Item: Udacity
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Udacity

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I used it personally. It was not tied to my company of employment. I wanted to add skills to my toolbox that I didn't have but was seeing pop up in one job description after another. Not having those skills was impacting my ability to even get a conversation with someone about these types of jobs.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Lesson structure is short, concise, and consumable.
Frequent quizzes ensure that you are grasping the content.
Projects are structured to ensure you are practicing the skills you learned in the lessons.

Cons

Quiz questions in some cases could be made clearer. I didn't feel the questions were always phrased in a way that I could easily understand what was being asked.
Requests for support can sometimes take a very long time to get resolved.
Cost structure changed from a fixed-price model to a subscription-only model, and prices are significantly increased as such.

Return on Investment

Taking the courses I took allowed me to list skills on my resume that have opened up conversations on jobs where previously I could not even have a discussion.

Usability

For the most part, site usability is great. I would say the only shortcoming from my end was when I needed support. Support responses were typically very slow, the few times I needed it.

Support Rating

When you could actually get a response, the support itself is fine. I got what I needed when I was finally helped. But as mentioned previously, the speed with which you get the support can be very slow. In one particular case, I had raised some support issue taking one course. I eventually moved on and figured it out, and ended up taking a subsequent course. It was only after starting the 2nd course that I got an answer on my support request from the 1st course (I want to say it was at least a month or more between when I raised the issue and when I got a response).

Alternatives Considered

I didn't use any other services like Udacity.

Likelihood to Recommend

Udacity is great for getting an introduction to, and thorough review of, concepts and skills that may be new to you. The lessons, quizzes, and projects are in most cases easily consumable and broken up into digestible chunks. It is self-paced so you can decide how quickly or slowly to proceed though there are fixed-terms in which you are supposed to complete the course itself.

Comments

Please log in to join the conversation

Udacity user experience review