Udemy vs Code School
When comparing Udemy vs Code School, the Slant community recommends Code School for most people. In the question“What are the best websites to learn to code?” Code School is ranked 6th while Udemy is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Code School is:
After each video, there are a series of challenges that give you a chance to apply what you just learned. The great thing about these challenges are that they force you to think through a problem, and use the new skills to solve it. It's not just regurgitating facts; it requires some effort.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Wide range of courses
If one course doesn't meet your needs, there is a sea of other courses to choose from.
Pro Value for money
A +10 hour high quality course for under $20 is great value.
Pro Regular discounts
Often run discounts 50 - 90% off resulting in sub $20 courses.
Pro Offers intermediate and advanced courses
Udemy offers plenty of courses for beginner programmers, but also has a large variety of more advanced courses to choose from.
Pro Some courses are free
Pro Courses available in over 80 languages
Pro Friendly community
Both on site and on various social networks Udemy aims to create a community of friendly people that can help each other out.
Pro Quality of top courses
The quality of top courses (+4.0 rating & high enrollment) is exceptional.
Pro Practice the code after each video
After each video, there are a series of challenges that give you a chance to apply what you just learned. The great thing about these challenges are that they force you to think through a problem, and use the new skills to solve it. It's not just regurgitating facts; it requires some effort.
Pro Paths for learning different skills
While you can jump into any video you like, there is also the option to follow a path for what you are wanting to learn. These give a nice direction if you are wanting to improve on a particular area and guide you into what to do next. They currently offer Ruby, Javascript, HTML/CSS, and iOS.
Pro Videos show how to build an app in real time
Soup to Bits is a series of videos that shows a developer creating an app from scratch in real time. It's easy to pause a video and follow along with the developer.
Pro Video tutorials
Videos give an overview of the course/lesson plan before a single line of code is written. This gives context and a general understanding of what is possible and how teaching will be approached.
Pro Fun and engaging teaching style
The instructors often use humour throughout the videos while letting their passion for the topic show.
Pro In-depth courses
Code School is not just for beginners to programming, but provides plenty of intermediate and advanced courses for students as their skills grow.
Cons
Con Quality varies
The quality control for the content offered is fairly limited. As there are so many different instructors offering courses on Udemy, many of which lack formal training and teaching experience since anyone can be a teacher on Udemy, the quality varies quite a bit between the different courses.
Con Most courses are expensive
While Udemy does offer free courses, most of them are around $100.
Con Difficult to take multiple (10+) courses at the same time
The system becomes messy and hard to follow if you plan on using the site to learn more than a handful of things at once.
Con Acquired by Pluralsight
Con Videos are of a tone that some people cannot stand
Con Requires paying to complete courses
Although the beginning of each course is free and you can see if you are interested in pursuing it, to complete the course you must pay.
Con A bit too basic
There is not a lot of advanced content.