In this article Let’s take a look at 6 reasons why online coding courses and certificates worth it.
To let you better understand my points I will take the example of two major online coding platforms which are Udemy and Coursera and let you know reasons why online coding courses and certificates from these platforms are worth it.
So without further ado let’s get started
6 reasons online coding courses & certificates are worth it
Cheap & no need to commute
This is a no-brainer, one of the main advantages with online coding courses is it is very cheap and affordable for many people and there is no need to commute to new place for example if you choose a bootcamp then you will have to travel back and forth to the boot camp which takes a lot of time and energy but with online courses you can get your education in the doorstep right at the fingertips of your device.
Let us take a look at the numbers first, the computer science engineering degree in America can cost you around $80,000 for 4 years of education and of course the price depends upon each educational institution and if you want to get a boot camp of coding then it will cost you around $13,000 but if you only want to learn programming and coding skills then online coding courses are a good alternative to both computer science and coding boot camps because you can purchase online courses on platforms like Udemy and Coursera for around 100 to $500.
In terms of price Udemy is much more cheaper than Coursera and you get lifetime access to your course content both on Udemy and Coursera after purchasing them.
In my opinion coursera offers better courses compared to Udemy for programming, & for example here is a course of programming with Java and python offered by University of Pennsylvania, You can complete this course in less than 4 months with 6 hours per week duration, what is more amazing is it is less than $200 price and you can learn both python and Java and also get a certificate of completion of the course and you can get lifetime access to the courses videos which is really awesome.
You can also find similar courses of coding on Udemy both for free and paid and also certificates.
If you cannot afford the courses on Coursera then you can also apply for financial aid and scholarship programs because most of the courses you find on Coursera are created by universities such as Harvard Stanford New York University London University and many other universities and also from industry leaders like Cisco, Google, IBM, HubSpot, so you can get scholarship to get the course which is really great thing but unfortunately you don’t have any financial aid program in Udemy because it is run by individual people not universities or industrial leaders.
Work on your pace
Another main advantage of online courses is you can work on your pace and you can also create your own schedule as per your convenience to practise and learn coding.
The main disadvantage of a CS degree or a boot camp is of its time period and you need to follow a particular time table which may not be convenient to you because everybody has their own learning capabilities and concentration levels like some people would like to learn and practise things in early morning and some people prefer late nights like me.
This is where taking online coding courses is really worth it because you can download all the video lectures and files on your desktop and computer and you can watch them whenever you want without having any time restriction like you would have with boot camp.
Certificates & job opportunities
Another advantage of online courses is that you can get certificates after completion of the course and what’s really amazing about online courses is the certificates are really powerful for example if you get your online coding course from Coursera then because this platform partners with many universities and educational providers, industry address like Cisco so you can get your certificate from University such as Harvard Stanford yale and Michigan University & getting certifications from these universities is extremely powerful in your CV.
You can also share your certificates of getting your course on platforms like LinkedIn and many recruiters look at the linkedin profile of the candidates before hiring them and having a certificate of university can increase the credibility of your skills and increase your chances of getting a job.
It is also important to know that more than certificates your projects and your skills are what matters so don’t completely rely on certificates rather you should also have a bunch of projects you did earlier which you can show to the employer so that they can judge your skills and decide whether you are eligible for the job or not and also having projects in your portfolio help you stand out from the competition.
Frequently updated courses & support
Another advantage of taking online course is it is also frequently updated.
Because software engineering is a career option which is constantly changing and evolving with new programming languages and technologies so by purchasing courses on Udemy and course they are also frequently updated so you can get best and updated knowledge every time.
Finally, hand-in-hand with course updates, is the fact that Udemy’s instructors are available for Q&As(opens in a new tab). Udemy’s Q&A feature allows students to read previous answers from instructors, ask their own questions, or even answer questions for other students. This kind of support is a lot more helpful than reading a text or watching a video in a vacuum, but again the quality of support is totally dependent on the quality and commitment of the instructor.
You can also get your coding doubts solved on forums like stack overflow and reddit.
No age limit
Another advantage of taking online course is there is no age limit which means any person irrespective of their age can start learning code and programming by taking online courses so there is no hesitation of age and they do not have to attend any college so you not have any competition feeling as well.
This is a big advantage of online courses as compared to boot camps or normal college degrees because many people are still want to learn coding by looking at the demand and salaries of the programmers and want to make a career shift but they are confused if they can become programmer at age of 30, 35 or not.
The only thing to keep in mind is you need to be at least 18 years of age to create an account and use courses on Udemy, likewise, 13 years is the age limit for using courses on Coursera.
Let me tell you that if you properly dedicate a couple of hours everyday for at least one year then you can easily learn programming language, get some specialisation in any area like ethical hacking for example and get your certificates and build a portfolio and get a job in any tech company easily.
Change career fast
The last main advantage of taking online coding courses is you can change your career as fast as possible in less than 6 months if you want.
For example if you are in a real estate or any other career option and you want to switch into programming and software engineering then you can learn this programming languages in less than 1 years and become good at it through coding courses from coursera and you can switch your career into programming.
This is a great opportunity for the people who want to become software engineers because unlike this you cannot easily switch your career into other options for example you cannot easily become a doctor or surgeon pilot as it requires a lot of education and investment of both time and money.
But because the programming and software engineering knowledge is easily accessible for everyone through online courses you can easily switch your career into this if you don’t like your existing one but you cannot take online courses on how you can become a doctor or pilot.
the only drawback with online coding courses is that you will have to do a lot of self study which requires self discipline consistency and motivation because no other person will motivate you and you will have to create your own time table and you will also have less networking opportunities as compared to a boot camp and college so apart from that I do not find any major disadvantages.
Important note on buying courses online
there are also some disadvantages of taking online courses for coding like if you take coding courses on platforms like Udemy because there are many courses available it can become hard for you to choose anyone so I would recommend you to take a look at a bunch of things like reviews of the coding courses, how many people have enrolled in the course, look at the instructor and his credibility,
also look at the course content so that you can know what you should expect after purchasing the course, make sure to read the comments of the course in Udemy but thankfully all the courses you purchase on Udemy have a 30 day money back guarantee so you can ask for refund whenever you are unsatisfied with the course content and save your money and when it comes to coursera,
Coursera also has 14 day money back guarantee, what’s amazing about this is you will get your education from top universities and industry leaders so I would only recommend you to look at the reviews and how many people enrolled in the course before taking one and also look at if there is any scholarship available so that you can save your money for that course on coursera.
With that said let’s end the article.
Conclusion
These are all the things you need to know about online coding courses and whether they are worth it.
Do comment down on what are your thoughts about coding courses online in the comment section below and also share the article with your friends and subscribe to my blog to receive notifications regarding whenever I publish a new post in future.