Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report
colbertnation.comFor people who are getting geo-blocked, try the Media Hint extension (I believe it's available for Chrome and Firefox): https://mediahint.com/
For people in Canada: http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Shows/TheColbertReport?videoP...
" SORRY BUT THIS VIDEO IS UNAVAILABLE FROM YOUR LOCATION
Its one of the detriments of living under a monarchy. But in case you can't give up your silly accents and move to America, watch clips from .... etc. "
To which I say ... "GOD SAVE OUR GRACIOUS QUEEN!"
Frustrating...didn't think of this before posting, sorry to those of you who get the "Sorry..." Maybe give TunnelBear a try? It's a free VPN service capped @ 500MB / month I think.
5F5080F16845DC6523F5F6B2D38FCCCA4585CE89
Bill Bryson cancelled it seems.
"Colbert, a man among men"
http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1h5ed5/after_our_dad_d...
I'm a fan of Colbert, but I wish he hadn't let the comedy get in the way of the interview here. Sims didn't get to say enough, and got cut off the couple of times he got serious questions. Hardly any steak, mostly sizzle.
This happens in every single Colbert interview that I've watched. At this point, as the interviewee, you're effectively signing up for it and if you're taken by surprise then you're silly for not having done your research.
Don't get me wrong - I agree with you. But this is not a special case and in general I feel the same way everytime someone gets interviewed by him. But then I stop feeling bad because I know that they knew what they were getting themselves into :)
Pretty much why I cant watch Colbert anymore. In the last year or so, perhaps I have changed, perhaps the show has; but it's like a quick-gratification joke circus to me now while The Daily Show seems like it's getting lazier.
He has always been like this. He will get pretty serious for specific topics, but most of the interviews are framed in a comedic way like this.
That's fine though. It still gives various people exposure, and I have looked into numerous authors, politicians, and musicians because what was seen beyond the comedy bits interested me.
Nice job on the interview Zach. You looked relaxed and like you were having fun. I think the trick with interviewing with Colbert is to sit back and let him be the funny guy.
It reminds me of my experiences talking about Rejection Therapy[1] on TV. With Dragons' Den, I was wound up tight as a clock and I think it had a lot to do with why I had my ass kicked. My appearance on the Jeff Probst Show went much smoother.
Again, it was a remarkably good interview, especially considering the nerdy subject matter.
Thanks for sharing this, it's easy to get stuck in our Silicon Valley bubble. Thought it was really interesting how CodeAcademy was framed for mass media.
i saw this air last night.
i think he was a bit off base in calling everyone from all walks of life to learn to code.
coding is truly useful for already somewhat technical, detail-oriented people who can get more work done or get it done faster with code. it is certainly not for everyone to know how to do in practice, but an in-depth "Intro to How Computers/Internet Works" is a must for everyone.
The internet is NOT a series of tubes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes
> coding is truly useful for already somewhat technical, detail-oriented people who can get more work done or get it done faster with code.
"Ah, yes. The same way writing was for exceptionally dull monks. And yet, strangely, the world became a better place as more people learnt reading and writing.
I might be dull - I let my friends judge - but I'd like to make one point very clearly. Pretty much the entire world runs based on some code written somewhere. Anything of consequence is more and more computer-controlled. If you'd really want to have your kids ignorant, helplessly observing a small priest caste "perform magic", without any chance of changing the world, please, by all means, do leave programming to us weirdos." I read this here: https://plus.google.com/+RachelBlum/posts/WWiJtjeCoxj
turning everyone into coders will not change the world. it's akin to a theoretical physicist insisting that 99.999% of the population wallow in ignorance about the universe because their understanding is much too shallow.
i read a lot about discoveries in theoretical physics and even though i couldnt discern a gluon from a top quark in a Feynman diagram, i have very rough concept of what's involved without doing any math or solving formulas. the same applies to every technical subject on the planet. programming/IT is an extremely deep field that has no bottom, much like genetics, biology, etc.
more doctors and research Ph.Ds have a larger potential to change the world than additional programmers; putting coding on some pedestal is quite inappropriate. to me, biochemists perform the same "magic" as you speak of.
if you don't pursue coding out of deep interest for the art, you wont change the world either. you may write a basic web page or blog for yourself and hack together some VBA excel macros, but that's about it. i don't think anyone comes out of Codecademy ready to write the next Crysis game or a Google, FB or Amazon infrastructure.
Doctors and research PhD, in general, would benefit from being able to program as well, and indeed I believe a very large number of them do.
And I don't think that learning to code is equivalent to working professionally as a programmer. The same way as learning how to read and write is different than being a writer or a poet, and yet no one argue about the importance of being literate.
And yes, even if you only know how to use VBA to summarize your research results, it'd still probably worth it.
I never understand what's so wrong about the "series of tubes" metaphor. A tube connects something to something else, and it has the same characteristics like bandwidth, travel time, connections/splits, etc.
And isn't a good amount of the internet infrastructure guarded by conduit? Literally making it a series of tubes...
yeah, the same comparison is often used to explain current & voltage in electronics. i guess in his case, it was bandwidth being discussed, so it's quite appropriate.
I've been wondering this lately as well. It just seems like another excuse for technically-oriented people to laugh at non-technically-oriented people.
> It just seems like another excuse for technically-oriented people to laugh at non-technically-oriented people.
With Ted Stephens, it's probably more accurate to say that it was one more reason to dislike someone who a lot of people already had a lot of reasons to dislike.
>i think he was a bit off base in calling everyone from all walks of life to learn to code.
If nothing else, advocating for that is in his company's best interest.
Well that's just awesome. We're being geoblocked in Australia but the joke is that we live in a monarchy? More like greedy corporate interests want to gouge as much money out of Australians as possible! Something I thought the Colbert Report was meant to highlight.
Hypocrites.
Only vaguely related, but Startup Vitamins was on The Daily Show (and CSPAN) last night.
Would you hire someone who learned to code on Codecademy?
I'm interested to hear what everyone thinks. Will Codecademy be able to "connect people learning on the site with opportunities that fit their skill sets?"
I wouldn't hire anyone based on where they learned. I want to see what they've made, and see how they answer some coding questions -- not "why are manhole covers round", but questions about software design, and anything to give a hint about how much experience they have solving coding issues.
I'd ask if they had a blog, or a website they built, or a hobby they're working on. I'd prefer to see a candidate that's passionate about software - that turns on her computer when everyone else is sleeping because she heard about a new framework or language or service on Amazon that she wants to play with.
There are uninspired graduates of good computer science programs, and there are hidden superstars that taught themselves, with no idea how good they are.
Bottom line - experience and passion matter more than where they studied.
Short answer? Yes. It has nothing to do with Codecademy though, it has to do with the fact that they were ambitious enough and had the drive to learn to code, and pursue it via some means (in this case, Codecademy). That speaks volumes. Of course they'd be put through the same screening as anyone else applying for the role, so it's not like you're hiring someone that does not have the appropriate skillset for the job.
Why would you care where people learned programming from?
If you know how to spot a good programmer with a real interest in programming, what does it matter where he started?
Only people who don't know how to spot or attract a good programmer fall back to big school names, and years of experience and all the rest of the fake stuff.
Do I care where someone learned English?
Even if the work involves written or spoken output, if they clearly dominate the language and can express themselves fluently, I'd quickly move on to something more relevant, like talking shop, and their past work.
I would love to see the levels of traffic resulting from that.
Are you referring to actual data on the "Colbert Bump?"
Yes!
Good to see them getting some renewed hype. They were on a roll for a while, but the buzz seemed to die down.
The subtitle writer obviously never heard of Codecademy.
If he made it sooner, many people won't get hurt when try programming. anyway, best learning material for everyone!