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Chess and Teens

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Chess and Teens

According to a recent Times article, many teenagers and young adults have recently developed a regular chess habit, although they could not always recall how it started. But by all accounts — from players, parents, teachers, website metrics — the game’s popularity has exploded.

Have you ever played? How did you start? Have you seen “The Queen’s Gambit,” or watched chess videos on TikTok? What do you like about the game? And if you don’t play, would you like to learn?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more, or this guide to learn how to play.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Picture Prompts here.

Word of the Day: oblige

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Word of the Day: oblige

The word oblige has appeared in 39 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Feb. 26 in “What Layoffs? Many Employers Are Eager to Hang On to Workers” by Sydney Ember and Ben Casselman:

During the height of the pandemic, hungry and housebound customers clamored for Home Run Inn Pizza’s frozen thin-crust pies. The company did everything to oblige.

It kept its machines chugging during lunch breaks and brought on temporary workers to ensure it could produce pizzas at the suddenly breakneck pace.

Can you correctly use the word oblige 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.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how oblige can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

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.

6 Genius Ways to Showcase Your Coding Projects

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6 Genius Ways to Showcase Your Coding Projects

Completing a coding project is hugely rewarding, and then comes the daunting part: sharing your project with other people. Opening up your hard work to other people’s criticism feels both exciting and vulnerable. You might be thinking, what if people aren’t into the idea, find bugs, or can’t get the code to work?!

The thing is, getting your work in front of other people could be the stepping stone between an important opportunity, like being discovered by a tech recruiter, or connecting with a co-founder who can make your game-changing app idea a reality. Not to mention, coding is a very collaborative process, so you should get comfortable sharing your work, receiving (and giving) feedback, and getting input from other stakeholders. 

Need some ideas for sharing your coding projects? Here are six creative ways you can proudly share your projects and ideas with other devs and the world, as well as simple tips to start building something on your own.

Make a portfolio website

Whether you’re actively job seeking or maintaining your personal brand, you should have a website with your resume, contact information, and links to projects you’ve worked on. It’s a good idea to write a few sentences that provide details about the role you played in each project, the issue or problem you solved, the languages and frameworks you used, and screenshots or relevant visuals (more on that later). 

Your portfolio website is kind of like a case study for your work as a developer — it’s tangible evidence of your skills in action. If you want to learn how to code a tech portfolio website, we’ll walk you through how to build one with HTML/CSS in the video below. You can also follow this video tutorial to learn how to make your website interactive using JavaScript. 

Still working on your web development skills? Our course Build a Website with HTML, CSS, and GitHub Pages will teach you the basics to create your own website from scratch.

Submit projects to our learner showcase

We recently launched a showcase where you can submit your coding projects for a chance to have them featured on Codecademy. Each month, our curriculum team will choose 25 projects to spotlight for 30 days, and we’ll share the standout projects with our community. Not only is this an awesome opportunity to get your projects in front of other devs (and build a potential user base), but it’s another accomplishment you can add to your resume.

We’ll be judging projects based on three criteria: creativity, interactivity, and usefulness. Ready to enter a project (or multiple projects)? Submit your project here.

Organize your GitHub repository

Your GitHub account is a great place to show off passion projects that you’ve finished or contributions you’ve made to other people’s projects. 

If you’re posting projects on your GitHub because you want them to get discovered, you’ll want to write a detailed README file that explains what your project does and why you built it. The README is the first thing someone will see when visiting your repository. (Check out these other tips for how to customize your GitHub repository.)

Learn something new for free

Never used GitHub or contributed to open-source projects before? Our beginner-friendly course Introduction to Open Source will teach you how to read and write READMEs, and get you ready to contribute. In Learn Git & GitHub, you’ll learn how to integrate Git and GitHub, and manage versions of your projects using Git branches — essential skills for becoming a GitHub pro. 

Post about them on social media

A quick search of the hashtag #BuildInPublic will open your eyes to the massive community of programmers and code enthusiasts who are making projects and sharing them on social media. Posting about your project — whether it’s completely finished or still a work in progress — can help you get feedback, share ideas and tricks that helped you, and connect with developers who are also learning to code.

On Twitter, folks often share screenshots and screen recordings of themselves coding projects. Get creative, and don’t forget to chronicle the (smaller but meaningful) milestones that you reach — whether it’s making a satisfying UX tweak or learning a new framework that levels up the features. Or you could make a vlog for TikTok about your process, complete with voiceover explaining what you’re doing (check out this TikTok account for inspiration).

In addition to posting about your work on social media platforms, you should also include links in your profile and bio so people can easily discover them. For example, you could add a line to your Twitter bio that says: “Currently building [your project name]” and includes a URL to your project. Here are some more tips for networking on social media.

Use GIFs and videos

Beyond static screenshots, you can make your own demo videos or GIFs so that people can see how your project works in action. You can record your screen as you code in an IDE to give a behind-the-scenes look at your programming chops, or capture yourself using the finished product. These videos can be cut into smaller GIFs and clips that you can add in your portfolio or share out on social media. 

Write about your projects

Blogging or vlogging about your experience working on a project is a cool way to track your progress, learn “in public,” and share your work with a broader audience. In a blog or vlog, you can go in-depth about each step of your process, and reflect on what you learned along the way. Writing about your projects is also a simple exercise that can help you review material and comprehend concepts. Plus, your blog could end up in front of a recruiter and help you land a job.

Another place where you should write about your projects is in a cover letter. For lots of people trying to break into tech without previous work experience, projects are a way to showcase that you have the skills needed for a job. Adding a brief sentence about the projects you’ve created could be a way to stand out to potential employers and get them to check out your work. Read this blog to learn more about what to put in a cover letter.

Feeling inspired to get your projects out there? Submit your projects for our learner showcase, or browse our projects library for fresh ideas.

Alison Publisher Spotlight – Airline Pilot Club

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Alison Publisher Spotlight – Airline Pilot Club

A cabin crew are trained ambassadors of an airline and are tasked with ensuring the safety and delivery of quality customer service to its passengers. Leading an aircraft crew are the pilots. These individuals are responsible for flying the passengers and crew from one destination to another. Whether you’re a frequent flier or someone who’s just settling into jetting off from city to city or from country to country, all aboard put their faith and trust in the individuals manning the cockpit and their crew who create a comfortable flying experience for us. We met with Airline Pilot Club CEO and founder, Andy O’Shea, to learn more about becoming a pilot and his course, Crew Management in Multi-Pilot Aircraft. Buckle up, it’s time for take-off.

Introduction and Background

Please introduce yourself to the Alison audience.

I’m Andy O’Shea the CEO and founder of the Airline Pilot Club (APC). I’ve had a military career and have been flying for 40 years or more. I joined Ryanair when it had six aircraft that became head of training when it had 26 aircraft. In that time, I trained over 10,000 young pilots to become safe and effective airline pilots on the 737.

What is the Airline Pilot Club (APC)?

The Airline Pilot Club is a community of pilots flying schools and airlines. We provide excellent services and guidance to our members at no cost to them. Everything is free in APC. We ask only those members to remove their profile fully after which they can access all our great free stuff.

What prompted you to create the APC?

During my career at Ryanair and working with the Yassa I became aware that there was a requirement for good, easily accessible guidance to people who are thinking about becoming airline pilots. This is because there are so many ways for people to make mistakes early in their training and in their career which can cost them a lot of money and a lot of heartache. APC is designed to provide people with an insight into themselves so they can pass their metric assessments through free learning which discusses and explains everything that is needed to be known about the human aspects of being an airline pilot.

Being a publisher with Alison

Tell us about your course Crew Management in Multi-Pilot Aircraft.

The Crew Management in Multi-Pilot Aircraft is a great course because it introduces some basic concepts about what it is like to be an airline pilot. The course also looks at the human limitations that our bodies and physiques place on us in an airline pilot environment – starting with human factors and limitations (respiratory systems fatigue and general health). We then move on to crew resource management which is all about how two people can work together as an effective crew, and we finish with a great introduction to the many ways that you can become an airline pilot.

What made you decide to create and share the course with Alison?

APC is all about trying to attract, screen and prepare more people for the airline pilot career so partnering with a great organisation like Alison which has enormous followership made an awful lot of sense.

What do you enjoy most about publishing on this platform?

I think the huge reach that Alison has created with so many members gives APC some hope that we could replicate these numbers in the future. But in the meantime, we really like Alison’s ethos of providing great free material to people who want to learn to earn and increase the quality of their lives.

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

I have learned through Alison and our own experience in APC that the better the quality of the material you provide to people the more they appreciate it, the more they would benefit from it and the better they will recommend it to their friends.

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

Because I am so busy with APC, working with Alison was just another aspect of the overall efforts to make the airline pilot club a successful startup.

Working in aviation

What are the different roles found in a multi-pilot aircraft?

In a multi-pilot aircraft, the crew will consist of two pilots who are fully qualified.  The person who sits in the left-hand side of the cockpit is the aircraft commander and the person in the right seat is the co-pilot.

The captain decides which of the two pilots will fly a sector from A to B. That pilot is known as the flying pilot and the other pilot is then known as the pilot monitoring. Both roles are crucial to executing a safe flight and there are clearly defined competencies that pilots are trained in, but you’ll allow them to function effectively in each of these two roles.

What are the ideal skills one should have when pursuing a career in aviation?

There are nine pilot competencies that have been identified as being crucial to becoming an airline pilot or the ability to handle the aircraft safely using manual control and automatic controls of the aircraft.

Supporting those key skills are management attributes and competencies like leadership and teamwork, situation awareness, problem-solving and decision-making, workload management, application of procedures, application of knowledge, and communication.

What career paths are available for learners who complete your course?

Initially, there is the satisfaction of flying a beautiful aircraft all over the world and becoming a commander in due course. Pilots can also become instructors, examiners, safety managers, resource managers, compliance managers, or even become the CEO of an airline like Herb Kelleher in Southwest Airlines and Willie Walsh in Aer Lingus and IAG.

What challenges/limitations can one expect in the field of aviation?

The airline pilot is subject to many checks and tests throughout the normal course of his or her year. For instance, a pilot will have to undergo two sets of simulator training and checking, as well as one check that is completed during normal operations flying from one airport to another. In addition, the pilot must dedicate himself or herself to ongoing career development and learning. Finally, every year you must undergo a class-one medical to ensure that you are fit to fly commercial transport aircraft.

What are the knowledge outcomes one would gain from your course?

On completing the course, students will learn all about the human factors that affect a person pursuing a career as an airline pilot. These factors range from normal to abnormal situations and include aspects of wellness and self-help characterised by a good diet and leading a fit and healthy life. They will also learn how two people can combine to operate a multi-crew aircraft using great crew coordination where everybody is competent in their roles and understand how to support and enhance their copilot’s performance during flying operations.

What educational background should one have to enrol in your course?

There are no specific education requirements to become an airline pilot however it is helpful if you are comfortable with mathematics and basic arithmetic and have a grasp of basic science and physics topics and concepts. Many people complete a university degree before training, during training, and afterwards when qualified as an airline pilot.

How important are teamwork and communication for crew working in a multi-pilot aircraft?

Teamwork and communication are crucial to ensuring that a multi-pilot crew functions properly and delivers the aircraft safely to its destination. Unfortunately, there are many instances where poor crew coordination ended up in tragedy when the aircraft crashed under circumstances that were completely avoidable if the crew had been well trained in crew coordination

What additional equipment do learners need to put their knowledge into practice?

Students need to combine theoretical training with practical training and constantly seek to improve their performance both in the classroom and in the cockpit. Schools provide all the equipment that is needed, but many students learn about and prepare for the training and the career by immersing themselves in commercial simulators that they use at home either alone or as part of a network. This activity can be very helpful to give people an early insight into so the aspects of the airline pilot function

How would you advise learners to master precision throughout their studies online?

Students must fully apply themselves to the training and put away all distractions including personal entertainment devices. Each course has a set of learning objectives, and they should be studied.

Upon completion of your course, what are the next steps learners should take or skills they should learn to progress?

They should immediately go to theairlinepilotclub.com website and register for free with APC. They should choose the option “I want to become a pilot” and complete all the fields in the profile. After that, they will be able to find our preparation zone which is where all our free resources are available to people who are fully registered as members. There they will find several resources that are designed to build on the Alison course and introduce them to further topics such as pilot competencies and advanced technical knowledge training.

Last Thoughts

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

Future publishers might be surprised at the depth of questioning that the Alison process requires so I would advise them to be prepared to come up with plenty of questions in different formats to help their Alison colleagues.

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

I have learned that the higher the quality of material that you present to people who want to learn the better it’s appreciated and the more likely they are to complete the training and really benefit from it.

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

We will have further courses designed to introduce people who are keen on becoming airline pilots to crucial aspects of their careers.

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

The best thing that anyone who wants to become an airline pilot can do to help themselves succeed is to join the APC. Here you will find friends and mentors who only have your best interests at heart, and you will find lots of free services and material that would give you every chance to succeed in reaching your dream career.

Ready for take-off and think you have what it takes to take to the skies? Take the first step in building your career and use our free Resume Builder tool and get ready for take-off. 

What Would You Wait All Night in the Rain to Buy?

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What Would You Wait All Night in the Rain to Buy?

Have you ever done something out of the ordinary for the chance to buy an item you really wanted? If so, what did you do? What was the item? In the end, did you get it?

If you haven’t had this experience, is there anything that would make you do something like camp in the rain with thousands of other people for a shot at a prized object? Do you know anyone who would? And does the item in question involve Taylor Swift?

In “What Would You Do for a Taylor Swift Sweatshirt?,” Madison Malone Kircher writes about the lengths to which some fans have gone for a chance to buy limited edition merchandise from the singer’s Eras Tour:

Shirley Vogler, a nurse in Tampa, said she had made it to the Eras truck at 10 p.m. the night before. Like other early arrivals, she had been moved from spot to spot by security guards in the rainy predawn hours. At 5:45 a.m., she was among the hundreds of people camped out on a sidewalk next to the six-lane West Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Ms. Vogler, 31, was seated on the ground toward the front, chatting with two other women whom she had befriended.

Fans were able to buy merchandise inside the stadium on each of the three nights that Ms. Swift would perform at the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So why bother waiting all night in the rain? Ms. Vogler, who had tickets to a show, said it was because of what she had seen on social media — specifically, “the TikToks about how bad all of the arenas are with the merch lines and the traffic.”

Several other fans mentioned having seen posts by Bailey McKnight-Howard, one half of the twin influencer duo @brooklynandbailey, an Instagram account with nearly nine million followers. A few days earlier, Ms. McKnight-Howard had put up pictures of herself waiting outside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

She had also modeled a newly purchased blue crew neck sweatshirt, the most-sought after item among fans. Nearly every person outside the stadium on Wednesday morning was trying to buy one, or two, or as many as they were allowed to have.

There was nothing flashy about it. The sweatshirt had no sequins or embroidery or hidden pockets. It was just your average everyday sweatshirt, with Ms. Swift’s name and “Eras Tour” printed across the front and the tour dates and the titles of her albums on the back. If you closed your eyes and conjured a blue crew neck sweatshirt with some writing on it, your mental image would probably match up with this in-demand item.

One thing that made it special was the fact that, unlike some other tour souvenirs, it was not available in the “merch” section of taylorswift.com. It was also, notably, the rare garment for sale that day without Ms. Swift’s face printed on it. In the weeks since the start of the Eras Tour, fans had elevated this unexceptional article of clothing to cult status.

The apparently limited supply made it even more prized. “The resale on the sweatshirts is $300, Jake!” one fan was heard shouting into her phone. She was correct. The sweatshirt is available on eBay for more than four times its $65 list price.

“I’ve been having nightmares about getting this crew neck,” said Emily Rottkamp, a 20-year-old employee at Disney World. “I haven’t been sleeping.”

Alyssa Misay, a personal injury specialist from Land O’ Lakes, Fla., joined the line before 5:30 a.m. She said her teenage niece had given her strict instructions: “‘The sweatshirt, the sweatshirt!’”

“Social media just makes things a bigger deal than what they are — like, almost unattainable,” Ms. Misay, 36, said. “Like, if you don’t have it, you’re not cool in school.”

Nearby, Venisha Jardin, a sophomore at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, Fla., wore a hooded plastic poncho to protect her from the rain. In the hours before sunrise, the glow from her phone illuminated the area around her. “I’m missing school for this,” she said.

Students, read the entire article to find out what happened when the merchandise truck finally opened. Then tell us:

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Word of the Day: smug

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Word of the Day: smug

The word smug has appeared in 59 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 18 in “Spring Returns” by Melissa Kirsch:

I like to be up when it’s dark in the morning, to move sleepily around in the dark, working and sipping coffee and listening to music undistracted. I keep the lights off, which keeps the visual noise off. Outside, only the moon, maybe one neighbor’s television flashing blue and green on the living room wall.

… I got into a joking to-and-fro with a friend this week about daylight saving time. When we “spring forward,” she argued, it takes her weeks to adjust, to stop feeling rushed in the mornings, to get over having “lost” an hour. She receives this lost hour as a harbinger of summer, her least favorite time of year, its heat and humidity. I played the smug victor, delighting in my extra hour of morning darkness and its complementary hour of evening light.

Can you correctly use the word smug 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.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how smug can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

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.

What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 24, 2023

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What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 24, 2023

1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:

2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?

We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!

More?

• See all images in this series or slide shows of 40 of our favorite images — or 40 more.

• Learn more about this feature in this video, and discover how and why other teachers are using it in their classrooms in our on-demand webinar.

• Find out how teachers can be trained in the Visual Thinking Strategies facilitation method.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

How I Went From Assistant Ecologist to Data Engineer in 17 Months

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How I Went From Assistant Ecologist to Data Engineer in 17 Months

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 Louise Jones, a 25-year-old Data Engineer and Kent County Council’s Energy Projects Support Officer, living in Canterbury, England. Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here.

Why I chose to learn to code

“I’ve always been interested in nature since I was quite young, and I studied wildlife conservation in university. I briefly coded at uni when we did a statistics module, and it was awful. We had about two weeks to learn it, and they threw us in at the deep end with statistical stuff. I just thought, This is not this is not my thing. 

Then during Covid-19 lockdown, I was working, but I was bored. I had so much free time, and I really like learning and studying. I was googling and found Codecademy, and I started with front-end development, then I was looking at back-end and the game development side of it. From November 2021 onwards, I’ve just been non-stop coding. 

Learn something new for free

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. There was a book that I read that kind of gave me the push to go for a data science boot camp, called A Mind For Numbers, which is by this lady called Barbara Oakley. She studied literature, then went to the U.S. Army and did an engineering course — but she hated it, and thought she wasn’t good at it. She just figured out that the way she was learning wasn’t right for her. I was just like, You know what, I am capable, too.

I really want to stay in conservation and environment, but continue with tech. I’d love to do a job which involves species distribution modeling or something dinosaur and fossil-related would be great! I may aim for a masters in the future where I can utilize my coding with research*. One of my main goals this year is to complete more personal projects to add to my portfolio.”

* Building a project around a subject that you’re passionate about is an awesome way to gain experience and keep you motivated as you learn to code. Check out our projects library to find hands-on projects you can use for practice or your portfolio.

How I made time to learn

“While at uni, I got a job doing wildlife surveys, but the hours were so unsociable. I was surveying bats, so I was going out at like two in the morning and then coming back at seven. Now I work from home, so it’s flexible — that’s why I was able to travel for a month and live out of a van* with my partner and dog. I was literally driving, working in the day, trying to finish exams at night, and then driving again. We bought a MiFi router for the van, and had always-on data. We went to a national park in Wales and we were in the mountains. It was amazing. I think everyone should try it.

I’m doing a data science bootcamp part-time in the evenings, because I work full-time for the Kent City Council in renewable energy projects. We’re trying to make the council net-zero with solar panels, heat pumps, and things like that. I have certain roles that I have to do throughout the day. It’s easy for me to utilize coding in my spare time and still be helpful towards work. 

With the data science bootcamp that I’m doing now, we can bring our own data. We have loads of solar data at work, so I’m planning on using some of the data for a project. I did my solo data science project for the boot camp on fossil records, and my group project on rare species in Scotland. I really enjoy it.”

* Curious how Louise managed to code and work while living the #VanLife? Follow Louise on Instagram @loucodes to see amazing photos from her travels.

How I saved up money to switch careers

“I got a discount for the bootcamp by paying up-front. I had to ask my mom for help to pay for it, so now I’m on a ‘parent payment plan.’ Otherwise, I save a little bit, and when I’ve got enough to pay in installments or whatever, then I just pay it. I’m in the mindset where I know I’ll make more in the future, so I don’t mind being a little bit poor now, and then having it pay off in a few years.”

How long it took me to land a job

“I feel like, because I graduated uni quite a lot later than all my friends, I have extra pressure. I figure the next few years are going to be like my cramming time. I found my thing later in life than I would have hoped, but at least I found it.

I finished my data science bootcamp in March, and I’m doing the Codecademy path alongside that as well. My job with the council is on 18-month contracts, and mine is due to finish in May. They usually end up renewing people. It should line up where I’ll be able to start applying to jobs soon. Hopefully by mid-year, I’ll be doing something tech related.” 

What I wish I knew before I started learning

“My advice would be to just try a few languages and see what you like. When you’ve picked something — whether it’s front-end, back-end, or game programming — try and stick with it. I probably could have made more progress if I stuck with a language sooner. That’s why I like doing the data science boot camp alongside the Data Scientist: Machine Learning Specialist path, because I’ve got structure. 

Refresh the fundamentals all the time, because it’s so easy to not code for like two weeks and then you come back to it like, Oh my god, I don’t know. Even when you think you’ve mastered the basics, you probably haven’t mastered the basics.”

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.

AI in the Workplace

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AI in the Workplace

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all the talk and rage. While it has been for some time now, conversations around AI have become realities across businesses and industries. AI has unfathomable possibilities and is changing the way we work. From our everyday use of cell phones to ChatGPT, it’s become necessary for all individuals to understand it, be innovative in processes, and adapt to the changes it brought. Let’s discover our AI in the workplace is transforming the employee experience. 

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a computer science concept that revolves around creating computing hardware simulating human intelligence. In other words, it has been designed to think independently, think like humans, and to some extent imitate human actions and behaviors. The capacity of a machine to exhibit human-like abilities and perceive its environment based on the data it gathers is known as artificial intelligence (AI).

Meet ChatGPT

The biggest conversation piece anyone who’s anyone is having is around the (not so) new kid on the block, ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that was launched in November 2022 and built on previous models developed by AI research company OpenAI. Simply put, ChatGPT is an NLP (natural language processing) tool powered by AI technology that enables you to communicate with the robot in ways that are like those of a human being while also doing much more. Coding, essays, composing emails, this technology can do it all.

The impact of AI in the workplace

AI, like other technologies that have come before, is leading, and transforming the attrition of certain jobs and roles. This, however, should not scare any of us. Just like other technologies changed the way we work, they also opened new industries and jobs. In the same way, the expectancy is that with AI, creatives, and innovators will imagine ways to leverage this technology into every area of work and business life. The full extent of its impact is yet to be pinned down.

Physical labour-intensive jobs are less vulnerable to automation, and emerging markets might be less exposed to it than established ones. Additionally, reports about AI’s impact suggest that it could bolster global GDPs and fortify productivity.

There’s no denying that AI and the untapped possibilities that are yet to be explored will leave their mark. What we need to do is not just understand its role in the workplace but investigate how we can use AI to augment and enhance our work. How can you make the best of AI so that you aren’t left behind?

How to leverage AI in the workplace

  1.   Have an AI strategy

The use of AI won’t just happen. You need to have a clear plan and strategy of how you will integrate it into the workplace and how it will work. Take time as an organisation to develop goals, outcomes, and desired results of introducing AI into the workplace. Doing this will help you pre-empt and address possible challenges and mitigate any risks that may come with them.

  1.   Encourage upskilling and reskilling of staff

The value of digital literacy has never been more important than it is now. Millions of employees across various industries, and at every level, need to be trained or reskilled in global digital literacy. This training will enable employees to partner with new technologies and add value to companies and themselves.

  1.   Create a culture of innovation

We often hear it said, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”. That is, don’t mess with what works or change things unnecessarily. In some cases, this is true, but with something like AI that is going to change our lives and the way we do things, it’s better to get on the horse and ride. As an employer, it is your job to create a workforce culture that embraces innovation, change, trying new things, exploring new ways of doing things, and ultimately, how to make the best of AI to improve daily tasks and business processes. You can try to arrange workshops, and brainstorming sessions, hold training meetings, and more with a focus on AI and how it can be applied to your business and individual jobs roles.

After all, it’s often much easier to ring in changes and introduce new things when you involve the people the changes will directly affect and impact. Make your employees part of the change.

  1.   Explore collaboration

An African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” There are many companies, organisations, and institutions with knowledge, access, cutting-edge technology, and a team of experts who can help you understand and take the next steps in your business. Find ways to partner with and collaborate with these groups and individuals and be part of the knowledge exchange and sharing opportunities AI brings.

  1.   Be diverse and inclusive

To experience the full benefits and potential of AI, employees should strive to be inclusive and encourage diversity within the workforce. This means ensuring that all genders have equal access to AI training, tools, and opportunities and creating a culture that is open to hearing from different backgrounds, hearing experiences, and insights that others who have previously been overlooked, may bring.

  1.   Reallocate funds

AI will undoubtedly change the way we do business. And companies need to prepare to reallocate funds to revenue-generating activities. This means organisations and governments need to invest in research, development, training, and buying software and programmes to ensure companies remain at the forefront of their industries and that the knowledge and skills get into the right hands – all hands.

And finally, prepare for the future today.

AI is here to stay. It is on all of us, whether as business owners or as an employee to understand its implications, not just in the workplace, but the societal impact it will have. The rate at which AI is developing means we cannot put our heads in the sand and hope it passes by and doesn’t affect us. In some ways, we will all be impacted and the best way to arm yourself is to educate yourself on what AI is, what it can do, and how you can use it in every sphere of your life. 

How Are You Doing Your Part for the Environment?

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How Are You Doing Your Part for the Environment?

April 22 is Earth Day, a day set aside for appreciating the environment and encouraging protections of it. The tradition dates back to the first Earth Day in 1970, when some 20 million people across the United States, from thousands of schools, colleges, universities and communities, took part in demonstrations, marches and environmental cleanups. It led to the passage of landmark environmental legislation in the country and helped create the modern environmental movement.

Today, Earth Day is celebrated in 192 countries. Its mission includes curbing plastic pollution, supporting regenerative agriculture and combating climate change.

Do you celebrate Earth Day? What role does the environment or nature play in your life? What do you appreciate most about it? Do you do anything to help protect the planet?

In the face of a warming world and increasing climate catastrophes, you might be asking yourself: Can one person help save the planet? In “Have Climate Questions? Get Answers Here,” The New York Times Climate Desk responds to that query and others. Somini Sengupta, a climate reporter, writes:

What can the average person do about climate change?

This is one of the most common and vexing questions: Can one person’s actions really make a difference? The problem is so big that the fix has to come from powerful nations and policymakers, right?

First of all, it’s impossible to separate the two things: Personal actions and international cooperation are inextricably linked. The answer also depends on whose actions we’re talking about.

The actions of a middle-class American matter a lot more than the actions of, say, a farmer in Bangladesh. Why? Because people in wealthy countries consume much more than people in poor countries, and so their choices matter more to global emissions.

What can individuals do? Here’s a detailed guide. A few examples:

∙ Transit: What car a person buys — or whether a person even owns a car — matters tremendously, because transportation is the single biggest source of emissions in most American cities.

∙ Air travel: Long-haul and first-class trips in particular increase a person’s carbon footprint.

∙ Food: If people were to simply waste less food, it would make a significant difference in emissions.

∙ Stuff: Avoid the disposable. Purchase things that last.

In our homes, one of the most effective (but sometimes complicated) things that can help is to replace gas heaters with electric heat pumps. Gas stoves, too, contribute to warming, although to a lesser degree, but also have other negative health effects.

Changing what you do can also influence others. Research shows, for instance, that people tend to conserve more electricity when their utility bills show how their power use compares with their neighbors’.

And it’s worth noting that individual action is a prerequisite for collective action. Without individual activists getting together, there would be no Sunrise Movement camping out in the halls of Congress. And, of course, voting is an individual action that can be an important force for change.

On the whole, though, humans tend to be bad at altering their behavior today to address risks tomorrow. This “present bias,” as cognitive scientists call it, makes it hard for us, as individuals, to carry out lifestyle changes now to prevent a catastrophe down the road.

Because the world has deferred climate action for so long, it must now cut greenhouse gas emissions drastically and swiftly. It can be hard to imagine how those cuts can be made without ambitious government policies.

Still, it’s not too late to make a difference. While it’s true that we have already dangerously warmed the planet by burning fossil fuels for generations, the future isn’t set in stone. Many futures remain possible. It’s up to us to decide which one plays out.

Students, spend some time exploring the rest of the guide. You can type your own climate-related question into the search bar or browse through the curated list of reader questions. Then tell us:

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