I’ve been interested in education and technology all my life.

Treehouse is one of the educational companies that I most admire, not only because they have a superb product for teaching technologies, but because they have a culture that prioritizes a healthy work-life balance and location independence.

During late 2015, I decided to make an unsolicited “cover website” with ideas for projects we could develop together. Here’s the final website I sent them.

The website opens with a short personal video introducing myself and six directions for the future of Treehouse.

Research

I read a lot about the progress of educational technology companies and have been a Treehouse student since 2013. I had wanted to make a strong pitch to work with them for a long time, so I started reading their blog more often and writing down spontaneous ideas for improvements. It was a brainstorming session that spanned months.

Out of these ideas, I created six standalone projects. For each of them I carefully crafted:

  • A list of goals
  • An elaboration of the concept
  • How to measure its impact
  • What I personally could could contribute to it

This list closely mirrors Treehouse’s own process to propose a new project.

Making a website

HTML and CSS are easy in principle, but making a website from scratch always seems such a daunting task. You’re always wondering:

  • What are the latest standards, and how do I make sure I’m following them?
  • Will my site look as intended in every major browser?
  • What’s the easiest way to work with a grid?

I tackled these issues by getting a standards-compliant site builder called Foundry. I hand-coded the changes I needed without a hitch.

Pitching

I finished the site and personally reached out to Ryan Carson through his blog on a Sunday. Treehouse isn’t hiring designers at the moment, so I have yet to hear the official response.

Go see it!

It’s live at treehouseyoushouldhire.me.