Well, a pizza restaurant would give you some choice. That’s my whole point!
In fact, coming to FCC and complaining about React is like walking into a pizza restaurant and wondering why the menu only has Margherita.
Of course, FCC is free and community-driven (a soup kitchen perhaps?), so no-one has any rights to complain at all. But they have every right to question it.
I really think you have the impression that FCC is a lot more restrictive that I do. FCC is explicit that the projects can be built however you want. Sure, like in some of the DV apps, they say something like “you must use Sass”, but beyond that you can do whatever you want. Several times on the builds explicitly say that you can use whatever libraries you want. There are very few things that are restricted.
Can you give me an example of something in the FCC curriculum that is too restrictive?
The projects (and the forums) are the best thing about FCC. They allow people to set out a path based on solving more and more complex problems. The fact that they are agnostic about tech is helpful. What lets FCC down, I think, is the quality of the instruction and the structure of the course - basically one massive list of mini-guides and micro-challenges presented without enough context. That’s what I find restrictive, and that is why everyone is over at Udemy.
FCC’s style of teaching is showing you what you do not know, and therefore what you need to learn for yourself… via reading, googling, using other source materials.
FCC is not a spoon-feeding course, and the maps and mini-challenges are not enough material to learn HTML/CSS/JS. It just shows you – you need to learn this ________. And off you go, seeking other materials.
It’s okay to use Udemy, I don’t think FCC is restricting anyone from using other learning materials, like MDN, Google, W3schools, official docs of frameworks, etc.
Also, there are lots of cases too where udemy spoon-fed students after watching hundreds of hours of videos, are still at a loss when presented with a new project/challenge/… because they didn’t learn how to think for themselves or look for information that they need. All they learned is copying the steps/code from that one specific project from that udemy course video. Everything was presented to them on a silver platter.
I’m not sure how that is more restrictive. I agree with the “without context” part. That is one of the problems with the mini-challenge approach - over arching themes are hard to convey. But I think the idea is that the student is motivated to do some investigating. I agree that that could be perceived as a weakness - I don’t see how that could be more restrictive.
But if you feel you can improve things, you are welcome to contribute. FCC is build by volunteers.
That’s a nice challenge, but really, what would be the point? I’ve been learning for under two years. There is no way that anything I could produce could compete with the resources already available on the web, even the free stuff. As a teacher, I’m sure you appreciate the vast amount of effort and expertise necessary to produce good learning materials. Much better, I think, for FCC to focus on being a guide and a curator. There is some great stuff in the forums (some of it posted by your good self).