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An Honest Udacity Nanodegree Review | Is it worth it? [2024]
By Mo Mullah
LEARN THE LATEST TECH SKILLS
UDACITY
In this Udacity Nanodegree Review, I am going to share my personal experience of learning with Udacity along with its pros and cons and how it helps to land in a job.
Ratings :
4.5/5
Pros
- High chance of getting a Job
- Mentorship
- Career services
- Offers quality content
- Community and discussion forums
- Partnership with notable organizations
- Easy to use
Cons
- Slightly Expensive
- No Udacity App
- You lose access after graduating
- Free users get a relatively small amount of courses and other content
Hi everyone, I’m Akshay and I have been a Udacity learner for quite a while.
Having taken both free courses and paid nanodegree on Udacity, I think I am the right person to write this Udacity Review.
Here I’ll try to answer all your questions like
- Is Udacity nanodegree worth it?
- Will I get a job if I complete a nanodegree?
- How do employers recognize Udacity certificates?
In this 2024 Udacity Nanodegree review, you’ll discover:
Table of contents
- What is Udacity Nanodegree?
- Will I get a job after the nanodegree?
- Is Udacity certificate accredited?
- Udacity’s help in getting you a job
- Nanodegree Pricing
- Scholarship and Discounts
- Course Catalogue
- Is Udacity worth it?
A year ago, I wanted to augment my skill set and become better. I did my research to ensure the course I enrolled in is worth investing in.
Especially, I looked at reviews from Udacity graduates.
I wanted to know if they liked it, and also they were currently working.
This got me curious as some graduates were working at prominent organizations with good payroll. So I dig more.
To my surprise, I found that some of them working at Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
Back then, Udacity was running one-month free access to all its nanodegree programs.
The next day I was in.
In this Udacity Nanodegree review, Iam going to share what I liked, and what I didn’t like about the platform.
But before that let me explain what exactly Udacity nanodegree is
What is Udacity Nanodegree Program?
Today Udacity is one of the leading online education institute founded by Sebastian Thrun an ex-Stanford professor and also the founder of GoogleX.
Nanodegrees are online certifications which are cost and time-effective alternative to traditional degrees
In short, nanodegree programs are compilations of Udacity courses along with some projects and quizzes which are reviewed by Udacity’s reviewers.
The best part is you are assigned a mentor, and you can communicate with them through a Slack channel.
A nanodegree is similar to a regular degree with a much smaller timeline of 3 to 6 months (hence the name Nano).
This creative shows your entire journey after enrolling into Udacity
To create these courses, Udacity has partnered with companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Salesforce, etc.
For instance, the Machine Learning Nanodegree is created in partnership with a Kaggle and AWS(Amazon Web Service).
Also, for the Digital Marketing Nanodegree, Facebook and Google are active partners.
I enrolled in the UX nanodegree as I wanted to improve the user experience of this site.
The core features remain the same for all nanodegrees.
Will talk in detail about the outstanding features you get in the later section of this Udacity Nanodegree review.
I have also completed the Python free course.
This free courses act as introductory courses for advanced nanodegrees.
Being a data science aspirant, I am now planning to enroll in my next nanodegree from Udacity’s School of Data Science.
Also Read: Udacity Data Science Nanodegree Review
Now let’s talk about the most important part of this Udacity Nanodegree Review 2020.
Will I get a job after completing Udacity Nandegree?
Chances are very high that you’ll end up in a job within the first 6 months if you complete the nanodegree thoroughly.
This is due to the fact that, nanodegrees are curated to provide job readiness to its graduates as per the industry standards.
The projects you get are some of the actual problems the industry is facing at the moment.
For instance, in the self-driving car engineer nanodegree, graduates get to work on problems the Mercedes team is facing in developing a completely self-driving car.
Given the fact that their curriculum is focused on providing the required skill set and gives a complete understanding of the topic, you are most likely to get hired.
The significant part of the nanodegree programs is the practical projects, which show recruiters the exposure and experience you have that is applicable in the real world.
These courses are designed to simulate a real-world situation and instill self-confidence.
Ricky Gracia, a graduate of the React nanodegree said in his Udacity review
“Because of the nanodegree, I applied to companies that I would never have thought of applying to. And guess what, I got responses back, and I even have to turn down some of those”
I had to undergo a lot of research to get my projects approved.
I literally became a master at Google searches and reading documentation.
Also read: Udacity graduates success stories
Here’s one Udacity review of a graduate from basic Android developer nanodegree
So the answer is yes. Many have got a job with Udacity, and so can you.
Are Udacity Nanodegree Certificates Recognized?
Yes and no both, it depends on the employer.
If they knew about Udacity, they might be well aware that you have acquired the required skills from the program.
Hence the term ‘recognized’ needs to be defined here.
Although they are not recognized by universities, Udacity helps you to build a strong portfolio.
You can go to an interviewer and say ” Look I have built this, and this is what you are looking for”
Also, it depends on the field you are applying to.
For instance, in a field like programming, employers don’t care about your credentials, they will simply test you with a coding test.
My friend, you must have experience working on coding projects
Conclusion– We can agree that degrees and certificates aren’t widely recognized whereas Udacity gives you a habit of working on real-world projects.
If you’d like to learn more about Udacity as a whole, they have an incredibly easy-to-read FAQ section–or you can just keep reading this Udacity Nanodegree review.
Udacity's help in getting you a job
Udacity career services
This is an additional service offered by Udacity where they help you in preparing for job interviews and building a strong resume.
It includes the following
- Career Coaching
- Resume preview
- LinkedIn review
- GitHub review
Career Coaching being a new program has garnered a very positive response from the community.
Career Services – Udacity Nanodegree Review
Your career mentor helps you in improving your resume and gives personalized advice(not scripted) on how to use your network effectively.
With this, I can definitely say that services offered by Udacity are very close to job assurance.
This is one of the main reasons why Udacity is worth it in 2020.
Udacity Nanodegree Pricing
The pricing varies from course to course.
There are two different pricing structures
- A fixed price for 3 to 4 months Access
- Monthly plan of around $399 per month
Prices may vary a bit. Click here for the latest prices
In the fixed price model, if you need to extend the duration, you can continue by paying the monthly price and completing the program.
With such a huge price tag, you might be wondering why Udacity is so expensive. Let’s find out
Why Udacity is so expensive?
There are multiple reasons for this
- Udacity offers courses in partnership with notable companies.
- It gives you enough support to land you a job.
If you make use of all the services it provides, your money seems worth it.
It is expensive because of project reviews, and 1-on-1 coaching. It helps you get your resume and LinkedIn portfolio built up. Finally, the community is an incredible value.
In case you are falling short of money, don’t worry, there is some financial aid available, and they often run large discounts. Stay up to date with our newsletter to know when they happen!
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Scholarships and Discounts: Udacity Nanodegree Review
Udacity Scholarships
Have a look at Udacity scholarship page here.
If there’s any scholarship available you can apply for, go ahead.
If not, then fill out their form to get notified of future scholarship opportunities.
Here’s the latest scholarship available in partnership with Microsoft in Machine Learning
Udacity discount coupon code
Udacity frequently offers promotions ranging from 25-75%. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date when those happen!
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Udacity Nanodegree vs Free Courses
Udacity offers both free courses and advanced nanodegrees. For a breakdown of the best free courses check out our article here. For a list of the current nanodegree programs, go here.
It does not offer advanced features on free courses like Certification, Mentorship and Career Coaching.
These free courses act as prerequisites for the nanodegree programs.
Difference between free courses and Nano degrees
I have personally taken the python free course. And I must say it was really worth it.
The class was engaging and I got to learn all the fundamentals of python.
Free courses do not guarantee you a career in the field. But now I can say that I am ready to jump into the field of machine learning and data science with the exposure that I got from the free course.
As said earlier in this Udacity Nanodegree review that the Nanodegree comes with some advanced features. Let’s break down all pros and cons of Udacity.
Complete Analysis of Udacity Nanodegree Programs
Features of Udacity
Nanodegree = Lifelong Learning
Apart from high-quality content and a good user interface, there are three search features where Udacity stands out. They are
- One-on-one mentorship
- Community and student discussion forums
- Career services
1. One-on-one mentorship
The moment you enroll in a nanodegree, you are assigned a mentor.
These so-called ‘Gurus’ will guide you through your entire program.
They are the ones who will give you feedback on your products and are ready to answer any questions you have.
Your mentor will text you and get him/her introduced. Also, you get to know when they are online, so that you can text them accordingly.
Photo courtesy: Nicki Padar
You know projects are a significant part of your learning and having a mentor along amplifies it.
Personally, I didn’t make use of my mentor much, but I can say having a mentor is life-saving.
Many students lose interest while learning online due to the fact that they get stuck somewhere and have nobody to help out.
This is not the case with Udacity
Having a 1-on-1 mentor is the biggest benefit of Udacity.
This is how you receive project feedback from your mentor
This feedback helps in building your professional network and also your competency.
2. Community and student discussion forums
Udacity has a big community made up of its students and alums.
After enrolling, you get access to the community channels where you can talk with other students in the class including your mentor.
This community can help you in multiple ways, you can ask any question, seek some advice, receive support, and can even answer questions of other students.
You literally get the feeling of sitting in a classroom.
Sometimes it happens that your question has been already asked by some other student.
You can’t deny the importance of having a community of like-minded individuals
3. Career Services
Your Udacity experience does not end at graduation.
We have already discussed the efforts Udacity puts to land you your dream job.
Personalized features like this help you in your career goals.
All Nanodegree students receive this extensive career support, and they make sure you are ready to launch your job search with career coaching, interview prep, and a network of tech companies.
They ensure that their graduates have good career prospects.
Udacity's User Interface Review
From my personal experience, I can definitely say that Udacity’s UI is way better than any other MOOC’s.
Following course lessons are very handy and accessing tools like mental help and Peer chat is very easy.
Udacity provides quick access to the course outline. So that you can easily go to previous and upcoming lessons.
I have taken courses on Datacamp, Coursera and Udemy, but none of these courses has an interface equivalent to that of Udacity.
When it comes to UI, Udacity wins.
After I enrolled, I was asked to set up 3 months timeline for the program.
Here I had to select my project deadlines as per my convenience.
Found this feature quite interesting as you can plan your entire program in a stipulated time frame of 3-4 months.
Not only monthly but you can also schedule your timetable weekly.
I liked this feature, you will too.
How good are Udacity Instructors?
I found Udacity instructors professionals and extremely knowledgeable.
This might be due to the fact that they are the ones who have already worked in the industry for a long time.
When I went through their portfolio I found that some of the instructors came from notable organizations like Google and Facebook.
Let’s take an example of Sebastian Thrun, founder of Udacity, itself.
He is an ex-Stanford professor and was a lead of autonomous driving at Google.
Thrun himself teaches many subjects at Udacity like the self-driving car engineer nanodegree.
I learned Python from Juno Lee. She is a data scientist and has built several recommendation engines to personalize online shopping experiences.
My view: Udacity instructors are industry professionals with a huge knowledge base and are good at teaching.
Udacity Nanodegree Catalogue
All Udacity Nanodegrees are divided into 6 categories(schools).
In our Udacity Nanodegree review 2020, you can choose the nanodegree you want to enroll in.
The main areas of expertise at Udacity are as follows:
1. School of Data Science
- Data Analyst
- Data Engineer
- Data Scientist
- Data Streaming
- Data Visualization
2.School of Artificial Intelligence
- Artificial Intelligence
- AI for Trading
- Computer Vision
- Deep Learning
- Deep Reinforcement Learning
- Machine Learning Engineer
3.Programming and Development
- Android Basics
- Android Developer
- C++
- Front End Web Developer
- Intro to Programming
- iOS
- Java Developer
4.School of Autonomous Systems
- Flying Car
- Intro to Self-Driving Car
- Robotics
- Self-Driving Car
- Sensor Fusion
5. School of Business
- Business Analytics
- Digital Marketing
- Marketing Analytics
- UX Designer
What I didn't liked about Udacity
Although being a strong supporter of Udacity, there are certain things that I didn’t like about the platform and certainly I work with Udacity to work on them. Here’s the list
Cons of Udacity
- Udacity is Expensive
- No Udacity App
- You lose access after graduating
1. Udacity is Expensive
Udacity has certain disadvantages.
Its price is a bit higher than other online educational institutes.
For instance, you get courses on Udemy at as low as $9.99.
Also many Specializations on Coursera cost between $39-79 per month.
So why do Udacity Nanodegrees cost so much?
The answer lies in the services that Udacity provides.
Partnership with profitable organizations like Google Amazon Salesforce, providing mentorship to every student, and the help that you get in the career services adds up to the cost.
So basically you pay more for the services it provides.
If these services help you in landing a job, then I think it’s worth investing in them.
What do you say?
2. No Udacity App
Udacity used to have an app earlier but they removed it in 2019.
According to them, they are working on a better version of IOS and Android apps.
If present it would have been a handy tool for me to learn outside my home.
Although they don’t have an app at present, the mobile version of the Udacity website is not that bad. This is how it looks on mobile.
But I still prefer learning on my laptop because I could solve my coding quizzes in a much better way.
3. You lose access after graduating
Sometimes it makes me sad that I cannot revise my lessons after I graduated.
Yes, this is true. You lose access to the nanodegree once you graduate.
This is not the case with other platforms like Udemy. You get life-long access to the course once you purchase it.
I don’t know why this is the case with Udacity.
Maybe because they want to avoid misuse by accessing their nanodegrees through sharing accounts.
These are the 3 points from this Udacity Nanodegree review, I want Udacity to make improvements on.
Udacity Nanodegree Alternatives
Honestly, Udacity hardly has any competitors when it comes to job assurance.
But if you think Nanodegrees are expensive, here are few alternatives you can try out
- Coursera
- Codecademy
- DataCamp
Let’s compare one-by-one in this Udacity Nandoegree Review
1. Udacity vs Coursera
Coursera Specializations are closest rivals to Udacity Nanodegrees.
Especially when it comes to Machine learning, there’s always a tough competition between Udacity’s ML Engineer nanodegree and Coursera’s Andrew Ng Specialization.
Coursera also offers online degrees in partnership with universities. But they are very long and way more expensive than Udacity.
Why not try a nanodegree instead?
2.Codecademy
Codecademy also offers comprehensive programming courses. Having competitive pricing they are well identified with Java and HTML.you can also try out their courses on Python, PHP, and SQL languages.
3.DataCamp
Datacamp is a cheaper alternative to Udacity when it comes to Data Science courses. Well, Datacamp courses are designed for beginners and intermediate learners. You can learn fundamentals from Datacamp and later move to Udacity for advanced subjects.
You can also find courses on Udemy, Pluralsight and Edx.
Again, if you are looking at this from a job perspective, Udacity wins.
Udacity Nanodegree Certificate
Once you are graduated after completing a capstone project, you will receive a certificate from Udacity.
You can either view or print or share your certificate through your Udacity account.
Many people ask me ‘Is Udacity Certificate accredited?’
Well, it is not accredited by any university, rather it is proof that shows you have been through Udacity’s curriculum and that you must have gained the required knowledge.
You can add these certificates to your Linkedin account or your resume.
Show this certificate to your employer and explain your projects.
Congratulations! you might end up having a job
Conclusion: Is Udacity Worth It?
I don’t say everyone graduating from a nanodegree, will land up in a job.
It’s important to remember that any self paced course requires you to be self motivated.
You should be capable of proving to the companies that you are the right fit for them.
With Udacity you have a high chance of getting a job, hence I think its worth it.
Akshay Vikhe
Founder
I am is a aspiring data scientist with huge interest in technology. I like to review courses which are genuine and add real value to students career
Mo Mullah
Author at OnlineCourseing
