What It Is
A movement encouraging people to learn programming skills, whether for career change, entrepreneurship, or personal enrichment. Became associated with tech industry evangelism and career advice.
The #100DaysOfCode Challenge
Started by Alexander Kallaway in 2016, participants commit to coding at least one hour daily for 100 days, tweeting progress daily. Became one of the most popular tech learning hashtags.
Rules:
- Code minimum one hour per day
- Tweet progress with #100DaysOfCode
- Encourage at least two other participants daily
- Update log with day’s progress
Free Learning Resources
Interactive Platforms:
- freeCodeCamp (full curriculum, free certificates)
- Codecademy
- Khan Academy
- The Odin Project
- CS50 (Harvard’s free CS course)
Video/Tutorials:
- YouTube (Traversy Media, Programming with Mosh)
- Udemy (frequent sales, $10-20 courses)
- Coursera
- edX
The “Everyone Should Code” Debate
Pro Argument:
- Programming is 21st century literacy
- Computational thinking valuable across fields
- High-paying jobs available
- Empowerment through technical skills
Counter Argument:
- Not everyone needs to code
- Oversaturation of junior developers
- Coding bootcamps sometimes predatory
- Focus should be on critical thinking, not syntax
- Many coding jobs threatened by AI anyway
Controversies
The phrase “learn to code” became politically charged in 2019 when trolls used it to harass laid-off journalists, leading to Twitter bans. This soured the phrase’s reputation despite its original positive intent.
Impact
Regardless of controversies, millions learned programming through self-study, with many successfully transitioning careers. The democratization of coding education was one of the 2010s’ most significant educational trends.