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Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

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Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#21

Post by colmvp »

This is a cool startup. I was learning frontend code throughout 2020 using another online learning platform who I won't name because I don't want to dilute the purpose of this post.

My biggest issue with these companies is they don't provide a pathway to go from education to IMO what is truly the hardest part of the process: landing your first entry level position.

I ended up hiring an ex-tech lead / senior dev to mentor my personal development. He helped guide me through the job application process and suggested technical areas for me to strengthen. He gave me tips to increase my visibility to companies, the same ones he did as a junior. I would imagine there's thousands of people who finished some bootcamp/online curriculum and are lost trying to find their first technical job.

I would've loved for a company with a learning platform to help fast-track new graduates to applying to entry level positions especially given the platform acting as a first filter.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#22

Post by mavsman »

Scrimba is awesome. I was really intrigued by it for a while.

For me, I reached a point where I started to feel the limitations of the code editor provided. It became apparent that I was stuck in a learning tool, not a full text editor or IDE. There were just enough of these things that made it unappealing to me. I have been writing software for several years so I do have certain tools that I have become accustomed to using over time. Perhaps for people that don't have affinities for certain debugging tools or code editors this will be less of an issue but it would still be great to have some sort of seamless transition from tutorial to a real project, without just having to copy/paste code.

One other thought I had about it is that to me the usage of Imba to build it was a turn off. I can't remember if there was a specific reason for this or not. It might have been because I was considering what it would be like to contribute to Scrimba and when I found out that JS knowledge wouldn't come in handy I was kind of let down. I can't remember for sure though to be honest.

Last thought here, I found and started to contribute to a VS Code extension that I felt achieved a similar goal to this, called Codio (https://github.com/wix-incubator/codio). Ultimately there was some bug that prevented me from even recording any audio with it, basically making it useless, but I'd love to see something like these things take off.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#23

Post by mrborgen »

colmvp wrote: post #21

This is a cool startup. I was learning frontend code throughout 2020 using another online learning platform who I won't name because I don't want to dilute the purpose of this post. My biggest issue with these companies is they don't provide a pathway to go from education to IMO what is truly the hardest part of the process: landing your first entry level position. I ended up hiring an ex-tech lead / senior dev to me…

I totally agree that getting your first job is one of the hardest things about the process. Which is why we've dedicated an entire module in the Frontend Developer Career Path to "Getting Hired". At our current price point though ($19/month), we're not able to do any hand-holding to help people get their first job (which tends to require that). But we are going to launch price tiers which will allow us to give more career help, as the perfect school IMO definitely ensures that you get a job at the end :)

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#27

Post by rizpanjwani »

I'm not sure about beginners, but as a coder wanting to pick up other languages/frameworks quickly, I prefer text based courses with in-browser interactive code editors. This allows me to move at my pace with minimum distraction and fumbling around, and also when I want to refer back to something later, I can find it in text much more quickly than trying to find the right clip and time.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#28

Post by quickthrower2 »

Hey, I love Scrimba. A few on our team used it to quickly get up to speed with modern React. There is a lot good I have to say about the React course and the platform! I wrote a post about it recently: https://www.exploringreact.com/2020/09/19/need-a-comprehensi... where I recommend your course as THE React course to do for a verity of reasons and many of them are to do with the Platform itself, although Bob Ziroll is excellent too!

No idea you were in YC. Good luck with it!

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#30

Post by pupdogg »

mrborgen wrote: post #9
Off wrote: post #7

Scrimba is amazing! Learned a lot from it! Is this new video format that you developed opensource? Is there a link somewhere where we can learn more about it? Did some research and couldn't find anything. Thanks!

Thanks! Scrimba itself isn’t open source, but we have considered is, so maybe we’ll do it sometime in the future :) The language it’s written in is fully open source (created by our CTO, Sindre). You can learn more about it here: https://imba.io

Both Scrimba and the language it's written in, Imba, blow my mind! Truly an amazing job on helping the web move a tiny step in the correct direction.
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