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Reminds me of a scam surrounding recruitment (in armed forces) in India. 100s of potential recruits come to the recruiting event. So scammers would go around pi

Reminds me of a scam surrounding recruitment (in armed forces) in India. 100s of potential recruits come to the recruiting event. So scammers would go around pitching their services: give us 1000 rupees, and we'll get you in. If you are not selected, all your money back. In reality, they did nothing. If the guy got selected, they kept the money; if he didn't, they gladly refunded it. Easy money.

capex 11y ago
Well, Udacity is providing training for the money. The job guarantee is on top of that.
- sk2code 11y ago
  Well so many things comes to mind when thinking about this kind of guarantee. Location is one for example. If I am willing to live and work in Chicago but Udacity found me the job in Sacramento, CA will I be willing to move to CA. I don't think so and that makes me the potential candidate where my fee won't be refunded as I say NO to the job offering based on the preference of the city I choose to work/live in.
rdudekul 11y ago
For $299/month, Udacity does a lot of work. I took a couple of their courses (could not complete) and those courses take substantial effort to complete. If someone is motivated enough to go through their (in my view) rigorous program, I could see how potential employers would be interested. More over there seems to be a shortage of solid Android/iOS developers. Solid training with Udacity's Nanodegree would be a definite plus.
- osoba 11y ago
  Could you name a specific course you found too difficult to complete? My experience was the exact opposite - most Udacity courses seemed (disappointingly) lightweight. I remember taking their Object-Oriented JavaScript course, which is marked on their website with "intermediate difficulty", and completing it all in an evening.
  - rdudekul 11y ago
    It was JavaScript Design Patterns. Its not that the courses are difficult. Its just that they take time and good amount of effort to complete
grayje 11y ago
"Heads I win, tails you lose" The guarantee still doesn't prove that Udacity's credentialing process provides any incremental value above and beyond just taking the classes. Is it the knowledge, or the credential, that got you the gig? I'd like to see some kind of analysis comparing results for people who got certified vs. people who didn't. Any hiring managers in this thread? Would you ever hire someone, say, with no degree or a BA in English Lit or something and no experience for an actual development role, if all they had was one of these nanodegrees? Absolutely on the side of the 'disruptors' here, and agree that our existing educational model is hopelessly fucked from a cost-effectiveness and outcome perspective, but just not sure if it's worth it for someone to shell out $299+ for something that most employers won't recognize or value.
- abustamam 11y ago
  Front-End Nanodegree graduate here, and I recently got a job at a startup because of my final project with the program (neighborhood map--using Google maps and AJAX requests). My interview consisted of me adding a new feature to that project and explaining everything. Would I have been able to have gotten the job without the actual Nanodegree? To be perfectly honest, probably. However, the Nanodegree provides structure to a rather cluttered catalogue of courses (not entirely a bad thing). Worth $200/mo? (That's how much it was for me to do it at the time). It depends on the person. Certainly cheaper than something like General Assembly or App Academy (not comparing the two as they are entirely different things, but they have similar "guarantees"). But knowing what projects I had to do, and what courses I needed to take to prepare for those projects, made it much easier for me to go through the curriculum, rather than just taking ALL of the front-end courses, ALL of the AJAX courses, etc.
  - grayje 11y ago
    Congratulations are in order, whether or not the credential helped you get the gig :-) Based on your comment it almost sounds like your "portfolio" is what got you the job, not the certificate itself. But I guess where the coursework comes in is giving you a project that's a) feasible at one's current level of skill b) able to be completed in a reasonable timeframe c) demonstrates real development chops. Kind of a sweet spot that you might not get to without some external nudging. Personally I'm in a marketing role with some development aspects, but I'm trying to move into a more technical role in future and while I "feel" qualified to be a Python data hacker, I have nothing other than personal projects to show my skills. Might take a look at this.
runT1ME 11y ago
That doesn't sound too different than the american education system, except without the refund.
- chronic50 11y ago
  Except graduates from MIT and Stanford make $200K/year salary with a bachelors.

capex 11y ago

Well, Udacity is providing training for the money. The job guarantee is on top of that.

sk2code 11y ago
Well so many things comes to mind when thinking about this kind of guarantee. Location is one for example. If I am willing to live and work in Chicago but Udacity found me the job in Sacramento, CA will I be willing to move to CA. I don't think so and that makes me the potential candidate where my fee won't be refunded as I say NO to the job offering based on the preference of the city I choose to work/live in.

rdudekul 11y ago

For $299/month, Udacity does a lot of work. I took a couple of their courses (could not complete) and those courses take substantial effort to complete. If someone is motivated enough to go through their (in my view) rigorous program, I could see how potential employers would be interested. More over there seems to be a shortage of solid Android/iOS developers. Solid training with Udacity's Nanodegree would be a definite plus.

osoba 11y ago
Could you name a specific course you found too difficult to complete? My experience was the exact opposite - most Udacity courses seemed (disappointingly) lightweight. I remember taking their Object-Oriented JavaScript course, which is marked on their website with "intermediate difficulty", and completing it all in an evening.
- rdudekul 11y ago
  It was JavaScript Design Patterns. Its not that the courses are difficult. Its just that they take time and good amount of effort to complete

grayje 11y ago

"Heads I win, tails you lose" The guarantee still doesn't prove that Udacity's credentialing process provides any incremental value above and beyond just taking the classes. Is it the knowledge, or the credential, that got you the gig? I'd like to see some kind of analysis comparing results for people who got certified vs. people who didn't. Any hiring managers in this thread? Would you ever hire someone, say, with no degree or a BA in English Lit or something and no experience for an actual development role, if all they had was one of these nanodegrees? Absolutely on the side of the 'disruptors' here, and agree that our existing educational model is hopelessly fucked from a cost-effectiveness and outcome perspective, but just not sure if it's worth it for someone to shell out $299+ for something that most employers won't recognize or value.

abustamam 11y ago
Front-End Nanodegree graduate here, and I recently got a job at a startup because of my final project with the program (neighborhood map--using Google maps and AJAX requests). My interview consisted of me adding a new feature to that project and explaining everything. Would I have been able to have gotten the job without the actual Nanodegree? To be perfectly honest, probably. However, the Nanodegree provides structure to a rather cluttered catalogue of courses (not entirely a bad thing). Worth $200/mo? (That's how much it was for me to do it at the time). It depends on the person. Certainly cheaper than something like General Assembly or App Academy (not comparing the two as they are entirely different things, but they have similar "guarantees"). But knowing what projects I had to do, and what courses I needed to take to prepare for those projects, made it much easier for me to go through the curriculum, rather than just taking ALL of the front-end courses, ALL of the AJAX courses, etc.
- grayje 11y ago
  Congratulations are in order, whether or not the credential helped you get the gig :-) Based on your comment it almost sounds like your "portfolio" is what got you the job, not the certificate itself. But I guess where the coursework comes in is giving you a project that's a) feasible at one's current level of skill b) able to be completed in a reasonable timeframe c) demonstrates real development chops. Kind of a sweet spot that you might not get to without some external nudging. Personally I'm in a marketing role with some development aspects, but I'm trying to move into a more technical role in future and while I "feel" qualified to be a Python data hacker, I have nothing other than personal projects to show my skills. Might take a look at this.

runT1ME 11y ago

That doesn't sound too different than the american education system, except without the refund.

chronic50 11y ago
Except graduates from MIT and Stanford make $200K/year salary with a bachelors.