Who wants free coding help this Sunday?

Per Harald Borgen
Learning New Stuff
Published in
3 min readJan 14, 2016
Learning to code involves a lot of moments like this one. Credit: Matylda

Learning how to code online involves a lot frustrations. Complex setup, bugs and cryptic error messages are just a few of the battles you need to get through to learn a new language or technology.

UPDATE: Click here to get to the YouTube page the Hangout will be broadcasted from.

It’s especially tough when you’re all alone, because sometimes all you need is a fellow study mate to discuss your issues with. This has become especially clear to me after getting requests from people who has read my stories here on Medium, and are seeking my help.

So I’d like to try out a little experiment:

This Sunday, I’ll give free coding help to anyone interested.

It’ll be done as a Google Hangout. Everybody who’s interested will be able to watch the Hangout, though I‘ll limit the amount of active participants to 3.

This is because I want to dedicate at least 15–20 minutes to every active participant and his/her coding issues, plus spend a little bit of time answering questions from the signup form. This should total at around 1.5 hours, which is a suitable length for the session.

If you’re interested in either watching or be an active participant, simply fill out this form and I’ll send you the Hangout link on Sunday.

If you’re chosen to be an active participant, I’ll notify you quickly.

The Hangout will start at eight a clock in the evening (8 p.m.) here in Norway, which corresponds to 7 p.m. in London, 2 p.m. in New York and 11 a.m in San Fransisco. Here is a Time&Date table.

What kind of questions will I answer?

You can ask me whatever you want, as long as it’s related to a subject I know something about (see next section). Here are a few examples:

  • Can you review my project?
  • Can you explain how controlled components work in React.js?
  • Can you look at a bug I’m getting?
  • How do I get my website to talk to an API?
  • How do I go from amateur to professional developer as quick as possible?
  • How do I get started with neural networks?

No matter what request it is, I’ll try to help you as best as I can. I’m no oracle, so I might have to ask google for some help during the session, as google is a developers best friend.

What kind of skills do I have?

My main language is Javascript, as I work as a front end developer in Xeneta, where I build user interfaces in React.js. So this is where I’m able to give the best answers. I’ve also built a few projects using Node.js and the Hapi framework.

Machine learning is one of my current hobbies, with Python as the language of choice. I mostly use the Scikit Learn package for creating models, but I‘ve also coded a couple neural networks, which you can read more about here. However, I’m far from a professional level in Python and machine learning, so my ability to answer will be limited.

I’m also happy to help anybody who needs guidance in their path to become a developer. Read more about transition from non-technical to hired developer here:

Feel free to look through (and follow) my GitHub to get a better idea over my skills:

How to join

To join in on the Hangout, all you have to do is fill out this form.

If you’re interested in getting one-on-one help, you’ll need to tell me a little bit about you want help with.

If you’re only interested in watching the session, simply fill in your email, and alternatively any questions you’d like me to answer in the first section of the Hangout.

Hoping to see as many as possible there!

Cheers,

Per

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Per Harald Borgen
Learning New Stuff

Co-founder of Scrimba, the next-generation coding school.