If you’re an ambitious programmer or engineer, our Udacity review will explain why this platform might be an excellent choice for you. The courses on this website can help you gain additional knowledge and advance your career, and here you’ll find out exactly how.
Many people are skeptical about online courses, so we’ll take an in-depth look at all the relevant information about Udacity: its features, benefits, prices, ratings, customer reviews, and everything else you should know before deciding if it’s the right fit for your needs.
So, let’s talk about Udacity.
Pros & Cons
Pricing Plans
Udacity Nanodegree Programs
$399
Billed Monthly
Udacity Courses
Free-$800
One-time payment
Udacity is a massive open online course (MOOC) platform that offers hundreds of courses to learn and improve specific skills. It provides various programs that consist of detailed video lessons, quizzes, tests, and other educational materials to enable students to learn about specific subjects in great detail.
As Udacity’s courses mostly concern computer science, business, and AI, people who aren’t particularly interested in these fields should probably avoid using this platform and find some good Udacity alternatives, such as Coursera, for example.
With its specialized study programs, Udacity is a great source of knowledge for anyone who wants to know more about data science, programming, machine learning, AI, and the like. It’s especially recommended for people who want to find a job in the industry or improve their career prospects.
Udacity isn’t only for professionals, but for students, too, as it provides scholarships and other similar programs. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly Udacity offers to its users.
Udacity Nanodegree Review
Nanodegrees are groups of approximately 4–10 related courses that explain one topic in detail. They can last from less than a month to more than three months, and you can also do them at your own pace. There are currently more than 40 nanodegree programs on Udacity.
All available programs are sorted into seven categories: programming and development, AI, cloud computing, data science, business, autonomous systems, and career. Not every category has the same number of programs.
Users can get a Udacity certificate only if they finish one of these programs or a paid course, as free certificates haven’t been available since 2015. Udacity is a private institution, so the certificates it provides aren’t accredited.
Still, Udacity has a tremendously good reputation among prominent companies, which means that the lack of accreditation shouldn’t worry you.
Apart from the programs for individuals, Udacity offers customized enterprise plans for companies in need of training and learning programs for their employees. Organizations can sign up for a consultation with Udemy’s professionals to decide on the best program for their particular needs.
Udacity Course Review
Udacity’s courses are practical, and the education got on the platform can instantly be applied practically. The lectures are presented as videos, most of them with English subtitles. Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, and several other languages are also available on some courses.
This platform offers both paid and free courses. Some of them are part of nanodegree programs, but others are available individually for those who want to take just one or two courses. As previously stated, Udacity no longer provides free certificates. You will have no proof that you’ve completed a free course, but you’ll still gain valuable information. You can browse the complete Udacity course catalog on the website and easily find a suitable course with Udacity’s filter options. The platform develops its content in collaboration with prominent partners, such as Google, Nvidia, Mercedes, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The length of an Udemy course for an average learner is around one month (assuming you’ll be working 5–10 hours every day). It’s always possible to ask a mentor for help if you have any issues. The mentors are available 24/7.
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Udacity Scholarships and Financial Aid
Udacity provides scholarship programs to people across the globe. The scholarship sponsors include Google, AT&T, Lyft, Accenture, Intel, and Bertelsmann. The platform doesn’t accept any local, state, or federal aid for its courses and study programs. Their scholarships are the only available form of financial assistance for students who need help to complete their desired course or nanodegree.
Udacity Job Placement
After you successfully finish a nanodegree program, finding a job shouldn’t be difficult. With Udacity’s help, you can prepare for a specific job in the industry, and you may even get hired by companies like Amazon, DiDi, IBM, BMW, and many others.
Completing a nanodegree program and becoming a part of Udacity’s community can expand your network and help you get noticed. You can also work with an experienced coach who will help you map out your career path and create a perfect resume.
Udacity Career Services will also provide tips on strengthening your LinkedIn and GitHub profiles as they are another crucial element of your portfolio. With all this said, Udacity can’t guarantee you that you’ll get a job after completing their program.
There was a Udacity Nanodegree Plus option that would refund all your money if you didn’t get a job with the platform’s help, but that option hasn’t been available since 2017. However, to make your job search easier, Udacity collaborates with some job boards and search engines, such as AfterCollege, Unity Connect, and Dice.
Ease of Use
When it comes to user-friendliness, Udacity users have almost no complaints. The website is neatly organized, the filter option sorts all programs instantly to help you find the perfect course, and technical issues rarely occur.
Apart from the design, the best thing about Udacity’s website is its layout. While some might find it too plain or generic, it’s very intuitive and ensures good service. It’s also important to note that the learning process is almost entirely individual as there’s little-to-no contact with other students. The only thing Udacity users complain about is the lack of technical support for free courses.
Udacity Pricing
Udacity is relatively expensive compared to its competitors. It costs $399 per month for a nanodegree, which means that some longer nanodegree programs can cost you more than $2,400, while some paid courses can cost around $800.
Nevertheless, the pricing system is quite straightforward, so you don’t have to worry about hidden fees, additional costs, or anything similar. For example, a six-month nanodegree program will cost you $2,034. That’s if you pay upfront, in which case you get a sizable discount. According to Udacity’s pricing policy, you can make upfront payments using PayPal and credit or debit cards.
You can also pay in monthly installments, as mentioned above. If you opt for that, you can use either PayPal Credit or Affirm. With the latter, you can create a monthly loan plan for 3, 6, or 12 months. However, keep in mind that interest rates can be as high as 30%. Also, some nanodegree programs offer one-month free promotional campaigns, so make sure to take advantage of it.
Best Udacity Courses: Online Reviews and Ratings
Let’s look at how students and professional reviewers have rated Udacity on other websites. Udacity’s score on E-Student is an excellent 5/5. The only two disadvantages they point out are the lack of an official app and insufficient practical exercises for some nanodegree programs. Otherwise, their review of the platform is glowing.
UpSkillWise has given Udacity a slightly lower score of 4.3/5. As stated in the review, the two significant drawbacks are the lack of accredited certificates and the absence of a mobile app, though you can still access the platform’s website on your phone. Still, UpSkillWise also recommends Udacity.
The Udacity Digital Marketing review on Online Course Tutorials talks in-depth about this very popular nanodegree program. It’s also ranked second on the BitDegree list of best Udacity nanodegree programs, right behind their UX nanodegree.
Udacity’s overall score on BitDegree is 9.4/10. According to the review, the most significant advantage of Udacity is the high-quality of its content along with the to-the-point information it provides. The reviewer concludes that Udacity is an “amazing e-learning platform.”
Another popular nanodegree program is the one on machine learning. According to BitDegree’s Udacity Machine Learning nanodegree review, this program will help you acquire advanced knowledge of the subject. However, some previous experience with Python programming and machine learning is mandatory.
Of course, user comments are the best way to truly know everything about this platform, but it’s also important to seek such comments on verified websites only. There are numerous comments from Udacity’s students on SwitchUp, where the platform’s overall score is a very high 4.65/5. Overall, users state they’ve learned very much from both Udacity’s free courses and paid programs.
Refund Policy
Getting a full refund is possible only within the first two days of enrollment. You can get a full refund only once, meaning that if you re-enroll in the same nanodegree program or any other program or course, you won’t be able to get your money back.
After the two-day refund period, you can cancel the monthly subscription anytime, and you won’t be billed for the next month. There’s no Udacity student discount, and the platform doesn’t offer any partial refunds.
A significant disadvantage of this refund policy is that users can’t really try the platform out, as two days might not be enough time to decide if Udacity suits them or not. There are also some complaints concerning the refund policy. According to some users, asking for a refund may prove tiresome as the operator will try to persuade you to give up on your request.
Udacity Review: The Final Verdict
Based on all the information in this review, we can say that Udacity is definitely worth your money if you want to invest in your knowledge and like the programs it has to offer. Despite the lack of accreditation, its certificates will undoubtedly help you find a job, possibly in very prominent companies. If you need more diverse content, you can always check some other online learning platforms.
It’s not the most affordable option out there, that’s clear, but investing in quality knowledge will surely pay off in other ways, such as getting a promotion, a raise, or better career opportunities. If you’re still unsure if this is the right e-learning platform for you, you can use the two-day full refund period to try it out.