7 Coding Goals for 2024, Based on Learners Like You
We recently went through tons of data about our learners and how they used out site over the past year to create Code Review — a collection of highlights and engagement stats from our community. But along with illustrating collective trends about people who’re learning with Codecademy, the insights from Code Review can offer some guidance and structure for you specifically.
As you get set up for the new year, here are a few personal coding and career goals you can work toward in 2024. If you want to see the source data or learn more about our findings, check out our Code Review recap.
Learn something new for free
Submit your first line of code
Writing a program is your first step toward becoming a programmer, so don’t put it off — jump in now (well, after reading this blog post). You don’t even need to pick a programming language right away; in our free course Learn to Code with Blockly, you’ll learn fundamental programming concepts that apply to most languages. Then, you can take Choosing a Programming Language to figure out which one is best for you based on your goals and preferences.
Over time, all those code submits add up: our learners submitted code 368,182,263 times in 2023.
Commit to a schedule
The more consistent you are with coding, the faster you’ll learn, so be proactive. We typically recommend that people who are working towards getting a job in tech dedicate between five and 15 hours a week to coding, so that’s a great baseline if your goal is to make this a career. In our 2023 data, we found that the most popular time for Codecademy learners to code is from 10am to 4pm, and 2pm is the peak hour.
Still, we know it’s not always easy to make time while juggling life’s endless responsibilities, so here are some tips from our learners on how to make time to learn coding. You can also create a weekly target on your Codecademy profile to help yourself on track.
Keep a streak going
Scientifically speaking, you’re better off coding for an hour every day of the week than coding for seven hours once a week. This is because of the spacing effect, which suggests that your brain needs time to fully absorb information. It’s like studying before a test — cramming the night beforehand might help you pass, but it’s unlikely you’ll retain the information as well as you would if you’d studied throughout the semester. If you need more convincing, check out these insights from Codecademy learner George Bell who has been logging on to learn with us every day for the past eight years.
Take a JavaScript course
JavaScript was ranked the favorite language of 2023, meaning learners spent the most time learning JavaScript. You can build an entire web app with JavaScript (and libraries like Node.js or React), so it’s a great tool for web developers, marketers, influencers, and anyone else who creates digital assets. You can also use JavaScript to create browser-based games and AI systems. Try our free course Learn JavaScript to get started.
Practice Python
Python is another great option whether you’re a new programmer or a pro. Its English-like syntax is easy to understand, and it has many third-party libraries that extend its utility and functionality. With tools like Flask and Django, you can create web apps entirely with Python, and it can also be used for data science and machine learning. Python is a valuable addition to any programmer’s toolkit, and you can learn how to use it in the most popular course of the year: Learn Python 3.
Learn about AI
AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E dominated headlines this year. Generative AI is not just a fleeting fad, and it’ll continue to reshape industries in 2024 and beyond. If one of your resolutions is to get comfortable using AI tools, we have courses and case studies that will help you understand the technology in-depth.
Get started with our free courses like Intro to ChatGPT and Intro to LLMs, and discover how to use AI in your own technical career through courses like Prompt Engineering for Software Engineering.
Contribute to Codecademy Docs
Codecademy Docs is our open-contribution reference resource for all things programming. Knowledgeable learners and Codecademy team members collaborate to create and maintain Docs entries about programming concepts in popular languages on GitHub. Docs is a great way to show off what you know, and submitting your first pull request is not as intimidating as it sounds! Not only will your contributions help other people as they’re learning to code, but you can also add them to your resume to help get over the “experience gap” for entry-level jobs.
Want more inspiration for programming-related New Year’s resolutions? Read this list of bite-sized programming goals you can set next year, and take note of these tips for actually sticking to your plan all year long.
