Udacity
Is This Your Business?Author: Kaitlyn Short
Udacity is a learning platform that provides a suite of courses that walk students through mastering job-ready technical skills. The company was founded in 2011 after two Stanford instructors offered their “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” course online to anyone free of charge as an education democratization experiment. Udacity’s mission is to offer world-class, flexible, and affordable higher education opportunities around the globe.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Nanodegree Programs
- Variety of Courses Offered
- Udacity for Enterprise
- Free Courses
Nanodegree Programs
Enrollment gets users on the path to a particular degree by mastering in-demand skills and tools, creating real-world portfolio projects, and networking. The schools in the nanodegree program include Programming, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Systems, and Business; each offer several unique courses:
Variety of Courses Offered
Udacity offers courses covering a number of trending topics and growing industries:
- Self-Driving Cars
- Virtual or Augmented Reality
- Mobile Development
- Robotics
- Design
- Google Analytics
- Deep Learning
- Full-Stack Development
Udacity for Enterprise
Udacity provides training solutions for companies and organizations looking to retrain and upskill their employees in technical skills instead of spending time and money to hire new employees. Udacity for Enterprise currently offers Nanodegrees, or series of courses, in several subjects. Some of these include: data science, machine learning and intelligence, business and marketing, web programming, cutting edge technology, and mobile programming.
Employees lead themselves through courses that begin with pre-assessments to measure their starting knowledge. They then work through instructional videos and real world hands-on projects. Employers can access dashboard and progress report tools to check employees' progress.
Business leaders can sign up for a free consultation to learn more.
Free Courses
As of May 2019, Udacity offers 198 courses completely free of charge.
The Bad
- Short Refund Window
Short Refund Window
Udacity’s payment terms state that once a course term begins, students have seven days to request a full refund for quitting a course. After the seven days have passed, a student can still disenroll, but loses access to mentoring service and does not receive any refund.
The Bottom Line
Plenty of online training companies offer courses for practical common skills as well as training in the arts for both professional and personal pursuits. However, few companies offer the scope and depth of coursework for in-demand technical skills. Udacity prepares students for tech-industry careers and even offers many of its courses for free.
