More than a year and a half ago, I wrote a post about my experience using Codecademy, and to this day it’s one of the most popular posts on my blog. Since then, I’ve tried several different online tutorials for learning to code, so today I want to talk about one of my new favourites, Code School. Let’s see how it stacks up against Codecademy.

You may be wondering why I’m spending time on tutorials now that I’ve completed the program at Bitmaker Labs, but any expert will tell you that learning to code is a lifelong pursuit. There are always new techniques to master and new tools to discover. Both of the sites I’m discussing here have a lot to offer intermediate and even senior developers.

Code School covers a variety of coding topics. Most of these topics are grouped under paths (Ruby, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and iOS), while a few are classified as electives (including Git and Chrome DevTools). In addition to these “courses,” there is an extensive list of screencasts available on related subjects, but so far I’ve stuck to the courses, so I won’t be discussing the screencasts.

Each course is broken down into 5 or 6 lessons (or “levels,” to use Code School’s gamified language), and each of these sections features a video lecture followed by several exercises (“challenges”). The quality of the lectures is quite good; the instructor is usually shown in a corner of the screen, while the code takes up most of the window, with slick but non-distracting animations, notes, and highlights indicating relevant portions. The videos tend to be 10-20 minutes in length, which is of course much shorter than a traditional lecture. I sometimes find my attention wandering a bit by the end of a video, though, and I feel they could improve the experience by breaking them up into even shorter segments. Having said that, there’s nothing stopping you from hitting pause if you need a break to soak in what you’ve just learned.

The challenges following the lectures use the same general format as Codecademy’s exercises. The site presents you with a customized coding environment in the browser and asks you to solve a problem using the techniques you’ve just learned. One thing I particularly like about the challenges is that you have the option to view the lecture you just watched in PDF slide format, which makes it easy to remind yourself of the most important points of the lecture without having to sit through the entire video again. Each challenge comes with a set of (usually 3) progressively more revealing hints, so if you’re struggling you can get some help without having the whole answer given to you. If you still can’t figure it out, you have the option of accessing the answer, though this will cause you to earn fewer points on that particular challenge.

As I’ve mentioned, Code School makes use of gamification: you earn points for each challenge and badges for each level. Codecademy takes a similar approach, but I found Code School’s implementation to be less obtrusive. Codecademy seemed to be always reminding me of my “achievements,” while in Code School I found it easier to ignore this aspect of the experience. To be fair, though, I think Codecademy has toned it down a bit since I first wrote about them; there is now more of an emphasis on progressing through a track (equivalent to a Code School path) and less on accumulating brightly coloured badges.

So how do these two options compare?

• I haven’t counted up the topics covered, but at this point in time both sites have an impressive array of choices, so there’s no clear winner based on variety. If you’re looking to learn a particular tool, though, this may influence your choice; for example, Python is only available on Codecademy, while you can only learn about iOS on Code School.
• In terms of lecture quality, I definitely prefer Code School’s videos over Codecademy’s purely text-based approach. The videos are engaging, and I find they help me visualize what my code is doing behind the scenes. There’s a cheesy jingle at the beginning of each course, but you can skip ahead in the video if they bug you as much as they bug me. I also prefer Code School’s exercises, but there’s a less significant difference here.
• Codecademy has more of a community feel to it. From the beginning, they have encouraged users to create their own courses for others to learn from (which of course wouldn’t be realistic for Code School’s video-based approach), and there is an active forum where students help each other learn.
• Hmmm, I guess I haven’t mentioned this part yet: Codecademy is free, while Code School costs $29 per month (or a bit less if you pay per year).

For the moment, I’ve decided Code School’s polished interface and engaging videos are worth paying for. It especially makes sense for me right now because I’m spending a lot of time honing my skills, so I use the site often enough to feel that I’m getting my money’s worth. However, I think both options are great ways to build your skills, whether you’re totally new to coding or have been doing it for a while. Code School offers a number of basic courses for free, so I would highly recommend giving them a try, and go ahead and check out Codecademy while you’re at it.

If you’re looking for more resources, Michelle Glauser has compiled an excellent list (the table is a bit awkward to read on that page, so I recommend clicking through to the full Google spreadsheet).