Udacity Nanodegree Review

There are a lot of platforms that teach you how to code. What is the best one? These platforms have various pricing models. Some are a lot cheaper than others. I understand how important it is to be cost-effective. I hope this Udacity Nanodegree Review helps you decide if you should investigate this platform.

As you can see from the screenshot below, Udacity has many schools, and these schools have mini-Bootcamp structured Nanodegrees to help you learn new skills. So what exactly is a Nanodegree in detail?

What is Udacity?

Udactiy was started in 2011 by two Stanford Professors who created their course, Intro to Artificial Intelligence, and offered it for free. From that one course, over 160,000 students from over 190 countries enrolled quite a big success.

The popularity took off as more offerings became available for new courses from the success of that course.

This platform has grown so much, it now offers 50+ Nanodegree programs centered around a specific topic, such as Front-End Web Development or Full Stack Web Development.

Free Courses

As of 2021, Udacity offers 188 free courses, but they are launching fewer free courses every year because the focus is more towards Nanodegrees. However, because of Udacity’s shift in focus to Nanodegrees, some of these free courses may be outdated.

If you want to learn in-demand frameworks, you may have to look at their Nanodegrees or find a course on Udemy.

JavaScript Design patterns is a free course that I took many years ago. The course was all about organizing your code with Knockout, which also has declined in popularity over the years.

Although, I would say that some free courses are worth looking at because they still teach you great fundamentals that will never be outdated. Even though they have 188 courses free of charge, it would be wise to pick and choose what courses you enroll in because many of them are outdated.

I have utilized Udacity’s free courses while I was at Bloom Tech for supplemental learning.

Nanodegree Curriculum

Even though the content of each Nanodegree may be different, they all have some similarities in it.

Career and Course Content

The most crucial aspect in choosing an excellent platform for those that want to break into the software industry field is career services.

Udacity offers LinkedIn Reviews, Github Reviews, Resume Reviews to improve your chances of finding a job. There are some changes that you need to be aware of. As of February and March 2021, career events and one on one career appointments were discontinued.

You can access the course content and career service for a year after graduation from the Nanodegree.

Nanodegree Price

Unfortunately, just like everything in our world, prices go up. When I paid for my Nanodegree, the price was about $199 per month, but prices have skyrocketed since then.

That is a lot of money. Don’t worry though, if you are really interested you can sell your kidney…LOL.

Are you still interested? Udacity does have flexible payment options, where you can finance your education.

Udacity does have scholarships to help you afford the courses you can find at the homepage’s bottom.

A few years ago, Udacity had a Nanodegree+ program that did guarantee you a job or your money back, but this was discontinued as of 2017.

No one knows the real reason that this program was discontinued. Still, you can assume it was because Udacity was losing money on this program due to people not getting jobs after the program, which leads people to question where Udacity’s loyalty lies.

Cancellation and Refund

You have up to 7 days after your first month’s charge for the Nanodegree to cancel and get a full refund.

If you cancel, be sure to pay attention and do it at least a couple of days before the next month’s charge goes through to avoid an accidental charge. I learned that the hard way.

Additional Support

Do you have additional questions? You can access more support and a FAQ section at the bottom of the website.

Testimony

Many people have found success with Udacity over the years and even have found jobs through their platform. There are many reviews that past and present students have posted on G2. You can also read more reviews below.

This screenshot is taken from their website, so that it may be a bit biased. There have also been bad experiences on the platform that users have talked about on Reddit.

So, it seems that users have mixed reviews about Udacity, so the reviews need to be taken lightly. In my opinion, the biggest concern is the pricing, even though this is still far cheaper than a lot of traditional Boot Camps.

My Experience

During my early stages in learning programming, I enrolled in the Full-Stack Nanodegree program. This was back in 2016. The Full-Stack Nanodegree was one of the first programs that Udacity had to offer.

If I remember correctly, the program did have excellent features, like code review by experts, projects, and a mentor. But, it didn’t have excellent career services at that time.

My Recommendation

Even though many free courses are dated, a higher percentage of people go to Udacity for their Nanodegree. If you want to enroll in classes that aren’t dated and don’t come with a hefty price tag, check out Treehouse or find in-demand courses for purchase at Udemy. If you want that credential, another great route would be to check out nucamp.

There are other great platforms that are less expensive then Udacity. Here are some more great platforms.

Next Steps

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• Have you had any experience with Udacity?
• What are things that stand out to you in this review?

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