100 Days of Code: Nabendu Biswas on Motivating Students

This post is part of a series interviewing folks who have recently participated in the #100DaysOfCode challenge.

Today we’re talking to Nabendu Biswas. Nabendu has been working in the software industry for the past 16 years, and he has a decade of experience in building professional websites and front-end applications. He started his career with a government research lab. He then worked at a startup and top investment bank. His previous job was in Innominds as associate architect.

In September 2021 he became a full-time JavaScript teacher and founder at TWD. He teaches JavaScript, React.js, and complete web-app development to various corporations, startups, and individuals. You can connect with him on social media here:

Now, let’s hear what he has to say about his #100DaysOfCode experience.

Why did you want to do the #100DaysOfCode challenge? Did you hope to accomplish anything specific?

I have been a developer for the past 16 years. Four months back, I turned to a full-time educator role as a JavaScript/React.js trainer. Besides this, I also write blog posts on React.js and React Native for Hit Subscribe. I’m also the author of five technical books.

I have been coding almost daily for the past 10 years, but I wanted to motivate my students to commit to the #100DaysOfCode challenge. Most of them think it’s not possible to code in public for 100 days continuously, but I wanted to show them the path.

But then I decided to make this more challenging for myself. So, I also started to do all the coding on video and also took the #100DaysOfVideo challenge.

I used to post tech videos on my YouTube channel only twice a week. But because of the #100DaysOfCode and #100DaysOfVideo challenges, I started posting daily and finally got the traction on my YouTube channel. Doing these videos also taught me better ways to teach my students and get them into the world of React.

The log of my work can be found in this post on my blog.

What coding experience did you have before the challenge?

I’ve known how to code for the past 20 years, and I did my Bachelor of Engineering in computer science in 2004. But in college, I learned only the theory part and we used to mug up programs and learned outdated tech. Then, I joined the IT industry in 2004, initially coding in C for three years. But I got stuck in different roles, including production support for the next five years, which was not related to coding.

But I found my passion for coding in 2010, when I built mobile apps for Windows Phone in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. My apps made me around $1,300 dollars in three months as a side income before Windows Phone flopped.

But the experience ignited the passion of coding in me, and I got deep into it. I slowly moved to a development role at work and reached the level of associate architect in a product-based company in Bangalore, where I lead a team of 10 front-end developers.

Along with the job I also found my passion to write tech blogs on the new things I was learning. I also started posting them on LinkedIn. I wrote more than 300 blog posts in the next two years on Medium and my site. It helped me reach out to wonderful people and got the opportunity to write technical articles for various companies like Hit Subscribe. Also, I got a five-book deal with top publisher Apress.

Finally, I found my ultimate passion of teaching people to code. I’m making a career out of it and right now building my teaching company, TWD, full-time as a trainer. I teach completely online for various startups and corporations. Beside this I also teach a lot of individuals through my YouTube channel and online classes. At this point I’ve taught about 150 students through my online classes and 1,300 people through my YouTube channel.

What are you most proud of now that you’ve finished the #100DaysOfCode challenge?

Recording those 100 coding videos was very challenging, as I’d never done something like that. I used to record only two coding videos a week for my YouTube channel, but this was a different level. In those 100 days, I was coding and teaching HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Angular, React.js, and a lot of projects on my YouTube channel.

I generally write a blog post that contains all the programming instructions to create the project. So, this added to the time needed to create the video. But I did it, and it was quite challenging.

Were there times when you felt like quitting? How did you push through those moments?

On Sundays, I felt like quitting, but then I had to complete the challenge and record the video of myself doing the challenge. The thought of restarting again kept me going. It also helped me keep moving since my doing the #100DaysOfCode challenge was to help motivate my students.

What advice would you offer to people considering doing this challenge?

To all my students or everyone else who wants to get into programming, the world has changed a lot. Now you have to code in public. The #100DaysOfCode challenge is one of the best things out there. It shows that you are serious about coding and opens a lot of doors for you. This is a very popular challenge and tough also, because most people quit partway through.

Programming is the only skill you need in today’s world to succeed. You can become a programmer from any background. It’s an easy skill to achieve, but a lot of patience and daily ritual is required, and this is the challenge to get you into coding mode.

Who has influenced you the most so far in your programming journey?

A lot of coding teachers have influenced me, and finally I took the plunge to become one myself. YouTubers like Brad Traversy are an inspiration and have done so much for everyone who wants to become a developer. Other coding channels like Clever Programmer and Sonny Sanga are also an inspiration for me. They’re helping people to get into the world of web-app development.

Then, Quincy Larson from freeCodeCamp.org influenced me a lot. He’s helped millions of people to get into development and changed their life forever.

What programming reference materials can you not live without?

I can’t live without Brad Traversy’s YouTube channel Traversy Media or also freeCodeCamp.org’s YouTube channel. I learned a lot with these two channels. I’ve also learned a lot about creating awesome clones from Clever Programmer and Sonny Sangha’s YouTube channel.