclusive markdowns on a wide selection of products and services.

Performance tracking tools

As an affiliate you need to know and keep track of any conversions you make on your platforms. When you’re able to measure your success or failure, you learn what works (or doesn’t) and the data will give you insights on how to better work the content you create when sharing your affiliate links. Tools like AnyTrack are a great way to monitor your performance.

Create content

“Content is king”. We’re living in a digitally driven world where people spend lots of time online consuming content. You want traffic to your platform, and you want that traffic to result in not just clicks, but purchases. You need to create valuable content to achieve this and ensure they keep coming back and buying what you’re sharing.

SEMRush

SEMRush is a valuable tool especially for affiliates who are bloggers. It’s a great tool marketers use to tap into their competitors’ marketing strategies and help you find updated keywords to help you optimise your content for SEO. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what the tool provides its users. Conduct some research and find out what capabilities or plug-ins your platform enables you to do so that you can maximise your content for your audience.

Follow the rules

Yes, there are rules to the affiliate marketing business. Each country has a regulating body that serves to protect consumers from dodgy marketing practices. For example, the USA has the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), that monitors and enforces laws on unfair market competition and deception. Visitors to your platform will know you’re following the law by disclosing that you may receive a portion of funds from any links they click through or products they buy. You should familiarise yourself and stay up to date with these regulations in your country.

There are many more tips, tricks, and rules you need to know as an affiliate. Alison’s Affiliate Programme provides you with support to help you succeed. We also host free webinars with experts you can chat with and have all your questions answered. We’ve made it that easy for you!

Affiliate marketing is a great way to introduce people to something you are passionate about and help them experience the same benefits you do. 

What you should always remember as an affiliate is to treat those that you’ll be sharing links with as ‘people’ and not just avenues to make money. Ensure that your love for the Alison brand shines through your content and this will encourage people to connect with you and us.

Let’s talk Content & Courses with Don Spear, CEO, OpenSesame, Andrew Barnes,CEO, GO1, Laura Baldwin, President, O’Reilly Media

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Let’s talk Content & Courses with Don Spear, CEO, OpenSesame, Andrew Barnes,CEO, GO1, Laura Baldwin, President, O’Reilly Media

Perspectives. When it comes to 3rd party content/courses from publishers and/or providers, most folks just focus on the courses/content they want for their learners, regardless if they are association members, customers, clients, partners, employees or students.

Yet the folks who are overseeing these entities are rarely asked their take on the industry, the approach and other aspects around the industry of content/courses and its application in L&D, Training, HR or other areas.

I reached out to three key players in the 3rd party content/courses space to take a deeper dive.

  • Don Spear, CEO of OpenSesame, an aggregator of a couple hundred content/courses, from publishers, for the learning system space – You can purchase their courses/content either thru a learning system marketplace (via your learning system) or contact them directly, and then add it to your learning system (if the system does not have a partnership in place). One of the top two aggregators in the industry. Plays huge in the corporate market (inc. associations).
  • Andrew Barnes, CEO and Co-Founder of GO1, n aggregator of a couple hundred content/courses, from publishers, for the learning system space. You can purchase their courses/content either thru a learning system marketplace (via your learning system) or contact them directly, and then add it to your learning system (if the system does not have a partnership in place). You can also go direct to GO1 and use them as your learning platform with the publishers content on the system already (you can access the admin side too). You still pay for the courses/content though. The other top aggregator in the learning system space. Plays huge in the corporate market (inc. associations).
  • Laura Baldwin, President, O’Reilly Media – 3rd party course/content publisher. You can purchase their online courses/content and add it to your learning system OR use their platform with the courses/content on it. They, for whatever reason, are not a player in the learning system marketplace, nor space itself, even though they have a strong brand name recognition with F100 companies – especially around leadership development – they are also known in the “EdTech” – higher education segment and K-12.

Note: There are vendors, including publishers/providers who use the term “EdTech” to refer to corporate, associations, education and government, which only adds to the confusion. The term really means education (hence educational technology) – K-12 and HigherEd. In the case of O’Reilly Media, the use of the term in this interview, refers to every market (inc. corporate), and not just education.

Responses have been slightly edited for clarity (when applicable).

My questions are in “bold”, their responses are in “italics” with their first name, prior to the response, thus – Don, Andrew, Laura.

One additional note, for those vendors who have a marketplace (the client – i.e. whoever is overseeing the program – are the ones who purchase the content/courses and then provide said content/courses to their learners for free). There are way too many vendors who only have either GO1 or OpenSesame, which to me is a major error on their part. Add both, and thus reduce the need for folks who are clients of either, to reach out their preferred and have you the vendor, take the time to setup the API etc. It’s a pain for the client, and a pain to the learning system vendor.

The most common method nowadays in the content/course publisher/provider is the all you can eat buffet, where you purchase the seat(s) and then each learner gets unlimited access to all the courses/content, rather than say a bundle or per item.

Let’s Talk Content!

Q: There is a lot of off-the-shelf content/courses available. What should a buyer (client) look for when choosing a vendor?  Should they just focus on the topic (they are interested in) or should they consider other factors as well?

Don: When choosing a vendor, buyers should take a wide range of factors into account. For example, there are a variety of course formats that should be considered. We like to say that “one size does not fit all” because different learners and departments require different approaches.

Buyers should also ask about quality standards. The range of topics is, of course, important

Companies should also ask about languages and localization.

Andrew: You can look at off-the-shelf content two ways.  One is for specific content for a given department or team.  An example of this is Pluralsight who has some fantastic content which serves a specific purpose for a specific group. These vendors are typically higher in cost, but you might only need to purchase them for a subset of employees.

The other way is to look for a vendor who is going to cover the topics needed for the majority of your learning program needs – everything from compliance (say from Skillsoft) to leadership (for example from Harvard Manage Mentor).  These providers usually provide more general topics but the content can be used to build growth plans, reskilling programs, and meet general compliance needs. 

Regardless, it’s important for a buyer to think beyond their department needs to see how content can serve the whole company and its employees.  Online learning can be a great benefit to offer to learners to help them meet their personal and professional goals.

Laura: It’s important for buyers to evaluate the quality of the content they’re purchasing and ensure that it’s coming from a reputable source. The number of course providers (and instructors!) is exploding right now. There’s been significant investment in edtech as a category, and of course that’s leading so many to jump in, make their own contributions, and take a share of the growth that’s happening. Many of these new learning companies are offering a marketplace-based approach, where anyone can come and learn a skill from whoever chooses to build a course or content. But are these instructors being vetted to ensure they have the skill to teach that material? And has their content been checked for accuracy?

Q: What metrics do you capture, that you can provide to buyer if they are interested?  How many clients ask for such data or even if you offer it?

Don: We provide our customers with a wide range of data. Some of the data points that companies are typically interested in include: most popular/most taken courses, most popular courses within the customer’s industry, and most popular courses within a given topic or category.

Andrew: We help organizations track metrics such as completion rates, how long users spend in a given course, what content is well rated (or not), what is shared and recommended, and much more. We also have information on the courses that are most consumed and the most searched for topics. 

What people like in online learning can be so subjective though and working with a variety of industries makes it so our data is helpful, but it’s also important for buyers to know that just because something is popular doesn’t make it the right fit for them or just because something isn’t popular, doesn’t mean it’s not valuable to the right set of learners.

Laura: Historically, we’ve taken our own approach to measuring the efficacy of learning. While we do provide completion data for courses, we don’t believe completion data alone provides a proper understanding of whether or not someone has actually learned new material. Checking a box might tell some of the story, but it isn’t as important as testing and validating that someone has actually built those skills and can use them in the workplace.

So a few years ago we introduced several new metrics to our platform based specifically on millions of sessions of activity from our users. First, we saw that while some learners on our platform were working diligently to build knowledge in specific topics, many were logging in to quickly reference material to solve an immediate problem. So we created a dashboard that showed our customers how much of their learners’ behavior was linear (absorbing something new from start to finish) and how much was nonlinear (finding fast answers in the flow of work). Some customers have even told us exactly how nonlinear learning behavior helped them solve urgent and costly business problems that cropped up unexpectedly.

Note from Craig Weiss – “Nonlinear” this means that the learner does not have to go sequential, i.e. first chapter completed, then goes to the next chapter, so forth – the term is referred to as synchronous-based. “Nonlinear” the term is referred to the industry as asynchronous-based, which means the learner can bounce around at any time, into different chapters, pages, etc. without having to follow the classroom method, of you complete this first, then go this. WBT was created specifically for the power of non-linear learning. From my experience, learners retain more, and comprehend more following this method, because it will validate what their actual interest is in, where they want to know more or learn more, which aids in discovery for you, the person overseeing the system/department/area, what they know or don’t know, and what content/courses you need to add/change/remove that are beneficial to said folks. Skill gaps are best identified via nonlinear learning.

Back to the interview

Q: How do you decide what “new” topics/categories to add? Do you rely solely on clients? Do you look at trends? Do you pay attention to the market in general?

Don: OpenSesame relies on various types of information when deciding whether to add a new topic or category. Our primary reference points include customer feedback, course completions, external market research, and market trends.

Andrew: Because we partner with some innovative providers in the industry, we often get new content topics because our providers are watching the industry and respond to the requests they are seeing.  A great example of this is recent content we received around Being Your Authentic Self at work.  This is a hot topic on LinkedIn and we have a course specific to not only being your authentic self at work but how to manage in a way that allows your employees to feel safe to do the same.

Outside of the content we get from existing providers, we use requests from our customers (inc search queries) and trends we see through Learning and Development associations to identify what content we should be seeking out. 

Laura: We do this in a few ways. First and foremost, we have an in-house editorial team that’s been tracking technology trends for more than 40 years. They watch the industry and speak with experts (and prospective authors) and business leaders to understand what might shape technology in the future.

Next, our authors, experts, and others within our talent network are all practitioners in their fields, so we work with them to help understand what’s important and create content in the areas that are sure to be emergent. Lastly, we keep an eye on usage trends on our platform. However, these are often backward-looking metrics—they tell us what’s already happened or is happening now, but they’re less likely to help us understand what will happen in the future. Our value is in letting our members know what’s next, not the other way around.

Q: Let’s have a hypothetical – The client has a learning system, and they select you as a course provider (regardless if you are in the marketplace – the vendor’s or not). How can you ensure that the course(s)/content they have access to – is appropriate for their use case?  

Don: To ensure that the courses/content they have access to is appropriate for their use case, we review feedback from all stakeholders, insight on the company’s key business objectives, and current business challenges that the company is navigating.

After users complete the courses, we analyze the data. Course engagement/usage helps determine if the courses/content was appropriate.

Andrew: As part of the onboarding process, we work with customers to understand their needs and their culture and make recommendations of providers and topics that will best fit their needs.  Because the customer is going to know their company best, we encourage them to become familiar with the library and best search practices to be able to find the content that is going to best match their company’s needs.  Their dedicated customer success manager is always available to help them with additional curation, if needed.

Laura: We’ve spent a lot of time looking at our data and speaking to our customers to understand whether or not we should be adapting our content by industry vertical, and we’ve learned that it’s not needed.

In technology, the use cases and skills required aren’t typically all that different across companies regardless of industry—technology in financial services isn’t that different from technology in a software company or a healthcare provider. They’re fairly vertical agnostic. So we primarily focus on the technologies themselves and build content that provides a deep understanding of them.

For example, when a business is looking to migrate to the cloud, it needs engineers and developers skilled in either Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud (or perhaps more than one if they’re running a multicloud). The skills we teach match the way those cloud providers operate rather than being unique to a company or industry. Once team members learn a given tech, they can determine how to leverage it in a way that works for their organization.

Ultimately, it’s not up to us to tell members how to run their business. It’s up to us to empower them to run it better.

Q: A lot of folks believe that assigned learning is a necessity, even in some cases a must. They talk about the completion as validation that the learner has acquired the knowledge and retained it.  Do you concur?  Is assigned learning the best way for someone to acquire knowledge? Or should non-assigned and learner picks what they are interested in, the best method?  

Don: We do not agree that completion is validation that the learner has acquired the knowledge and retained it. Engagement is a better determinant of knowledge acquisition and retention. For many topics, the learner will be more engaged if they can choose their own content and take it when they choose.

Courses in safety and compliance is a different case, in that completion generally validates that the learner has acquired the knowledge. Lack of safety and compliance training can put others at risk, and therefore the best practice is to assign courses at specific times.

Andrew: There are some topics that have to be assigned, particularly around compliance or content that a manager may want their team member to focus on.

Generally, allowing the employee to have some control over their learning helps with buy-in and engagement, particularly when it comes to upskilling and creating a culture of learning in a company.  Providing employees with a few options around a certain topic can allow them to complete the course that matches their interests or areas they feel they need the most assistance in. 

Leadership training is a great example of this. Most leaders come into a role with some leadership skills but probably have a few areas that they can improve in.  Offering them a variety of courses on delegation, empathetic leadership, feedback, etc. can allow them to pick a few that work best for them.

Real validation of learning happens after the learning, not just during.  Completion can help with reporting and is nice to have during a performance review to show what has been done, but ideally, the learner is meeting with their manager, discussing what has been learned, and making a plan on how to implement those new skills into their job in a way that is measurable.

Laura: There’s a time and place for everything. Assigned learning can be valuable if you have a team or department who are all adopting a new technology at once and you want to make sure everyone understands the gist of it. However, I think organizations should want employees who are naturally curious and interested in exploring new topic areas, so nonassigned learning should equally be encouraged. You never know what new idea, business improvement, or optimization it may lead to.

And in terms of assigned learning, completion data might be able to tell you if someone took a course, attended an event, or played a video. But it can’t reliably measure whether or not a team member actually has the ability to practically apply needed skills. That’s why we’ve introduced things like challenges into the O’Reilly learning platform—so that organizations can assess whether or not a learner can actually apply the knowledge they’ve been building. And we’ll continue to head more in this direction.

Q: Do you believe you have a responsibility to ensure that all content is good? That the instructional design is sound? That the knowledge or insight to acquire new skills or retain them, are effect in the course(s) or content you offer? How can you ensure that the course(s)/content you offer retains it’s “Freshness” if you will? Have you put in processes?

Don: As a vendor and content provider, we have a responsibility to ensure all content is better than good, actually world class. This means that courses are innovative, flexible, diverse, global, and come from a reputable source. We test our courses internally before launching to ensure the instructional design is sound, and that every course provides opportunities for the learner to acquire new skills and knowledge.

Our Curation Team has a process and list of requirements to determine if a publisher and their courses meet the OpenSesame standards. This process/checklist ensures our courses retain their “freshness.”

Andrew: “Good” in learning may cover many factors.  This includes both subject matter relevance and presentation. Some customers love animation. Some customers love videos. The benefit of the size of our library is that customers can find content that uses a format that will work for their employees.  What is our responsibility is to work with partners who are committed to providing instructionally sound content.

As we continue to evolve our library, we are constantly adding more ways to effectively review content and ensure that all content meets the criteria of quality in production and instructional design.

Laura: Absolutely! That’s why we rely so heavily on our in-house editorial team. They work directly with our talent network—who are all experts in their fields—to create great content and ensure effective instructional design. All our content is also put through a peer review with other experts to validate that the information is technically accurate. And we evaluate all of the content on the platform on an ongoing basis to see what we should drop, what we should revise and re-release as technologies evolve, and what we should add as information changes.

Q: Lastly, what topics are you seeing that are “popular” with your content/courses by usage, and what topic or topics do you believe is a necessity for the remainder of 2022? 

Don: Reskilling and upskilling courses for the last 2-3 years have been popular, specifically the ones designed for the tech industry. Learners crave the opportunity to access practical tools to advance their careers and reach new milestones. Having an up-to-date, highly skilled workforce is a key advantage in tech is one of the most critical elements to making this a reality.

Recently, in the wake of COVID-19, coaching and mentoring courses have been more popular than ever. The transition to a remote/hybrid workforce has forced managers to adapt and become more flexible to meet employee needs. Research shows the relationship between a manager and employee is extremely important when determining if an employee will remain in their role, therefore training around coaching and mentoring has never been more popular.

Training around recruiting and hiring practices has increased in popularity due to the so-called Great Resignation. Many companies are struggling to attract, hire, and retain highly skilled employees.

Andrew: (A few areas off the top of my head)

  • Servant/Empathetic Leadership
  • Technical skills
  • HR Best Practices
  • Neurodivergent Workforce content
  • Managing to avoid burnout

Laura: Cloud computing remains a hot topic. We’re seeing organizations move away from a lift-and-shift approach to the cloud and embrace cloud native technologies. Hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge environments are growing, setting the stage for new distributed cloud models. And all this means that software architecture is arguably more important than ever (proved by the fact that content on the topic is highly sought out on our platform). Businesses are determining how to best architect for distributed cloud and cloud native but also for data and machine learning.

Deployment technologies like Kubernetes and Docker continue to see widespread adoption (with respectively heavy usage on our platform). And increasingly, security has become a focus. Last year, following a number of major attacks, like the one on Colonial Pipeline, we saw a 300% surge in usage around content designed to help defend against ransomware. Security and defense against cyberattacks has to be on the mind of every business leader today—or should be.

Bottom Line

To visit each vendor:

My newest platform, FindContent.io (two systems in one), where you can view courses/content (100% free, with several “full courses” and not just snippets; compare content/course providers and publishers; save, request more information, will officially launch the third week of September. OpenSesame can be viewed now, GO1 is still adding their information, thus they are not yet “live”, and O’Reilly Media at this time, is not on the platform. We are brand new, but will be continuing to add publishers/providers thru 2022 and going forward. Feel free to start today, just be aware we are working to add more vendors, still trust me, it isn’t anything you have ever seen before in the industry. And as a reminder, we are not a reseller nor partner/affiliate with any of the publishers/providers on FindContent.io

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How to Use The Learning Network

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Since 1998, The Learning Network has been helping people teach and learn with The New York Times. Here’s how to use our features.

How 5 Codecademy Learners Make Time to Learn to Code

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How 5 Codecademy Learners Make Time to Learn to Code
How 5 Codecademy Learners Make Time to Learn to Code

Scheduling can be a headache, whether you’re trying to find time for a team meeting or finally booking that dentist appointment. Making time to learn to code might feel like just another commitment you have to deal with — but luckily, there are lots of different ways to make it work.

The cool thing about Codecademy courses and paths is that they’re designed for self-guided learning — meaning you get to decide the pace and frequency that makes the most sense for you and your life. You can stop to take a break at any time. Whether it takes you three months or three years to find a rhythm, we get it: There’s no one-size-fits-all learning schedule, because we all have different priorities and responsibilities in our lives.

Codecademy learners in our community have come up with some creative ways to carve out time in their schedules to learn to code, often balancing full-time jobs and childcare duties to boot. Read on for the top time-saving tricks that helped Codecademy learners fly through courses, discover their passions, and even launch new careers.

Got your own go-to trick for making time to learn with Codecademy? We want to hear about it! You can share your story with us here.

Block out time on your calendar

When React and Native Developer Doug Henderson got serious about learning to code, he would look at his Google calendar every morning and mark any free time that he could devote to coding. “I knew during my lunch breaks I could do 20 or 30 minutes; and sometimes I could learn before I left for work, if I had time,” he says. Scheduling these chunks of time allowed Doug to spend a cumulative total of 2 to 4 hours a day working through Codecademy courses and watching supplemental videos on YouTube.

Aim for bite-sized chunks

Between working at a pub and homeschooling her young son, Gwen Bradbury was already spread thin when she started to learn PHP and React. “Looking back, I have no idea how I did it, to be honest,” she says.

Codecademy’s courses are all self-paced, so Gwen could split up courses and lessons into as many fragments as she needed to get it done. “Between homeschooling and working at the pub, I’d sneak an hour here and a half hour there,” she says. “Since it’s all in bite-size chunks, it was manageable to just do a section at a time.” At this pace, Gwen landed a job as a Junior Full-Stack Developer a year after she started learning.

Take advantage of free WiFi

Anyone with a commute can relate to the way Bobby Hutter ​​felt at the end of his 20- to 40-minute drive home: “I had zero motivation to work on coding,” he says. “I mentally associated home with comfort and rest.”

Conveniently, Bobby discovered that a Panera Bread that he passed on the drive home had a membership option that enabled him to get free beverages and use their WiFi for $10 a month. It was easier to stay motivated while working out of the restaurant, so it became his “drop-in office space,” he says.

“Monday through Friday, I’d stop at that Panera on the way home, and I’d dedicate two hours to learning to code,” he recalls. “During the pandemic, they closed at 8 p.m., so I also had that external motivator of knowing I have to get this module completed or I have to get this portion of this course done.” Obviously, you don’t specifically need a local Panera to make this strategy work for you — maybe there’s a library or park with WiFi that could provide a similar change of scenery?

Multitask (if you can)

Learning to code while you’re “on the clock” at your place of work is probably not the best move — unless, of course, your team leader is A-OK with you doing so. As a security guard, ​​Casper Tollefsen had predictable pockets of downtime during quiet shifts that he used to catch up reading books about game design and programming. “I made sure that while I was working my shifts, I listened to audiobooks on an earbud,” he says.

Don’t have the flexibility to learn at your job? You can try listening to podcasts about coding on your commute or while you’re out running errands. Or you can always consider asking your employer to give you time during the workday for professional development. (You might be surprised by their willingness to help you out!)  

Give yourself permission to have off days

Even the most disciplined developers have off days. Petko Georgiev remembers being “super motivated” when he started learning HTML/CSS and JavaScript. “I’d learn in the mornings, in the afternoons, while my kid was asleep, and on weekends,” he says. “After about two weeks, I relaxed. And then it was hard to get back into the habit.” Over time, Petko realized that his ideal cadence was waking up at 5 a.m. to code before work or during his lunch hour.

If you’re having trouble finding time or motivation to stick to your learning plan, it could be a matter of lowering your weekly learning target to something that’s more sustainable, or connecting with a programmer pal who can keep you accountable. You know yourself best, and there are lots of ways to adjust your goals and customize your schedule so it truly works for you.

How did you set aside time to learn how to code? Share your story here — it could be exactly what someone needs to hear to keep going. If you’re looking for coding motivation, read more success stories from Codecademy learners like you or check out our blog for additional learning tips and handy resources.

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If you’re not sure where to begin or what to learn next, this is a great place to start. Check out our top coding courses, Skill Paths, and Career Paths.

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