The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Vancouver campus
ETEC 522 – Ventures in Learning Technologies
  • Startup
    • How to Begin?
    • Objectives
    • Course Manual
    • Outline & Schedule
    • Participation Guide
    • Assignments
    • ☛ Introduce Yourself!
    • 👥 Authors
  • W01: Emerging Markets
    • W01: Emerging Market Teams
  • W02-04: Bootcamp
    • Global Dynamics
    • Who is the Customer?
    • What is a Venture?
    • 👥 Opportunity Horizon
    • W03: Analyst Bootcamp
    • A Game with Three Pitches
    • Deconstructing a Pitch
    • 👥 Pitch Critique
    • W04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
    • Venture Genesis
    • Opportunity Activation
    • The Right Stuff
    • 👥 Founders Parade
  • W05-12: Opportunity Forecasts
    • W05: Personalized Learning
    • W06: Mobile Learning
    • W07: Game-Based Learning
    • W08: Big Data & Learning Analytics
    • W09: Immersive Experience
    • W10: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
    • W11: Microlearning
    • W12: Wearables
  • W13: Launch
    • Venture Forum Resources
  • Forums
    • W01 – Emerging Markets
    • W02 – Market Projections
    • W03 – Pitch Pool
    • W04 – Founders Parade
    • W05-12 – Opportunity Forecasts (A2)
    • W13 – Venture Forum (A3)
    • Analyst Reports (A1)
  • Global Feeds
    • Announcements
    • Eva’s Café
    • Radio 522
  • LOGIN
Sort By
Show only these categories:
Show only this category:

Codecademy – Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski

By cwc1 on June 5, 2014

 

Zach Sims & Ryan Bubinski. Retrieved from http://static4.businessinsider.com.

Codecademy is an online educational platform that allows its users to take free programming classes in HTML & CSS, jQuery, Javascript, PHP, Python and Ruby through the use of interactive coding exercises, web projects and APIs. In addition, the site also allows for users to become content creators and create programming courses on their own. The site has a simple interface, is advertising-free and incorporates game elements such as badging and points to keep learners motivated. In April 2014, the site surpassed 24 million unique users.

The founders and current CEO/CTO, Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski, are both former students at Columbia University; Sims dropped out of university and worked in product and business development for startups (including GroupMe and drop.io) and the venture capital industry with AOL Ventures, while Bubinski, who had been building web applications since the age of 15, graduated with a degree in computer science and biophysics. The two originally planned on creating a learning network to connect students with other student teachers, but Sims couldn’t keep up with Babunski in terms of programming. The two then decided to create a resource that, according to Sims, “I would like learning from, and that Ryan would like teaching through.” 5 days after the site went live, it had already gained over 200,000 users, and within one year had raised over $12.5 million in venture capital.

The personal qualities that the founders appear to have that have made their venture a success so far are a mix of enthusiasm and expertise; when they started the company, the pair were in their early 20s, but both already had experience in their field – Sims in business development and Bubinski in programming. They identified a pain point in the market (the need for more professional training programs for programmers) and focused on ‘scalability before profitability’ by offering their courses for free in order to build a large user base.

 

 

 

Rating
Average: 4/5 Stars
 
 
 
 
 
0 Thumbs Up!

Read More | No Comments

Loading...
9 Jun Posted on Codecademy – Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski

What I find most interesting about this is the ability for users to also become content creators, putting their learning into practice. It also encouraging to know that this was created because Sims "couldn't keep up" so there is personal motivation and passion for continuing to improve the platform. I would be curious to know if the content creators have ratings/badging for their content and whether the company monitors them.

9 Jun
0 Thumbs Up!
Riea Elder @rielder

What I find most interesting about this is the ability for users to also become content creators, putting their learning into practice. It also encouraging to know that this was created because Sims "couldn't keep up" so there is personal motivation and passion for continuing to improve the platform. I would be curious to know if the content creators have ratings/badging for their content and whether the company monitors them.

  • Expand
  • 0 Replies
  • in reply to Codecademy – Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski
  • Loading...
7 Jun Posted on Codecademy – Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski

Considering that computer programing jobs are increasing 3 times faster than computer science graduates and that people are pursuing alternate paths to education, open sourcing code education is a solution to a pain point in the market as you have identified. It is flexible and faster than a 4 year computer science degee and more relevant in real time.

7 Jun
0 Thumbs Up!
ruddy28 @ruddy28

Considering that computer programing jobs are increasing 3 times faster than computer science graduates and that people are pursuing alternate paths to education, open sourcing code education is a solution to a pain point in the market as you have identified. It is flexible and faster than a 4 year computer science degee and more relevant in real time.

  • Expand
  • 0 Replies
  • in reply to Codecademy – Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski
  • Loading...
  • Previous
  • Next
Show only this category:
How to Begin

Custom Search

Tags

2014 2015 2016

Faculty of Education
Vancouver Campus
2125 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
Website pdce.educ.ubc.ca/
Email pdce.educ@ubc.ca
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility