The #BacktoCode Check-In: Week 3

Two weeks ago, Flatiron School launched the #BacktoCode Challenge – a 21-day learning challenge, featuring weekly code challenges, prizes, and lectures, and a motivated community of aspiring programmers pushing each other toward their coding goals. We’ve been blown away by how challengers have embodied the spirit of #BacktoCode so far.

Below you’ll find our second weekly check-in on how the challenge has been going and what’s coming for the next week.

#BacktoCode Stats

• 3,943 challengers so far
• 17,543+ total lessons completed in our free online courses
• The most active student completed 223 lessons so far
• “#BacktoCode” used over 662 times on Twitter
• 768 members of the Facebook group

Last Week: Get Unstuck

Last week, we challenged #BacktoCode students to a) get stuck – that means taking on enough lessons to get to a point where they hit a problem that totally confused them – and b) get unstuck – not giving up; pushing ahead and reaching an “aha moment.” It’s been heartwarming to see members of the community helping each other overcome hurdles via the Facebook group and our Ask A Question feature – and sharing their successes with the #BacktoCode hashtag!

• Weekly Prizes:
  • For our second Weekend Warrior Challenge, we asked challengers to solve their hardest programming problem yet through Rubber Duck Debugging – a method of debugging in which you explain your code to a rubber duck, or other inanimate object – and to share their experience in our Facebook group. Jessica B. shared how she got unstuck talking to her 3D-printed skull pencil holder and won a 1:1 chat with Flatiron School Dean Avi Flombaum to talk about her coding and career goals.
  • Emma K., Katherine G., and Kathia C. and  each won a Flatiron School swag pack for participating in the Rubber Duck Challenge.
• Community: The Challenge Facebook group was packed with people sharing how they got unstuck and reached their aha moments. See a few of the diverse “rubber ducks” our challengers utilized below!
• Events:
  • Avi shared his personal tips for getting unstuck in a live lecture
  • Later in the week, he continued livestreaming his own journey learning how to code in Elixir

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This Week: Get Social

With just a few days left of the #BacktoCode challenge, it’s time for our challengers to sprint to the finish line and hit their challenge goals. Our theme this week is to Get Social – to leverage the power of learning with a community and to learn about the industry practice of pair programming.

• Challenge: We’re asking Challengers to share what they’re working on and then connect with other challengers to either work through a lab together or workshop a recent coding challenge – creating or attending a Study Group on Learn.co is recommended!
• Prize: One challenger who creates or attends a study group or participates in a pair programming session will win a lifetime subscription to our Community-Powered Bootcamp program(usually $149/month).
• Events:
  • Join Avi for a live lecture this Wednesday at 12:00 PM EST to learn how to effectively code with others and thrive on a team.
  • On Friday at 4pm EST, Avi will do one last livestream of his own progress learning Elixir.
  • Near NYC? RSVP for our on campus beginner study session on Wednesday, September 20th at 6:30 PM.

Check our blog later this week for more resources on collaborative coding ahead of our final week of the #BacktoCode Challenge!