For Jacob Arriola, a business development manager for a Spanish media company in Los Angeles, learning to program wasn't a necessity. But figuring it might help with his job, he started using an online code-tutorial service called Treehouse in January.
After three months with the paid service, he's earned several dozen badges for completing programming quizzes and challenges, and watching coding-related video lessons. More importantly, he's built his own website from scratch and made some simple changes to websites that his company runs. "I'm able to do it myself, which is pretty cool," he says.
Arriola is one of a growing number of non-techies turning to Web-based sites to learn how to code, either for fun or in hopes of advancing their job prospects. And while the basic concept isn't new, the execution is. The addition of video-game elements like badges and points is helping startups such as Treehouse take off.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Technology Review: The Authority on the Future of Technology
