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This Week in Startups

AMA 1: freeCodeCamp’s Quincy Larson answers founder and developer questions

This Week in Startups

Jason Calacanis

Technology

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2020

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

freeCodeCamp Founder Quincy Larson answers questions from his exclusive AMA only on This Week in Startups' Slack!

If you’d like to participate in exclusive AMAs, jam sessions, and discuss all aspects of startup life with Jason and our community of 20,000+ founders, join us at: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi

Watch Quincy on E1049: https://youtu.be/OgxTDl2Z9II

Follow Quincy: https://twitter.com/ossia

Check out freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/

Thanks to Klaviyo, Fiverr and Mint Mobile for keeping this AMA ad free!

Questions:

0:33 Emin asks: What is the best tactic to build an award-winning dev team? Hire junior developers and incubate them or hire more senior people?

4:29 Rob asks: What does FCC moving to a project-based curriculum look like for someone with a moderate programming background, and where should they start approaching the freeCodeCamp curriculum?

5:41 Ilya asks: What are your thoughts on remote work for developers post COVID. What are the biggest challenges companies are facing? And how can candidates stand out in a remote job interview?

7:55 Swyx asks: What are your thoughts on SEO/building a media empire out of FCC? What about keeping FCC.org nonprofit, but making FreeCodeCamp’s YouTube and Content presence for profit?

11:06 Farjad asks: What is your advice on contributing to open-source projects like FCC and when it is appropriate/how to begin? Do I have to become an expert first? How can a beginner contribute?

13:27 James asks: Many online courses and MOOCS have high drop off rates and struggle to retain users. Have you found this with freeCodeCamp and, if so, what measures have you found work best to keep people learning?

16:40 Brady asks: What are the plans for future courses? Will there be other languages or frameworks included?

20:40 Cpulido asks: I am new to coding. I have a vision of what I want to build but I am wondering if I am being too ambitious. How do I effectively learn and build at the same time?

23:24 Jean asks: In an age of low-code and no-code, what are your thoughts on total beginners exploring a new career path today?

28:01 Luke asks: Which other founders/leaders and companies in the free code/online learning space do you think are also doing great work for the community?

30:14 Charles asks: Is there a place for those that are passionate but don't think they could ever be a great coder? Are the skills learned at FCC transferable or useful for gaining employment in another part of the tech/startup industry?

31:55 Jacqui asks: I'm curious about your experience teaching in China. What ages and subjects did you teach, and what are some differences you've seen between the education systems in the US and China and how do those differences play out into careers?

36:47 Heidi asks: As a nonprofit (public charity), what do you find is the most difficult part of soliciting donations? Is it easier to get corporations to buy into what you’re building/doing or 1:1/community to give donations?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Today on this weekend startups we have our first ever Ask Me Anything with free

0:04.9

code camp founder Quincy Larson featured in episode 1049. This AMA was

0:10.6

recorded live in our Twist Slack channel.

0:13.9

To participate in weekly AMAs and discuss all aspects of startup life with Jason and our community

0:19.6

of 20,000 founders, join us at this week in startups.com slash slack.

0:25.7

This episode is brought to you ad free.

0:28.0

Thanks to our partners Clavio, Fiver, and Mint Mobile.

0:34.0

Amin asks, what is the best tactic to build an award-winning

0:38.0

dev team?

0:39.0

Hire junior developers and incubate them?

0:41.0

Or hire more senior people.

0:43.4

So if you are trying to build a project that is going to,

0:47.8

like or is already at scale,

0:49.4

like you have a bunch of VC money

0:50.9

and you just have to get something out the door that is very

0:54.8

polished and works for really reliably. It would probably make sense to mostly have a

0:58.5

team of senior people that can just do it quickly. Now if you have a new product and you're not as worried

1:06.5

about getting things out as quickly as possible, I think a better approach long term that

1:11.6

can save you a whole lot of money and can also build a lot

1:15.5

more loyal people within your organization over time would be to get a single

1:20.6

developer who has worked at some big multinationals, places where they've been exposed to a lot of engineering best practices, somebody who has a good, has a wide range of experience working on different types of applications, working with different types of teams,

1:40.0

bring that person on and have them be the main person who the junior developers learn from and follow.

...

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