Class Central is launching a web development bootcamp — free, online, and open to all. It’ll be structured around freeCodeCamp’s web development certification. And it’ll include weekly live streams with technologist Jessica Rose. We’re starting on August 23. Enroll here!

• Concept
• Prerequisites & Curriculum
• Workload & Certificate
• Instructor & Live Streams
• Forum & Support
• Expectations & Commitment
• How to Enroll

Concept

Over the past few months, we’ve been running an experiment at Class Central: we’ve been taking online courses with learners worldwide, supporting each other via a discussion forum, and holding weekly live sessions with course instructors. We called these “Study Groups”.

In our first Study Group, we took Mountains 101, and in a follow-up Study Group, we took A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment. Both were 5–6 weeks long. As we worked our way through the courses, we felt a genuine sense of community emerge, motivating us to keep going.

Our Web Development Bootcamp will be like our Study Groups, but more ambitious. It’ll be twice as long, with twice as many (and longer) live streams, and designed to support a larger learner cohort toward an actual webdev certification. That’s why we’re calling it a “Bootcamp”.

Components

The Bootcamp will have several components on separate platforms. These include:

• The Bootcamp Portal. This is the heart of the Bootcamp. It’s where you’ll find the study schedule as well as links to all the other components of the Bootcamp.
• The Course, Responsive Web Design Certification, on freeCodeCamp. This is the course you’ll be taking. It’s very hands-on and leads to a certificate of completion.
• The Forum. This is where learners will support each other. You’ll be able to discuss the course material, ask questions, and reply to other learners’ questions.
• The Live Streams on Twitch or YouTube. This is where you’ll meet Jess for weekly two-hour sessions, where she’ll discuss the course material and answer questions.

Let’s go over some of these components in more detail.

Prerequisites & Curriculum

The Bootcamp is structured around the Responsive Web Design Certification offered by the nonprofit freeCodeCamp. The program is an introduction to web development. It has no formal prerequisites: all you need is a computer, an internet connection, and the desire to learn.

The program covers:

• Two fundamental languages of the web: HTML and CSS. It doesn’t cover JavaScript.
• Important concerns in modern websites: visuals, accessibility, and responsive design.
• Popular web layout models: CSS Flexbox and CSS Grid.

The program is practical, rather than theoretical. You’ll write code from the very beginning, complete coding tasks throughout, and tackle web development projects toward the end.

Workload & Certificate

The Bootcamp involves a considerable workload. It leads to a certification after all. We’ll cover the program in 12 weeks. This should represent a workload of 10–20 hours per week and 120–240 hours for the full Bootcamp — or up to 300 hours if you count the final projects.

We’ll start on August 23 and end in mid-November. Here’s the study schedule:

• Week 01 (Aug 23 – Aug 29): Basic HTML
• Week 02 (Aug 30 – Sep 05): Basic HTML
• Week 03 (Sep 06 – Sep 12): Basic CSS
• Week 04 (Sep 13 – Sep 19): Basic CSS
• Week 05 (Sep 20 – Sep 26): Applied Visual Design
• Week 06 (Sep 27 – Oct 03): Applied Visual Design
• Week 07 (Oct 04 – Oct 10): Applied Accessibility
• Week 08 (Oct 11 – Oct 17): Applied Accessibility
• Week 09 (Oct 18 – Oct 24): Responsive Web Design Principles
• Week 10 (Oct 25 – Oct 31): CSS Flexbox
• Week 11 (Nov 01 – Nov 07): CSS Grid
• Week 12 (Nov 08 – Nov 14): Review & Projects Overview

If you stick to this study schedule, by the end of Week 12, you’ll be ready to tackle the final projects on your own. Once completed, you’ll receive a certificate like the one below.

Instructor & Live Streams

The Bootcamp includes weekly live streams with Jessica Rose. Jess is a self-taught technologist and advocate for better access to technical education. She used to work with FutureLearn and Mozilla. Now, when she’s not working in technical outreach with CodeSee, she likes to do weird projects like this Web Development Bootcamp. She always wants to hear about what you’re learning or working on. Come say hi!

Each week, Jess will welcome you for a two-hour live stream. During the stream, she’ll discuss the week’s course concepts and coding tasks, and answer questions. The sessions will be streamed on both Twitch and YouTube, and recorded for learners who can’t make it live. The YouTube stream, at least, will include closed captioning.

Forum & Support

The Bootcamp includes a dedicated discussion forum. There, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Discuss the course material
• Ask and reply to questions
• Share useful resources

We set up the forum using Discourse, a modern software solution well suited for online learning communities. Besides creating and replying to topics, you’ll be able to write code snippets, copy and paste images into your posts, mention specific learners, and more.

Expectations & Commitment

The Bootcamp is entirely free: the course is free, the live streams are free, the forum is free. By contrast, regular bootcamps typically cost upward of $10K. So what’s the catch?

Let’s set realistic expectations: if we can offer this Bootcamp for free, it’s because it doesn’t include all the bells and whistles of regular bootcamps. Let’s go over the main differences:

• Self-learning: In regular bootcamps, instructors may walk you through the entire course material. In our Bootcamp, you’ll largely drive your own learning. Even if you were to attend all the live streams (24 hours), these would represent less than 10% of the certification’s total workload (300 hours). You’ll get out what you put in.
• Accountability: In regular bootcamps, instructors and deadlines keep you accountable. In our Bootcamp, while the community might help motivate you, ultimately, you’ll be the only one that can keep yourself accountable and on schedule.
• Support: In regular bootcamps, timely support may always be available. In our Bootcamp, while we’ll monitor the forum and try to answer questions, the bulk of the support will come from your peers, and it may not always be timely nor accurate.
• Career: Regular bootcamps may offer career advice and job placement. Ours doesn’t.

That said, if you can take responsibility for your own learning, keep yourself accountable, and take full advantage of the support available, then you’re ready to tackle this Bootcamp.

And needless to say: completing this 300-hour certification is a considerable accomplishment. You’ll gain skills required in most entry-level web development jobs. Many learners continue their study by learning JavaScript before looking for their first role in technology.

How to Enroll

The Bootcamp enrollments are open. Remember: it’s free, online, and open to all. If you’d like to enroll, here’s how:

• If you already have a Class Central account, log into your account here.
• If you don’t have one, create a free account here and verify your email address.
• Finally, go to the Bootcamp page here and click on the blue Enroll button.

That’s it! You should receive an email confirming your Bootcamp enrollment. Once you do, you’re all set. The Bootcamp starts on August 23. But we’ll be in touch before then with details.