A Free Coding Curriculum for Beginners

An opinionated guide to organizing your self-teaching process.

There’s a magic point in your journey to becoming a software developer where you get the feeling you could build just about anything given enough time and access to Google [1]. This is the point where code becomes a tool for self-expression; the point where you can build what you feel like building. The aim of this post is to get you to that point.

I remember exactly when this happened to me. It was when I got my first programming job at 18 as an intern at a startup in Cincinnati, Ohio called LISNR. They wanted me to write some very junior-level Android code for them, and even though I’d never touched Android or Java before, I had the confidence to do it. I can’t promise this post will get you a programming job — that’s not the objective of this post — but if you can do the things I outline here, you’ll feel confident enough to apply as a side effect. Most of this curriculum comes from reflecting on everything I’d done prior to that job.

How is the Curriculum Organized?

There are 3 sections, each builds on top of the last. I’ve put them in order, but don’t feel like you need to complete them in order. Just be sure you can close all the exit criteria from every section. The…