Illustration of a snowboard

Hi, I'm Kent C. Dodds, I'm a full time educator.

I make the world a better place by teaching people like you how to make quality software.

Get to know me in this full introduction video (8:05)

Share this video.

How I got where we are now.

I was born in 1988 in Twin Falls, Idaho.

After graduating High School and serving a 2 year mission in the Missouri Independence Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I went to BYU where I graduated with a Master of Science in Information Systems degree in 2014.

Read my full story
Kent working in nature

Early on in my career I decided I wanted to be an expert in JavaScript. So I set my mind on mastering the world's most popular programming language. I spent countless hours writing JavaScript for the companies I worked for as well as in the evenings for open source and other side projects. Eventually I even represented PayPal on the TC-39 (the committee responsible for standardizing the JavaScript language). I feel like I achieved my goal of becoming an expert in JavaScript, but I do need to keep up just like everyone else, which is an enjoyable challenge.

I've also always been excited about sharing what I know with others. When I was in school, I signed up to be a tutor for my classmates and once I even got Firebase to sponsor pizza for me to give an informal workshop about Angular.js to my fellow students. I was a speaker at the first meetup I ever attended, and I've now delivered over a hundred talks on topics including JavaScript, React, Testing, Careers, and more. One of my talks got noticed by egghead and I was invited to turn that talk into an egghead course. The rest is history!

Kent smiling covered in snow

Here are some of the values I live by.

Kindness

You can be the smartest and most skilled software engineer in the world, but if you're not kind to those with whom you interact, you'll never reach your full potential and you'll always be chasing the next thing to bring you happiness in life. Be kind.

Share knowledge

One of the biggest things that has helped me learn is by committing myself to sharing what I know with others. Between podcasts, blog posts, talks, and workshops, I force myself into situations where I have to be accountable to those I'm teaching to really know my stuff. And as a result, a lot of people have learned from me as well.

Collaborate with others

I've worked with a ton of developers in my role as a team member at companies I've worked at as well as in the open source community. I've found it to be invaluable to collaborate well with others. I value giving credit where it is due and celebrating the successes of others with them. We can accomplish much more together than separately.

I do talks all over the world.

Here are a couple recent ones.

See all talks
Kent speaking all things open
keynote
react
November 20th, 2024

Abracadabra: The Vanishing Network

Read more
web
September 13th, 2024

And Now You Understand React Server Components

Read more
keynote
web
remix
November 13th, 2023

The Epic Stack

Read more
react
June 30th, 2025

Code Europe 2025 Talk

Read more
A microphone and hands

I have had the privilege to do a lot of cool interviews and chats.

Check out my appearances on podcasts, blog and other cool stuff.

See all appearances

Here are some random fun facts.

Some unique things about me.

I have 11 brothers and sisters

Yup! There are 6 boys and 6 girls in my family. I'm second to last. No twins. We all have the same mom and dad. Yes my parents are super heroes 🦸‍♀️ 🦸

I can still do a backflip

When I was a kid, I competed in various gymnastics events. As of 2021, I can still do a backflip 🤸‍♂️

I've never had a sip of alcohol or coffee

It's a religious thing. That said, I do appreciate offers to go out for drinks! I'll just have a Hawaiian Punch thank you 🧃

I'm an Eagle Scout

When I was 14, I got my friends and scout leaders to plant 15 trees in a new park in town for my eagle scout project 🦅

I've written a novel

In 2018, I wanted to get good at telling stories, so I participated in National Novel Writing Month and wrote a 50k word novel in one month 📘

I listen to books and podcasts at 3x

I've worked my way up to 3x listening so I could listen to more. So far I've saved ~100 days of listening by doing this 🎧

Illustration of a Tesla Model Y

Curious to know the stuff I use?

I keep a "uses" page updated with the stuff I use.

Check out the uses page

Have a look at my writing.

These are the most popular.

See the full blog