Oh, campandandyourtransitionintobeing a developer.
Yeah.
So I foundfreecodecamp.
Whywasanelementaryschoolmusicteacher I wastryingtolearnhowtocode?
Um, I lovekids.
I loveteachingmusic, but I knewitwasn't a careerthat I wantedtodoforever.
So I waslike, what?
Can I learnhowto d'ohwithouthavingtoquitmyjobandgobacktoschool.
I couldn't affordtodothat.
And I thoughtThepeoplethatmaketheInternetareprobablythefirstonestoputallofthatinformationforfreeontheInternet.
So I didcodeacademymostlyJavaScripttypestuffandfoundmywayontofreecodecamp.
I wasreallyinvolvedonTwitter.
Thatwasmyonlycommunity.
I wasreallyhavealonewhile I waslearningandwentthroughthefreecodecampchallenges.
Andassoonas I starteddoingthat, itstartedtogetinvolvedinthechatroom, whichtherewasnoforumatthatpointandstarteddoingsomepearprogrammingandstreamingthat, umsofreecodecampreallynotonlytaughtmethefundamentalsthatheneededfor, youknow, fordevelopmentandforsoftware, butalsogaveme a communityin a placetoe, youknow, misery.
Almosthowharditistolearnat a goandbasedonyourvideosonYouTubeandtheskillsthatyouwereabletobuildupjustlearningthecodeonyourownandthroughdifferentcommunities, youwereabletoeventuallyget a job.
Ah, canyoutalk a littlebitaboutyourjobandhowyougotit.
Yeah.
Yes, I workit.
GetHub, Whichisnotwhere I thought I wouldbeworkingwhen I startedlearningtocode.
Soit's a similarchallengetothesecomputerscienceconcepts, Like, howcanwemakethissimpleandapproachable?
Um, this, Youknow, thattransitionwasweirdbecausecomingfromelementaryschoolmusicteachertoworkingandgethubiskindof a jump.
Um, butBut I thinkworkingwiththosevideosspecificallyandsayingHowcanwetakethesedifficultconceptsandmakethemapproachabletoanybodyissomethingthatreallyprimedmeforworkingagain.
So I thinkevenifsomebody's goingthroughfreecodecamp, andifyou'regoingthroughfreecodecampandyou'relike, I don't knowif I necessarilyseemyselfas a fulltimedeveloper.
Um, soSowhat I doyoucurrentlyisbasicallyrunmeetups.
I'm a coreadminforfreecocameJohnsburg.
There's a coupleofotherguysthatsomecameandwentandstill a day, butsomehowdomainmyactivewouldn't needitNeedbe, But I'm generally, like, youknow, organizedstuffandhostthemeetupsthemselvesbuilding.
So I I'm optimisticthatwillhelpevenmorepeoplewhoarealreadyinJohannesburgwhouh, don't realizethatyou'rehavingalltheseinpersoneventsthatwillhelpgettheminvolvedaswell.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I mean, anotheraspectofit.
I mean, it's ah, weweretalkingabouthowelsemyself, inevidence.
Andmyresponsetothatwaslike, That's a verygoodquestion, brother.
Whatdoyouthink?
Andoverthere.
Sohegavemehispeaceofmindforme, I thinkfornowislike, weneedtocontinuedoingwhatwe'vebeendoing.
Becausepersonally, I mean, forme, thereasonwhy I believeinthisandwhy I'm stilldoingwhatWhat I'm doingnowisthat I seeveryinthis, youknow, I trulybelieve, like, thisis, um, onewaythatwecan I knowitsoundsverylookupinthesky, but I reallylikethisisonewayoffactuallytacklingpoverty.
Andi, I seepeoplethathavefrustratedinthejobspeoplethattheyjustyouknow, justgottaworkjustfortheheckofit.
Buttheydon't enjoyit.
Youknow, forme, I stronglybelieveintherelikeyouhavetoreallyenjoywhatyoudo.
And I absolutelylovewhat I'm doingrightnow.
Thankstoyoufreecourtcamp.
And I thinkthewayjustbacktomyoriginalpointwasthathowtotakeitforwardis, firstofall, weneedtokeepdoingwhatwe'redoing.
Well, David, youare a prolific, uh, writer, amongotherthings.
And I thinkyouhave a veryinterestingbackground.
Canyoutelltheaudience a littlebitaboutyourselfandhowyougotintocodingandwritingmycode.
Okay, Firstofall, Quincy, I'm reallygratefultoyouthatyoucreatedfreecodecanbecause I thinkitwasreallythemajorhelpformetoswitchmycareer's because, asyoumentioned, I wasworkingas a lawyer.
I have a lawdegreeandthen I wasworkingas a lawyerfortwoyears.
Butthen I goteventually a littlebitfrustrated, and I waswonderingwhattodonext.
So I wascheckingonlinecoursesandstuff.
Andfunnything.
First, I checksomeHarvardcourseaboutcookingaboutmoleculargastronomy, and I spentlike, threemonthsdoingthat.
But I saidtome, Okay, I cannotbecoolbecause I'm sweatingandinthekitchenthere's a lotofhotinhere, so I couldn't cook, So I triedtowatchitforsomethingelse.
Andthen I findfirstsome, ofcourse, onyou, Demi, aboutprogrammingCSS, htmlandJava.
Scooband I triedthat.
Butthenitwasjust a tutorial, youknow, buildingthingsthatarepeoplebuilt.
Soitwaskindofitwasgreat I gotmotivated, butitwasjustthefirstlevel.
Andthen I discoveredfreecoatcampandthosealgorithms, anditwasbasically a differentdimensionformebecausebefore I wasjustcreatingstuffaccordingtotutorials.
Butwithalgorithms, I needtoreallyunderstand.
Andatfirst I gotreallyfrustratedbecause I think, MyGod, it's sodifficult.
I can't bedeveloperButthenitreallyjustwoodwasbetterandbetter.
Andfinally I gotreallyconfidentandreally, I startedlearningtocallduringtheweekendsandontheeveningsanditeventuallyittookmesevenmonthstoswitchfrom a lawyertodeveloperjustcodingontheweekendsandtonight.
So I'm reallygreatforfree.
Coachcamebecauseitreallymotivatedmetoseeallthepeopledoingthesamething, althoughsowhy I decideforcontributingforrecordcamebywritingarticlesbecause, youknow, a freecodecancommunityhelpedmetobecamedeveloper, and I alsowantedtocontributetoitbybyshowingpeopleconceptsthatweredifficultforme.
So I trytolikedescribethemin a waythataremoreunderstandableformeandin a waythat I wantthemtobetoseethemwhen I learnedthembecausetherewerenoresourcesbefore.
Yeah, that's I think, thepartofmystoryandmaybejustthemainthing.
What I decidetochangeswitchedcareerswasthatas a lawyer, I didn't seetheresultsofmywork.
A zaprogrammer.
I mean, you'reright, counselthatlookandyouseetheresult.
It's somotivatingyoujust a whitecoatandyouseetheresult.
I lovethis.
Andthisiswhileourprogrammingtearstellus a littleabout, uh, aboutwhatyou'reworkingonoutinPortugal.
Uh, Eduardo, andyou'releadingthestudygroupthere.
Well, I firstknewfreecodecampinthebeginningof 2017 on I was a civilengineeringon.
I wasnothappywithmycareer.
I wantedtorebootintowintoprogrammingonwhen I metfrequentcamp.
I mettherightpasttostartpullingouttheprogram.
I'vetried a lotoffbootcampswithouteffortbutfrequentcamp.
Itwasvery, veryeasytofollowfollowupon, andatthesametimethat I wasstudying, I startedtomotivatepeopletostudywithme.
Youare a veryprominentpersoninthefreecocampcommunity.
Especiallyrecently, you'vebeenlivestreaming a wholelotofvideos.
You'vebeencreatingvideosonthingslikeangular.
It's it's incrediblyhelpful.
Tellus a littleabouthowyougotintotechandhowyoustarteddecidingtorecordallthisandCheryl, thisknowledge, Uh, well, I wantedtolearn, andfirstly, I wantedtolearnformeandformyself.
But I knewthateventually I wantedtofind a job, and I wantedtobesurethateverything I know I canalso, like, gotoanotherpersonandmaybedidtothem.
Soisitokay?
Howcan I dothat?
Sostartcodinginmycomputer, asalways, Andthen I'm goingtorecordthesevideosand a verygoodThen I'm goingtouploadthem.
Sobasically, that's how I started.
I wantedtopassthisknowledgetootherpeopleandmakesurethat I alsoknowthisthingsthenis a prolificcontributortofreak.
Oh, Camp.
I think I'vespentmoretimepairingwithhimthanprettymuchanybodyinthefreecocainecommunity.
I guessthere's a lotofscopefor, I guessit's likethisisgonnaendup, butthetighterintegrationofftechnologyandpeople, I feellikethere's a lotofissuesthatare, andnotseriousenoughthattheyneedinsulationinthepast.
Butitbecomessoeasytosolvethattheywillbe, um, a greatexample.
They'redoing a goodthingintheworld, Matt, tellus a littlebitaboutyourbackgroundandwhereyou'redoing.
So I'm I'm originally a musicteacher.
I studiedmusicatuniversitytalkguitarandpianoforseveralyearson, thenwhich I stilldo, actually, just a littlebiteveningsandweekends.
But I realized, um, itwasn't a careerforme.
I wantedsomethingwhichhad a bitmoredirection, hadmoreof a challenge.
Um, and I met a friendwhohadnotseenin a longtimehugestudiedmusicwithmeandHe's like, I'm a developernow.
Howdidthathappen?
And I knowthatwell, I found a lotcoursesonlineandtaughtmyselfandthen a coupleyearslateron, Butfirst, it's incredible.
Andso I startedjustlookingaround.
Differentresourceisondhe.
Thiswassothiswas, like, 3.5 yearsago, fouryearsago s So I startedwithWell, ofcourse, somecourseeraaddictsandthosekindofthings, whichisreallygoodbecausetheyhadthesekindofdeadline.
Soyouhadtogetthecourtthetheprojectinby a certaintimeandpeoplepayreview.
Andthen I heardaboutthesemeetupsweregoingonandwhichatfirst I wasnotgoodenoughtogoalongtotheseofeveryone's amazingand, youknow, verywasquiteintimidated.
But I forcedmyselftoTheoandthenmetpeoplewhowereverysimilartome.
Youknow, somepeoplewhowereaboveme, somepeoplewhoweren't quitewhere I wasn't, um, foundthatReally?
AndsuddenlyitwasOh, youknow, maybe I candothisandonYeah, it's gonefromthere.
Really?
That's awesome.
Zoodescribedthetransition.
You're a musicianandjustlookingatthedifferentstepsyouwouldneedtotakehimplanningoutyourprogressionasitbecameclearerandclearertoyouwhatyouneededtodo.
Soyoureallytookchargeontheinstagram, and I mean, youownedit.
YouwerealreadyveryprolificonInstagram.
Youhad a lotofyourownphotos.
Youhad a tonoffollowersyourselfandyoureallytookthefreakokayofinstagram, whichwaslargelyjustchillintherebecause I think I wastheonlyfirstyouhadaccesstoitatthetime, andandnowit's It's quitevibrantandthere's a lotofbeautifulphotosonthere.
Canyoudescribethatprocessofthinkinglike, Hey, maybe I couldhelpoutwiththisandhowyouwentaboutit?
Yes.
So I thinkhetookitfromaboutfree 1000 at a time.
You'resayingitwaslike, underutilizedwithyou?
Very, very, verygoodonTwitterandthingslikethat.
Thatstuffwasdoingit, Um, what I wasdoingonmyowninstagram I wasjustpicturesofmycodestuff I'm workingon, um, andthingslikethat.
Soweartheconversationaboutdoingsomestufffor a freecode.
Canpointtoit, have a lotmoreofthecommuniqustuffinthereaswell.
Tellus a littleaboutyourselfandhowyoudiscoveredfreak.
Ocampadecidedtocontributetoit.
Okay, um, atthemoment I'm a student, actuallyjuststarted, like, lastweek, University.
Themyjourneywithfrequentcampstartedwhen I movedfrom, like, twosharptojoustbecause I neededtolearnnoGSfor, like, a summerapplication.
And, uh, I'vediscoveredfrequentcamptolearn.
Johnescaped.
Then I started, likereadingthearticlesonthemediumpublication.
Andwhen I decidedthat I wantedtoalsowritearticles, itjustfeltnaturaltogotopublishthearticlesonthemediapublicationandthenfromthere, liketheinvolvementwiththecommunity, justlikegrewgradually.