Part 018 exercises · ~2 weeks
How the Web Works
Before you write application code, you learn what the platform underneath it is doing. HTTP, DNS, browsers, and servers — taught by tracing real traffic in your own DevTools, not by memorizing acronyms.
0.1Anatomy of a URL & DNS resolution4 ex.
0.2HTTP requests & responses5 ex.
0.3Browsers, rendering & the Network tab4 ex.
0.4Servers, clients & the request–response cycle3 ex.
0.5Mapping a full-stack architecture2 ex.
Capstone
Pick a real production website, trace one request end-to-end with browser DevTools, and produce an annotated architecture diagram of everything involved — reviewed by a mentor before you continue.
Primary references: MDN — How the web works · MDN — An overview of HTTP · High Performance Browser Networking (Ilya Grigorik, O’Reilly)
Part 146 exercises · ~4 weeks
JavaScript Fundamentals
Values, types, operators, control flow, functions, arrays, and objects. This part is deliberately repetitive: fluency in the basics is the compound interest of your entire career, and there is no shortcut to it.
1.1Values, types & operators8 ex.
1.2Control flow7 ex.
1.3Functions9 ex.
1.4Arrays & iteration8 ex.
1.5Objects & methods8 ex.
1.6Errors & debugging basics6 ex.
Capstone
A text adventure game with an inventory system, run in Node from the command line — pure language, no browser, no libraries. Graded on correctness, naming, and how readable your code is to a stranger.
Primary references: javascript.info, Part 1 (Ilya Kantor) · Eloquent JavaScript, ch. 1–6 (Marijn Haverbeke) · MDN — JavaScript Guide
Part 239 exercises · ~4 weeks
The Browser & the DOM
Selectors, events, forms, rendering, and state — in vanilla JavaScript. You’ll learn what every framework is actually doing for you, which is exactly what makes you dangerous with any of them later.
2.1Selecting & traversing the DOM7 ex.
2.2Events & delegation8 ex.
2.3Forms & validation7 ex.
2.4Rendering patterns & state9 ex.
2.5Accessibility fundamentals4 ex.
2.6Browser storage4 ex.
Capstone
A fully interactive task board with zero libraries: keyboard accessible, persistent, and fast. This is the project our graduates say interviewers ask about most.
Primary references: MDN — DOM reference · javascript.info, Part 2: Browser · web.dev — Learn HTML & Learn Forms (Google)
Part 334 exercises · ~4 weeks
Asynchronous JavaScript
Callbacks, promises, async/await, and the event loop that schedules them all. You will be able to predict, before running it, the exact order any async snippet logs in — and explain why.
3.1The event loop, tasks & microtasks6 ex.
3.2Callbacks & the pyramid of doom4 ex.
3.3Promises in depth8 ex.
3.4async/await & error handling7 ex.
3.5fetch, JSON & real APIs6 ex.
3.6Concurrency patterns: all, race, queues3 ex.
Capstone
A live data dashboard against real public APIs — with loading states, retry logic, and error handling that survives a flaky connection.
Primary references: MDN — Using promises · Tasks, microtasks, queues and schedules (Jake Archibald) · What the heck is the event loop anyway? (Philip Roberts, JSConf EU 2014)
Part 441 exercises · ~6 weeks
Server-Side with Node.js
The same language on the other side of the wire. You design REST APIs with Express, persist data in PostgreSQL — the most-used database in the 2025 Stack Overflow survey — and implement authentication the way the OWASP guidance says to, not the way a weekend tutorial does.
4.1The Node runtime & modules6 ex.
4.2Express & middleware8 ex.
4.3REST API design7 ex.
4.4Validation & error handling5 ex.
4.5PostgreSQL & SQL essentials8 ex.
4.6Authentication & sessions7 ex.
Capstone
A tested, documented, deployed API with authentication, input validation, and a seeded PostgreSQL database — plus written API docs a stranger could integrate against.
Primary references: Node.js — official learning docs · Express — Guide · PostgreSQL — official tutorial · OWASP — Authentication Cheat Sheet
Part 527 exercises · ~3 weeks
Testing & Quality
Unit, integration, and end-to-end testing with Vitest and Playwright, plus the unglamorous habits — linting, formatting, CI — that separate professional teams from talented individuals.
5.1Unit testing with Vitest7 ex.
5.2Integration testing6 ex.
5.3End-to-end with Playwright6 ex.
5.4Linting, formatting & conventions4 ex.
5.5CI pipelines4 ex.
Capstone
Return to your Part 2 task board and retrofit a full test suite and CI pipeline onto it — then read the diff with your mentor and defend every test you wrote (and every one you didn’t).
Primary references: Vitest — Guide · Playwright — Docs · GitHub Actions — Docs
Part 638 exercises · ~7 weeks
TypeScript & Production
Static types across the whole stack — the skill GitHub’s Octoverse data says the industry now runs on — plus Docker, configuration, and deployment. The part ends where the school does: with a complete product you demo to a panel of mentors.
6.1TypeScript fundamentals8 ex.
6.2Generics & utility types7 ex.
6.3Typing the DOM & Node6 ex.
6.4Sharing types across the stack6 ex.
6.5Docker & environments6 ex.
6.6Deployment & observability5 ex.
Capstone
The final project: a complete, type-safe, full-stack product with a public URL, CI on every push, and a live demo defended in front of working engineers.
Primary references: The TypeScript Handbook (Microsoft) · Docker — Get Started · The Twelve-Factor App (Adam Wiggins)
The syllabus totals shown here (243 exercises across seven parts) are the current cohort’s numbers; exercises are occasionally added or retired between cohorts, and this page is updated when they are.
A human reads every capstone. Every time.
Automated checks catch the obvious; a working engineer catches what matters.
1
Submit
You push your capstone to a Git repository and open a submission — the same motion as a real pull request.
2
Automated checks
Tests, linting, and a build run automatically. Red checks bounce back to you before a human ever looks.
3
Engineer review
A working engineer reviews your code line by line — naming, structure, edge cases, and the “why” behind decisions.
4
Revise & pass
You address the review and resubmit. Capstones pass when they’d survive a real team’s review — not before.
Prerequisites: honestly, not many.
No prior programming experience. Part 0 assumes you have never written code. If you have, the first two parts will simply go faster.
A computer you can install software on. Windows, macOS, or Linux — you’ll install Node.js, Git, and a code editor in Week 1, with step-by-step guides for each platform.
About ten hours a week. The 36-week schedule assumes ten focused hours. Fewer is fine; the parts don’t expire.
Comfortable reading English. Exercises, reviews, and the primary references linked above are in English.
