CodeSignal, the interview and assessment platform, has recently launched an innovative online learning platform powered by AI. The new platform, which meets to audiences interested in technical subjects, also features Cosmo, an AI-powered bot that helps in learning.
According to the company, hundreds of courses covering topics such as programming basics, language tutorials, data analytics, and machine learning will be accessible at launch. In the long run, CodeSignal hopes to expand into non-technical fields that advance career paths, like management skills.
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How does the Codesignal Work?
Currently, users can apply for CodeSignal Learn through a waitlist. The Cosmo bot will ask you questions like what you want to learn and how skilled you are as soon as you log in. It creates a course path for you based on that.
The company launched CodeSignal Learn on Thursday, with roughly 100 technical skills courses covering everything from programming basics to full stack engineering. There will be two tiers available for CodeSignal Learn: a free tier and a paid tier that costs $24.99 per month. The platform was unveiled during CodeSignal’s yearly Beyond event, which included talks with leaders in the tech industry like Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, and Steve Wozniak, the cofounder of Apple.
The foundation of the platform is Cosmo, CodeSignal’s AI, which blends a number of substantial language models—including GPT-4 from Open AI—with the business’s exclusive skill set. Cosmo, a Corgi dressed in spacesuits, is meant to respond to queries in light of the user’s level of experience with each subject and to provide guidance and support similar to that of a one-on-one tutor.
What is the reason behind CodeSignal’s development of a learning platform?
When the company was first established in 2014 as a platform for competitive coding, it was known as CodeFight. However, as it developed, the business focused more on technical evaluation, and in 2018 it changed its name to CodeSignal.
Tigran Sloyan, cofounder and CEO of CodeSignal, states, “Our mission has always been to discover and develop the skills that will shape the future.”
According to Sloyan, the platform is a logical next step since it enables users to gain the technical expertise that CodeSignal looks for in applicants. Because there aren’t enough people to hire and skills are changing too quickly, he says, “we have been hearing from our customers that hiring can’t be the only solution.” These clients now wish to improve the skill set of their current teams, and Sloyan thinks his platform may fill that knowledge gap.
Furthermore, CodeSignal Learn takes a practice-first approach in an effort to avoid conventional learning systems. “People learn through practice. We all instinctively know this, but the entire education system doesn’t emphasize this at all,” Sloyan says, notes that the majority of digital learning now consists of videos of other people practicing skills rather than assignments that students must finish on their own. CodeSignal Learn consists of 90% activities and 10% instructions.
Sloyan says that even with so much practice, some students are going to run into difficulties. Cosmo, the platform’s integrated, AI-generated mentorship, aims to prevent any discouragement at that point. Sloyan claims that the research of the late educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, who demonstrated that one-on-one tutoring is the most efficient method of learning, served as the foundation for Cosmo. Sloyan believes AI will be essential to enabling one-on-one tutoring at scale, as the high costs of traditional education make personalized tutoring largely unaffordable.
At the end, Sloyan hopes the platform will encourage people to pick up new skills even after their education is over, beyond just developing technical ones. The majority of people learn early on that they struggle with math. They begin to accept it, he explains. “Talent is not a gift in actuality. It is developed through practice.”