When you’re adding learning to code to your already busy life, it can be tough to carve out the time you need to pick up new information and practice your skills. The good news? If you only have an hour a day to commit to coding, projects are a hands-on way to review what you’ve learned in Codecademy courses and paths.
Codecademy practice projects are ideal when you’re short on time and just want to quickly brush up on a particular coding concept. The projects are based on real-world scenarios (though the names and companies in the projects are totally fictional), so you’ll get to explore the creative ways that developers use code to solve problems in our daily lives.
As you browse the Codecademy project library, you’ll notice a time estimate that tells you how long it should take you to complete a project, plus the level of guidance that you’ll get along the way. There are projects that take you 20-plus hours to complete and can be used in a professional portfolio, and ones that are just for practice that you can breeze through in 15 minutes.
Learn something new for free
Before you jump in, it’s important to remember that everyone works at a different pace. You might need a little extra time to complete a project if you’re brand new to a language or concept, and that’s no problem. Codecademy courses, paths, and projects are designed for self-guided learning, so you get to determine the speed that works best for your life, and you can pause and take a break whenever you need.
To help get you started, here are some Codecademy practice projects for our most popular programming languages that you can complete in under an hour.
Python projects that take less than 1 hour
How much time you need: 42 minutes
Try linear regression using NumPy or Pandas to investigate the population of honeybees.
How much time you need: 40 minutes
Experiment with the graphic design technique ASCII art by writing a Python program that prints your initials.
How much time you need: 24 minutes
Organize subjects and grades with Python lists.
JavaScript projects that take less than 1 hour
How much time you need: 39 minutes
Convert temperature forecasts on a weather website from Kelvin to Farenheit using JavaScript variables.
How much time you need: 30 minutes
Build an interactive program with JavaScript React that will display a variety of facts about animals.
How much time you need: 33 minutes
Make a responsive video player using JavaScript React components.
HTML/CSS projects that take less than 1 hour
How much time you need: 33 minutes
Use your HTML chops to build a table that displays an event schedule on a web page.
How much time you need: 36 minutes
A movie review website needs help improving its readability and navigation on mobile devices.
How much time you need: 24 minutes
Give a recipe website a makeover with CSS selectors.
Java projects that take less than 1 hour
How much time you need: 30 minutes
Create Java variables for a fill-in-the-blank word game.
How much time you need: 40 minutes
Use Java loops to identify prime numbers in a sequence (BTW, this is a common technical challenge in programming interviews).
How much time you need: 17 minutes
Write a Java program from scratch that “plants” virtual trees.
SQL projects that take less than 1 hour
How much time you need: 33 minutes
Combine data from different rows using SQL table joins.
How much time you need: 36 minutes
Write the most common SQL queries to answer questions about NYC restaurants.
How much time you need: 30 minutes
Use SQL to compare subscription churn rates for two segments of users.
Get more coding practice
If you’re looking for other ways to test your programming knowledge, try a coding challenge, like these beginner-friendly challenges for Python, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Java, and SQL. You could also stretch your creativity and make your own project inspired by a problem in your own life.
Check out the entire Codecademy project library for even more opportunities to sharpen your skills and apply what you learn to real-life coding projects. And don’t forget to share your finished projects with other learners in Codecademy forums.
