Creator of #100DaysOfCode, Alex Kallaway: Here's How to Embrace Discomfort for Growth
The Scrimba Podcast
Introduction
Exploring the beginnings of the 100 Days of Code challenge, its collaboration between Alex Callaway and Quincy Larson, and the significance of coding daily for 100 days with Twitter updates to foster coding habits in the community.
Meet Alex Kallaway 🇷🇺🇨🇦! Alex is a Lead Full-Stack Developer, but he hasn't always been a coder. First, he was a violinist; then, he was interested in having a business; he worked in product management and digital marketing. At one point, he was determined to become a developer and was looking for a way to accelerate his learning, and he thought of a coding challenge you might have heard of. Believe it or not, Alex created #100DaysOfCode just for himself - he never thought it would become something that other people would want to do. But then Quincy Larson of freeCodeCamp got an idea...
You can also find Alex at https://www.discomfortacademy.com/, or read his newsletter.
In this interview, you'll learn about the origin story of #100DaysOfCode and Alex's career path. You will also hear everything about the challenge's rules and best practices. What do you do if you can't code for an hour every day? What should you do if you skip a day? How do you set goals? Can you do #100DaysOfCode more than once? How should you measure success?
Alex and Alex also discuss habits, procrastination, and "manifestations of resistance," as well as ways and tactics for overcoming discomfort and reaching goals. Does something really become a habit after a set number of days? Why is mindfulness important, and how do you define consistency? All this, and more, in today's episode.
🔗 Connect with Alex
⏰ Timestamps
- How Alex like coding but became a violin player (02:01)
- Alex moved to Canada via Japan (05:18)
- "Codecademy is like Duolingo" (06:59)
- How a product role turned into a marketing role, and that marketing role lead Alex back into coding (07:59)
- Breaking out of tutorial hell with freeCodeCamp (11:37)
- Community break with Jan The Producer (13:25)
- You have to be frustrated to motivate yourself (15:02)
- How #100DaysOfCode was born (16:55)
- The basic rules of #100DaysOfCode (19:50)
- Alex Booker's GitHub activity streak (20:39)
- Procrastination, rationalization, and manifestations of resistance (21:32)
- We are a little bit too addicted to comfort (24:44)
- There's no quick way to break your own resistance and discomfort (25:45)
- How to maintain your momentum (27:05)
- What happens if you break the streak of #100DaysOfCode? (29:22)
- If in the course of 120 days you've coded for 100 days, it's better than if you gave up on day 30 (30:51)
- Amateur vs professional mindset (31:50)
- Top tips for making it to the end of #100DaysOfCode (35:28)
- How to plan your coding challenge (36:21)
- Following rules blindly is not the answer (37:29)
- Create a positive feedback loop (39:24)
- Tutorials should have to include mistakes (40:09)
- Managing your willpower: there is no plan B (40:53)
- What is Discomfort Academy? (45:49)
- Next week on the show, Shaundai Person! (47:32)
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You can also Tweet Alex from Scrimba at @bookercodes and tell them what lessons you learned from the episode so that he can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏 Or tell Jan he's butchered your name here.
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