How to get a FAANG Dev Job in your 40s with Coding Interview University creator John Washam [#134]

On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews John Washam, a software engineer at Amazon. John's also creator of one of the most popular open source projects of all time, Coding Interview University. This is John's first-ever podcast interview, and the first time he's told his story. Interviewing him was an absolute honor. We talk about: - How John delivered pizzas to save enough money to buy his first computer in the 90s. "I was tired of being a broke kid." - John's first career in the US military, where he worked as a translator in South Korea - How John crammed Computer Science for 8 months and taught himself enough theory and coding skills to get a job in big tech, then published Coding Interview University on GitHub - What it's like to work as a senior developer at a big tech company, and what you can expect the journey to be like Can you guess what song I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's from a 1986 rock song. Also, I want to thank the 9,779 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate Links we talk about during our conversation: - Coding Interview University: https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university - The Starup Next Door, John's blog: https://startupnextdoor.com/ - The Talent Code, the book John recommends: https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/055380684X - Follow John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnawasham/ Contents 0:00:00 Introduction and Background 0:07:13 The Importance of Continuous Learning and Passion 0:30:57 Debunking the Myth of Talent in Programming 0:34:54 The Insidious Nature of MLMs 0:45:36 Learning and Transitioning to Web Development 0:56:22 Joining the Military and Learning Korean 1:08:43 Applying for Jobs and Starting a Career in Web Development 1:10:50 From DIY Websites to Entrepreneurship 1:14:42 Learning by Doing: Building Projects to Gain Skills 1:17:01 The Challenges of Marketing and Scaling a Business 1:21:33 Understanding the Market and Solving Real Problems 1:24:31 The Importance of Effective Marketing and Distribution 1:27:31 Sacrifices, Dedication, and Motivation: Keys to Entrepreneurial Success 1:45:03 Challenges in Transitioning to Software Engineering 1:51:42 Treating the Learning Process as a Startup 2:14:20 The Value of Learning Computer Science 2:19:43 Career Growth and Advice 2:30:31 Success in the Tech Industry 2:32:17 Narrowing Down Job Applications 2:58:41 Front-end Engineering vs. Software Engineering 3:02:45 Continuous Learning and Strong Fundamentals ❤️ Support for this channel comes from our friends at Scrimba – the coding platform that's reinvented interactive learning: https://scrimba.com/freecodecamp