I used Codecademy for the first seven weeks. I started learning to program in January 2012, so the timing was perfect - I was their target market.
It was fun and interesting for a while. But the instructions began to get cumbersome. You had to read 3-4 paragraphs just to learn that they wanted you to write a simple, one line loop.
I spent more time reading instructions than thinking about or writing code.
I was using K & R at the same time, and the contrast was instructive. In K & R you're given a concise description of a feature, and then a short exercise that forces you to think about how to use it.
In the final few weeks, my only motivation to keep going with Codecademy was the thought that "at least I'll have these badges that show what I know". That was a pretty big warning sign.
I stopped when I realized I wasn't even learning the concepts in the lessons. There simply wasn't enough coding practice for them to stick.
I haven't been there for a few weeks, so perhaps things have gotten better. But from what I saw, they needed to work on cutting out the cruft in their instructions. Pedagogy is difficult.
I did about 6 or 7 weeks of Codecademy and then stopped also. I found the same issues mentioned above, mostly just wrote "code" without really understanding what was supposed to be happening. I like Udacity a lot more and have been able to stick with that (so far). I think the lecture videos used on Udacity make a big difference. I guess it's also different in that it's "computer science" rather than learn to code in javascript - so the Udacity course is intentionally more focused on underlying concepts. I am afraid I am going to fall off the Udacity schedule though because it's very challenging/taxing. I just can't sit and work the lessons or homework in one sitting - my brain gets too tired!
Both courses/companies have been great for me though as a non-programmer. I think these companies and others like them have bright futures.
Great feedback—thanks a bunch, joeag. I'm so sorry to hear the lessons didn't keep you on board, but we'd love to learn more about your experience and what we can do better if you're willing to chat! We're contact (at) codecademy (dot) com—feel free to drop us a line and one of our co-founders will get back to you.
I've got the same exact criticism. Additionally, I was so hooked on getting through the exercises that I finished them and repeated them over the span of 3 days, then thought to myself "now what"?
That's not to say Codecademy hasn't been useful. If anything, it was the service that helped me get a grasp of javascript, which I'm now implementing in my personal projects. But I wish there was more.
We've added tons of new content over the past few months - check us out again and let me know if you have any issues or concerns (contact at codecademy dot com).
Same here. I loved the concept, stayed motivated for almost over 2 month, but then the instructions got worse and worse. I read and reread them, jumped back and forth, and didn't grasp what they actually wanted me to do. The exercise level also seemed extremely out of balance, jumping from copy&paste to and "now apply everything you have learned ever before".
I would really love to see how the drop out rates are. At one point it seemed to me the only ones left are those who already are decent programmers and just love to discuss semantics in the forum sections. I had convinced three friends of mine to start with it as well and over time each single one dropped out.
Thanks for the comments, graeme. I'm the cofounder of Codecademy - we're working to keep our instructions clean and easy to understand. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any other comments.
Ok, I'll take another look later this week and see what I think.
I should say that the addition of the Q and A forums was a very good change. I have no doubt you'll introduce many more as you learn what works and what doesn't.
Another useful change that I remember from the final weeks was adding a review unit at the start of each lesson - before that I often found myself forgetting syntax.
I don't know why Codecademy gets any attention. After seeing a number of items about it, I attempted to use Codecademy to brush up on javascript. My conclusion: it's a fine idea poorly executed and basically useless as a learning tool. Pure hype.
FWIW, I don't mean to be caustic. I honestly can't believe that anyone who writes posivitely about it has used it.
I'd love to hear your comments as to what you'd improve. Feel free to email me - contact(at)codecademy(dot)com. As I've mentioned earlier in the thread, we're pushing improvements every day based on user feedback. We'd be happy to help fix your concerns too.
I'm just poking my head in here to sing Udacity's praises. Their CS-101 class is phenomenal; it is hands down the best intro to CS on the web. The fact that it's free is just icing on the cake. The 1 unit per week for 7 weeks pace is demanding -- and I think users would benefit from the doubling of the course length -- but the videos, professors, community, quiz frequency, and challenging homework make for one hell of a learning experience I've never seen before online.
I'm a web designer who really wants to learn JS to be able to fully implement my designs on the front end (I know HTML/CSS and can edit a jQuery script to fit my needs). I feel I am in their target market, or close to it, but they failed at keeping me a student. I stopped going to Codecademy because I could no longer understand the instructions, and because it was buggy. I often had to ask my boyfriend, who is an engineer, to explain the instructions to me because they were so hard to understand for someone with a very limited programming background.
I've started with Udacity CS101 and it's much better. I still think the instruction from the professor isn't the greatest, but it's good enough for me to be able to keep progressing, even if it means I have to repeat a unit to understand the concepts.
Thanks for the feedback. I'd love to chat with you in a bit more depth about your experience if you have a chance - can you email contact(at)codecademy(dot)com if you have a minute? We're doing everything we can to improve quality of content as well.
possibly offtopic but as a non-beginner javascript developer I find some things taught to be not best practices. its possible that the user is being guided up to a place where he fully understands "this is why this method is better". an obious example is the use of global variables and functions whose main purpose is to act on global variables. while not technically wrong, it is definitely a no no in modern development.
From what I went through I would say its a good platform to learn syntax and keyword definitions e.g. "this is a function" but it doesnt address the application part. and no having a step by step project at the end of the lesson does not address the application part. application needs to teach how to think in programming, how to take problems conveyed in english and solve them with programing.
lastly, ive found technical errors in the way instructions are worded. what they are asking for in english is not exactly what they expect as the code solution. needless to say this frustrates beginners.
thanks, apsurd. it definitely is hard to teach but we're dedicated to creating awesome learning material that's easy for everyone to use and learn with.
if you have more (or specific) comments, please shoot me an email - contact(at)codecademy(dot)com. thanks!
It would be an interesting study to try and understand the behavior and personalities behind the 100% completion rates so far. Most of code year signups happened around new year resolution time - compliance can't be much different than that of a typical gym with a great offer. But those who have been consistently at it, must be special.
The 0% completion numbers might look exceptionally bad for Codeyear as there was so much of hype surrounding it back then (Bloomberg and all..). But that is understandable, and the founders could not have done much about it.
Likewise, the Udacity courses are also much better planned. They put a lot of effort into making their lessons flow naturally. They pare down the presentation to the essential.
I find I spend a lot more time coding when doing a Udacity lesson.
i stopped doing the lessons because of a lot of crashes. things like including print statements would cause Chrome to invoke my physical printer.
i am curious how far the people who signed up during this big spurt are getting through the program, and if it can be evaluated against competitors like Treehouse?
overall i am a big fan of competition in the e-learning space, because it's a topic that hasn't receive much attention in the past (Kahn Academy is likely to thank).
I'm so sorry to hear that silly bug contributed to your departure! I'm the Lead Designer at Codecademy. We're a lot more stable these days (that printer bug was fixed right away)—if you decide to give us another try, we'd love to hear your feedback about the experience: contact (at) codecademy.com. (Zach, our co-founder, makes sure the whole team internalizes member feedback. :D) Either way, thanks for giving us a shot!
My guess as to how they got users that fast? A lot of people wanting to learn programming to make higher pay, plus, a spike in folks wanting to start web startups but are not already a programmer (with a good percentage of those excited by Facebook's story). I've had to review resumes and interview folks for software jobs before, and a surprising percentage can't seem to program or not know what they're talking about. Lure of money is strong.
It was fun and interesting for a while. But the instructions began to get cumbersome. You had to read 3-4 paragraphs just to learn that they wanted you to write a simple, one line loop.
I spent more time reading instructions than thinking about or writing code.
I was using K & R at the same time, and the contrast was instructive. In K & R you're given a concise description of a feature, and then a short exercise that forces you to think about how to use it.
In the final few weeks, my only motivation to keep going with Codecademy was the thought that "at least I'll have these badges that show what I know". That was a pretty big warning sign.
I stopped when I realized I wasn't even learning the concepts in the lessons. There simply wasn't enough coding practice for them to stick.
I haven't been there for a few weeks, so perhaps things have gotten better. But from what I saw, they needed to work on cutting out the cruft in their instructions. Pedagogy is difficult.