I'm going to retrain a million people to Java programmers.
I put together a team and made a training service that I can be proud of.
I am glad to announce that now it is easy to become a programmer, regardless of education and experience.

JavaRush - learning Java programming as an online game

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How about a completely new approach to the study of programming and education in general? Not like anything you've seen before. What about learning, where is the goal, the means and the result?

I am glad to present you new online Java programming courses.

1 Training done in the form of online games

You take the job, do it and get a reward. I think this is both understandable and familiar to you. Tasks will be a variety of: reading the code, solving problems, video tutorials, viewing Futurama , correcting errors in the code, adding new features and much more.

You may even have to write programs for your robot to fight with your friends in the arena or something else.

2 Only the most necessary

So that the course does not stretch out for 5 years, I threw out of it all that was useful and left only the most necessary. I analyzed dozens of vacancies in the labor market. The course includes all the topics that a Java Junior Developer beginner needs to know in order to apply for a job.

3 I thoroughly approached your training

The full course contains 900 mini-lectures and 2500 (!) Practical tasks . The tasks are small, but there are many, very many. Just that minimum, having executed which, you receive so valuable experience.

There is also work in pairs, various games, big tasks, real projects and other practices.

4 You can not complete the game to the end and not become a programmer

The course is divided into 80 levels. You can go to the next level only if you have solved most of the tasks of the current level. Starting from small and light, and ending with large and very useful. Everyone who has come to the end will receive 500-1000 hours of practical experience. Serious bid to win. And to work.

5 Focused preparation for the interview

The last 10 levels are devoted to writing a resume, preparing for an interview and teamwork skills. Video recordings of interviews and their analysis will be added. And, of course, typical questions at interviews with answers .

Also, you will find the “programmer’s development plan for 5 years” and “the programmer’s further possibilities for the next 5 years ” useful.

6 Tasks can be solved directly on the site

It is very convenient and efficient. You have just analyzed the new task in the lectures, and now you should immediately do your own by analogy. For those who want to solve problems in the IDE, there is a plugin that allows you to get a task in two clicks, and submit it to a check in one .

Lectures, case studies, problem solving right on the site, problem solving in the IDE - the gap between theory and practice is as thin as ever.

7 Instant Task Check (less than a second)

Do you know the situation when you submitted the task / work for review, and you had to wait a week for the results, because Is the reviewer busy?
In JavaRush, you will find out the results of compilation and verification of the task in less than a second , after clicking the Run / Check button

8 JavaRush loves when you sit in VKontakte while studying

Vkontakte has a group dedicated to the project. In it, you can discuss tasks, share achievements with friends, watch video tutorials or ask for help.

9 Coverage

The lectures have many links to various sites where you can read the explanations of other lecturers. My goal is for you to understand the material, and not just listen to me.

10 To become a programmer you need only brains and a computer.

It will take you from 3 to 6 months, depending on how much time you will spend on the practice.

Brief description of the game

Each level corresponds to a separate solar system on a star map. Lectures inside the level - the planets of the solar system. Each open lecture is a flight to another planet. When all the lectures are open, the ship flies to the next star system.

For solving practical problems, watching cartoons and much more, you get a reward - a few units of "black matter".

You can compare the progress of yourself and your friends on one common map. People compare their success with the success of friends and solve more problems. This is what I need.

Lectures

I tried to make lectures small, interesting and visual. Here is an example of one of them:

Practical tasks

To write a program is a practical task of average complexity. To execute it, you must write a Java program. For your convenience, as well as to simplify the verification of the program, the code should be written only in the place marked with the comment “write your code here”

Also, in case of successful compilation, the program will automatically be tested - whether the task is solved correctly.

Homework needs to be addressed in Intellij IDEA. I wrote a special plugin for IDEA, which will give you the opportunity to instantly check your program for correctness. It consists of only two buttons:
Left - shows a list of tasks available to you:

Right - sends the task to the server for review:

You can also earn “black matter” by browsing the Futurama series website:

You can familiarize yourself with the other types of tasks in the game itself, if, of course, decide to go through it. You can also read the full description of the game .

What are you learning

The first 40 levels you learn Java Core. The following 40 are the basics of technologies such as JSP, Servlets, Hibernate, Spring. Learning Java Core is very detailed, everything else is in the minimum version that Java Junior might need when it comes to working.

If there are large IT companies in your city, after level 40 you can try to get them an internship. If they are not there or you lack experience, you can continue to learn Java technologies until you reach level 80.

At the end, a lot of time will be devoted to the compilation of a resume, the analysis of typical questions at interviews and recommendations for working in a team.

The course is in development (done 25%)

The course is currently under development . Already done about 25% of all work. It is quite enough to try on the role of a Java programmer, evaluate your own strength and JavaRush. Try, maybe with this little event and a series of magical changes in your life will begin.

Future plans

Many features have already been made, many are still working on, and the rest is modestly waiting for their turn. Animation, educational games, non-linear development scenario will be added. The full course will include 80 levels, 900 lectures and two and a half thousand practical exercises. As well as video interviews and their analysis. Samples of resume and convenient service for this.

Much will depend on your feedback and on service attendance.

Why Silverlight?

The game is written in Silverlight. The training course was originally designed in the form of an online game: a lot of animation, embedded mini-games, videos, cartoons, and much more. So the choice here was between Silverlight (in which I have a good experience) and Flash (in which the experience is much less).

Simple tasks are solved on the site, for everything else there is a MasterCard Intellij IDEA.

Programming is simple and interesting.

Payment

Now the service is free. At the same time, funds are needed for its successful development. Finished service is better than abandoned.

Educational grants

It would not hurt. I hope my vision of education, described in the article “The Right University” will find its response in the hearts of like-minded people.
Also, I hope for your feedback. The more enthusiastic the project receives, the greater the chance that some good foundation interested in developing education will give us a grant for development.

Freemium model

With this approach, the main functionality of the service is free. The development of the same service is carried out on revenues that are derived from additional paid services. These may be personal consultations, sets of specially written tasks, and more in-depth training on key topics. For example, video lectures, video lessons, writing a resume, preparing for an interview.

Either I am too optimistic or too naive, or one of the two.

What are the charm of the era of online courses?

They will destroy the industry, which by mistake is called higher education.

But what about the university?

To get a job as a novice Java programmer, you need to be familiar with Java Core, the basics of basic frameworks (Hibernate, Spring, JSP, Servlets) and have programming experience at least for a few months.

Formally, a lot of this is being taught in universities. In fact - almost nothing of the above.

All universities are different, so for simplicity, I will compare the average technical university with the average vacancy for a Java programmer at Junior and write my own vision of the situation. You should not take this scheme as the ultimate truth, rather as a simplified view of things, in order to bring at least some clarity.

Java Junior Developer

So, most likely, the situation is when you have already graduated from the university and are only looking for a job:


Everything that the university did not teach you, but what you need in your work, you will have to learn it yourself. Most likely on the books of months for 6-12. If you have a friend-programmer who is ready to be your mentor, this period can be reduced by 2-3 times.

It is also obvious that in high school you taught a lot of things that you do not need when you first get a job. Perhaps most of this knowledge you do not need immediately, but will be needed in the future. This is how the situation will change in 5 years.

Java Senior Developer

There is an opinion that in order to become an expert in your business, you need to spend about 10,000 hours on it. There are just over 2,000 working hours per year, so this is about 5 years.

But this will be the case with a Java programmer with 5 years of experience:


Many numbers are inaccurate. It is difficult to cite any specific figures, for there are so many different universities, so many different vacancies. But the general trend is correct.

80 percent of what you teach in high school, you will never come in handy. So, warm up for the brain. Like chess, crosswords or logic games.

You have to learn a lot yourself. People are lazy. If you are not lazy, you will earn $ 3K- $ 4K by five years of work as a programmer.

High school - good

Objectivity requires to say that the university, in fact, a good place. There you can grow above yourself, do interesting things, walk while you are young. This is all necessary too.

In addition, the university gives a diploma that can help with employment in the state. office or when obtaining a work visa abroad. Although our non-state IT companies usually do not pay attention to the diploma. Do not forget about the reprieve from the army.

In general, the situation with the university looks not so bad. Not perfect, but not bad either.


The only thing that the university probably will not give you is a profession. That's why I created JavaRush, an online learning service for Java programming .

A year ago, such a service was not even in the plans, and I had to train only a few people at a time. Now, JavaRush is used by more than a thousand people and about a third of them are engaged every day.

So, having a desire, but not having the opportunity - we try .

I repeat. The course is currently under development . Made about 25% of all work (20 levels out of 80). It is quite enough to try on the role of a Java programmer, as well as evaluate your own strength and JavaRush.

Always yours, General

PS






Who has problems with authorization - the first time we go through this link .