Check out our review of Udemy to learn more about their courses, costs, and student reviews.
Updated in 2023
- What does Udemy do?
- Who is Udemy for?
- What does Udemy cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Udemy
- Alternatives to Udemy
- How does Udemy compare to Pathrise?
What does Udemy do?
Udemy is an online platform with over 100k courses in a variety of subjects including development, design, IT & software, and marketing. Their courses range in specifics. Some focus on tools and languages, while others are “complete courses” to learn an entirely new topic. Courses range in length, experience level, features, and price. Users can filter based on these variables so that they find courses that fit their needs.
When users purchase a course, they gain access to pre-recorded videos as well as related articles and resources. These help them understand what they are learning. After finishing the course, students receive a certificate of completion. However, many of the courses do not have a project to denote success in the program, so these certificates are often not accredited.
Who is Udemy for?
People who are interested in learning a new skill or advancing their current knowledge in development tools and languages, design, marketing, IT & software, and additional topics would benefit from Udemy courses.
What does Udemy cost? How much work is involved?
Courses on Udemy range in price, from around $50 to $200. But, they often have coupons available online as well as large discounts that bring the price down. In fact, sometimes they bring the price down to $9.99 per course.
For the beginner and “all levels” courses, there are no prerequisites necessary. For intermediate and expert level courses, there are requirements before a user begins.
Ratings and reviews
The reviews online for Udemy are mixed. They have a very robust affiliate program, which means that they pay users to promote their content positively online. This also means they have a fair number of positive reviews and it is difficult to tell what is genuine.
People have noted that while taking the course, they are asked very frequently to leave a review. These users explain that is frustrating and they assume most of the positive reviews come from people at the beginning of the courses who just want to stop the notifications. Similarly, they found that negative reviews left on the course content are buried. This makes it more difficult for people to make knowledgeable decisions based on reviews.
Additional reviews state that the quality control is not that strong since there are so many courses. People find that some classes are helpful, but others are less informative or include incorrect or out of date information. People also have had negative experiences with the administrative side of Udemy. They think they are getting a discount but in actuality, they are charged for the full price. There is a lack of customer service to help them clear up the situation.
Alternatives to Udemy
As an educational program, there are a fair number of alternatives to Udemy.
- You can check out Udacity and Springboard. These online educational platforms can be used to brush up on the basics or advance current tech skills. Read more about Udacity and Springboard in our reviews.
- edX is one of the largest online learning platforms. They have courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT as well as big tech companies like Microsoft. Learn more about edX in our review.
- Codecademy is one of the most popular coding programs online. They provide free courses on many different programming languages. They also offer membership options ranging from $20 to $40. Learn more about Codecademy in our review.
- Similarly, Coursera, Pluralsight, Learn UX, Treehouse, Interaction Design Foundation, egghead, and Skillshare are popular online education tools as well.
- One of the most well known bootcamps is General Assembly. They offer full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on a variety of topics like software engineering, data science, UX design, digital marketing, product management, and more. Read more about General Assembly in our review.
- Aspiring software engineers and web developers can also consider CodeX Academy, a self-paced coding bootcamp with mentorship opportunities. Learn more about CodeX Academy in our review.
- Students can also consider Kenzie Academy. A full-time tech bootcamp, Kenzie offers in-person and online courses in 2 tracks: software engineering & UX design and front-end engineering. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
- Aspiring designers can consider Designlab. This online bootcamp that teaches the necessary skills to land a job as a UX designer. Read more about Designlab in our review.
- You can also check out Bubble no-code bootcamps to learn how to make products without coding. Learn more about Bubble in our review.
More alternatives to Udemy
- GrowthX Academy is an online bootcamp with courses in growth marketing, UX design, and sales and business development.
- If you are looking for a free online digital marketing resource, check out the short courses offered by SEMrush Academy, QuickSprout, Facebook Blueprint, or HubSpot Academy.
- Similarly, Bootcamp Digital, Digital Creative Institute, Somerville Academy, Skillcrush, and InternStreet offer tracks in digital marketing.
- Students interested in taking online self-guided or instructor-led product design courses can check out DesignerUp. Learn more about DesignerUp in our review.
- If you are looking for bootcamps, Lambda School and Coding Dojo are well known bootcamps where students can learn fundamentals of software engineering and data science.
- You can also check out Flatiron School, One Month, BrainStation, Fullstack Academy, Nucamp, App Academy, allWomen Academy, or Galvanize, which offer a variety of courses on similar topics.
- If you want extra help before a bootcamp, First Step Coding has a software engineering prep course.
- HackDesign is a free newsletter with lessons and tools for aspiring and current designers.
- Current and aspiring project managers can benefit from taking the product management bootcamp at Product School or the courses at Product Academia.
- Similarly, those looking to advance their product management skills and network with a community of peers can check out membership and classes at Product Gym or Mind the Product.
- For people with an interest in data science, Metis has part-time introduction courses as well as onsite and online bootcamp options. Learn more about Metis in our review.
- DataCamp, Dataquest, Promotable, and Data Science Dojo are also options for current and aspiring data scientists. They offer individual courses, as well as in-depth tracks.
- Coding Temple and RMOTR are Python data science and web development bootcamps, focusing on the fundamentals.
More options:
We created a list of the best resources to learn software engineering and data science, so you can decide what the best option is for you. You can also check out our list of 93 software engineering interview questions from top tech companies to practice.
How does Udemy compare to Pathrise?
Udemy is an online education tool, with courses for people who are interested in learning a completely new skill or advancing their current skills. At Pathrise, our fellows should already have a background in the field they are interested in because our technical curriculum is focused on preparing them for the types of questions they will see in their interviews.
All of our workshops and sessions at Pathrise are live, as well as recorded, so that our fellows can interact with the mentors as they teach and ask questions as they come up. We also provide personalized, 1-on-1 technical and behavioral sessions as well as resume and LinkedIn optimization, portfolio building and strengthening, cold email and reverse recruiting, and negotiation templates and guidance. Pathrise fellows never pay anything upfront and only after they begin working at a job they love do they pay their income share agreement.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. With our tips and guidance, we’ve seen our fellows interview scores double.
If you want to work with any of our mentors 1-on-1 to get help with your technical and behavioral interviews or with any other aspect of the job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
