We are honoring the Top 9 winners of our Student Open Letter Contest by publishing their entries. This one is by Casey Goldstein, age 17.
Start Contributing to Open Source: Advice From a Maintainer
If you’re trying to get into tech, you’ll often hear the advice: “Contribute to open source!” Participating in open source is a great way to practice your coding and collaboration skills while adding to your portfolio. Plus, there are lots of businesses built on open-source software, so being familiar with how the ecosystem works and having exposure to working in the community can be an asset in your career.
But where do you start? What if no one responds to your pull request? For answers to these common questions and more, we talked to Tyler Williams, Lead Software Engineer at WalterPicks and maintainer of the open-source project MobX-State-Tree, which they use for state management in their React Native application. A maintainer is like a project manager who’s responsible for handling a project’s big-picture vision as well as ensuring its day-to-day operations run smoothly.
Learn something new for free
Choose a beginner-friendly issue
You could start by focusing on projects that power the technology you’re most interested in exploring, or those behind software you already use. If you have a dream company you’d love to work for, find out if they’re using any open-source software in their stack and see if you can contribute. Make sure to filter for projects that are actively seeking contributions by checking for GitHub issues labeled “Good First Issue” — this means those issues have been identified as approachable for project newcomers. GoodFirstIssues.com is a handy source for the latest issues tagged with the label.
Chat with maintainers
Popular open-source projects may have hundreds (or even thousands) of open issues, and it’s not always clear how to reproduce or otherwise get started on tackling a specific issue. “If you’re not plugged into the core maintainer team, it may be challenging to figure out things like which issues are a priority or if someone is actively working on an issue,” says Tyler. “In many cases, if you can find a Discord or Slack community where the maintainers hang out, you might be able to get their attention or at least read more about how they’re considering these initiatives.”
If you’re not sure if you have the skills (yet) to work on a particular issue, it’s wise to ask for clarification. Some issues look simple but are hard, and vice versa. Here’s an example of a comment you could leave on the issue or ask in the community:
I’d love to take on this issue. It looks like I would need to … does that seem right to you? Otherwise feel free to point me in the right direction.
If this still sounds too daunting, you could focus on issues labeled “first-timers-only”— just like the label says, these are exclusively for brand new open-source contributors and should be very straightforward. The label also signals that the project owner is willing to coach you through your first PR to address the issue. Be ready to follow through: “When people show a good amount of interest, energy, or commitment, I will endeavor to spend synchronous time with them to ensure they can be successful,” says Tyler.
Explore the project repository
Many open-source projects have their own, bespoke folder structure, which can make navigating the project repository difficult—especially if you’ve been using a framework with a well-defined folder structure in your personal projects, says Tyler. Take, for example, this simple portfolio template project versus MobX-State-Tree. How do you know where the important files are? It’s worth taking some time to explore the repository and see if you can make sense of what different folders and files contain. Don’t get discouraged if you’re lost. “It’s a responsibility of maintainers to help people figure out the lay of the land,” says Tyler. Once you’ve poked around a bit, asking for help in GitHub discussions or the project’s community can help you get better oriented.
Fork and clone the project repository
If you’ve managed to snag a good issue, plan your work, and get your bearings in the project, your next step is to get coding, so you need to get the code on your local machine. Many people are used to cloning a project directly, says Tyler, which works when you work for the company, or if it’s your own project you’re pulling down. “But if you don’t have maintainer permissions on a repository, you won’t be able to push your branch back up from a clone,” Tyler says.
“Instead, you need to fork the repository to your own account, then clone that locally, and make a PR from your fork over to the origin. This workflow isn’t very intuitive, and it’s not something you usually encounter at your day job.” Build up your confidence with our Git and GitHub course.
Don’t get discouraged if your pull request isn’t merged right away
If you believe you’ve fixed the issue, it’s really exciting to push the code up, create the pull request, and submit it. When is it time to celebrate? According to Tyler, most open-source maintainers are volunteers, and those who do it as part of their day jobs probably maintain very active projects with a lot of issues and PRs to review. In either case, it’s tough to know:
- Who will review your pull request?
- When they will do it
- Will they ever do it?
“Some PRs can languish for years,” says Tyler. “It’s a hard problem to solve, and maintainers feel badly about it when it happens. It’s not a reflection of you or your work, it’s just the nature of a highly distributed, mostly-volunteer ecosystem.” I personally have had a simple update to a project README file sit for four months before someone merged it in.
You can preempt this problem by picking up recent issues in projects that show a lot of activity. If it’s too late for that, and your PR is already gathering dust, don’t get discouraged. You can see who of the maintainers are actively merging code by looking at recently merged PRs, and consider mentioning them on your PR to ask if they can review or suggest someone else.
Release cycles can delay your code
Open-source software commonly follows semantic versioning, which specifies rules for what kind of code changes can be published in certain versions, says Tyler. “Not all changes are backwards compatible, which means your code might get approved, or even merged, but not ‘released’ until the project is ready to ship a version that’s compatible with your changes.”
What this means for you:
- It may take some time before your code gets out there in the wild.
- As your PR lingers, you may be asked to rebase your code against an ever-changing main branch. Keep an eye out on your notifications for those requests. It’s always easier to rebase frequently, rather than try and manage a rebase over the course of months of changes.
You can learn more GitHub best practices in this free Codecademy course.
You can (and should) highlight OSS contributions in your portfolio
Plenty of open-source contributors do so simply because they enjoy it, but your contributions can also show your skills to potential employers. “LinkedIn has a really nice integration with GitHub now,” says Tyler. “If you update your LinkedIn projects section, you can usually import a lot of data directly with a GitHub link.”
If you want to draw attention to a specific contribution, you can include it in a portfolio website or write a blog post explaining what issue you fixed and how you went about it. Writing about your contributions gives you a chance to share more context about why you chose to approach the problem in a certain way (great practice for technical interviews).
Ready to take the plunge? “MobX-State-Tree is a great place to start contributing, because we have a small, but active community,” Tyler says. “The maintainers are very accessible and love to coach folks through their first or early open-source contributions.” Brush up on your open-source terms with Codecademy’s free Introduction to Open Source course.
‘First Someone Dies, Then Everyone Expects Us to Eat’: The Week 3 Winner of Our Summer Reading Contest
For 15 years, our Summer Reading Contest has been inviting teenagers around the world to tell us what New York Times pieces get their attention and why. This year, for the first time, students can submit either written comments or 90-second video responses.
In the third week of our 10-week challenge, we received 732 entries, and we list the finalists below. Scroll down to read the work of our winner, Miki Schnitzer, to watch a video response we enjoyed, and to take a look at the variety of topics that caught these students’ eyes, including airplane safety, “rodent men,” Nvidia, and Louisiana’s requirement that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom.
You can read the work of all of our winners since 2017 in this column, and you can participate in the contest any or every week this summer until Aug. 16. Just check the top of this page, where we post updates, to find the right place to submit your response.
Winner
Miki Schnitzer, 16, from Plainsboro, N.J., responded to an Opinion essay headlined “What Joan Nathan Taught Me About the Power of Showing Up.” She wrote:
A trio of uniquely spiced nuts, an ocean of smoked fish floating on bagels, platters of corned beef decorated with pickled tomatoes — first someone dies, then everyone expects us to eat.
Looking back on when my grandfather died this November, what sticks out among the throngs of people that shuffled in and out of my house was the food they left. As they say, actions speak louder than words, and as Sarah Wildman writes, “in mourning and in crisis food is often an action, an act.” Food is familiar. Food is nourishing and a vital part of human life. Food is also the perfect way to deliver comfort when words fail to do so.
Being a Jew living in a predominantly Indian and Asian community, I wasn’t sure what to expect of my neighbors as my family began sitting shiva. How would they reconcile their culture with our tradition? They did it the best way they could: by showing up, and showing up with food. In the days following the funeral, my fridge became chock-full of dosas, samosas, chutneys, and Indian sweets. They asked thoughtful questions about shiva, respectfully listened, and connected it to their own mourning traditions.
It is easy to point out differences between communities. It takes patience, respect, and curiosity to understand what bridges those gaps. Amidst a year of heightened division and hate, I find solace in the fact that sharing food and one’s time are actions that never get lost in translation.
Runners-Up
In alphabetical order by the writer’s first name.
Andy Qi on “Are Planes Safe Right Now? Here’s What the Experts Say.”
Caroline on “Mary Cassatt’s Women Didn’t Sit Pretty”
Diane Tang on “Old and Young, Talking Again”
Jennifer Ma on “260 McNuggets? McDonald’s Ends A.I. Drive-Through Tests Amid Errors“
Semi Jung on “Lets Chill Out About Apostrophes”
Shenyao (Sean) Xu on “Where Did Our Strange Use of ‘Like’ Come From?”
Vanessa on “The Joys and Perils of Return Travel”
Honorable Mentions
The Devil From Down Under
This letter, by Alexis Rippon, 13, of Geelong Grammar School in Geelong, Australia, is one of the Top 9 winners of The Learning Network’s Student Open Letter Contest, for which we received 8,065 entries. You can find the work of all the winners, as we publish them, here.
G’day Warner Brothers,
You may be a global leader in the entertainment industry, but I’d like to highlight how you’ve been unjust toward a super cute, yet awkwardly destructive, native Australian creature.
In 1954, you created the cartoon character Taz. He is such a well-known and devious creature and became an iconic member of the Looney Tunes family. So popular was Taz that you trademarked him decades ago. Essentially, since then, you have prohibited anyone from using the name or images that resemble Taz. But did you know that Taz is based on a real animal, a renowned carnivorous marsupial from Down Under? Taz is a Tasmanian devil.
Tasmania is a small island state off the south coast of Australia, so small that Manhattan’s population is over three times the size. And on this island lives the Tasmanian devil. The devil is iconically Australian and is not only emblematic to the island state, but to all Aussies. When I say the devil lives in Tasmania, I should emphasize that the species is fast becoming critically endangered. The devil population is receding rapidly because of an incurable facial tumor disease. It’s a race to save the species.
Because of your trademark, the devil’s name now cannot be used without agreement from you. This issue was ignited recently because there is a new team entering our Australian Football League competition. The team will be from Tasmania and will be the state’s first-ever team to play in our national competition. So, the obvious choice was to call them the Tasmanian Devils. But that idea was obstructed because of your intellectual property entitlements. Your obnoxiousness led to a stoush between you and the A.F.L. because your corporate greed denied us of what is rightfully ours.
Your $20-billion-dollar empire has profiteered for decades off our beloved native species that has been in existence for over 20,000 years. The least you could do is make a meaningful financial contribution to fund conservation and research to help save the devil population. I think it is now time for you to “save face” and demonstrate your corporate social responsibility before it is too late, and the devil is gone.
From Alexis Rippon, a 13-year-old animal lover
Works Cited
Frost, Natasha. Australia vs. Warner Bros.?. The New York Times. 5 May 2023.
University of Tasmania. Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal. 10 Jan. 2024.
How I Went from Management to Freelance Web Developer in 1.5 Years
Learning to code so that you can land a job in tech can feel daunting. That’s why we’re sharing inspiring stories from Codecademy’s community — to show how people like you (yes, you!) can embark on a learning journey and end up with a totally new career. We hope these stories serve as a reminder that there’s no single path to a more fulfilling work life.
Today’s story is from Cambria Sullivan, a 36-year-old Freelance Web Developer living in Seattle, Washington. Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here.
Why I chose to learn to code
“In early 2023, I was working for a transit agency in a management position, and I felt like I needed a change in life. I had a friend who, like me, went to college for anthropology. He went back to school and got a degree in web design. I reconnected with him, and he got me interested in Codecademy.
I started using Codecademy, but it wasn’t my first foray into coding. As a kid, I had dabbled in basic Perl and PHP, and I had taken a Python course through the University of Michigan. I started with front-end engineering. I slogged through HTML and CSS because they weren’t very challenging and felt like something you just had to do. But when I got to JavaScript and started writing code that actually did something, it felt magical. I feel like coding is the closest thing we have to magic in the real world — entering these arcane glyphs into a machine to make it think. It felt very powerful.”
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How I made time to learn
“Coding became the thing that got me out of bed in the morning. I would go to my job and then come home and learn to code. It really spoke to me on a deep level. As pieces started coming together, I realized it was the first thing I’d ever done where I felt I could stick with it and not be miserable at work. My previous job was very boring; it involved sitting in an office, answering phones, and doing a whole lot of nothing. My mind just couldn’t handle that.
So, I took a big leap of faith and quit my job. It felt like a freefall. I decided to drain every account I had and put it all into starting my life over, career-wise. I spent several months living in a city called Pullman, where I did the bulk of my learning. My daily life revolved around the Front-End Engineer track, but I would often get sidetracked by interesting projects and build things on my own. I began to develop some actual proficiency and started to feel like maybe this could work out.”
How I saved up money to switch careers
“As the end of the year approached, I needed to decide whether to renew my lease. By chance, I reconnected with an old friend on Discord. When I told him I was becoming a software developer, he said, ‘Really? That’s what I do now.’ We started talking a lot and decided to become roommates.
We moved to Seattle in December. It was a big adjustment — my environment changed, and I still didn’t have a strong sense of security because I was living off savings. Things got tougher because, after finishing the Front-End Engineering career path, I started applying for jobs but got nowhere.”
How long it took me to land a job
“Initially, I applied for everything — just throwing my resume out everywhere. I realized I needed to critically examine what was going on. I concluded that I probably didn’t have enough substantial work experience on my resume or projects that could substitute for work experience. I had to admit to myself that the certification alone was probably not enough; I needed to actually build some stuff. I had built a website for a friend’s dad, which was for the Audubon Society, but that still wasn’t enough.
I feel like coding is the closest thing we have to magic in the real world.
Cambria Sullivan
Freelance Web Developer
It was a very frustrating experience. In Seattle, I met numerous other software engineers who got to know me and saw how passionate I was. They did resume reviews and looked at my code, and more or less unanimously said that I was more than ready for a junior position. However, the hiring situation was such a brick wall that I just couldn’t get through.”
How I got in the door
“There were points when I considered giving up because I felt like I had the skills and was confident in my abilities, but I couldn’t get in the front door to convince a single person. I decided I needed something more substantial, so I wrote a JavaScript library. I wanted to kick it up a notch and create something significant.
I wrote the library, and it actually picked up some steam, with other people contributing to it — Michael from Code Crew even contributed. We published it to NPM, and it has been downloaded more than 200 times now. It was exhilarating to have my work actually being used by other developers; it was really cool.
Regarding job opportunities, the two times I got closest were both when a friend directly recommended me.”
How I nailed the interview
“I continued putting out applications and tried various strategies. I wrote cover letters, used AI to get through the AI filtering, and tried just about everything. Finally, what really made a difference was my roommate, who has been a Full-Stack Developer for a company full-time for three years and also does consultancy work on the side. He kept bringing up to one of the companies he consults for that they should interview me. After three or four times, they finally agreed.
I finally got the interview. It was funny because all the DSA [data structures and algorithms] stuff and LeetCode problems I had prepared for weren’t even brought up. The interview was very casual and directly with the CTO of the company. He essentially said that they had heard great things about me and wanted to get to know me more. Mentioning that I wrote a JavaScript library seemed to impress him.”
How I evaluated the offer
“When I finally got the contract, I realized, Oh, this is real. I’m actually going to write code for a real company that will use it. This is a real position and they are paying me to do the work. They sent me a contract, gave me access to the codebase, and told me what they wanted me to do.
I did consider how proud I should be because my roommate and friends are kind of the only reason this is happening. But at the same time, if I didn’t know what I was doing, they wouldn’t waste their time.”
How day one and beyond went
“So far, we have been setting up the runtime environment, which could be a specialization in and of itself. Coming into a codebase that is a little outdated involves a lot of debugging just to get it to build and run. We are finally at a point where we can start actually working on the codebase.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But I was amazed at myself — I can read the code, and it just translates into natural language in my head. I look at it and know what it does; it’s not intimidating. I distinctly remember when I couldn’t even write a function and struggled through the most basic stuff. To get to the point where I can see professional-level production code and feel right at home, especially when it’s backend stuff, is very rewarding. It’s just amazing to see how far I’ve come — it’s surreal, actually.”
What I wish I knew before I started learning
“I wish I had known that it would be a very long road, but it would ultimately be very fulfilling and empowering. Tech has always been full of self-motivated people who went against the grain and were considered unusual. I know I fit that mold — I never felt like I fit in many places, but I really feel like I fit in with tech.
There’s still respect for people who just went off and did it on their own. This is a rare professional field that you can truly get into without a formal education, if you put your mind to it. Unlike nursing or plumbing, where formal education is a must, you can become a Software Developer just by learning to do it, if you’re willing to put in the work.”
Not sure where to start? Check out our personality quiz! We’ll help you find the best programming language to learn based on your strengths and interests.
Want to share your Codecademy learner story? Drop us a line here. And don’t forget to join the discussions in our community.
Word of the Day: varnish
The word varnish has appeared in 20 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 14 in “‘The Notebook’ Review: A Musical Tear-Jerker or Just All Wet?” by Jesse Green:
The musical, unwilling except at the margins to alter a plot so beloved — or at least so familiar — tries to distinguish itself in other ways. It aims for a rougher, hand-hewn texture, befitting Noah’s career as a carpenter and the indie-folk sound of its songwriter, Ingrid Michaelson. The directors, Michael Greif and Schele Williams, have cast the couples regardless of race: a nice, universalizing touch.
… In any case, the de-slicking was a mistake; it turns out that the Hollywood varnish was the only thing holding the picture together. In its place, the musical makes few convincing arguments for a separate existence.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word varnish in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
If you want a better idea of how varnish can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.
If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.
How To Make Money Blogging in 2024
Let’s be honest: sensational headlines promising instant wealth often lead to disappointment. While some bloggers do achieve incredible success, it’s rarely an overnight fairy tale. Building a thriving blog that makes money takes dedication, consistent effort, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
The good news? There are actionable steps you can take to make money blogging. This post will guide you through proven strategies to turn your blog into a profitable venture.
Hook ‘Em First, Sell Later
When it comes to making money through your blog, it all starts with content. Without amazing content, you won’t attract much traffic, and without traffic, there’s no audience to convert into paying customers.
Forget fancy monetization strategies for now! Think of stellar content as your blog’s foundation. It’s what keeps people coming back for more and builds a loyal readership – the key ingredient for a profitable blog.
Create Multiple Streams of Income
Forget the “one-trick pony” approach! When it comes to blog monetization, diversification is king. Building multiple income streams creates a safety net and maximizes your earning potential. Here, we’ll explore four proven methods to turn your blog into a cash cow. But remember, this isn’t an exhaustive list! Don’t be afraid to experiment and discover what works best for your unique audience and niche.
#1 Ad Networks
Joining an ad network is by far the easiest way to start generating income from your site. The more your blog traffic increases, the more you can make through ad networks. Watching your ad revenue grow as your blog traffic grows is a great motivator to continually produce amazing content. It’s a win-win situation all around. Three ad networks I highly recommend are:
Google Adsense
If you are a new blogger that hasn’t gained a huge following yet, Google Adsense is a great place to start. Google Adsense is open to anyone, regardless of monthly pageviews, and it’s free to sign up. After signing up, they will provide you with ad codes that you can easily place in HTML gadgets/widgets on your blog. Before applying, be sure to review this post: 10 Things To Do Before Adding Google Adsense
Monumetric
Once you’ve reached a minimum of 10,000 monthly pageviews, then you can sign up for the Propel program at Monumetric. Joining an ad network like Monumetric is great because they take care of adding all of the ads to your site for you. You’ll start generating an income the second the ads are placed on your site. With Propel, you also receive over 70 courses that will teach you how to increase your blog traffic. They also provide you with a custom reporting dashboard that details all of your stats and earnings. They have different programs that you can upgrade to as your traffic grows: Ascend (80K-500K monthly pageviews), Stratos (500K-10MM monthly pageviews), & Apollo (10MM+ monthly pageviews).
AdThrive
AdThrive is another amazing ad network but it requires a minimum of 100,000 monthly pageviews to join. Like Monumetric, they optimize and manage all of your ads, so you don’t have to worry about a thing. AdThrive is famous for producing amazing results. Within just a few days of having ads placed on your site, you’ll most likely see a 100-300% increase in income per pageview. They help you make the very most of each page view so you can earn great money as you focus on creating great content for your blog.
#2 Affiliate Links
Getting involved in affiliate programs is a great way to monetize your blog. You can find affiliate programs to join everywhere (even here at Designer Blogs).
If there is a product or company within your niche that you use often and love, check into whether or not they have an affiliate program. Most likely they do! Once you are signed up as an affiliate, you will be given an affiliate link, which you can then use within the content of your site to promote the products you recommend. When one of your readers clicks through your affiliate link and purchases that product, you earn a commission! The more you promote, the more you can earn. However, it’s important to remember that your readers should always come first. You should only promote things that you truly feel will benefit them and that you absolutely love or use yourself. Your readers will be able to tell whether you are promoting something just to make a buck or two, or because you really believe in and love the product. Some great affiliate programs are:
Bluehost
Bluehost has one of the best affiliate programs out there. You can earn a $95 commission each time someone signs up for web hosting through your affiliate link. Bluehost is constantly holding affiliate competitions where you can earn prizes or even an increased commission rate. The best way to promote Bluehost is by creating a tutorial on your blog (like ours here) that walks people through how to start a WordPress blog using Bluehost. Include your affiliate link throughout that post and then promote that post like crazy and you’ll start earning big bucks in no time.
Amazon
Amazon sells EVERYTHING, so why not become an Amazon affiliate and start earning a 10% commission on products you promote? You can also add Amazon banners to your site to earn additional revenue.
ShopStyle
ShopStyle is a great affiliate program for fashion bloggers who want an easy way for their readers to shop outfits from their posts.
Designer Blogs
Promote our Planners, WordPress Themes, Accessories and/or Blogger Templates and earn 10% commission on every sale you send our way! Simply display one of our banner ads on your site and/or include your affiliate link in a post and watch your account balance grow as your visitors become our customers. Visit our Affiliate Center to join.
#3 Sponsored Posts & Ads
As your blog continues to grow, you’ll start getting contacted by brands that want you to blog about their products or that want to pay to advertise on your site. It’s a great idea to have a media kit on hand to send to brands when they reach out to you. If you’d like our help custom design one for you, contact us! Media kits highlight your brand and should excite brands to work with you.
Good things to include in a media kit:
- Bio & photo
- Blog stats from Google Analytics
- Social media stats
- Sponsored post pricing and/or sidebar ad pricing
- Brands you’ve worked with in the past
- Photos that showcase your brand and style
Once you’ve sent a brand your media kit and they’ve selected the type of sponsored post they’d like you to do, then you can send them over an invoice (Paypal works great for this). Be enthusiastic and professional when responding to brands. It’s also a good idea to include an example of what a sponsored post by you might look like to get the brands you work with excited about the opportunity to work with you.
#4 Sell Products & Services
Surely you are a talented individual with something that can be offered to the world. What do you have to offer that could be sold?
Here are a few ideas:
- Create digital products (e.g. e-books, downloads, printables, e-courses, etc.)
- Sell physical products that you can ship out in the mail (e.g. handmade items, posters, t-shirts, etc.)
- Offer coaching & consulting services
- Teach a class or create an online webinar
- Speak at a conference
- Sell stuff on Etsy
- Host a conference or blogging event
Be creative and don’t be afraid to try new things. It’s easy to keep doing the same old things, but if you expand yourself beyond what you are comfortable with, you may find you have skills you never realized you had before. If there is something you’ve always wanted to learn, step out of your comfort zone and take a class to learn it. It may just end up being the missing piece to your blogging success.
In Conclusion
Building a profitable blog takes time and a lot of hard work, but don’t give up! It may take you a few years to start earning a steady income from your blog, but if you keep working at it, you’ll get there!
Becoming a successful blogger isn’t going to magically happen overnight. It’s an ongoing, day-by-day process of persistent work and dedication. Keep dreaming! Keep challenging yourself! Don’t be afraid of failure! It’s through failure that you’ll eventually find your sweet spot.
Be confident in who you are and what you have to offer the world. Value your time, knowledge, and skills. With persistent effort, you’ll soon see great results!
Can You Be a Software Engineer Without Strong Math Skills?
It’s a common misconception that you need to be good at math to be a programmer. For many code curious folks, math is the barrier that prevents them from starting their first course. This was the case for Angelo Ćurčić, a Codecademy learner who studied creative writing before becoming a Front-End Developer.
“I had a view for a long time that programmers were like math geniuses that went to the greatest schools in the country, and could ‘see the Matrix’ and everything,” Angelo says. “And I was like, well, that’s not me. I’m just pretty average in terms of school, and math probably wasn’t my best subject.”
In reality, a Software Engineer needs to work with numbers and logic to write code that solves complicated technical problems. If you look at a list of required coursework for a degree in computer science, you’ll typically see Calculus I-III, Differential Equations, Discrete Mathematics, Linear Algebra, and other advanced math classes. So where does this leave you if you want to work in software engineering, but you don’t have the math background?
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Well, it actually depends on what type of software engineering you want to do. Are you interested in creating programming languages? What about libraries and frameworks? Or is designing interactive websites more your thing? Each of these areas will require a different set of skills, and varying levels of math, to do them well.
To better understand the relationship between math and software development, let’s first take a look at what a Software Engineer does.
What do Software Engineers do?
The majority of Software Engineers work on either web or business applications. They could work on the front-end, the part of the application you see and interact with; the back-end, the part of the application that runs on a server; or they could work on both sides of the application as a Full-Stack Developer.
Depending on the type of stack a company uses, a Software Engineer will need to know a handful of programming languages. For Front-End Developers, that’d be HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. There are a number of languages that Back-End Developers could be required to know, including Java, Python, Ruby, PHP, C#, or one of the many other languages used on the server-side. If they’re going to interact with databases, Back-End Developers also need to know SQL, and there are a number of technologies they’ll use, like Jenkins and Kubernetes.
These Software Engineers — the ones who design websites — have to know how to use programming languages, libraries, and frameworks, but they’re not necessarily using math very often, if at all.
There’s another group of Software Engineers that create new programming languages, libraries, frameworks, and other technologies for developers to use. These are the engineers who rely on their advanced math skills to do their jobs.
So if you want to work on websites, what math do you actually need?
While the programming languages we listed above have their roots in mathematics, none of them require you to know math to become good at using them. In other words, you can absolutely write code without math.
Programming focuses on expression rather than math. You provide some input, and the program produces an output. Whether math is involved depends on what the program or script is designed to do. It might not involve math at all, but rather deal with positions in a list or nodes in the DOM.
But, keep in mind that you’ll still need to have basic math skills to work as a Software Engineer. Here are some tasks that would require math skills:
- Ballparking estimations about system loads
- Analyzing an A/B split test
- Determining the probability of a recurring event
- Understanding the basics of Big O Notation, so you know the complexity of the code you write and how to optimize it for performance
- Using logic to understand conditional logic in your code
How can math help you as a Software Engineer?
Even though you won’t need to know advanced math for most software engineering projects, any math courses you’ve taken or any other exposure to mathematics you’ve had won’t go wasted. This is because you develop a skill that allows you to approach complicated problems using logic when you take a math course. And it’s this way of thinking that will be really useful to you as a Software Engineer.
Interestingly, there are many other activities that you might do on a regular basis that can contribute to your skills as a Software Engineer. Solving puzzles, playing a musical instrument, and playing video games all require some level of problem solving or logic that you’ll see in your software engineering problems. Even philosophy involves logic and proof, which can lead to a programmer developing a unique approach to coding.
We’ve talked about the software engineering jobs that don’t need advanced math, but which ones do?
In school, Codecademy learner Louise Jones remembers hating math. When she started learning to code to work towards becoming a Data Engineer, she balked at learning math again. “I knew that I wasn’t confident with math, but just because you’re not confident in something doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not good at it,” she says.
Reading the book A Mind For Numbers inspired Louise to stick it out and reframe her math abilities. “[The author] just figured out that the way she was learning wasn’t right for her,” Louise says. “I was just like, You know what, I am capable, too.”
If math is one of your strengths and you want to use those skills on the job, here are some software engineering fields that you can consider:
Math plays a unique role in each of these fields. In game development, for example, you’d need to represent 3D objects in a 2D environment, which requires in-depth knowledge of geometry. You also have to create a virtual world that acts like the real world, so you need to know physics. In machine learning, knowing advanced math and statistics will allow you to create new models or even new types of models that can change the future.
How to learn more math to use as a Software Engineer
Are you relieved to know that you don’t have to be a math expert — or even proficient at math — to become a Software Engineer? If so, a lot of people are in the same boat as you. In fact, a large percentage of working Software Engineers don’t have a college degree and didn’t take one math class after high school!
But remember: Knowing the basics of math is beneficial. And the more you learn, the better and more efficient you’ll be at solving problems for various programming tasks. If you’re ready to learn something new or improve your existing math skills, check out our math courses. You might be interested in our probability courses or linear algebra courses, and if data science is your thing, check out our Fundamental Math for Data Science Skill Path. Or read this post about programming languages that are used for math and get started with one of those options today.
This blog was originally published in January 2022 and has been updated to include additional courses and quotes from Codecademy learners.
How I Went from Civil Engineer to Product Owner in 2 Years
Learning to code so that you can land a job in tech can feel daunting. That’s why we’re sharing inspiring stories from Codecademy’s community — to show how people like you (yes, you!) can embark on a learning journey and end up with a totally new career. We hope these stories serve as a reminder that there’s no single path to a more fulfilling work life.
Today’s story is from Jan Osterž, a 35-year-old Product Owner at a software engineering company, living in Slovenia. Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here.
Why I chose to learn to code
“I have a master’s in civil engineering, and I specialized in infrastructure analysis. My big interest was always bridges. During my masters degree thesis, I learned about a tool that involved visual scripting to model different kinds of buildings, bridges, and similar structures. Then I had an idea: what if I tried to use this tool to model a parametric bridge? We worked together with a local bridge company and provided a small program that could define a bridge and make parametric changes to it.
This project wasn’t just about visual scripting; the visual scripts were built on the basis of Python. Because it was open source, we needed to develop our own nodes to perform specific tasks. This experience was one of my first entry points into software development —actually doing some of the development work.
Learn something new for free
After I graduated, I got an offer to join a company that was developing software for modeling and analyzing bridges. They had just opened a new office near me in Austria.
At first, I was unsure whether to take the offer. I had always wanted to do something like this — combining software development with civil engineering — however, I had to consider the commute. My old job was just 10 minutes away from my home, whereas this new job would require me to drive about three hours each day, to and from work. In the end, though, it was worth it.”
How I made time to learn
“We were lucky during the pandemic because we were sent to work from home. This meant I didn’t have to spend time commuting anymore. I began thinking about how I could level-up my game in the company. Initially, I started as a Technical Consultant but was gradually pushed more into product management. I realized that I was talking with developers daily and needed to understand what they were doing and what they were telling me. I also needed to understand their point of view.
This was a good opportunity to sign up for Codecademy Pro. I had so much time that I really started using it on a daily basis, beginning in 2019. I finished around five in the afternoon, but I could go to Codecademy and start coding till 10 in the evening.”
I’ve managed to combine my roles, working from both the product management perspective and the development perspective.
Jan Osterž
Product Owner
How I got in the door
“I didn’t tell anyone [that I was learning to code] at the beginning. I just wanted to do it for myself. When I first explored Codecademy, I saw so many courses and first had to find what was interesting to me. One of the first career paths I completed was the Computer Science career path. It helped me with Python, and it gave me a good understanding of the syntax of coding, different algorithms, data structures, and so on.
Once I finished that, I slowly started to tell people that I was learning to code. I began asking the development lead if I could get the opportunity to do some coding. He was a bit hesitant at first. They were supportive, saying it was good that I wanted to learn and understand this stuff, but they didn’t want to give me an opportunity to try something right away. I always thought, Okay, I know Python, I understand computer science basics, but because we were mainly focused on C++ and C#, they were hesitant. I felt stuck and didn’t know what to do next or where to go from there.”
How long it took me to change jobs
“I continued learning on Codecademy almost daily for about a year and a half. At some point, I decided that maybe web development was something for me. I started the Full-Stack Engineer career path twice and found myself thinking, Maybe I want to go in this direction. However, I still felt that people didn’t take me seriously. Many in the company seemed to think, Okay, you learned to code, but we don’t have time to give you an opportunity.
In 2021, I signed up for an official governmental program for university. I was a bit scared at first and didn’t know what to expect, but I found that what I had learned from Codecademy was the same as what they taught there. It was easy for me to move forward from there.
Eventually, people started to take me seriously. I told them that my official program required me to do some practical work at a company, and I suggested doing it there. They agreed, saying I could start a side project away from our main line of code. I worked on it with one of my colleagues, and after a year of development, people saw that I was serious and capable.”
How I evaluated the offer
“There were about seven or eight months where the main focus was C#-based development. We were building an external plugin for our application, and during this period, I was deeply involved in development. However, I also took on more responsibilities in other areas, and I felt torn about which direction to pursue.
I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to work as a developer, but I was offered a role as a Product Owner. I was really thinking about what to do, because if I went completely into development, I might lose touch with all the civil engineering work I had done previously. My vision was always to combine these fields.
In the end, I decided to go for product ownership. However, I still have the possibility to do some coding. I always have access to the code and can do small tasks on my own. If I have the time, I can also help with development. I’ve managed to combine my roles, working from both the product management perspective and the development perspective.
This combined knowledge, much of which I acquired through Codecademy, allows me to have better technical conversations with the development lead and the developers. For example, if we get a younger developer, I can provide tips and guidance. I can suggest directions to explore, such as using WPF [Windows Presentation Foundation] in C#, or recommend libraries to use. All this knowledge helps me manage and integrate both aspects of my work effectively.”
What I actually do all day
“A typical day for me starts with a short Scrum meeting where we go through what everyone is doing and identify any obstacles. Although these meetings are usually meant just for the developers, I like to join them whenever possible to stay updated on any problems and ensure we are on track with the current sprint.
Next, I usually spend the morning thinking about what we will do in the next sprint. I prepare concepts, write user stories, and input them into JIRA to start planning for the next sprint. In the second half of my day, I have more detailed discussions with different developers. I check on their progress and ensure that we are moving in the right direction to achieve the desired increment by the end of the sprint.
Because we are in a highly technical field, focusing on the analysis and calculation of bridges, my discussions are often technical. I talk not only with developers but also with customers to get their feedback on what we are doing. Additionally, I consult with other technical teams that specialize in areas I may not be as familiar with to get their input.
This is usually how my day goes. I try to plan, but every day is different. New issues come up, some things become urgent, and priorities shift. It’s a lot of handling various tasks and adapting to new challenges as they arise.”
What I wish I knew before I started learning
“The important thing is that it’s not about which language you choose; it’s about learning the concepts first. These concepts are easily transferable between languages. Master one language first and then move on. In my early years when I started coding, I was just jumping around —from Python to C to C++ to C#. I wanted to learn everything at once without focusing on the concepts and what was actually important.
If I had known this earlier, it would have been easier for me to start with a clear path. Now, I understand this, and when I see some of my friends starting to learn to code, I want to tell them the same thing: you need to learn one language first and understand the concepts.
What I want to say is that you need to learn various things, but first, master one language. Then you can broaden your horizons. In the end, it’s about having a solid foundation before expanding your knowledge.”
Not sure where to start? Check out our personality quiz! We’ll help you find the best programming language to learn based on your strengths and interests.
Want to share your Codecademy learner story? Drop us a line here. And don’t forget to join the discussions in our community.
Every High School Student Can Save a Life
This letter, by Alexander Klee, 16, of Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge, Conn., is one of the Top 9 winners of The Learning Network’s Student Open Letter Contest, for which we received 8,065 entries. You can find the work of all the winners, as we publish them, here.
Dear Governor Lamont,
From cutting taxes for working families, to investing in clean energy, to leading our Covid-19 response, you have made lasting and positive change in Connecticut. This is not, however, a time to rest. You must take another look at the opioid overdose epidemic in our state.
While the judicial system has dealt with the Sacklers, the impact of opioids is still sending waves of loss through our communities. In 2022, 1,348 of your constituents died of an opioid overdose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System. With more potent opioids like fentanyl in our illegal drug supply, these accidental deaths could continue to happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time.
In your defense, Connecticut has done a lot to combat this public health epidemic, like developing the Naloxone + Opioid Response App and increasing access to fentanyl test strips. However, I firmly believe that your administration’s response efforts missed the mark by ignoring high school students.
In our current health curriculum, there is extensive education on illicit substances, their classifications and their impact on our bodies. The Connecticut General Statutes require the Department of Education to include these subjects in our curriculum, but they do not go as far as to mandate instruction on one of the greatest tools available to combat the opioid crisis: Naloxone.
Naloxone is a safe, effective and lifesaving medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose when given in time, per The New York Times. There is room in our health curriculum to teach students how to recognize and reverse an opioid overdose. If teachers are given appropriate materials and support, every high school student in Connecticut could learn these crucial skills.
I strongly urge you to submit a governor’s bill to the Connecticut General Assembly to mandate education in our public high schools on opioid overdose recognition and reversal.
This curriculum mandate is the puzzle piece missing from our health education, and is not without precedent — Maine enacted similar legislation in 2023. Of course, we should know that addictive substances are harmful, but knowing what an opioid overdose looks like, and how to reverse it, is what students need to be a part of the solution.
While students and parents often worry that teaching about Naloxone will encourage drug use, the data actually shows otherwise. A study published in 2023 found that Naloxone access laws are not associated with an increase in substance use among adolescents.
High school should give us the tools necessary for life outside of public education. After graduation, high-risk behavior drastically increases, and it is imperative we have the knowledge to prevent fatalities. Governor Lamont, you can ensure we receive this crucial instruction, which will empower us to fight the opioid overdose epidemic and save lives.
