How to build your own learning path using Open Source with Kunal Kushwaha [Podcast #200]

Video Description

Today Quincy Larson interviews Kunal Kushwaha. He's a software engineer and prolific computer science teacher on YouTube. He failed the JEE, the Indian Engineering Entrance Exam, TWICE. But he persevered. He did 4 years of university but attended ZERO lectures. Instead he built his own learning path by contributed to open source projects. He moved from Delhi to London on a UK Global Talent Visa. He works at Cast AI and is the founder of the WeMakeDevs community. We'll talk about: - How he teaches himself new skills, then teaches those skills through his YouTube channel - His day-to-day working remotely at startups - His role in building out cloud regions as a field CTO at Civo, a cloud native service provider - The Indian higher education system Support for this podcast is provided by a grant from AlgoMonster. AlgoMonster is a platform that teaches data structure and algorithm patterns in a structured sequence, so you can approach technical interview questions more systematically. Their curriculum covers patterns like sliding window, two-pointers, graph search, and dynamic programming, helping you learn each pattern once and apply it to solve many problems. Start a structured interview prep routine at https://algo.monster/freecodecamp Support also comes from the 10,338 kind folks who donate to our charity each month. Join them and support our mission at https://donate.freecodecamp.org Rep the freeCodeCamp community with pride. Get your fCC t-shirt for $20 with free shipping anywhere in the US: https://shop.freecodecamp.org Links from our discussion: - Kunal's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KunalKushwaha - WeMakeDevs, an inclusive global community for anyone passionate about technology that puts on events: https://www.wemakedevs.org/ - CastAI where Kunal now works: https://cast.ai/ Community news section: 1. freeCodeCamp's New Responsive Web Design Certification is now live. Earn this FREE verified cert by taking the final exam, and add it to your profile. Announcement article: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-responsive-web-design-certification-is-now-live/ 2. Before modern LLMs, developers used fundamental Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools. freeCodeCamp published a new handbook covering the tools behind chatbots, machine translation, and text summarization. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-nlp-techniques-and-tools-in-your-projects-full-handbook/ 3. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook on one of the trickier aspects of JavaScript: Closures. Learn about functions, parameters, and lexical scope. Then, discover how a Closure "closes over" a variable, keeping it safe while allowing access through function calls. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-closures-work-in-javascript-a-handbook-for-developers/ 4. Flexbox is a powerful CSS feature that lets you build user interfaces that fit any screen size. If you’ve ever struggled to center something with CSS or tried to make columns line up nicely, well, Flexbox simplifies this dramatically. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-css-flexbox-for-beginners-free-2-hour-course 5. When you're working with Large Language Models, every additional token adds cost and latency. Microsoft just open-sourced a tool called LLMLingua that will compress your prompts and other context window data. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-compress-your-prompts-and-reduce-llm-costs/ 6. It is with great pride that I announce our Top Open Source Contributors of 2025: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-top-open-source-contributors-2025 7. Today's song of the week is 1983 anthem Rock of Ages by British rock band Def Leppard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSdljm909Y Secitons 0:00:00 Introduction and Community News 0:06:40 Introducing guest: Career, Castai, and We Make Devs" 0:07:51 Failing the JEE (Indian Engineering Entrance Exam) Twice & High-Stakes Indian Education System 0:11:27 The "Brainwashing" of IIT Aspirants and Misleading Salary Expectations 0:15:07 Post-Failure Plan B: Finding Inspiration and the Goal Breakdown Method 0:19:40 Open Source Saved My Career: Contributing to Kubernetes and Building Skills 0:27:09 Outdated University Curriculum: Welding in Computer Science & Skipping All Lectures 0:31:07 "Self-Directed Learning & Opportunities: Google Summer of Code, Linux Foundation & Civo" 0:35:55 From Field CTO at Civo to UK Permanent Residency via Global Talent Visa 0:41:35 Cultural Differences: Moving from Delhi to London & The Air Quality Issue 0:49:50 Administrative Headaches of Running a Business in India 0:52:40 "Advice for Indians: Patriotism, Civil Service Exam, and Starting Up in Bangalore" 0:56:22 Kunal's Information Diet and Pi-Shaped Learning for Self-Education 1:03:16 Advice to His Younger Self: The Importance of Routine and Morning Productivity