Growing up, Leon had it drilled into him that he had to become a doctor, lawyer, or dentist. But his ambitions grew and he went on to have an exciting career in tech.

After a successful exit from a startup, Leon wanted to help folks who were struggling during the pandemic. He started 100Devs, a charity which has helped 10,000s of people learn to code.

We talk about:

• dropping out of Yale
• getting into the selective Tech Stars startup accelerator
• Getting involved with Resilient Coders, a charity that helps court-involved youth learn coding
• Starting 100Devs and building a Discord server with 60,000 people learning to code together

I feel the same way about Leon that Wolverine does.

I recorded this podcast live and I haven't edited it at all. I want to capture the feel of a real live conversation, with all the human quirks that entails.

Can you guess what song I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's my arrangement of the intro to a 1990s cartoon.

You can watch the interview on YouTube:

Or you can listen to the podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. You can also listen to the podcast below, right in your browser:

Be sure to follow The freeCodeCamp podcast in your favorite podcast app. And share this podcast with a friend. Let's inspire more folks to learn to code and build careers for themselves in tech.

Also, I want to thank the 8,427 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate

Links we talk about during the interview:

The video that changed Leon's life on Spaced Repetition by Ali Abdaal

The official Anki app, which is free on web / desktop and doesn’t lock you into a subscription. Leon's advice: "Only create cards on one device, but review on any to save you from weird syncing issues."

Dr. Barbara Oakley’s Learn How to Learn course, which Leon calls "a masterpiece"

The 100Devs website (new cohort starting in early May)

Trailer for X-men '97

Thelonious Monk [pianist Quincy mentions] "Straight No Chaser" documentary trailer

Leon on YouTube

Leon on Discord

Leon's Twitch for his live streams

Leon's website