Codecademy is an American online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 12 different

programming languages A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

including Python,

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

, Go,

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...

Ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...

, SQL,

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

, C#, and

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

, as well as

markup language Markup language refers to a text-encoding system consisting of a set of symbols inserted in a text document to control its structure, formatting, or the relationship between its parts. Markup is often used to control the display of the document ...

HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaS ...

and

CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone technolo ...

. The site also offers a paid "Pro" option that gives users access to personalized learning plans, quizzes, and realistic projects.

History

Codecademy was founded in August 2011 by

Zach Sims Zack or Zach may refer to: People * Zach (surname), various people * Zack (surname), various people * Zack (personal name), lists of people and fictional characters named Zack, Zach, Zac, Zak or Zakk * Záh (gens) or Zách, a ''gens'' (clan) in th ...

and Ryan Bubinski. Sims dropped out of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

to focus on launching a venture, and Bubinski graduated from Columbia in 2011. The company, headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, raised $2.5 million in

Series A A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exc ...

funding in October 2011 and $10 million in Series B funding in June 2012. The latest round of funding was led by

Index Ventures Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/ AI, and security. Since ...

. On July 22, 2014, the site appeared with a new redesigned dashboard. In August 2015, Codecademy partnered with the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, working to host in-person meet-ups for 600 students from disadvantaged women and minority groups over a twelve-month period. By August 2017, Codecademy's CEO Zach Sims officially announced the launch of the new paid "Pro" product. A "Pro Intensive" paid offering was also launched in August 2017 but as of 2020 this product appears to no longer be offered. In December 2021,

Skillsoft Skillsoft is an American educational technology company that produces learning management system software and content. History Skillsoft was founded by Charles Moran in 1998. Moran served as Chief Executive Officer and President from 1998 to 201 ...

announced that it would acquire Codecademy for approximately $525 million in cash and stock. The sale was closed on April 5, 2022.

Partnerships

In September 2017, Codecademy partnered with

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

for free Alexa skills training. By October 2018, the company employed 85 people, up from 45 in 2016. It had also raised $42.5 million from groups such as

Union Square Ventures Union Square Ventures (USV) is an American venture capital firm based in New York City. The firm has backed more than 130 startups, including Twitter, Etsy, Stripe, Coinbase, Zynga, Tumblr, Stack Overflow, Meetup, Kickstarter, MongoDB, Flur ...

and

Naspers Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its ...

. By January 2020, Codecademy had expanded to a suite of languages including C++, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, Python, R, Swift, and SQL, as well as various libraries, frameworks, and associated subjects. According to their roadmap, Codecademy is slated to release Android Development, ASP.NET, Flask, Kotlin, and TypeScript courses in 2020.

Features

The platform also provides courses for learning

command line A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

and

Git Git () is a distributed version control system: tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Its goals include speed, data in ...

. In September 2015, Codecademy, in partnership with Periscope, added a series of courses designed to teach SQL, the predominant programming language for database queries. In October 2015, Codecademy created a new course, a class on

programming. As of January 2014, the site had over 24 million users who had completed over 100 million exercises. The site has received positive reviews from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Goi ...

. As part of the Computer Science Education Week held in December 2013, Codecademy launched its first iOS app called "Hour of Code". The app focuses on the basics of programming, including the same content from the website. In April 2019, Codecademy partnered with Adafruit for a course on electronics and hardware programming. In December 2019, Codecademy launched a new course on

, a language developed by Apple Inc. for iOS,

watchOS watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the only d ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

tvOS tvOS (formerly known as Apple TV Software) is an operating system developed by Apple Inc. for the Apple TV, a digital media player. In the first-generation Apple TV, Apple TV Software was based on Mac OS X. Starting with the second-generation, ...

, and more.

Codecademy Pro

On August 3, 2017, Codecademy Pro was released. It has three levels: # Codecademy Pro # Codecademy Pro Intensive # Codecademy Pro Mentors Codecademy Pro costs $39.99 per month, or annually at $239.88 per year ($19.99 per month).

Code Year

Code Year was a free incentive Codecademy program intended to help people follow through on a

New Year's Resolution A New Year's resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western World but also found in the Eastern World, in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behavior, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise im ...

to learn how to program, by introducing a new course for every week in 2012. Over 450,000 people took courses in 2012, and Codecademy continued the program into 2013. Even though the course is still available, the program has stopped.

Awards

* Best Education Startup, Crunchies Awards 2012 * Skillies Technology Award 2015

References

External links

*{{Official website, www.codecademy.com Computer programming Privately held companies of the United States American educational websites 2022 mergers and acquisitions