by freeCodeCamp

Hello world! Now what?

Almost every programmer I know started out coding by building a simple Hello, World! app. I did the same, but wasn’t really sure where to go from there. Not that I didn’t hear plenty of suggestions. Some people recommended that I work through coding challenges, while others suggested that I cut my teeth on a tutorial site for beginners. Some people simply told me to dive right in and build a website for a friend or family member in need.

But while I’m sure we all have a niece who would love to have a website to help her hawk cookies for Girl Scouts, it turns out there are many non-profits in the world who don’t have much of a budget for I.T. who would love to give me a chance to build something for them.

Enter the community for busy people learning to code.

I found Free Code Camp in a roundabout way, via their blog post about a month ago that warned against the temptation to switch languages or frameworks frequently, as well as against learning too many tools at once. The post resonated with me, so I decided to learn more about the curriculum FCC was offering.

Free Code Camp is unique in several ways. Unlike in-person coding bootcamps such as General Assembly and Hack Reactor, Free Code Camp charges no tuition and has no admissions criteria. What they do have is a free, self-paced, JavaScript-centric curriculum with a mix of custom designed challenges and interactive tutorials from the web, plus a community of budding developers waiting to work alongside you.

Pair programming, both in-person and virtual, is widely practiced at companies like Pivotal Labs. It is a cornerstone of the agile software development movement, and the best way to learn to code.

This last point is what stood out to me the most. FCC emphasizes using virtual pair programming to build real things for real companies. These companies are registered non-profits who submit project ideas through their website. Students (AKA Code Campers) then go through roughly 100 hours of educational challenges before teaming up to code real applications and websites. Some Code Campers already work as full stack developers, while others are grandmothers just getting started. This gives coders just starting out a powerful technique to gain development experience that is portfolio worthy, while also giving them the satisfaction of helping a non-profit in need.

I immediately dove into the recently revised curriculum and began networking with other Code Campers from all over the world. It seems like no matter what time of day, there is someone signing in saying “Good morning!” at the same time that others bid adieu for the night. It is a network of intelligent, creative students who have the desire to learn to code and build real apps in the process.

It has been an inspirational month at FCC, and after a couple hours on the phone with Quincy Larson last week, I have decided to join the team as a nonprofit liaison. Since I am conveniently located in Washington, D.C., surrounded by non-profits of all shapes and sizes, my goal is to spread the word about this talented group of developers looking to code for a cause.

Michael Johnson lives in Washington, D.C. You should follow him on Twitter.

Originally published at blog.freecodecamp.com on December 22, 2014.