Since 2019 I have published free courses on my YouTube channel. Many times, people have commented on my videos something like "Wow, this course is amazing! It's a lot better than the expensive course I purchased!". I started reflecting after that. Why on earth is someone getting paid thousands of dollars selling a course that is worse than the one I made for free? Also, why does my course only have 100 views on YouTube? This isn't fair.

Identifying the problem

There are lots of people who want to learn programming and also lots of free courses available. However, most of the time, these two groups don't meet each other.

Why? Two reasons. One is that multiple VC-backed predatory coding bootcamps spend millions of dollars targeting newcomers and telling them that the only way to get into the industry is by spending all their money on expensive online courses. Two, the YouTube algorithm is super hard to master. If you recently created a channel, it can take years to reach a bigger audience.

The solution

What if we could easily find all the free courses out there without the YouTube algorithm standing in our way? That's where TechSchool steps in. It is a platform that contains all the free content that might be flying under the radar. It is also open-source, which means anyone who knows a cool course can easily open a PR to add it.

Website: https://techschool.dev
Discord: https://discord.gg/C4abRX5skH
GitHub: https://github.com/danielbergholz/techschool.dev

Let's fight back against the expensive barrier to entry! Tech education should be free and accessible to everyone! We are all gonna make it 🔥

Disclaimer

TechSchool is forever a work in progress. We are all collectively adding more content over time, so if you don't like the options available right now, wait a couple of weeks and then re-visit the website! I'm sure you'll find something new.

The tech stack

I have it all explained on the README, but in summary, I decided to use Elixir and Phoenix, because it's a freaking AWESOME combo. I'm also using Live View on all pages, so hopefully the transition between them is super smooth!