Founder and Teacher @ freeCodeCamp
“You can’t get something for nothing.” “Somebody has to pay.” People recite these sayings with confidence, as though they were quoting Newton’s Laws of Motion. But history has shown: you often can get something for basically nothing. And even when somebody has to pay, that somebody doesn’t have to be you.
--Quincy Larson
Quincy Larson, who prefers to describe himself just as a teacher, is also the founder of freeCodeCamp. freeCodeCamp is a non-profit organization where anyone can learn to code for completely free of charge. Quincy's work for the betterment of the world is not only through freeCodeCamp, But also through his remarkable writing on Technology and Education.
Quincy is an inspiring name in the industry. Personally, he is one of the most inspiring people I've even seen in my life. Not only for his amazing contribution to the society, but also for his astonishing way of living.
Below is a brief timeline of Quincy's life and some of his achievement.
November, 2007
Quincy worked as a teacher and school director for about a decade. During this time, Quincy and his wife managed to save almost half of their earnings.
In 2011
Quincy discovered the power of coding and wrote scripts to automate some school task which eventually made his school one of the fastest growing one in that area.
January, 2011
Realizing how much coding could help to serve society, Quincy retired as a director and started to learn to code full time.
July, 2012
After almost a year of learning, Quincy joined a developer job and discovered how 'absurdly' wrong his approach to learning to code was. He saw that a lot of other people were struggling the same way.
October, 2014
To help people learn to code the right way, Quincy quit his job and started freeCodeCamp.
April, 2017
freeCodeCamp hit 1 Million users. Quincy works 12 hours a day and 7 days a week on freeCodeCamp. He still lives out of his savings with his family.
In a time as messy like ours, It sounds almost like a fairytale that someone who's maintaining one of the largest community in the world, is not earning anything from it, rather spending from his saving to keep it free for everyone. When everyone is running after money and wealth, Quincy is establishing example that there's something greater for a human to achieve, and there's something more valuable to offer to the world.
I am truly grateful to have discovered Quincy Larson. I never felt comfortable to say that I want to be like someone else. But the more I learn about Quincy, the more I feel like I want to be a person like him.
If you wish to learn more about Quincy Larson and his Vision, Please check out these links:
Long live freeCodeCamp. Long live Quincy Larson.