It probably started with a Google search.

"Best free coding course for beginners."

Or maybe it was a YouTube video. Or a Reddit thread. Or a Twitter reply from someone who learned to code in six months and got hired at a fintech.

Wherever it started, within 48 hours I had accounts on:

freeCodeCamp ✓

The Odin Project ✓

Udemy ✓

Udacity ✓

Coursera ✓

And I hadn't written a single line of code yet.

The First Week on Every Platform

freeCodeCamp felt good. Structured. Little boxes to fill. Instant feedback. I flew through the first HTML lessons and felt like a genius.

Then someone on Reddit said freeCodeCamp wasn't good enough for getting a job. That you needed projects. That the certificates meant nothing.

So I opened The Odin Project.

TOP felt serious. Real. Like actual developers built it for actual developers. I loved the philosophy. But it was harder. Less hand-holding.…