If you have ever used <a href="https://www.freecodecamp.org/">Freecode Camp</a> then maybe you found some of the tasks wanting on the information. Although the hints help a lot for a technical explanation there are times a person just needs things written a bit differently to have it stick.

Since work is tedious I got my coworker on Freecode Camp and have been watching him complete the bit of a grind early phase. Well I think he mainly started because I have been yapping about the Harvard CS50 course and maybe he wanted me to shut up. 

<img src="https://images.ecency.com/DQmYbRR7majgZcyfbupJGFaQe1o9jUhQnNf2wNRHfEdkQ6i/image.png">

Anyway, <a href="https://www.edx.org/search?q=cs+50">CS50</a> aside as someone who has been coding on and off for a hot second it would be good for foundational learning, which fair enough, my knowledge is built on sand. 

EDX courses generally require a bit more involvement, it is not just open the browser do the thing and build consistency. So I wondered if there are ones similar to Freecode Camp. 

<h1><a href="https://www.appacademy.io/">App Academy</a></h1>

At first glance App Academy is a, "Oh shit I got bamboozled this thing is paid." type BootCamp site. 

But if you pay a little bit of attention then they do mention there is a OPEN section. This basically is like auditing a class on Coursera or EDX. 

<img src="https://images.ecency.com/DQmTkmYRBpQWuNVCzpmkpBp7WKku1mQYyvzPRFMEH3YA6Fc/image.png">

<div class="pull-right"><img src="https://images.ecency.com/DQmbjYuA9zusAqBu6UqBp8p5vEBK1hPCoRhptGcTLJQGiqe/image.png"></div>

This is open access to a course that is if not exactly definitely similar to the one people are paying at a minimum of $22,000, granted the full BootCamp provides a ton more service but if you are just in it for a structured learning path then the OPEN ACADEMY is perfect. 

It is very similar to the Freecode Camp stack in that you cover the basics of JS, SQL, PYTHON, NODE, and REACT but progress a bit more hands-on. 

At a glance, you can see that it won't be just a click next type web course. Overall I think if a person could start on both Freecode Camp and this App Academy you should be pretty well prepared to just start building any 'ol random thing. 

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmZbpCPzP3DAXBURwvL1X2srSmFdGfVBEEP6fkr2NaAm6G/image.png)

So with that in mind the CS50 courses may be top tier for an introduction to Computer Science which I can surely do with but for something I can truly apply and even for dabblers in Node and avoiders of Python like myself there is a lot of practical knowledge to be gotten from these more streamlined courses. 

Maybe the hype around CS 50 just irked me a bit so I went looking for something similar. The CS 50 course is basically the same as the two options above and really if you can then do that also but when it comes to the delivery I think a person will do much better to keep going with an integrated coding environment the way that Freecode Camp and App Academy does it. 

They cover all the same stuff and have the added benefit of convenience, and once you get going then sure do the CS 50 Web Development course for the certificate and a reasonable $200 - $400 because that is the bit that will look good on a resume. 

If you maybe choose to get a certificate in one of the other courses which you are sure helps it is still a good idea to find other free sources and preferably convenient sources in a similar vein as the certificate course, whether that is maybe the IBM AI course or Google Cloud certification. 

As always I think this is all just a note to myself.