Udacity, a Global MOOC provider launched Nanodegree courses across the globe which is totally changing the Educational system. Actually a great effort of Google X Founder Sebastian Thrun, CEO of Udacity. Hats off to you Sir!
The courseware provided by Udacity is very polished and developed with Top minds from Google and Udacity. All the courseware provided by Udacity is free of cost, but they charge Rs. 9800 per month for the certification, 24×7 instructor support and project reviews and other robust services offered by them. For a newbie it takes around 6 to 10 months to complete the course; however you can complete it before that as well. Udacity also offers 50% refund in tuition fee to the students who graduate within 12 months.
Last year Google India and Tata Trust announced 1000 scholarships for Indian students who want to build up a career in the field of Android Development. I was among those 1000 students who got the scholarship. When I got the mail from Udacity, I was pretty excited to start my journey as a student in Android Developer Nanodegree program.
In the course, there are 8 projects which need to be completed to become a graduate of Nanodegree. Most of the projects revolve around Sunshine app which covers all the basic parts of android application development. As I had completed “Developing Android apps: Android Fundamentals” already in the Developer study jams session by Google Developers group – Bhubaneswar, It took me one week to complete project 0 and project 1.
I was quite amazed to see that both of my projects got reviewed within 15 minutes of submission. The review was very detailed covering each part of my codes. The reviewer also provided me some suggestions and explained the quality of my code. Even in the 4 year graduation courses, they don’t provide us this much detailed review. Fantastic!
The discussion board of Nanodegree students looks like a knowledge base. Even sometimes I got my questions answered faster than Stack overflow.
They also provide career reviews to their Nanodegree students, which is a good way to teach them how to work in the fast paced industry.
Pros:
- Robust courseware developed by Industry leaders.
- 24×7 instructor support.
- Awesome webcasts (Really these webcasts provide lots of information).
- Discussion forums, Group chats & meet ups.
- Career reviews by experts.
- Off course “The Nanodegree Credential”!
Recently Udacity partnered with Flipkart to have Interview less placement service in which Flipkart is going hire Nanodegree students based on their performance and projects done during their Nanodegree Studies. This is great news for the once pursuing Nanodegree currently. Common! Just imagine a World with ZERO job interviews!
Lastly, Udacity courses are worth of a try if you have dream to work with the top guys in the tech industry. Hope to see you with us soon!
“If you Dream it, You do it.”
