Today we welcome Madison Kana—a self-taught dev who defied the traditional path. From dropping out and navigating a world of homeschooling to launching the Code Book Club, Madison transformed her unconventional journey into a thriving community of coders. In this episode, she shares how bypassing the typical education route fueled her passion, the real challenges of learning on your own, and the power of mentorship in building a dynamic tech career. If you’re ready to break the mold and carve your own path in software development.

Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev

Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm

Madison's X: https://x.com/Madisonkanna

Website: https://madisonkanna.com/

Learn out loud: learn0utloud.com

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - Where did it all start?

01:40 - Dropping out

08:42 - How Madison started learning code

22:00 - Team leading

30:30 - Code Book Club

38:50 - Learn out loud

46:20 - AI talk

54:18 - Book recommendations

56:05 - Outro

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