Creator of #100DaysOfCode, Alex Kallaway: Here's How to Embrace Discomfort for Growth

Meet Alex Kallaway 🇷🇺🇨🇦! Alex (@DiscomfortAcademy) is a Lead Full-Stack Developer, but he hasn't always been a coder. First, he was a violinist; then, he was interested in having a business; he worked in product management and digital marketing. At one point, he was determined to become a developer and was looking for a way to accelerate his learning, and he thought of a coding challenge you might have heard of. Believe it or not, Alex created #100DaysOfCode just for himself - he never thought it would become something that other people would want to do. But then Quincy Larson of freeCodeCamp got an idea... You can also find Alex at https://www.discomfortacademy.com/, or read his newsletter at https://discomfortacademy.substack.com. In this interview, you'll learn about the origin story of #100DaysOfCode and Alex's career path. You will also hear everything about the challenge's rules and best practices. What do you do if you can't code for an hour every day? What should you do if you skip a day? How do you set goals? Can you do #100DaysOfCode more than once? How should you measure success? Alex and Alex also discuss habits, procrastination, and "manifestations of resistance," as well as ways and tactics for overcoming discomfort and reaching goals. Does something really become a habit after a set number of days? Why is mindfulness important, and how do you define consistency? All this, and more, in today's episode. 🔗 Connect with Alex 👨‍💼 LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kallaway/ 🌐 Website https://www.discomfortacademy.com ✉️ Discomfort Academy https://discomfortacademy.substack.com 📹 Youtube @DiscomfortAcademy ⏰ Timestamps How Alex like coding but became a violin player (02:01) Alex moved to Canada via Japan (05:18) "Codecademy is like Duolingo" (06:59) How a product role turned into a marketing role, and that marketing role lead Alex back into coding (07:59) Breaking out of tutorial hell with freeCodeCamp (11:37) Community break with Jan The