I thought getting published on freeCodeCamp would be easy. I was completely wrong.

I recently got my first article published there, and the process surprised me more than anything I’ve done as an indie maker.

I assumed it was simple:
write a good article → submit → publish.

But it turned into multiple rounds of feedback and rewrites.

Some things they pushed back on that I didn’t expect:

• Too many bullet points → “feels AI-generated”

• Missing table of contents

• No real demo showing how the project works

• Even missing alt text on images

At one point, I had to rewrite entire sections just to make them feel more natural and useful for beginners.

What stood out the most:
They care a lot about how people learn, not just what you build.

As someone building tools, this hit me hard.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about features, speed, and UX — but not enough about how clearly I explain things.

This process forced me to slow down and focus on:

• clarity

• structure

• real usefulness

And honestly, it made me a better builder.

The article is now live:
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-browser-based-image-converter-using-javascript/

Curious — has anyone else here tried writing for freeCodeCamp or similar platforms? What was your experience like?