Questions to help students reflect on the meaning of friendship in their lives
Welcome to Your New & Improved Career Paths
Great news! We’ve revamped our career paths to offer a new and improved interface that’s more conducive to your learning experience.
If you don’t already know, our career paths are highly structured programs that teach you all the skills you’ll need to launch a successful career in tech. Want to become a Web Developer? Our Full-Stack Engineer career path covers front-end development, back-end, and everything in between — and we’ve redesigned it to make the curriculum feel more digestible and easier to navigate, and ultimately accelerate your learning progress. The same goes for the career paths below:
Learn something new for free
Better organization
We’ve broken up our career paths into clearer sections. We know that scrolling through dozens of lessons can be intimidating, so we’ve reorganized the curriculum into distinct modules that clarify the exact skills you’re learning.
We’ve also added Career Path Syllabi, which show you all the topics you’ll learn as you work toward your goal. And clicking on each topic will bring you to its Unit Syllabus, which lays out the lessons, projects, and other content you’ll complete in that unit — as illustrated in the gif below.
Better illustration of your progress
In the old career paths, you might’ve spent hours coding only to see marginal increases in your progress. But that’s no longer the case! We’ve fine-tuned the progress-tracker so it now increases as you complete each individual lesson. That means you’ll see progress with every lesson, quiz, and assessment you complete — giving you a better sense of your development (and hopefully some encouragement along the way).
Better job prep
We’ve also started integrating other resources to help ensure you’re job-ready by the time you complete your path. You’ll find resources for connecting with other developers in our community, advice for preparing for technical interviews, tips for building a resume and portfolio, and more, weaved throughout your coursework.
How to access the new career path
If you’re just starting out in a career path, you’ll be automatically brought to the new version upon enrolling in the course. And if you’re already enrolled, you’ll see a banner prompting you to make the switch. Just hit “update syllabus” (seen in the image below) to be directed to the new version.
If you’re already enrolled in a career path, click the yellow “update syllabus” button (center) to be directed to the new page
Get job-ready with professional certifications and new Pro features
If you’ve already completed a career path, you’ll know that you earn a certificate upon completion to prove that you’ve finished the course. But now, you can also earn professional certifications from Codecademy after completing the assessments in your career path.
The assessments are designed to evaluate your proficiency with specific technical skills (and highlight what you need to learn if you find yourself stuck), and once you’ve passed them, you can add your professional certification to your portfolio and LinkedIn profile and share them with recruiters.
We’ll also help you prepare for your job search. Passing technical interviews is key to landing a job in tech, and we’ll help you practice with Code Challenges — real technical assessments pulled from leading tech companies. We also offer interview prep courses, and soon, you’ll be able to connect with potential employers right here on Codecademy! We’ve partnered with exclusive job boards that are specifically interested in our learners, and you’ll be paired with opportunities that align with your skill set and goals.
What inspired the change?
We’re constantly looking for new ways to improve your learning experience. This redesign comes after months of research and experimentation, and data shows that breaking down the curriculum and better illustrating your progress will help keep you engaged and motivated as you work toward your new career.
And for those exploring other careers in tech, sit tight. We’ll be reorganizing our other career paths over the next few months.
Stay tuned for future updates!
Word of the Day: qualm
This word, including its plural form, has appeared in 88 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
What is ChatGPT, and why is it revolutionizing the world?
What is ChatGPT, and why is it revolutionizing the world?
Everywhere they are talking about Artificial Intelligence for content creation, so we decided to ask ChatGPT directly: What is ChatGPT?, a question to which we got the following answers:
[1] “ChatGPT — or Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer — is a chatbot that was launched by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research and deployment company, in November 2022. It is a language model that can generate realistic, human-like text. An example of what ChatGPT will generate from a text prompt. (Supplied: OpenAI)”
URL: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-24/what-is-chatgpt-how-can-it-be-detected-by-school-university/101884388
[2] “ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with a chatbot. The language model can answer questions, and…”
URL: https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-chatgpt-and-why-does-it-matter-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/
[3] “ChatGPT is taking the world by storm, paving the way as an advanced search and writing tool. Since its release, CHatGPT has generated a lot of buzz, with strong reactions to its potential…”
URL: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-chatgpt-changing-world-fusion-one-marketing
What does Google say about ChatGPT?
“ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3 family of large language models and has been fine-tuned (an approach to transfer learning) using both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques”.
In short, the artificial intelligence chatbot from the specialized company OpenAI (co-founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman), has given a lot to talk about since its latest updates.
Its results are so surprising that even the founder of Google’s email service, Gmail, has pointed out that in a few years, these technologies will replace current search engines.
What can ChatGPT do for its users?
Just to name some of the things that the AI tool can do in seconds for its users, we can list:
Compose emails in different tones
Offer job structures
Improve the writing style of a letter or email
Translate or act as a dictionary
Recommend a movie, book, or series, you can ask ChatGPT for a recommendation that is similar to something you already know.
In the following tutorial you will learn how to use the tool from scratch:
How is ChatGPT different from Google?
He goes straight to the point. When you ask Google, it offers an infinite number of content, where often the correct answer is not found. ChatGPT is capable of giving step-by-step, where a finite number of responses relating to the topic.
How are Google and Microsoft reacting to this new competitor?
Microsoft has announced their plans to integrate ChatGPT into their Bing browser, if you can’t beat them, join them.
For its part, Google is implementing its own version based on LaMDA, an Artificial Intelligence chatbot called Apprentice Bard into its own search engine.
According to an article published on CNBC, the following details are available about the new Google tool: “Apprentice Bard looks similar to ChatGPT: Employees can enter a question in a dialog box and get a text answer, then give feedback on the response. Based on several responses viewed by CNBC, Apprentice Bard’s answers can include recent events, a feature ChatGPT doesn’t have yet”.
The Apprentice Bard will slowly begin to show itself over the next “weeks and months”. Furthermore, it intends to introduce these functionalities in Gmail and Docs.
Currently, Google has Searches per minute: 3.8 million. Searches per hour: 228 million. Searches per day: 5.5 billion. Searches per month: 167 billion.
Bottom line: ChatGPT is a huge threat to Google, but it looks like the tech giant is waking up.
If you are interested in learning more about this interesting topic, feel free to click on the following links:
Google is asking employees to test potential ChatGPT competitors, including a chatbot called ‘Apprentice Bard’
?? Cómo usar CHATGPT GRATIS ?? Tutorial FÁCIL y en Español
El plan de Microsoft para plantar cara a Google: integrará ChatGPT en Bing
Google CEO Sundar Pichai introduces Chat-GPT rival Bard; here’s what it can do
If you still aren’t sure what ChatGPT is, this is your guide to the viral chatbot that everyone is talking about
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Author : Vanessa D”angelo |
What’s Going On in This Picture? | Feb. 13, 2023
Look closely at this image, stripped of its caption, and join the moderated conversation about what you and other students see.
4 Steps To Take After Being Laid Off
It’s a sobering statistic: More than 90,000 tech industry workers have been laid off in 2023 alone. Even tech titans like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are not immune to the industry-wide changes. The barrage of headlines about mass layoffs can be deeply unsettling to take in, whether you were personally impacted or not.
Here’s the reassuring thing to keep in mind: Despite the turbulent job market, people who have tech skills are well-positioned to land jobs in other industries. Tech workers who were impacted by the recent layoffs seem to be bouncing back fast. A survey from ZipRecruiter conducted in late October found that 79% of recently laid off tech workers found a job within three months.
That said, recovering from a layoff is challenging and stressful — you have to sort through pressing logistical and financial issues, manage your mental health, and somehow find a new job. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a deep breath. Then read these actionable steps that you can take following a layoff so you can approach your next job opportunity feeling confident and supported.
Pause and take care of yourself
From the trauma of suddenly losing your income and sense of identity, to the anxiety that it could happen to you again, layoffs can be a blow to your mental health. Studies confirm that layoffs increase stress and can lead to depression. You might also experience troublesome emotions like anxiety, depression, anger, shame, sadness, and low self esteem.
In the aftermath of a layoff, there’s power in acknowledging your feelings and emotions, Laura Huang, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, told The New York Times. “Think of your emotions as data, as information,” Dr. Huang said. “Rather than blindly being led by them, interrogate them. Ask yourself why you feel shame or self-doubt. Learn from it. Use your emotions to your benefit.”
If you’re able, take a beat to rest and grieve the loss before you start searching for jobs, Dr. Sheehan Fisher, Associate Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Fortune. “Sometimes we want to immediately fix the problem or try to find a way to not feel bad, but taking time to grieve and truly feel the loss is important,” he says. “It’s almost like a death where you need to let yourself grieve even though grieving is very painful.”
If you’re having trouble coping with the emotions that follow a layoff, it’s worthwhile to seek support from a therapist or mental health clinician. Not only can mental health clinicians guide you through your present situation, but they can also help you map out a plan for your future.
Find a plan that fits your goals
Discuss your severance package
A severance package typically includes some amount of money that’s determined by how long you’ve been at the company, an extension of your health insurance coverage and retirement benefits, and sometimes even job placement services to help you get back on your feet. Just like you can negotiate your salary and benefits when you get a job, in some cases, you can also negotiate the severance package you get from a company after a layoff.
Consider having a conversation about the terms of your severance package before you sign the severance agreement. Think about what you’re going to need to make ends meet as you search for a new job. For example, you could negotiate keeping your health insurance coverage until you find a new job, or request that you can use your former employer as a reference for jobs that you apply for in the future. Keep in mind: It’s not a guarantee that your employer will honor your requests or offer more than what’s legally required — but it’s worth asking.
Reach out to your network
It might feel embarrassing or uncomfortable to spread the word that you were laid off. But if you let people in your network know that you’re available for new opportunities, it’ll only help your job search. For example, you could share your layoff status on LinkedIn, and include a list of your recent achievements (BTW, you should definitely keep a running list of your personal and professional accomplishments). Another option is to reach out directly to people in your professional network, like mentors and former colleagues, who may be able to pass along job opportunities or serve as a reference going forward.
One upside to the widespread layoffs is that there are lots of people who are going through exactly the same things that you are. There are even online communities that are forming to support people who’ve been affected by layoffs. For example, you can follow the Instagram account @Here2Help for timely job-search tips, or see if there’s a LinkedIn group that you could join to start networking with other people looking for work.
Remember that you are not alone: Most people will have compassion and empathy for your experience, and will be eager to help however they can.
Refresh your resume and portfolio
When you’re ready to get back out there, take the time to freshen up your resume, revamp your LinkedIn profile, update your professional website and portfolio, and start practicing for job interviews. Instead of flinging your resume at every opening you see on a job board, be intentional about the ones you want to apply to. (Recruiters can usually sniff out applicants who are just applying to jobs at random.)
Start reviewing common interview questions and think about how you’d answer them, and don’t forget to come prepared with your own questions to ask. Keep in mind that there are tactical ways you can mention a layoff or employment gap in your resume, cover letter, or interview. And most importantly, set realistic goals for yourself, because applying to jobs can feel like a job in itself.
If it’s been a while since you’ve applied for a job, Codecademy has lots of free courses and resources that can help you prepare. Be sure to read articles on the Codecademy blog for tons of tips on how to land a job in tech, the right interview questions to practice, and advice for building a standout portfolio.
And if you’re ready to take your learning even further, you might want to consider Codecademy Pro and Plus. We’re launching lots of new Pro features that could help you during the job search process, like job boards for tech (and non-tech) companies that are interested in hiring Codecademy learners. You can lock in the current price before it increases if you sign up by February 15.
Feeling Stagnant At Work? 4 Questions To Ask Yourself
Living in today’s tech-driven world, it’s easy to fight boredom — pretty much instantly. If a Netflix show isn’t binge-worthy, just watch the next series in your queue. Not entertained by a TikTok on your For You Page? Swipe until you see something you like. Tired of cooking the same thing for dinner? Find a more sophisticated recipe on Pinterest.
When it comes to our careers, however, there’s not always a quick or realistic fix to feeling stagnant or uninspired at work. And yet this is a common phenomenon: Global workplace data suggests that only 21% of people feel engaged at work. The rest of folks are bored, not learning new things, getting overlooked for raises and promotions, or contemplating getting a new job altogether.
What many people don’t realize is that this cycle of boredom can evolve into burnout over time, says Kelsea Warren, a workplace well-being coach and consultant. “When you’re stagnant, you can’t be present, which adds to that feeling of wanting to be anywhere but here,” she says. But if you don’t know where to go next, that can be even more overwhelming. Getting a new job is not always the best (or only) solution for dealing with career stagnation, she says.
So what can you do? Once you can pinpoint the cause, you can take the right steps towards feeling motivated and hopeful about your job and future. Here are some questions to ask yourself if you’re feeling stuck in your career, plus strategies that will help you determine how to move forward.
What do you consider your values?
This is a tricky question, but an important one. Think about the factors that you value personally when it comes to work. For instance, maybe it’s very important to you to have flexibility and be able to work remotely. Or perhaps you perform best when you’re able to collaborate with a team of people. Or it could be that you thrive when you can tell that your work is making a positive difference in the world. “When you tap into your strengths and your values, it increases confidence and helps with engagement for sure,” Kelsea says.
We tend to run into trouble when our personal values are misaligned with our role, work environment, or organization, Kelsea says. “It creates friction, so it increases the mental load, which contributes to burnout,” she says. One example: Imagine you’re a Software Engineer whose fundamental value is having autonomy. But at work, you’re not able to make decisions or even push code due to micromanagement from stakeholders. That would be frustrating and hinder your ability to do your job.
How are you feeling about work?
Take stock of how you’re feeling on a daily basis about work. Career stagnation can manifest in a variety of ways depending on the person.
Some common signs Kelsea says to look out for include:
- Feeling dread when you wake up to go to work
- Procrastinating on even the smallest tasks
- Not learning anything new or expanding your skill set
- Getting bored easily
- Doom-scrolling job boards for an escape
- Having hyper-emotional reactions to things that wouldn’t otherwise bother you.
Do you have adequate resources and support to do your job?
Having tangible, structural support at work can have a big impact on your ability to progress and grow in your career, Kelsea says. This could include physical resources, like having the appropriate up-to-date software and hardware required to do your job effectively. Or intangible things, like having a company culture that cultivates creativity and collaboration or a manager who’s invested in your career growth.
Lock in your price by February 15
Maybe you’re lacking opportunities to learn new things, take on new challenges, and advance your skills? If that sounds like you, consider signing up for a Codecademy membership to start taking coding courses and pursuing skill paths. You could even ask your employer to pay for your Codecademy membership as part of your professional development (here’s an email template you can use to do it). Or, consider talking to your manager or HR representative about signing your whole team up to learn some new skills through Codecademy for Business.
With Codecademy Pro, you’ll get access to our entire catalog of courses, interview prep, and career paths. Soon we’re adding new features that can help you push yourself to the next level, like coding exams that test your proficiency. And if you sign up for Codecademy Pro before February 15, you can lock in the current price before it increases.
Can you switch up your routine?
For most of us, abruptly quitting your job because you’re feeling stagnant isn’t a realistic option, financially, logistically, and (let’s face it) emotionally. However, there are simple, impactful ways you can take ownership over the things that you have control over at work, Kelsea says. “This is often referred to as “job crafting.”
Think back on your values and strengths, and figure out how you can apply them to your tasks at hand, Kelsea says. For example, if mentorship is one of your values, see if you can find time for recurring meetings with your teammates to establish a connection and see if they need help. Or if you value being on the vanguard of technology used in your field, consider setting aside time to take a course in an emerging or popular domain that excites you. (BTW, take a look at our course catalog to see all the exciting new programming languages and concepts you can learn.)
Whether you want to upskill in your current tech role, work towards a career that fits your values, or push yourself with advanced code challenges, we have the resources you need to get out of a rut. Take the next step in feeling less stifled and stagnant at work and sign up for Codecademy Pro. If you sign up for Pro by February 15, you can lock in your price before it changes.
How Professional Certificates Can Help Your Job Search
Receiving an award or certificate can be a big self-esteem booster, because it’s a tangible representation of your hard work and accomplishments. And while displaying your half-marathon finisher medal or hackathon trophy on your desk might be a cool conversation starter, there are more practical ways you can utilize your professional certifications throughout your career.
Job searchers, for instance, can use certifications to broadcast their skill set to recruiters and hiring managers. This is especially true for career switchers or people from nontraditional backgrounds who may not have a resume full of relevant work experience and education, explains Erica Rivera, a career coach and tech recruiter at Google who recruits software engineers, application engineers, program managers, and technical program managers.
“If there’s someone whose background doesn’t necessarily align with what I’m looking for from a recruiting standpoint, then I will look at certifications that show experience,” Erica says. “The certification tells me that this is somebody that I probably would be more open to speaking to, or at least gauging their interest level.”
Lock in your price by February 15
There are all kinds of tech certifications out there, from IT and cybersecurity to DevOps and project management. Here’s how you can earn certificates as you learn with Codecademy, plus ideas and tips for using them to help you land a job in tech.
The certifications you can get through Codecademy
If you’re learning how to code with Codecademy Pro, you have the opportunity to earn our personalized certificates of completion when you complete everything (like lessons, projects, quizzes, articles, and videos) within specific skill paths and courses. You can tell if a Codecademy course grants you a certificate of completion by looking at the description and details of the course syllabus.
For Bobby Hutter, Codecademy certifications helped him get discovered by recruiters and land his first tech job as a Quality Assurance Manual Tester. “I didn’t even know about the job,” he says. “I had just added every single Codecademy certification that I had completed to my LinkedIn, and a recruiter reached out to me three days later.” (More on this later.)
Earn a certificate of completion when you complete everything within specific skill paths and courses.
We’re getting ready to launch even more Codecademy Pro features, including a brand new way to showcase your expertise: Codecademy’s professional certifications. You can earn Codecademy professional certifications when you complete the exams within a career path and score above satisfactory on all of them.
These Codecademy professional certifications are a new way to test your ability to recall and apply your skills in real-world environments. With a Codecademy professional certificate, you can prove that you’ve mastered the information in a particular career domain, and communicate to prospective employers that you’re ready to step into a role. Unlike certificates of completion, you just have to take the exams within a career path to get a Codecademy professional certificate.
New Codecademy professional certifications showcase that you’ve mastered a career domain and are ready to get hired.
Want to upgrade to Codecademy Pro? Go for it! If you sign up for Pro between now and February 15, you can lock in the current price before it increases.
How to use certifications in your job search
Every industry treats licenses, certifications, and credentials differently. In tech, a certification is one way for you to show tangible proof of your proficiency with a programming language or subject, but it can’t replace important things like a portfolio of projects you’ve completed, a link to your GitHub profile, and (of course) your resume. In other words, a certificate isn’t a golden ticket — it’s just another indicator of effort and completion that you can use to bolster your case.
The cool thing about Codecademy’s professional certifications is that you can earn them quickly — all you have to do is complete (and pass) the assessments in a career path. For example, say you’re applying for a Data Analyst job and want to review certain concepts before a technical interview. You can take Data Scientist: Analytics Specialist to brush up on important skills and get a Codecademy professional certification that you can use to zhuzh up your resume and LinkedIn.
Take Bobby’s advice and add the certificates you earn from Codecademy on your LinkedIn profile. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to adding your Codecademy certificates to LinkedIn. Then, a list of all the certifications you’ve earned will show up listed under the “Licenses and Certifications” section of your LinkedIn profile. (This is key, because recruiters will be able to tell that you learned with a legit, reputable organization like Codecademy.)
You can also add Codecademy certifications to your professional website, or list them on your resume to showcase how you’re staying on top of new technologies and diversifying your skill set. Another option: Print the certifications and hang them up as reminders of all you’ve achieved on your coding journey. Who knows? Seeing your display of Codecademy certificates could be the perfect conversation piece for your next Zoom call.
Do You Have a Family Motto or Creed?
What words, values or codes do you and your family live by?
