By: Jacob Boyles

Software development is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative career options in the world, so it’s no surprise that many people are looking to get into the field. However, a big problem with learning software development in this day and age is the ability to find quality, affordable training materials to help you acquire these skills. There are thousands and thousands of blogs, videos, and other learning resources, so it can be extremely overwhelming for someone looking to learn a new skill or to help grow their current skill set.

I have talked to all kinds of people who have tried every way to learn web development. Some have gone back to school to try and get a four-year degree, some have tried video tutorials, some have attended code schools, and others have tried online platforms. One of the names that kept coming up in all my discussions with people was Udemy.

Udemy is an online platform for learning new skills. They have courses on everything you can imagine, from web development to game development and even health and fitness. After hearing Udemy mentioned so many times by so many people, I thought I would take the plunge and purchase a few of the courses to try myself. Courses right now have a great price for the value – as low as $9.99! Upon entering the site, I was immediately impressed by the sheer volume of topics they covered. They have classes and topics for developers in every phase of their career, and courses feature reviews from former students to help you decide what to sign up for. They have introductory level classes for people who are completely new to programming and highly advanced topics for CTO level software architects.

Prior to my current job, I worked as a software engineer instructor for one of the largest code schools in the world. So, I know what quality educational content looks like and the effort it takes to create it. With that being said, I came into this with pretty high expectations. I have to say, after taking a few of Udemys’ online courses, my expectations were pretty well exceeded. The courses I took were all well produced, high quality, and taught by instructors who were knowledgeable on the chosen subject they were teaching.

I took a few different types of courses to get a full breadth of what the courses entail for introductory level students and some more advanced level criteria. I have to say that I was very pleased with all levels of the classes I watched. The introductory level courses were well explained, easy to follow, and lead into other additional courses to continue your learning experience. There never seemed to be an end of content to continue your learning and to continue to expand your knowledge.

I also took some time to sit down with a few of our intern developers that we are currently working with and had them take a few courses. They came out of it with far more knowledge about the topics I assigned each of them and were able to start helping out on parts of our codebase that they weren’t able to help on before. Not only did they enjoy the classes I asked them to watch but they wanted to know if we would supply more for them to continue their learning.

I spend a lot of my free time helping people interested in learning to become software developers get started in their careers. Prior to being introduced to Udemy, I would send people to all different kinds of blog posts, web sites, and other online resources. However, after seeing the amazing content library and incredible pricing that Udemy offers its users, I am going to start recommending Udemy as the go-to source for anyone looking to enter software development or to continue up-skilling their current skill set. Their content library is top notch, the platforms tools are extremely easy to use, and the instructors are skilled and easy to like and listen to. I look forward to getting to spend more time exploring their content and taking some more classes to continue my own self learning. The best thing about software development is there is always something new and exciting to learn, and Udemy provides the perfect place to help scratch that itch.

