What is Udacity?
Udacity is a online course platform for profit, based on MOOCs.
That is, the Mountain View company offers education with online courses that are open to anyone who wants to enroll and can afford the associated fees.
During its creation and the last decade, the company has evolved from online learning at a reduced price from a university to a teaching platform offering fully-fledged “nano-degrees” on a large number of innovation skills (data science, cloud computing, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence, technologies, machine learning - machine learning, etc.)
Udacity Nanodegree program
These are studies with a degree similar to an ordinary degree, but with courses that are much shorter in duration, from 3 to 6 months (hence Nano).
These programs were essentially designed to fill a gap in the labour market. By teaching job seekers the skills businesses need now, in a shorter period of time and at a lower price than a college degree.
Most of the “Nanodegrees” offered by Udacity are based on technology. For example, coding, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. However, there are a handful of business programs in areas such as digital marketing, UX, and data analytics.
How does a Nanodegree work
Each lesson group is designed to become progressively more complex as the student progresses through the program and builds on the concepts explained in previous classes. At the end of the program, students will have completed a series of projects that can be compiled into a portfolio and added to GitHub.
The completion of each of the projects is necessary to obtain the diploma.
That means you need to apply what you've learned in the video lessons and follow the instructions provided.
Your completed project will be graded by an Udacity Project Reviewer (who will check if you have met all of the requirements described in the project section).
If not, you will be asked to correct your work and resubmit it. You can resubmit your projects as many times as needed to be successful.
To create these courses, Udacity partnered with companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and more.
For example, the Nanodegree in machine learning is created in partnership with Kaggle and AWS (Amazon Web Service). Likewise, for the Nanodegree Digital Marketing, Facebook and Google are active partners.
The basic characteristics remain the same for all Nanodegrees.
I'll talk about these features in detail in the next section of this Udacity review.
User experience
After registering, I was asked to create a three-month schedule for the program. Here I had the possibility to select the deadlines of the projects at my convenience.
I was able to plan the entire program in a time frame of 3 to 4 months. Not only monthly, but I also planned my schedule on a weekly basis.
I also opted for their SMS service, which sends me study reminders (I set it to noon). This service also includes project deadlines and payment reminders (which has proven useful).
Teaching style
I found their teaching style fascinating because they follow a specific model for teaching.
First, they explain the concept using a video course. The lessons last no more than 4-5 minutes (otherwise, I fell asleep during the long classes).
Then they describe the same concept in the form of a written text. After reading this, I had a better idea of the subject. It was a kind of revision for me.
Thirdly, and most importantly, under the written text, they launched a few quizzes taken from the video explained above, in the form of questions to be completed, true or false, or pairing.
Often, if I couldn't solve the quiz, I went back to the video or the text. As a result, I still remember the concepts taught, even after months.
Plus, they had their workspace under construction where I did the coding exercises. I have to admit that they made me code a lot. It was a bit difficult, but I was happy.
User interface
In my opinion, the user interface of Udacity is much better than that of any other MOOC.
It's very easy to follow lessons on the course site and access tools like mentor help and peer chat that can be used effortlessly.
I trained on Datacamp, Coursera, and Udemy, but none of these courses have an interface equivalent to that of Udacity.
When it comes to the user interface, Udacity wins.
How much does a nanodegree cost?
There are two different pricing structures:
- A fixed price for 3 to 4 months of access ($1400)
- Monthly plan around $399 per month
Remember that Udacity has a tendency to run promotions every few months. They are known to reduce their prices by a whopping 75%. It's worth keeping an eye on discount codes and checking out major commercial holidays like Black Friday.
Prices may vary slightly.
When it comes to cutting costs, if you're not working full time, it's good to know that it's possible to get a lot of entry-level nanodegrees, such as Introduction to Programming and Marketing Analytics, in four weeks.
If you put in 2 to 3 hours per day on weekdays, and 6 to 8 hours on weekends, you'll be in a position to complete your nanodegree in no time.
Udacity is expensive because of the project reviews, the one-on-one coaching, the help with building the LinkedIn resume and portfolio, the community you benefit from, and the increase in self-confidence.
If you are short of money, don't worry, financial aid is available.
Scholarships and discounts
Udacity discount code
They frequently offer promotions that result in a 10-15% drop in their prices.
If you want a 50% to 75% discount, I have one for you. All you have to do is buy the via course during the Black Friday period.
Hopefully, this Udacity review will help you in any way possible.
Udacity Scholarships
Take a look at the Udacity scholarships page here.
If there is a scholarship available, go for it.
If not, fill out the form to be notified of future scholarship opportunities.
Udacity Refund Policy
I am not happy with their refund policy. Because they have reduced the refund period from 7 days to 2 days. For a full refund, you must cancel the nanodegree within the first two days of enrollment.
I signed up for a nano-degree once and cancelled it within 48 hours. The refund was credited to my bank in two days.
Are Udacity Nanodegree certificates recognized?
Yes and no at the same time. That depends on the employer.
If they knew about Udacity, they would know that you had acquired the required skills. The term “recognized” should therefore be defined here.
You can go up to an interviewer and say, “Look, I built this, and that's what you're looking for. “
It also depends on what field you are applying for.
For example, in a field like programming, employers don't care about your credentials. They test you with a coding exercise.
If you want to learn more about Udacity as a whole, you'll find an FAQ section that's incredibly easy to read or you can continue reading this article on Udacity.
Career services
This is an additional service offered by Udacity. It includes the following items:
- Curriculum vitae overview
- LinkedIn review
- GitHub review
Career Services - Adacity Nanodegree Exam
Your career mentor helps you improve your resume and gives you personalized (unscripted) advice.
With that, I can say that the services offered by Udacity are very similar to employment insurance. That's one of the main reasons why Udacity is worth it in 2022.
Features
There are 2 features I would like to talk about:
- Mentoring
- Community and student discussion forums
1. Mentoring review
As soon as you enroll in a nanodegree, you are assigned a mentor. This “guru” will guide you through your program.
They give you feedback on your projects. And they also answer any questions you may have.
Your mentor will send you a message to introduce it to you. You'll also know when he's online/offline and can message him accordingly.
Photo: Nicki Padar
Projects are a very important part of learning. And above all, being accompanied by a mentor amplifies it.
Many students lose interest in online learning because they are stuck somewhere and have no one to help them. That's not the case with Udacity. Having a one-on-one mentor is the most important benefit of Udacity.
Finally, there was someone I could talk to. Here is how I received my mentor's feedback on the project.
2. Community and student discussion forums
After registering, I had access to community channels. I talked to other students in the class, including my mentor.
You can ask any question, ask for advice systems, receive support, and even answer questions from other students.
It's as if you were sitting in a live classroom. All doubts are discussed, and most of the answers are covered by these discussions.
Sometimes your question has already been asked by another student.
Udacity instructor level
I found the instructors at Udacity to be professional and extremely knowledgeable.
As I looked through their portfolio, I saw that some of the instructors came from organizations like Google and Facebook.
Take Sebastian Thrun, the founder of Udacity himself, for example.
Sebastian Thrun is a former Stanford computer science professor and was one of the managers of autonomous driving at Google. At Google, he founded GoogleX, which led to the development of the autonomous car and Google Glass. At Stanford, his team built a robot “Stanley” that won the DARPA Grand Challenge.
Its mission is to democratize education. Thrun himself teaches a variety of subjects at Udacity, such as the self-driving car engineer nanodegree.
Udacity Nanodegree certificate
After completing the capstone project, you will receive a certificate from Udacity.
Udacity graduates often develop a passion for lifelong learning, and that's where the true value of a Nanodegree lies. As a result, you'll rarely encounter a Udacity graduate with just one Nanodegree—many have two, three, or four.
FAQs
Is the Udacity nanodegree accredited?
Nanodegrees are not accredited by a university. However, you receive certification after successfully completing a nanodegree.
Can I get a nanodegree for free?
You can always check their scholarship page if they offer scholarships.
Is Udacity accredited?
This is not to confuse a nano-degree with a genuine undergraduate or graduate degree. Udacity is not an accredited educational institution. In other words, none of its programs can be used to transfer credits to a qualification acquired at a technical college or university.
Final Verdict
Overall, Udacity is one of the best online learning platform solutions for gaining practical experience with advanced technical skills.
I am not saying that every nanodegree graduate will find a job. It's important to remember that any self-taught course requires you to be motivated.
So, while the online learning market is crowded and new rivals are emerging every day, Udacity is a safe bet in terms of ease of use, high-demand technology course topics, motivation and follow-up, and career support resources.
Give it a try and make up your mind by registering by email now to develop your skills.
