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I've been a Pluralsight subscriber for probably over a decade now. Their content is awesome for getting up to speed quickly or just learning about a technology

I've been a Pluralsight subscriber for probably over a decade now. Their content is awesome for getting up to speed quickly or just learning about a technology without too much fluff. I do see though how AI is a huge threat to them. Using Claude 3 for coding and being able to ask questions about my specific issues and getting tailored responses every time to my exact issue (vs watching a general video and applying that knowledge through trial and error) has made me much more productive and also greatly reduced my reliance on using sites like Pluralsight to get up to speed/debug/etc.

burnte 2y ago
I agree that their products are amazing but having dealt with their sales staff last year and this year, I completely understand why they're underperforming. They're rude, sarcastic, always have a very take-it-or-leave-it attitude, and had a bad attitude when I asked about certain features, like I was wasting their time. I canceled talks for 6 months just to let the memory fade.
- DowagerDave 2y ago
  I got so pissed when they threatened legal action as a way to "entice" me to upgrade my individual subscription into a team license that I quit it 6 months early. Now at a new company I jumped at the chance to cancel a 90-seat annual contract and we have not had any complaints from the department.
  - burnte 2y ago
    Who do you use in replacement?
tivert 2y ago
> I do see though how AI is a huge threat to them. Using Claude 3 for coding and being able to ask questions about my specific issues and getting tailored responses every time to my exact issue (vs watching a general video and applying that knowledge through trial and error) has made me much more productive and also greatly reduced my reliance on using sites like Pluralsight to get up to speed/debug/etc. That seems like a learning cul-de-sac, sort of like trying to learn a city only by following turn-by-turn directions and never looking at a map. You're going to have no idea all kinds of things are even there. Also, this: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ethan-mollick.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas... > And reading the Sparknotes often would be enough to fake your way through the test, but it would not have any chance, like, not a chance, of changing you, of shifting you, of giving you the ideas and insights that reading “Crime and Punishment” or “East of Eden” would do. > And one thing I see a lot of people doing is using A.I. for summary. And one of the ways it’s clearly going to get used in organizations is for summary — summarize my email, and so on. > ...But what matters about reading a book, and I see this all the time preparing for this show, is the time you spend in the book, where over time, like, new insights and associations for you begin to shake loose. And so I worry it’s coming into an efficiency-obsessed educational and intellectual culture, where people have been imagining forever, what if we could do all this without having to spend any of the time on it? But actually, there’s something important in the time. > There’s something important in the time with a blank page, with the hard book. And I don’t think we lionize intellectual struggle.
- acchow 2y ago
  Learning/Coding with Claude 3/GPT4 is not like following turn-by-turn directions. It's like having a city guide next to you that knows everything about every street and the history of every building.
  - throwanem 2y ago
    How often does it tell you things you're glad to know but wouldn't have thought or known to ask about?
    - ApolloFortyNine 2y ago
      Very often, when I ask 'how do I do x' and had no idea how to do it in the first place. I know what your trying to say, but if you ask how to do your problem, instead of something like how do I use a for loop to do it, you'll be given a solution.
      - throwanem 2y ago
        Yeah, I've definitely seen it come up with API methods and the like, that I'd never have known to look for in docs. That's not quite what I have in mind here, though, but more how well LLMs tend to replicate the ancillary context that is available when reviewing documentation. My experience has been that they tend more narrowly task-focused than I do, although it occurs to me I don't think I've tried prompts around "suggest some solutions for the following..." In general, I still find it frequently surprising just how much subtle differences in formulating a question can yield significant differences in response.
        acchow 2y ago
        You can modify the system prompt to describe who you are and your ability level, and to instruct the LLM to fill in gaps of knowledge you wouldn't know to ask about.
        coffeebeqn 2y ago
elicksaur 2y ago
How regularly do you work in a new domain where studying on pluralsight has been helpful? Genuinely curious; I’ve used it when I started my current job, but haven’t thought to reach for it since.
- ado__dev 2y ago
  Eh I'd say 3-4 times per year where it's really useful, but a lot of the time i like doing some of their courses just to brush up on stuff I already know, and usually I walk away with 2-3 new things that I didn't know about the tech stack i'm working in.

burnte 2y ago

I agree that their products are amazing but having dealt with their sales staff last year and this year, I completely understand why they're underperforming. They're rude, sarcastic, always have a very take-it-or-leave-it attitude, and had a bad attitude when I asked about certain features, like I was wasting their time. I canceled talks for 6 months just to let the memory fade.

DowagerDave 2y ago
I got so pissed when they threatened legal action as a way to "entice" me to upgrade my individual subscription into a team license that I quit it 6 months early. Now at a new company I jumped at the chance to cancel a 90-seat annual contract and we have not had any complaints from the department.
- burnte 2y ago
  Who do you use in replacement?

tivert 2y ago

> I do see though how AI is a huge threat to them. Using Claude 3 for coding and being able to ask questions about my specific issues and getting tailored responses every time to my exact issue (vs watching a general video and applying that knowledge through trial and error) has made me much more productive and also greatly reduced my reliance on using sites like Pluralsight to get up to speed/debug/etc. That seems like a learning cul-de-sac, sort of like trying to learn a city only by following turn-by-turn directions and never looking at a map. You're going to have no idea all kinds of things are even there. Also, this: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-ethan-mollick.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas... > And reading the Sparknotes often would be enough to fake your way through the test, but it would not have any chance, like, not a chance, of changing you, of shifting you, of giving you the ideas and insights that reading “Crime and Punishment” or “East of Eden” would do. > And one thing I see a lot of people doing is using A.I. for summary. And one of the ways it’s clearly going to get used in organizations is for summary — summarize my email, and so on. > ...But what matters about reading a book, and I see this all the time preparing for this show, is the time you spend in the book, where over time, like, new insights and associations for you begin to shake loose. And so I worry it’s coming into an efficiency-obsessed educational and intellectual culture, where people have been imagining forever, what if we could do all this without having to spend any of the time on it? But actually, there’s something important in the time. > There’s something important in the time with a blank page, with the hard book. And I don’t think we lionize intellectual struggle.

acchow 2y ago
Learning/Coding with Claude 3/GPT4 is not like following turn-by-turn directions. It's like having a city guide next to you that knows everything about every street and the history of every building.
- throwanem 2y ago
  How often does it tell you things you're glad to know but wouldn't have thought or known to ask about?
  - ApolloFortyNine 2y ago
    Very often, when I ask 'how do I do x' and had no idea how to do it in the first place. I know what your trying to say, but if you ask how to do your problem, instead of something like how do I use a for loop to do it, you'll be given a solution.
    - throwanem 2y ago
      Yeah, I've definitely seen it come up with API methods and the like, that I'd never have known to look for in docs. That's not quite what I have in mind here, though, but more how well LLMs tend to replicate the ancillary context that is available when reviewing documentation. My experience has been that they tend more narrowly task-focused than I do, although it occurs to me I don't think I've tried prompts around "suggest some solutions for the following..." In general, I still find it frequently surprising just how much subtle differences in formulating a question can yield significant differences in response.
      - acchow 2y ago
        You can modify the system prompt to describe who you are and your ability level, and to instruct the LLM to fill in gaps of knowledge you wouldn't know to ask about.
      - coffeebeqn 2y ago

elicksaur 2y ago

How regularly do you work in a new domain where studying on pluralsight has been helpful? Genuinely curious; I’ve used it when I started my current job, but haven’t thought to reach for it since.

ado__dev 2y ago
Eh I'd say 3-4 times per year where it's really useful, but a lot of the time i like doing some of their courses just to brush up on stuff I already know, and usually I walk away with 2-3 new things that I didn't know about the tech stack i'm working in.