codecademy-new-career-paths

Introducing New and Improved Career Paths: Data Scientist, Front-End, Back-End, and Full-Stack Engineer

11/12/2020
8 minutes

We’re excited to share some major updates and changes to Career Paths that make starting a new career in data science or engineering even more effortless. We’ve updated our Data Science Career Path to a new and improved Data Scientist Career Path, plus introduced three separate Web Development Career Paths — Full-Stack Engineer, Front-End Engineer, and Back-End Engineer.

These new Career Paths are designed to prepare you with everything you’ll need to get an entry-level job as a Full-Stack, Front-End, or Back-End Engineer, or as a Data Scientist.

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What you can expect from our new Career Paths

We’ve built a guided, curated experience, designed to help you gain confidence and learn the skills you need to succeed in your new career. Career Paths guide you through everything you need to know, from the ground up.

Learn the basics

We’ll start by taking you through the basics of what you need to know. Quizzes and projects will help you test your knowledge as you move through the coursework.

Build your own Portfolio Projects

Portfolio Projects are a brand new type of project that we’ve never offered before — one that helps you create something completely on your own that’s unique to you.

As you build a solid foundation, we’ll set you up to work outside of Codecademy in your own development environment and use what you’ve learned to create projects of your own. As you make your way through the coursework, you’ll build robust, portfolio-ready projects to share when you begin your job search. These projects include things like building a personal portfolio, a personal budgeting app, an e-commerce website, analyzing and visualizing GDP and life expectancy data, and more. You can learn more about the Portfolio Projects for each new Career Path in the section below.

Earn certificates

Once you complete a Career Path, you’ll receive a certificate indicating that you’ve completed all coursework in the Path of your choice. Share your certificate on your resume or on LinkedIn.

In addition to your certificate of completion, which can be showcased during the job application process, we’ve built interview prep into all of our Web Development Paths. If you’re taking the Full-Stack, Front-End, or Back-End Engineer Career Paths, you’ll find coursework dedicated to helping you prepare for technical interviews. We’ll be adding interview prep content to our Data Scientist Career Path in 2021.

Start your journey

Ready to start working towards the career of your dreams? Find out more about each of the new Career Paths below to decide which one is right for you and get started.

Data Scientist Career Path

Interested in pursuing a career in data science? Get started with the Data Scientist Career Path.

What you’ll learn:

The Data Scientist Career Path will guide you through what you need to know to get started in a data science career from the ground up. You’ll learn:

  • How to acquire, manipulate, wrangle, and tidy data using SQL and Python
  • How to explore and analyze data, as well as how to communicate your findings effectively
  • How to use natural language processing and machine learning to draw predictions from data

What you’ll build:

In addition to quizzes, practice, and challenge projects that help you test what you’re learning, you’ll also have the opportunity to build your own Portfolio Projects. The Data Scientist Path includes a collection of open-ended Portfolio Projects, including:

  • U.S. Medical Insurance Costs: Use Python to analyze a dataset of U.S. medical insurance costs.
  • Life Expectancy and GDP: Analyze, prepare, and plot data about GDP and life expectancy from the World Health Organization.
  • Biodiversity in National Parks: Interpret data about endangered species from different parks and prepare your findings for presentation.
  • OKCupid Date-A-Scientist: Use machine learning to build, train, and test predictions about data from the dating app OKCupid.
  • Data Scientist Final Portfolio Project: Wow prospective employers with a portfolio project focused on a topic of your own choosing.

Learn more about careers in data science:

Want to learn more about data science before you dive into the new Career Path? See what a day in the life of a data scientist looks like, learn about what data science is in an interview with Codecademy Curriculum Developer Sophie, and check out our article on data scientist skills.

Front-End Engineer Career Path

Front-End engineers work on the parts of applications and websites that users see and interact with. If you’re interested in a career working on the front-end, then our Front-End Engineer Career Path is a great way to learn everything you need.

What you’ll learn:

The Front-End Engineer Path will guide you through what you need to know to starta career as a Front-End Engineer from the ground up. You’ll learn:

  • Design skills to make your webpages beautiful and usable
  • How to build and deploy static websites and React-Redux apps
  • Interview techniques to prep for technical interviews, including practice with data structures and algorithms

What you’ll build:

As part of the Front-End Engineer Career Path, you’ll have the opportunity to work outside of Codecademy in your own development environment to build your own Portfolio Projects. These include:

  • Personal Portfolio Website: Use HTML, CSS, and GitHub Pages to build a personal portfolio site, a static website where you can share your other projects.
  • Reddit Project: Use JavaScript, React, Redux, and the Reddit API to build an online forum containing real-life data.
  • Final Front-End Project: Use everything you’ve learned in the path to build an app of your choosing.

Learn more about front-end engineering:

Want to learn more before deciding which web development Career Path is the right one for you? Check out our article on front-end vs. back-end development.

Back-End Engineer Career Path

While front-end developers deal with the parts of websites and applications people see, Back-end developers deal with the hidden processes that run behind the scenes. If you’re considering a career on the back end, our Back-End Engineer Career Path is for you!

What you’ll learn:

The Back-End Engineer Path will guide you through what you need to know to get started in a career as a Back-End Engineer from the ground up. You’ll learn:

  • How to design and build APIs in JavaScript
  • How to secure a web application and back-end with authentication and authorization
  • Interview techniques to prep for technical interviews, including practice with data structures and algorithms

What you’ll build:

As part of the Back-End Engineer Career Path, you’ll have the opportunity to work outside of Codecademy in your own development environment to build your own Portfolio Projects. These include:

  • Mixed Messages: Build a Node.js console app that generates random messages each time a user runs the program and version your project with Git/GitHub.
  • Personal Budgeting, Part I: Use Node.js and Express to build an API for an app that mimics the practice of envelope budgeting.
  • Personal Budgeting, Part II: Add a PostgreSQL database layer to your budget app and implement software architecture principles like KISS and YAGNI.
  • Photo Caption Contest: Build an API with Node, Express, and Postgres that uses authentication and authorization best practices to manage an online contest.
  • Final Back-End Project: Use everything you’ve learned in the Path to build an API of your choosing.

Learn more about back-end engineering:

Want to learn more before deciding which web development Career Path is the right one for you? Check out our article on front-end vs. back-end development.

Full-Stack Engineer Career Path

Full-stack developers, as their name suggests, work with the entire stack from front-end to back-end. In particular, they focus on how the front-end and back-end are connected and work together. If you’re interested in a full-stack career, the Full Stack Engineer Career Path can get you there.

What you’ll learn:

The Full-Stack Engineer Path will guide you through what you need to know to get started in a career as a Full-Stack Engineer from the ground up. You’ll learn:

  • How to build and deploy static webpages and web apps via Github Pages, Netlify, and Heroku
  • How to combine front-end with back-end, use PostgreSQL as a database for your web app, and Redux for state management
  • Interview techniques to prep for Full-Stack Engineer technical interviews, including practice with data structures and algorithms

What you’ll build:

As part of the Full-Stack Engineer Career Path, you’ll have the opportunity to work outside of Codecademy in your own development environment to build your own Portfolio Projects. These include:

  • Mixed messages: Build a Node.js console app that generates random messages each time a user runs the program and version your project with Git/GitHub.
  • Personal Portfolio Website: Use HTML, CSS, and GitHub Pages to build a personal portfolio site, a static website where you can share your other projects.
  • Reddit Project: Use JavaScript, React, Redux, and the Reddit API, build an online forum containing real-life data.
  • E-Commerce Website, API: Build a Node/Express API with a PostgreSQL database for an e-commerce website, including authentication/authorization needs.
  • E-Commerce Website, Client: Create a React front-end for the previous back-end that you build, culminating in a full-stack PERN application and fully functional e-commerce website.
  • Final PERN Project: Use everything you’ve learned in the path to build a Full-Stack app of your choosing.

Learn more about full-stack engineering:

Want to learn more before deciding which web development Career Path is the right one for you? Check out our article on front-end vs. back-end development, which also dives into full-stack development.

If you were enrolled in our Data Science Career Path or Web Development Career Path and are curious to learn more about what these updates mean for you, you can find out more at the following links:


Whether you’re looking to break into a new career, build your technical skills, or just code for fun, we’re here to help every step of the way. Check out our blog post about how to choose the best Codecademy plan for you to learn about our structured courses, professional certifications, interview prep resources, career services, and more.

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