We're bringing you a new season of insights from developers, entrepreneurs, and ambitious people getting into tech.
I'm Quincy Larson, the teacher who founded freeCodeCamp.org. And I've been running around Dallas, San Francisco, and New York City interviewing fascinating people. And I'm excited to share these interviews with you.
It's been 4 years since freeCodeCamp has published a podcast episode. It's good to be back.
I've done a dozen interviews so far and I've got a dozen more lined up. Folks like Jeff Atwood, the founder of Stack Overflow. And Eric Leung, a data scientist at Disney.
We're talking about DevOps, cybersecurity, AI – tons of topics that I know you're gonna find helpful as you continue to expand your skills.
And this week I'm dropping the first 3 episodes. My interviews with:
Episode #86: Danny Thompson's Journey from Chicken Fryer to Software Engineer
Danny Thompson (@DThompsonDev) is a bit a legend among career changers.
He had a kid early in life. For 10 years he worked at a gas station in Tennessee, frying chicken for people to eat. He sometimes worked 80 hour weeks just to provide for his family.
And yet, Danny had ambition. He taught himself to code using freeCodeCamp. He built his network through local tech events. And eventually, he landed his first job as as software developer.
Danny's since worked at tech companies like Google and Front Door, and he's now a software engineer at AutoZone, a major US retail chain.
Danny has helped so many people along the way. He's developed a free course on how to leverage LinkedIn as a developer. And he's helped start a ton of local developer meetups.
Episode #87: Mom, Developer, Agency Founder with Sarah Shook
Sarah Shook (@shookcodes) is a software engineer who started out as a recruiter, then started learning system administration on the job at a school.
She didn't finish university. She learned to code on the job, from studying freeCodeCamp, and from attending a short bootcamp that she won free admission to. And she did all of this while raising 3 kids.
She is a career-long remote worker, and insists she will never work somewhere where she needs to be away from her kids. Today she runs software development agency and works with clients.
Sarah and I talk about her coding journey, how she's worked to overcome depression and severe shyness, and her love of front end libraries like Tailwind CSS.
Episode #88: Open Source and Sending the Elevator Back Down with Brian Douglas
Brian Douglas (@bdougieYO) is a software engineer who's worked at tech companies like GitHub and Netlify. And now he's an entrepreneur who runs his own startup – OpenSauced.pizza.
Brian grew up in a small town in Florida, and his family was the only Black family in town. He worked hard in school and earned a full scholarship to Florida State University, where he studied business.
He started off working in sales, but gradually taught himself how to code. It took a while to get into the software, but he was ultimately able to move his family out to the San Francisco Bay Area.
This is just the beginning. I've got so many more interviews ready to publish.
This time I'm personally doing everything: researching, interviewing, editing – I even made the theme song. I hope you like it. 😅
You can browse all of freeCodeCamp's Podcast episodes. But rather than doing that, search for freeCodeCamp in your podcast player of choice, subscribe, and download some episodes. It will be time well invested.
And if you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. And tell your friends.
I am going to learn so much over the coming months from these awesome people, and I'm going to share as much developer wisdom as possible.
Happy coding. 🏕️