David Kirke, a flamboyant thrill-seeker who performed — and, more important, survived — what is widely acknowledged as the first modern bungee jump, died on Oct. 21 at his home in Oxford, England. He was 78.
… Mr. Kirke, an irrepressible daredevil and prankster, helped found the Dangerous Sports Club at the University of Oxford in the late 1970s. He inadvertently led this tiny band of eccentrics, plucked from the upper rungs of British society, into a historic plunge off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, on April Fools’ Day in 1979.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word irrepressible 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 irrepressible 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.
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.
As 2023 comes to a close, we’re taking a look at the coding topics, concepts, and projects that kept learners like you inspired and motivated. Code Review 2023 is our way of reflecting on the past year and celebrating the achievements of our community.
Read on to see the top five projects, Docs, and challenges of 2023, plus catch up on the noteworthy features that we’ve launched that you can start using today.
Top 5 new features and launches in 2023
All year long, we’ve been dreaming up new features that are designed to help you reach your coding goals. Here are the launches and updates that we’re most excited about from 2023:
1. New plans
We kicked off 2023 by announcing our new plans, Pro and Plus. We upgraded Codecademy Pro offerings with even more job-readiness features that help you prepare for a career in tech. We also added Plus, our plan that’s for folks who want to grow technical skills to level up in their career. Learn more about what you get with each plan here.
2. Career Center refresh
We wanted to show job seekers all the resources that we offer in one place. Now, you can access all the features, career paths, and blogs that help you make your next career move in our recently updated Career Center. Bookmark the page so you can have these tools on hand as you pursue your dream tech job!
3. Job-readiness checker
The job-readiness checker, powered by OpenAI, evaluates how well you meet the requirements for a given tech role based on your skills and experience. You can upload your resume info, then paste a link for a LinkedIn job listing, and we’ll see how you stack up — and recommend places where you can improve. Read this blog to learn how we built this AI tool.
4. Code Crew
Have you met the members of our Code Crew? It’s a super user program made up of learners and professional developers who are committed to creating welcoming experiences across our community. The Code Crew hosts events, maintains Docs, and answers questions in forums. You can apply to join the Code Crew today!
5. Mobile app update
We gave you new ways to study coding concepts on the go using our mobile app Codecademy Go, including practice packs from our full catalog and personalized flashcards that are tailored to your specific learning needs.
Top 5 projects of 2023
Need some inspiration for your next project? Take a look at the projects that learners spent the most time building this year. All our Pro and Plus learners can access the full projects library. If you have a Basic membership, upgrade your plan so you can give these projects a try.
Whether you’re building a professional portfolio or just practicing, projects are an opportunity to delve into the ways developers utilize code to address challenges in our everyday lives.
Top 5 visited Docs of 2023
Docs, our community-driven coding documentation hub, offers a wealth of resources with thousands of entries covering popular programming languages and frameworks. Docs is a valuable reference for learners venturing into new languages or more experienced devs who are handling intricate coding projects. Here are the Docs that learners visited the most in 2023:
Code challenges feature actual technical interview questions sourced from leading tech companies. Each challenge emphasizes different programming concepts in popular languages that you’ll come across in an interview. Here are the top code challenges that learners completed in 2023:
Remember: During a technical interview, hiring managers aren’t just checking that you have the “correct” solutions. The interviewer will be assessing your coding expertise and efficiency, as well as your ability to solve problems, think with a programmer’s mindset, and articulate your approach. By practicing with these questions, you’ll be well-prepared for real technical interviews. Along the way, we’ll give you guidance and recommend courses that’ll help you improve.
Explore Code Review 2023
Get started on your 2024 learning goals by reviewing these top projects, Docs, and challenges. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our year-in-review blogs that are part of Code Review 2023, like this roundup of the most popular new courses, a guide to the most common time of day to learn to code, and more.
The Skillsoft IT Skills and Salary survey is one of the largest studies of IT salaries, skills, and certifications. In 2023, more than 5,700 people who work in technology answered anonymous questions about their salaries, how they feel about work, the certifications they want to get, and more.
Here are the jobs in IT with the top highest annual salaries, according to the survey. Learn what it takes to get hired in these roles, plus discover resources and relevant courses that will help launch your career in IT.
(FYI: This list focuses on the salaries of survey respondents in North America. To see how IT salaries pan out around the world, download the full report.)
Learn something new for free
Business Operations
Average salary: $119,393
Business Operations Managers handle a company’s most important logistics and administrative systems, often reporting to the Chief Operations Officer (COO). A Business Operations Manager focuses on streamlining an organization’s internal operations and activities so they’re efficient and productive.
IT Auditing or Governance, Risk, and Compliance
Average salary: $137,538
Governance, Risk, and Compliance (or “GRC”) is the part of an organization that establishes best practices and security frameworks, and makes sure that team members follow them. An IT audit is essentially an investigation of an organization’s technologies and systems to make sure that they’re safe and meet regulatory requirements. Risk management is not only a lucrative specialty within cybersecurity, but it’s also in demand. To learn more about how companies establish secure practices and policies, try our path Fundamentals of Cyber Resilience and Risk Management.
Data Science, Analytics, and Business Intelligence
Average salary: $121,664
If you’re fascinated by data science and enjoy translating data into actionable business insights, you might thrive as a Business Intelligence Analyst. In these types of jobs, you’d use technologies like SQL, Python, or R to perform advanced data analysis and querying; you’d also work with data visualization dashboards like Tableau and Looker. You can learn all of these technical skills and get job-ready with our career path Data Scientist: Analytics Specialist.
There’s a huge demand for cybersecurity professionals who can protect an organization’s computer systems and networks from bad actors, attacks, and security breaches. Information Security (aka “InfoSec”) is a highly sought-after cybersecurity specialty that focuses on protecting information and data from unauthorized access and attacks.
Brand new to cybersecurity? Start with our beginner-friendly free course Introduction to Cybersecurity. If you want to explore further and learn to identify cyber attacks (and prevent them from happening), you can check out the path Fundamentals of Cybersecurity. And to practice answering cybersecurity job interview questions and scripting challenges, try the Cybersecurity Analyst Interview Prep path.
DevOps
Average salary: $133,682
DevOps (short for “Development Operations”) is an industry-standard approach to building software that prioritizes collaboration. DevOps practices enable businesses to be responsive, develop products quickly, and continuously improve them. IT professionals who specialize in DevOps help organizations put DevOps practices, tools, and platforms in place.
DevOps Engineers need to know how to work with data management, cloud architecture, automation, and programming languages. You can master DevOps practices and get an overview of modern infrastructure management in our free course Introduction to DevOps. As you prep your DevOps resume and start applying to jobs, be sure to review this guide to answering DevOps interview questions.
Product and Project Management
Average salary: $141,913
Product Managers manage the development and launch of a product, which is easier said than done. Product Managers have a deep understanding of an organization’s business goals so they can define what success will look like and empower technical teams to execute the company’s high-level vision.
Enterprise Architect is a high-paying leadership role that deals with overall IT architecture and design. These IT pros are responsible for making high-level decisions about an organization’s overall IT strategy. An Enterprise Architect’s tasks can include things like setting up and creating a network infrastructure, maintaining software and hardware, communicating with business stakeholders, and managing cybersecurity systems.
You need a fair amount of professional experience under your belt to become an Enterprise Architect. Inspired to start working towards this career? Take a look at the beginner-friendly IT courses to learn the key skills used in IT architecture and design. Aspects of computer science and IT often overlap, so consider taking our Computer Science Career Path — you’ll learn how to code like a professional and understand the theory behind programming.
Cloud
Average salary: $165,056
The vast world of cloud computing involves storing and accessing data and programs on the internet. There are plenty of job opportunities for folks with technical skills to work with the cloud. Some of the highest-paying cloud careers include Cloud Engineer and Computer and Information Systems Manager.
Executive
Average salary: $168,027
Dream of running a tech company someday? Unsurprisingly, C-Suite Executives — like Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer — had the highest salaries in Skillsoft’s 2023 IT Skills and Salaries survey. Executives are responsible for calling the shots, making major decisions for the company, and often acting as the face of an organization (think Tesla’s Elon Musk or Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg). In short, that’s why they get paid the big bucks.
If you’re not sure which tech career is right for you, start by taking our programming personality quiz. You’ll answer questions about your personal preferences and get custom recommendations for programming languages and courses you might want to try.
This blog was originally published on November 1, 2022 and has been updated with information from the 2023 IT Skills and Salary Report.
Where were you? Who were you with? What were you listening to? How did it feel to move your body like that? Did doing so make you wish you danced more often?
In “Why Don’t We Dance More?” Melissa Kirsch writes that dancing offers an opportunity to use our bodies for something beyond mere practicality:
Remember Snowball, the sulphur-crested cockatoo whose fancy footwork to the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” brought him viral fame in 2007? I recently rewatched the video, and it holds up. Here is this bird, perched on the back of a chair. As the song opens, he appears to be sketching out his moves, getting a feel for the song. When the chorus arrives, he shrieks and grooves, he high-kicks and head-bangs, settling into his rhythm, possessed by the beat.
The video of Snowball is astonishing because of how humanlike he is. Look, an animal moving spontaneously to the music, just like we do! Or, rather, just like we can. We can dance, but how often do we, really? Aside from weddings or other milestone occasions, when was the last time you really cut a rug?
We don’t dance as much as we could, or as much as we want to, because we’re afraid to look foolish. That greeting card exhortation to “dance like no one’s watching” caught on for a reason.
When I was in high school, a group of friends and I would regularly park a car in our town’s commuter train station parking lot, blast some music from the stereo and dance. There, in one of the weird open spaces suburban teenagers can own after dark, we’d move just to move, trying out our bodies in space, together, before hitting the local diner for grilled cheese.
Those nights were exhilarating, opportunities to turn off our brains and let loose, to express ourselves physically, outside of the limited vernacular we normally afforded ourselves as self-conscious teenagers.
When you ask people why they don’t dance more, they get pensive, maybe a little defensive. They don’t have time, they don’t have the opportunity, what are they going to do, go to a club? These are people with responsibilities, with jobs and children! Dancing, one person suggested to me sadly, is something you do when you’re young and then you stop.
This perception of dancing as unserious, as something frivolous people do, like eating a bowl of whipped cream or sleeping until noon, seems inaccurate, especially once you start deliberately dancing more, as I’ve tried to lately. I’m not talking about complicated choreography that requires learning moves or executing steps; I mean simply moving spontaneously to music.
If you start looking for opportunities to dance, you find them. While cooking dinner or cleaning the house. Instead of running in place at the crosswalk during a jog. Perhaps a spontaneous living-room disco with your kids. It’s sort of miraculous: Each little break offers a little dose of endorphins. A little moment of expression. Of returning to yourself in the midst of an otherwise chaotic life.
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.
Is vaping a problem in your school or community? What about cigarettes?
What rules or laws are you aware of that are meant to reduce the use of tobacco products where you live? For example, are there age minimums for purchasing such products, or punishment for students if they are caught vaping or smoking on school grounds?
Do you think more should be done to address smoking and vaping? Or are the measures in place enough?
France will ban smoking on beaches, near public buildings like schools and in public parks and forests next year, the French government said on Tuesday, as it unveiled plans to curb the habit by making it slightly more expensive and far less attractive, especially to younger people.
“We have won battles,” Aurélien Rousseau, France’s health minister, said at a news conference in Paris. Noting that the smoking rate for 17-year-olds had already dropped to 16 percent in 2022 — down from 25 percent in 2017 — he added that “tobacco remains a major public health scourge.”
The government’s plan is part of an ambitious effort to produce the first “no-tobacco generation” by 2032.
While anti-smoking campaigners welcomed some of the measures announced by Mr. Rousseau, they said that lofty objective would be hard to achieve if the government did not act even more forcefully to push up the price of cigarettes.
Smoking rates in France have remained roughly unchanged since 2019 after decades of regularly declining, according to French public health authorities.
Nearly a quarter of French adults, or about 12 million people, still smoke daily, compared with just 11.5 percent of U.S. adults who smoke regularly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And smoking is still the leading cause of avoidable mortality in France, causing about 75,000 deaths per year.
In the United States, a recent survey has found that flavor bans may have contributed to a decline in the number of high school students who have reported using e-cigarettes, which fell to 10 percent this spring from 14 percent last year:
One thing is clear about underage e-cigarette use: Adolescents like flavors. About 90 percent of the students who reported vaping said they used flavored products, citing favorites that tasted like fruit and candy.
Teenagers identified Elf Bar and Esco Bar as their favorite brands, well-known for flavors like strawberry kiwi and watermelon ice.
Public health advocates in California recognized the allure, leading to a yearslong fight to pass a ban on flavored tobacco products, which took effect in December. It quickly led to falling sales, according to data from the C.D.C. Foundation. From December 2022 to June of this year, flavored e-cigarette sales fell by nearly 70 percent, to 179,000 from about 575,000 vapes or refills.
The ban no doubt made it harder for young people to buy vapes in California, where you must be 21 to buy tobacco products.
Public health experts also linked other state and local flavor bans and education campaigns to the falling high school vaping rate, which is the lowest in nearly a decade. And a few years ago, under public pressure, Juul, which had once been the most popular brand, withdrew most of its flavors from the market.
Students, read both articles and then tell us:
What do you think about the efforts being made in France to ensure a no-tobacco generation by 2032? What about efforts in the United States to reduce teenage vaping? Do you believe bans will work to lessen tobacco use, particularly among young people?
Are smoking and vaping among teenagers prevalent activities where you live? Do your observations track with the recent report that shows less e-cigarette use among high school students but a slight increase among middle school students?
To what extent do you think the government should have a role in trying to reduce smoking and vaping? Do you think your government should be doing more to discourage people from picking up the habits? Why or why not?
The articles report on several ways that the United States and France are trying to deter young people from using tobacco products. From your perspective as a teenager, which do you think are most effective? Do you have any other ideas?
Do you think you will see a no-tobacco generation in your lifetime? Why or why not?
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.
This weekend, the baseball player Shohei Ohtani announced that he had agreed to a record 10-year, $700 million contract to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is the largest contract in the history of major North American team sports.
What is your reaction to this record-breaking deal? Are you a fan of Ohtani? Do you think any athlete is worth that amount of money? If so, who do you think deserves to get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to play? If not, why not?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about Ohtani’s belt-busting contract.
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 a job that you love and you’ll work every day of your life. So warns “Partnership,” the third Elizabeth Baker play to be staged by the Mint Theater Company, which has long nurtured the works of forgotten playwrights. Baker’s play premiered in 1917 in London, but the way it tackles the issue of work-life balance seems to speak more to the Great Resignation than to the Great War.
… If the director Jackson Grace Gay tries a little too hard to coax out new laughs, the cast handles Baker’s gentle comedy with evident affection. Echebiri’s Fawcett comes alive in his natural habitat, while Gillette’s Pillatt has the constrained movements of one who thinks a leisurely walk is a waste of time. As Kate’s friend and associate Maisie, Olivia Gilliatt is having nearly as much fun as the costume designer (Kindall Almond) is having dressing her. Her ready energy and comical, gale force yawp could command a larger theater.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word yawp 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 yawp 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.
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 sound of stomping feet from upstairs neighbors during your family dinner. A dog barking from the street while you do your homework. A blaring ambulance that rouses you from a deep sleep.
We’ve all been annoyed — even infuriated — by the noises around us. But did you know that chronic noise exposure is not just a nuisance? According to scientists, it’s a health risk.
Mounting research suggests that as average noise levels climb, so do the risks of heart disease, heart attacks and stroke.
In this lesson, you will learn about the effects of chronic noise and what we can do about it. In the Going Further activities, you will document noise levels in your own community and find a creative way to inform and educate others about the issue.
Warm-Up
Would you say your neighborhood is noisy or quiet?
Before reading the featured article, conduct an experiment to help you find out.
First, go to a comfortable spot outside, and set a timer for five minutes. Then, close your eyes and just listen — whether it’s loud or quiet, cacophonous or melodious.
Afterward, write down all the sounds that you heard, such as screeches and honks from cars, the rumble of passing buses or planes, clangs and thuds from a nearby construction site, shouts and laughter from children playing, wind rustling through the trees or birds singing.
Then, reflect on your simple experiment: What did you notice? Were you surprised by any of the sounds you heard, or didn’t hear? What questions do you have about the noises all around you?
Would you say the location of your experiment was noisy or quiet? On the whole, do you think that the noise level where you live is an issue? If so, how does it affect you?
1. What does a growing amount of research show about the effects of chronic noise, according to the article?
2. How can the “relentless din of daily life” — not just blaringly loud sounds like cars, trucks and planes — have lasting effects throughout the body? Were any of the sounds you heard during the warm-up activity discussed in the article and considered possibly hazardous?
3. Describe the physiological effect of noise on the body, including the arteries, the brain and the sympathetic nervous system.
4. The article includes a graph showing different decibel levels heard in common sounds and environments. What information in this graph stood out? What surprised or concerned you most?
5. The article includes many figures, such as the decibel levels linked to health risks and the number of Americans at increased risk for hypertension, stroke and heart attacks because of chronic noise exposure. Which statistic was most notable, and why?
6. Who is at the highest risk for excessive noise exposure, according to the article? What role do class, race and age play?
7. What solutions does the article offer to help solve the problem of noise pollution? Why hasn’t the Noise Control Act of 1972 helped to curb the dangers of noise levels in daily life? How do you think you can better protect yourself from the effects of chronic noise?
Going Further
Option 1: Learn more about the noise exposure where you live, work or gather.
In the warm-up activity, we asked you to conduct a very unscientific experiment to notice the sounds in your community. Now try your hand at some investigative reporting, and determine whether you are being exposed to too much noise in your neighborhood.
In “Are You Exposed to Too Much Noise? Here’s How to Check,” Emily Baumgaertner writes about how you can assess noise levels without buying fancy equipment or being a sound expert. One way is to download the NIOSH Sound Level Meter app for iOS, designed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and take your own sound measurements. Another is to search for your ZIP code using an online noise map developed by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Ms. Baumgaertner also provides tips on how to record, gather and interpret the data.
After your research, reflect on the results by discussing them with a partner or writing in a journal: What is your reaction to the data? What are the primary sources of noise in your community? How does noise exposure where you live compare to the levels that are discussed in the article? What is one thing you think would help lower noise levels where you live?
You can share your findings with your class and pool the data to create a map of the noise levels in your neighborhood. Together you can discuss what the map reveals: What story does it tell about noise exposure in your community? Where are the noise hot spots and sound oases? What questions does your data raise?
Additionally, if you would like to help researchers improve their noise models, you can add your measurements to the Noise Across America study portal operated by the University of Washington.
Option 2: Inform and educate others.
Using the information from the article or further research, create something that can be used to educate others about the noise levels in your community or the dangers of chronic noise exposure in general, and to inspire action. You can use words, images, graphs, comparisons or anything else that you think would be effective. Here are some options:
2023 was a pivotal year for the tech industry (and for us). AI tools and systems have quickly surged into the mainstream, revolutionizing the way that we work, live, and code. People spanning diverse careers and industries have found new and innovative ways to integrate AI technologies into their daily workflows.
We’ve stayed on top of these emerging trends, expanding our course offerings with new subjects and material throughout the year. From brand new AI courses to case studies that walk you through real-world coding scenarios, we want to make sure that learners like you aren’t just keeping up with the changing landscape, you’re helping shape it.
Here are some of our community’s favorite courses from the past year, based on enrollments. Read on to see if your favorite course made the list, and be sure to check out the rest of Code Review 2023.
Learn something new for free
Intro to ChatGPT
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s web-based chatbot that connects to a large language model, took the internet by storm this year. From blog posts and essays to functional code, ChatGPT wowed everyone with its capacity for generating text. In fact, ChatGPT is so impressive that the technology reignited concerns about AI replacing people’s jobs. But as we explain in our free course Intro to ChatGPT, generative AI has its limits, and ChatGPT is just another tool you can use to your advantage.
This course is a good introduction if you’ve heard about ChatGPT but you’re still not sure what all the fuss is about, or if you want to learn how to harness the tool as a developer. We break down the model’s underlying technology and how it works, and we’ll take you through some real-world examples of how ChatGPT can be used in business and everyday life.
Intro to Generative AI
Generative AI is a subfield of AI that excels at creating new content, including text, images, video, and audio. The technology lies at the heart of many of the AI tools that have come about, like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion. In our free course Intro to Generative AI, you’ll learn how generative AI models are trained, their various uses, and the ethical concerns around the use of AI-generated content.
Learn PowerShell
PowerShell is a shell program and scripting language you can use to navigate effectively through your computer’s terminal and automate administrative tasks. In our free, beginner-friendly course Learn PowerShell, we’ll show you how to use it.
Anyone who works with a computer’s operating system or terminal can benefit from learning how to use the command line, and PowerShell is one of the most popular command-line tools out there. In Stack Overflow’s 2023 Developer Survey, PowerShell ranked highly among most popular and top paying technologies.
Learn Python for Data Science
Data science skills are in high demand, and Python is one of the easiest programming languages for newbies to learn because of its relatively simplistic rules and syntax. Even if you’ve never written a line of code before, our Learn Python for Data Science skill path provides a beginner-friendly entry point into the field. This skill path teaches you how to use Python, along with data science tools like pandas and Jupyter Notebook, to organize, analyze, and summarize data. By the end of the path, you’ll use your new skills to create a data science project you can include in your technical portfolio.
Analyze Data with Python
Analyze Data with Python is a skill path for more experienced programmers. If you already know some Python and want to learn how to use it for data analytics, this is the course for you. We take a deeper dive into data analytics, and you’ll use the Python libraries Matplotlib, NumPy, and SciPy to analyze and visualize data. You’ll also learn how to use statistical methods to perform hypothesis and A/B tests.
Learn React
React is a JavaScript library that enables you to create user interfaces for web apps for desktops or mobile devices. It was the second most popular web development framework in Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey. People appreciate React’s flexibility, especially when it comes to structure and feature functionalities. If you’re a front-end or full-stack developer and you’re looking for ways to improve or advance in your career, our free course Learn React is a great next step.
Prompt Engineering for Marketing
AI is already making waves in fields outside of tech, like marketing. From generating copy and media assets to creating a channel strategy, there are tons of ways marketing professionals can use tools like ChatGPT to streamline and expedite campaigns.
But first you’ll need to learn prompt engineering, the art of writing clear instructions that give AI systems the context and detail needed to produce the desired output. In our free course Prompt Engineering for Marketing, you’ll learn how to write effective prompts, which details to include, and just as importantly, what to leave out.
Prompt Engineering for Software Engineers
Aside from generating code, devs can use generative AI to write technical documentation, analyze and summarize user research and data, and debug existing codebases. If you want to learn how to use AI to become a better programmer, check out Prompt Engineering for Software Engineers. In the free course, we’ll show you how to use different prompts to accomplish programming tasks like writing bash commands, testing and refactoring code, and debugging issues.
Debug Python Code with ChatGPT Case Study
Spending hours on a project just to be confronted with an error due to a single line of code can send even experienced developers into a tailspin. Instead of manually reviewing each line, why not have AI save you some time? In our free case study Debug Python Code with ChatGPT, you’ll get to practice using ChatGPT (and other generative AI tools) to find and resolve bugs and errors in your code.
Intro to Flutter
Flutter is an open-source framework used for cross-platform development, meaning you can use it to create apps that can run on mobile, desktop, or the web. Aspiring mobile developers should definitely learn Flutter, because you can use it to make apps that run on both iOS and Android devices. The free course Intro to Flutter shows you how to use the framework for basic development and customization, and by the time you’re done, you’ll have created your own Flutter app you can share with the world.
Build your skills in 2024
If you’re thinking about learning to code, sign up now to start building your skills. Look through our course catalog for more coding courses and paths that interest you — we’re always adding new material. And if you’re looking for professional opportunities in the near year, sign up for Codecademy Pro to get access to our interview prep courses, job-readiness checker, professional certifications, and other helpful resources you can find in our Career Center.
Data has the power to tell an impactful story. Sometimes data sheds light on an important but ignored phenomenon, while other times the data dazzles with its sheer impressiveness. Take this year, for example — the movie Barbiebroke box office records, ChatGPT reached 100 million weekly users, and the escalating global temperatures marked 2023 as virtually the hottest year in recorded history.
Before the year wraps up, we wanted to look back at some data from our courses and learners to reveal the defining trends in tech, the job market, and of course, AI. Welcome to Code Review 2023! Read on to see how many times people submitted code this year, the most popular time of day to code, the most-visited courses, minutes spent learning Python, and more.
We hope this entertaining exploration into Codecademy’s year in data makes you feel proud of everything you’ve accomplished and learned, plus energizes you to keep coding and set ambitious goals for 2024. Be sure to check out the rest of Code Review on the blog and follow us on social media as we unpack our findings.
Total code submits
Writing code and pressing “Run” is a thrilling feeling whether you’re taking your first JavaScript course or completing a project for your professional portfolio. Learners got to experience that code submit adrenaline rush 368,182,263 times in 2023. That’s about 16 times the number of views that Troye Sivan’s viral 2023 music video for the song “Rush” has on YouTube.
Never written a line of code? If you enroll in any of our courses and paths, you’ll get to start writing and running code right away. Take our programming personality quiz to discover which language or framework you should begin with based on your goals.
Longest daily streak
Back in 2015, astrophysicist and PhD candidate George Bell started learning to code with Codecademy. Every single morning since then, George has logged on to Codecademy to learn HTML/CSS, Python, SQL, and more. Today, he’s maintained the longest daily streak of 3,106 days. To put that in perspective, George has been learning with Codecademy every day for roughly 8 years straight! Read this blog to learn more about George’s journey, the tips that helped him turn learning into a habit, and how coding is used in astrophysics.
Consistency is key when you’re picking up programming concepts, and 131 of our learners have maintained a daily streak of 365 days or more. These learners haven’t missed a single day of logging on and learning something new, and we’re so impressed! Did you know you can adjust your weekly learning target to keep yourself accountable to your goals? A year from now, you might have a 365-day streak to show off, too.
Most active time of day
Hearing the creative ways that our learners find time in their busy lives to learn how to code is always motivating. This year, we found that Codecademy learners were the most active from 10am to 4pm. Productivity peaked right around lunchtime, with 2pm ringing in as the most active hour of the day. Not everyone is a daytime developer, though — 7% of our learners were the most active between 12am and 6am.
Our learners are proof that it doesn’t matter if you have 20 minutes on Sunday mornings or five hours a day to learn how to code. With our self-guided courses and paths, you can achieve your coding goals at a pace that works for you.
Most active day of week
There’s no universal schedule that works for everyone who’s learning to code (because, let’s face it, one size fits none). But when we cracked the code on your coding habits and looked at the days of the week when people tend to work on our courses and paths, some amusing trends and patterns emerged.
Turns out our learners were the most active on Tuesdays. That tracks with other surveys that suggest Tuesday tends to be the most productive day of the workweek, because Mondays we’re all playing catch-up from the weekend. Tuesdays also tend to be the most popular in-office day for employees who have hybrid offices and can choose their IRL days.
Are our learners using downtime at work to squeeze in a few lessons or plot a career change from their cubicle? We’d never tell! Although, if you are learning while on the clock so you can grow in your current role, you might want to consider asking your employer to pay for your courses. As for the day of the week when learners are the least active, it’s Saturdays. We respect the hustle and #NoDaysOff energy, but we equally endorse getting away from the computer screen to recharge and pursue hobbies that have nothing to do with code.
Favorite language
The core languages used in web development are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. If you imagine that those three languages are the members of the musical group Destiny’s Child, JavaScript is essentially the Beyoncé of the trio. JavaScript helped architect the internet of the 90s and 00s, and it remains massively popular and well-respected in 2023. HTML and CSS are still relevant and integral to programming, even though they get less attention these days. (Some might say the same for the other two former members of Destiny’s Child.)
Anyways, learners spent the most time learning JavaScript, making it the favorite language of 2023. JavaScript’s popularity as a beginner programming language is due to its flexibility and power. Alongside HTML and CSS, JavaScript is a core component of web technology that makes web pages interactive and engaging. People who are just starting out with code often learn HTML/CSS and JavaScript first to master the basics of web development.
Take a look at our JavaScript course offerings, starting from free courses for absolute beginners to technical interview prep resources for aspiring JavaScript pros.
Most popular course
The Python hype remains strong. Learn Python 3 was our most popular course this year, meaning it’s the course that learners enrolled in and visited the most in our catalog. Learners searched for “Python” the most this year, as they discovered our 130-plus Python courses, Docs, and tutorials.
So why is Python so iconic and beloved, year after year? Well, Python is a natural choice for beginners choosing a first programming language because it has a simple, easy-to-understand way of writing code that’s almost like typing in regular English.
Python is also extremely versatile — it’s not used for just one job. You can use Python for working with data, making smart machines, building websites, handling servers, and more. And with Python’s library of ready-to-use frameworks and third-party modules, you can write code and create programs much quicker than you could with other languages.
Time spent learning Python
Time flies when you’re programming with Python. Collectively, learners spent 146,391,401 minutes learning Python in 2023. That’s about as long as it’d take you to play through the game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a whopping 20,988 times.
There’s no denying that it was a huge year for AI innovations. Over 730,000 people enrolled in our new AI courses to get acquainted with the technology, round out their skillset, and become more efficient developers.
Our most popular new course released in 2023 was Intro to ChatGPT, a beginner-friendly overview of ChatGPT, one of the most commonly used text-based generative AIs. The second most popular course was Intro to Generative AI, which covers different types of AI and how to ethically apply AI concepts to everyday life.
Ultimately, the generative AI boom taught us that AI tools can make us more productive and creative programmers and solidified the fact that even the most advanced AI systems can’t replace human developers. Whether you want to explore OpenAI’s API or enlist generative AI tools to optimize your code, we have courses, paths, and case studies that will teach you how to harness AI’s full potential.
Most popular Doc
Docs is our coding documentation hub that’s powered by our community of learners. This year, the Doc entry that learners visited the most was about markdown tables. Considering that markdown tables are used for everything from comparing datasets to formatting README files, it makes sense that our learners kept coming back to this Doc.
We have thousands of Docs on popular programming languages and frameworks that are always there for you to reference as you dive into new languages or tackle more complex projects throughout your coding journey.
Docs is open to anyone who wants to explore the entries, suggest an edit, or make a new entry. The Docs repo lives on GitHub, and for many learners, Docs serves as their gateway into the realm of open-source software. Want to get involved with Docs? Read this step-by-step guide to Docs contributions, and start building your own technical portfolio today.
What a year it’s been! As you reflect on your own personal growth, you should feel proud of all your achievements and newfound knowledge. Make sure to explore the remaining Code Review content on the blog and stay updated with us on social media as we share more insights.
