The freeCodeCamp Podcast

Ben Dunphy studied international relations and had a short career in finance. Among other things, he co-authored a bill that eventually got passed in his state of New Hampshire.

But Ben saw the writing on the wall – that technology was becoming one of the most powerful ways to affect change. He learned to code and moved to San Francisco, where he and I first met back in 2013.

He built Real World React – a series of evening events and corporate training programs – and ultimately helped launched conferences like Reactathon and JAMstack conf. And now he's helping run the upcoming AI Engineer Summit.

I talk with Ben about his journey into tech and the lessons he's learned along the way. And if you're considering creating a tech event in your city, boy has Ben got some tips for you.

I hope you're digging these weekly freeCodeCamp podcasts. Be sure to leave us a review. And download a few episodes so you can learn on the go. Not only do we have Spanish and Chinese podcasts, but we just launched our Portuguese podcast as well.

And tell your friends. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech.

Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Benghamine

Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamindunphy/

The Rise of the AI Engineer article by Shawn Wang AKA Swyx: https://www.latent.space/p/ai-engineer

The AI Engineer Summit Oct 9, 2023 through Oct 11 in San Francisco: https://www.ai.engineer/summit

The Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/

Eric Leung grew up in Oklahoma and learned a lot of math in high school. His friends wanted to go to medical school and he originally planned to join them. But instead he got interested in the emerging field of bioinformatics – math applied to medicine.

After 6 years in graduate school, he made the big decision to leave without completing his Ph.D. But he was able to transition into the field of data science, and he now works as a data scientist at Disney.

Eric and I met up at a public library here in Dallas, Texas to talk about his journey into data science, including his time spent learning through freeCodeCamp and ultimately contributing to our open source codebase.

We also share our love of the US public library system, where we met to record this and where Eric worked when he was younger. And we talk about the ancient board game of Go.

If you dig this podcast, you should leave us a review in whichever podcast player you're listening. It helps more people discover the show.

Download some of our previous podcasts to your phone so you'll have something to listen to the next time you're offline.

And tell your friends. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech. Eric Leung's freeCodeCamp articles: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/erictleung/

Eric on Twitter: https://twitter.com/erictleung

The Standup Maths Minecraft Speed Run Cheating Scandal we talk about during the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ko3TdPy0TU

The AlphaGo documentary about Deep Mind's efforts to conquer the ancient game of Go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXuK6gekU1Y

XKCD comic on when to automate things: https://xkcd.com/1205/

Math for Programmers book: https://www.manning.com/books/math-for-programmers

Street Fighting Math MIT course: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-098-street-fighting-mathematics-january-iap-2008/

Today I'm joined by Patrick San Juan, a software engineer who first learned to code in his 30s.

I've known Patrick since the early days of freeCodeCamp. He has always been a positive, supportive force within the community.

Patrick grew up the son of first-generation immigrants from the Philippines. His family didn't have much money, and what they did have, they plowed into his education. He studied economics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, then went to work at a charity focused on helping underserved youth.

After 5 years, Patrick decided to transition into a career where he could better support his family. And for him, that meant learning to code.

I hung out with Patrick at the Alameda Public Library, in the San Francisco Bay Area where Patrick lives. We talk about the ups and downs of his journey into tech. Patrick doesn't sugarcoat anything. Getting a job as a developer is hard. But he's proof that with sustained effort, you can build a career for yourself in tech.

I'm proud of Patrick and his achievements. And I'm proud to be the first person to ever interview him for a podcast.

If you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. And tell your friends about this show. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themsleves in tech.

Patrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricksanjuan/

Today I'm joined by Malindi Colyer. Among her many skills, she's a Python developer and AI engineer.

Malindi grew up on a farm in rural Kansas, in the middle of the US. She trained to become a diplomat, and volunteered overseas. But along the way, she discovered a love of math and computer science. That passion has landed her jobs in New York City, London, and San Francisco.

I met up with Malindi in downtown Manhattan to learn all about investment banking, and how she modernized her department at JP Morgan using her software engineering skills. We talk about the high-stakes world of global finance, where she was executing trades sometimes worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

We also talk about her time as a venture capitalist. She researched thousands of startups to decide which ones her fund should invest in.

This is one of the most technical interviews I've done. I've done my best to make Malindi's world of math, AI, and high finance as accessible as I can. I hope you enjoy it.

Malindi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-malindi-colyer-46b95589/ 

#94 Killing Cancer with Machine Learning with Dr. Amit Deshwar

 Today I'm joined by Dr. Amit Deshwar. He uses machine learning to discover new drugs to cure various diseases including cancer. He's a scientist who works in the growing field of Computational Biology, and has risen through the ranks at the Canadian biotech company Deep Genomics.

During College, Amit got two internships at Google as a platform engineer. He then decided rather than working in big tech he wanted to go back to school and get his Ph.D. He studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, and had his work published in Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals.

I met up with Amit at the Glen Park library in San Francisco, at the exact table where the FBI arrested notorious Slik Road Darknet marketplace founder Ross Ulbricht. 

We talk about how scientists and developers use machine learning to speed up drug discovery. I ask him a lot of my totally naive questions about how these therapies work and how they can fight various types of cancer and other diseases.

Photo of Amit arresating me at the Glen Park Library where the FBI arrested Ross Ulbright: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15B8HD4SGErnOd8zA-9gYW2MabAQFG58Q/view?usp=sharing

Photo of me arresting Amit:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OWyaVyzqT8YgLFYUVi5kqY9te6ShSdgr/view?usp=sharing

Amit on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=QGCYxysAAAAJ

Amit's Twitter: https://twitter.com/amitdeshwar

Today I'm talking with programmer legend Jeff Atwood. Jeff co-founded Stack Overflow with Joel Spolsky back in 2008. And software development has never been the same.

Jeff also co-founded Discourse, a beloved forum tool used by Apple, Roblox, and of course the freeCodeCamp community. And Jeff is a prolific writer through his blog, Coding Horror.

I met up with Jeff at his home in the San Francisco Bay Area, and interviewed him in the room where he builds so many of his software projects.

We talked about software development and community building. Among other things, he shared his thoughts on Large Language Models, VR, and Self-Driving Cars.

If you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. I'm excited to read any feedback you have for me.

And tell your friends. It's a huge help for us. We're still early days with The freeCodeCamp Podcast. I'm interviewing so many other inspiring developers in the coming weeks.

Jeff's Blog, Coding Horror: https://blog.codinghorror.com/

Today I'm talking with Sean Smith, one of freeCodeCamp's earliest graduates. Sean's also a prolific open source contributor, having helped develop freeCodeCamp's original React curriculum.

Sean grew up in Tenessee and was an avid outdoorsman and rock climber. He went to college hoping to become a doctor. He even interned at the National Institutes of Health and published in the Journal of Virology.

But one day he decided to leave the field – with no clear plans for the future – Leaving his friends and family puzzled.

For two years, Sean worked at climbing gyms across Tenessee as a route setter, climbing the walls and installing climbing holds. And one day he decided he needed to learn to code.

I caught up with Sean in downtown San Francisco, in a café that both he and I had coincidentally worked out of early in our developer careers.

I learned a lot about Sean's journey into tech that took him from working in San Francisco to Singapore to Taipei.

And spoiler alert: during the podcast we talk about Sean's job search. I'm happy to report that since I interviewed him last month, he's landed a developer job at a company focused on AI and e-commerce.

If you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. I'm excited to read any feedback you have for me. And tell your friends. It really helps us inspire more people.

Sean Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanmatthewsmith/

Today I'm talking with Sasha Sheng. She's a software engineer who worked at Yahoo and at Facebook. During her 9 years working at big tech companies in San Francisco, she worked on mobile apps and AI systems.

Sasha grew up in rural China, and was the first person in her family to attend university. She studied hard and was able to get into one of China's most competitive schools. She was able to move to the US and finish out her Mechanical Engineering degree at University of Michigan.

When Sasha got laid off 8 months ago, she hit the ground running. She immersed herself in learning the new wave of AI tools. And she applied those new skills at hackathons, winning several competitive events.

I caught up with Sasha to hear her thoughts on AI engineering, AI safety, and how we can get more women into tech.

If you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. I'm excited to read any feedback you have for me. 

Check out Sasha on Instagram: www.instagram.com/hackgoofer

Follow Sasha on Twitter: and www.twitter.com/hackgoofer

One of Sasha's Hackathon projects: Chat Out Loud: https://github.com/ytsheng/chat_out_loud_gpt

Today I'm joined by Shawn Wang, AKA Swyx. I first interviewed Shawn in 2019. Back then, Shawn had quit his $350k a year finance job and taught himself to code using freeCodeCamp. He was working as a full stack engineer. It's a wild interview that you should go back and listen to... after of course you finish listening this.

Now a lot of people thought Shawn was crazy leaving finance. But this dude knew what he was doing. He has now risen through the ranks as a developer at tech startups. And now he's starting an AI startup of his own. He's already off to a strong start, having raised a $3 million pre-seed round from investors.

This is the first time I've ever invited a guest return to the freeCodeCamp podcast for a second interview. And there was so much to talk about, I feel like I could have interviewed Shawn for days.

The man has been eating, sleeping, and breathing AI engineering for the past year. I learned so much from talking with him. I'm confident that you will, too.

Watch Swyx's AI Engineering conference live stream: https://ai.engineer

The Latent Space Podcast: https://www.latent.space/podcast

Follow Swyx on Twitter: https://twitter.com/swyx

Today I'm interviewing a long-time friend and role model of mine, Megan Kaczanowski. We met up in Brooklyn to talk about her journey into information security.

She studied economics at University of Michigan before working in finance in New York City. But her ambitions lead her into cyber security – first as a threat analyst at a credit rating agency, and later as a Security Architect at a bank and a startups.

Over the years, she's volunteered at charities around New York, and she's authored dozens of security tutorials as a contributor to freeCodeCamp.

We talk about her journey into tech and her advice for folks getting into security – especially women. As with every time I talk with Megan, I learned a lot. And I hope you'll a lot, too.

If you dig this podcast, be sure to leave us a review. I'm excited to read any feedback you have for me. 

And tell your friends.

Megan's many information security tutorials on freeCodeCamp: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/megansdoingfine/

Follow Megan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/megansdoingfine

Read the book she mentioned about the first ever worm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)

Watch Mr. Robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U94litUpZuc