Skillcrush

This online class teaches one to be remote and accountable. I read some bad reviews and thought, too bad. This type of learning isn't for everyone obviously. I joined because I was trying to learn coding on my own, thru udemy and treehouse, men taught... Read More the course and not much why, just do this and do that stuff. I had doing some coding but no idea.
You truly get in what you put in. I have struggled some since I am new to coding. The staff is always there to help I have found. I read where some people thought the UX part was fluff. seriously? How your website looks is not fluff.....if no one wants to see it or use your application, then you will understand all about use ability. hmm.

It is different because you do short lessons and then a few exercises. Always a fun video, instructions on what to do and then exercises.
NOTHING just pops up. Sure its not going to get you a 4 yr degree in a discipline but the monthly cost was worth it for my learning style and to have an understanding of what I need to know, why and what is next. Invaluable resource also for the blog and free resources. They are always posting helpful articles on breaking down job requirements and how to write a great resume cover letter, tips on interviewing from actual people and very current.

Just do CodeAcademy. It's free and you can now get support for $20 a month. This course started out okay for me but if you need techinical help, like with your account it takes DAYS for anyone to back to you. The actual interface that they use for you... Read More to do challenges in all parts of the course are messy and confusing. The lessons themselves aren't explained very well, especially the Javascript portion. I got through the css and html okay but I pretty much had to drop out when it got to the Javascript (which I am now learning using other programs and books). They also spent way too much time on fluffy stuff like how to use photoshop which, sorry but that's not what I signed up for. They spend a whole week on design and typography, which I do think is important but not as important as learning CODING which is what the course is supposed to be for. They even go over color theory before they freaking teach you how to code! I mean sure, teach design, but at least wait until your students can actually make a website first! This is also super irritating for me because I actually have a bachelors in fine art and have taken typography, color theory and design classes already. Such a waste of my time and $! It reminds me of a photoshop professor I had who would always say, " I am just here to teach you how this program works, I cannot give you creative talent, I cannot make you an artist". They needed to focus more time on the coding. They should teach design separately. It's true that everyone can learn to code but not everyone is going to be good at design! They make you think that anyone can be a great designer after taking a three month course. Can you learn to code in three months? Yeah. Does that automatically mean you will be a talented web DESIGNER? Hell No! Sorry, I worked really hard to put myself through a fine art school so that really gets my goat. They push a lot of their favorite products, without mentioning that you don't have to actually use those products. It was too easy for the first couple of weeks and then when I got to the Javascript part it was overly confusing. And I can't stress enough how messy the interface is. Also, I signed up for the mobile web design course by accident and made it a few weeks into the course before realizing I needed to know HTML and CSS first. They did switch me but it did take at least a week for anyone to respond to my questions. I learned how to use GIT during that time which is cool and was easy enough to understand. But during that course they definitely favor Mac over PC. And that sucks because when you are using Command-line interface to program,Mac and Pc don't work in the same way. All of the examples and videos show someone working on a Mac and they don't show examples of what it looks like on PC. For some of the excercises they mention how the two differ, but most of the time they are just like " this is different when you do it on a PC, sorry!". I now realize that there are so many FREE options that are much more intuitive and easy to understand than Skill Crush for learning html, css, javascript and any other programming languages that you don't really need to spend $350 on a Skill Crush course. All of the paid programs that they suggest that you use have a million other alternatives. I like the community part of it where you can interact with other users but that's pretty much it.

I love Adda's message, and she's a talented writer and coder. But I had technical problems the farther I got into the Web Development course. Quizzes would popup days after I had finished related sections. Also, new class sections popped up that I hadn't... Read More seen before but needed to understand the lesson I was viewing.

I tried MightyBell for class questions, but I guess I wasn't linked by the staff to receive daily emails. I needed to contact staff too many times when I couldn't download material, which they then sent to me by email.

Very frustrating, because the website was well designed. Just didn't work for me due to too many technical issues.

I already do website maintenance (html/css) in my career, but I wanted to step it up and add to my skills so I could branch out. I thought the Web Development blueprint would be an easy and affordable way to advance. I liked that it was flexible and I... Read More could do the lessons as I pleased. I was wrong. While the lessons are laid out nicely, clean, and seem short, they are not completely useful. They contain very short video lessons--I'm talking 3 minutes or less--and simple diagrams to teach. It seems logical in theory, but it doesn't work in practice. While there are a lot of basic resources and cheat sheets to refer to, it isn't enough. You really can find that information for free online, plus more!

I breezed through the HTML/CSS portion because I am familiar with that, but after starting Javascript, I was totally lost. It made me feel as if I was stupid and incompetent, but really its caused by the lack of explanation and information on Skillcrush's part. There just wasn't enough guidance! There are so many holes they expect you to fill on your own. They literally instruct you to "google" how to do certain steps when they don't take the time to explain them in lessons. The majority of the lessons told you really simple information and then you were left to put the pieces together and magically create something out of scratch. So a 30 min to 1 hour lesson would take hours to complete. What a deterrent!

There is no way someone who is a complete novice could successfully begin a career in web development after finishing these courses. That claim is such a joke. Employers would scoff at this resume if you brought this lack of skill to them. Even though Skillcrush claims you will have a polished, impressive portfolio at the end of Part 1, you get basic HTML & CSS to make a one page site with a few paragraphs and pictures. That's not acceptable in the modern web anymore and honestly is something you should expect from 1998. I got completely frustrated with how much the lessons leave you sitting in the dark that I haven't even finished the 2nd part of the blueprint. I suspect the third and final portion will be the same way.

There is a support system of other peers which can be nice, but I found the Mighty Bell platform to be very confusing. Most of the time the students questions would go unanswered by the instructors and we were left trying to answer each others questions without any confirmation. My instructor was constantly late posting or posted the wrong week and took far too long to correct the mistake. That made learning even more confusing. The office hours were always at odd times...always during the weekend. I couldn't make any of them. It would be more useful if the office hours were during the week in the evenings.

Overall, I was disappointed with what I got out of Skillcrush for the $400 price tag. After giving up on Skillcrush, I picked up a Javascrip & JQuery book and felt more informed after reading it for 30 minutes than I did pulling my hair out for 2 weeks in the lessons. The lessons can help you start understanding websites, but I wouldn't use it to change your career....because it just simply does not give you that knowledge. I will say that the blog has a lot of great ideas and guidance on changing your career and how to get started. A++ in that aspect, but the lessons are terrible and were a waste of money.

Offers nothing that isn't available for free hundreds of other places online, and charges more than even the best courses. All for something that dumps you out... not far from when you started. These courses aren't even beginner's courses, they're basic... Read More introductions and nothing more.