Free Coding Bootcamp Based on freeCodeCamp's Curriculum

By Jessica Rose

Now you can join a free part-time, remote coding bootcamp. You'll learn freeCodeCamp's entire Responsive Web Design certification, together with friendly people around the world.

👋 Hi, I’m Jess. A long time ago, I was an educator who worked in special education and language education.

When I wanted to get into tech, I latched onto the idea of a programming bootcamp. These were newer concepts at the time: private educational programs promising you the skills to get you into a high-paying job for the low price of… well, far too much money.

So I self-taught my way into the industry but kept a watchful eye on these programs, wondering how existing high quality free resources could be used to offer bootcamp-like support for learners.

Now I'm working with Class Central to teach a free, part time, remote web development bootcamp based around freeCodeCamp’s Responsive Web Design Certification. It starts on August 23rd. If you want to skip right to enrollment, you can do so here.

Why We're Starting this Bootcamp

I get really mad about expensive, exploitative programming bootcamps. Some can cost tens of thousands of dollars for courses of uneven quality.

This is what makes freeCodeCamp so special: they offer self-driven learners a high-quality technical education for free.

But some paid bootcamps do provide some value for learners. For instance, many bootcamp grads report that the live contact with instructors, the set schedule to keep them on track, and the camaraderie within the cohort helped them meet their learning goals.

I started wondering how many of these supports we could add to freeCodeCamp’s curriculum to help as many learners as possible, for free.

I sat down to think about what I would want from a program. It would have to:

• Be cohort based, for peer support.
• Be flexible and part time.
• Be low risk, meaning learners who take a break could still come back and succeed.
• Offer live instructor contact.
• Add value even for learners who don’t choose to study with us.
• Be entirely free, of course.

As luck would have it, a few months prior, Class Central started running free online study groups that fit that model. We were on the same page!

So we decided to partner to design a cohort-based bootcamp around freeCodeCamp's Responsive Web Design Certification.

Bootcamp Support and Flexibility

The bootcamp will be cohort-based. This means that learners will all begin at the same time, allowing for them to support each other as they move through the same stages of the course.

They will also share a dedicated forum to learn together, in the open. We expect they will need to spend 10–20 hours a week on coursework to keep up with their cohort. Since it leads to a certification, it’s an intense program.

freeCodeCamp’s Responsive Web Design Certification

While a cohort-based approach and a shared course schedule can help motivate learners and facilitate support, these pressures might negatively impact learners that need flexibility. How can we make sure that those who need to take a break or pause their studies still get support?

By using the freeCodeCamp platform and curriculum, learners can take a break or leave our cohorts and not lose any of their progress. We want learners to succeed, whether they’re learning with us or not.

Curriculum and Live Streams

This bootcamp will cover basic HTML, the fundamentals of CSS, applied visual design, accessibility, responsible web design, CSS flexbox, and CSS grid.

Our program is a great fit for anyone just getting started with web development. It might also be a great fit for folks who have taken a break and want to return to their studies in a supported way.

While this course will give you the skills needed for many entry-level web design and development roles, many learners go on to study JavaScript before applying for roles.

My Twitch channel, where we’ll have our bootcamp stream

Traditional bootcamps often involve live contact with instructors. We also wanted to add a live, instructor-led component to replicate this. But we wanted to do it in a way that was openly accessible both to our learners and to freeCodeCamp’s wider community of learners.

To accomplish this, we’ve added weekly live streams every Monday covering key concepts, going over some of the lesson materials, and offering students the chance to ask questions in real time.

To make sure that even learners from outside the bootcamp can benefit, these streaming sessions will be open across both Twitch and YouTube. Past streaming sessions will also be available on-demand as videos, so that learners can catch up if they’ve missed a session.

The Bootcamp is Entirely Free

Most importantly, all of this needs to be free. freeCodeCamp was kind enough to allow us to base our program around their high quality learning materials. Class Central made internal resources and budget available. And I'm working on a reduced day rate to help make sure we can offer this free to learners.

We’ll be exploring some ways to make this program (and future programs?) sustainable, including the possibility of bringing in tech sponsors. But we won’t charge learners for support in getting into the industry. You deserve help and support as you learn.

Want to join us? You can find more details and how to enroll here. We would love to learn with you.