Skillcrush

I have been so impressed with the entire Skillcrush experience, from the moment I signed up for the first free emails right through to the excellent tuition I am now receiving on the Front End Developer Blueprint, I have felt hugely motivated and supported by the Skillcrush team. The accessibility and quality of the lessons makes learning a joy - the course is structured very thoughtfully, so that each new challenge feels perfectly pitched to give you a sense of real progress without overwhelming you. I feel like I have a team of cheerleaders on my side, willing me to succeed and boosting my confidence, which is so important to me as an anxious coding newbie!

Having previously tried to learn to code using free online resources, I cannot stress enough what a difference it has made to have Skillcrush's help in navigating through the vast swathes of information and jargon that can be so intimidating and confusing if you don't have a trustworthy guide - I really think that it's worth paying the very reasonable Skillcrush tuition fees to have access such inspiring and well-paced courses.

I really appreciate the way that the lessons can be completed on a flexible schedule and I have had no trouble keeping pace. Aside from giving you access to Skillcrush's own resources (including downloadable cheatsheets and guides), I love the way the course integrates and references other resources that are available online - the expertly curated list of links and suggested reading is really helpful and reinforces the sense that you're joining a wider coding community all working together for a better tech future for everybody!

As an international student (I'm in the UK), the only downside is that some of the job-seeking resources are focused towards those looking for work in the USA, but that is a minor quibble and Skillcrush has given me the confidence to reach out to find local networking opportunities.

For anybody considering learning to code, I cannot recommend Skillcrush highly enough.

This is a great course for a busy single parent like me! I took a few web development classes at a nearby community college after my divorce, but didn't feel confident afterwards to practice what I had learned. In just two weeks, this HTML & CSS course has elucidated several concepts that have been deterring me from exploring this field further. I signed up for the class on a whim, or perhaps a gut instinct, and I'm so happy I did.

The lessons don't take much time and they are easy to follow. They're also full of online resources that I have been bookmarking like mad. I am already envisioning some made-from-scratch sites I can build where I can practice these skills. My interest in web development and programming in general was quite strong when I was trying to decide what to do professionally after my divorce, but I was so underconfident and worried about making mistakes that I couldn't get anywhere. Now I feel like I have the confidence to move forward and see what I can do with my skills, and see what else I can learn. I also feel more confident about trying out web development professionally, once I have some kind of portfolio under my belt.

Overall, the course is well thought-out and comprehensive, organized and completely do-able. I've seen a lot of training videos on Treehouse and Lynda that are dry as toast and just a tad standoffish, so I also appreciate the occasional humorous asides built into Skillcrush's lessons.

Well done, Skillcrush!

I am currently enrolled and participating in the FED blueprint and I will be enrolling in the Wordpress Developer Blueprint once I'm done. But I am so glad and fortunate that I took the chance to enroll in a Skillcrush program. I initially tried to "teach myself" code, but I lacked focus and a clear cut structured path. Skillcrush gives me just what I needed along with an amazing group of others seemingly from all over the world. I enjoy the lessons. They are somewhat fast-paced, but still allows you to work at your own pace. I just like to keep up. There are quizzes at the end of each lesson plan to test your knowledge, plenty of examples on the assignments and it pretty much walks you step-by-step. During my week break I will go back over the lessons to make sure I'm feeling really comfortable with what I've learned so far. I can definitely say that Skillcrush has given me a brighter outlook on my future in technology and I couldn't be more pleased. 

If you're contemplating on a structured path to get your feet wet and get moving to obtain a finished product with thorough guidance, then look no further and did I mention it's a a really good price!

I'm pleased and I hope you will be too.

Angela 

I am currently taking the WordPress blueprint. I completed the web developer blueprint previously. There is so much help and support with Skillcrush. I had a little CSS and HTML experience before the blueprint but the course made me truly understand each subject. The course provides cheat sheets and references. There is a Google group that allows students to ask questions about each lesson. After completing WordPress I will try the visual design blueprint. The courses allows students to learn about the various areas of specialty in technology.

I am in the second month of the web design blueprint and loving it! The apprentice style program allows you to learn a specific skill while you feel like you're on the job. All styles of learning are covered from visual to hands on and the videos are so helpful and hilarious. I have really enjoyed Adda's personality coming through in all the lessons and is why I decided to include approachable in the title. It's like learning from a friend :) The daily work load is just enough to keep me wanting more, (and I usually work ahead of class because I'm just that excited!) while being light enough to manage with other full time responbilities.

So far I have learned HTML and most CSS. The course concludes with the task of creating your first website which also happens to be your portfolio. While I'm not sure I'll have enough content in it to get hired somewhere, I feel confident I will have the building blocks to expand that portfolio into something I'm proud of. I appreciate stepping into the tech world at the age of 30 and not being overwhelmed, but enthused.

I would definitely recommend the blueprints to anyone and am excited to continue my journey with skillcrush!

For me this is my first real experience with learning to code and I love it. And that is mostly because of the way Skilllcrush teaches, in a fun, inspiring and exciting way. Already before I started the Blueprint I was charmed by the way Skillcrush communicated with me, online throught their website and 1-to-1 through email. It shows their personal approach and commitment to really help their potential customers and students. The lessons are presented in a clear and creative way, which makes it easy enough for a beginner to follow. If my budget lets me, I would love to take another Blueprint after this one. Good job Skillcrush!

I've tried learning to code with many different resources but this is hands down my favourite. Each lesson is explained using very visually appealing videos followed by a text round up and then a challenge where you can try out the lesson you've just learned. Then each class has its own community with class instructors where you can post your work and questions for feedback, there is also the opportunity to engage in google hangouts meetings with other students and your course leader about twice a month. The free resources that come from skillcrush are also incredibly valuable and the weekly job listings are amazing!

I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who is looking to try and learn some tech skills or brush up on ones that they already have

I'm about a third way through the web developer course and I'm loving it! I love the structure of their site and the learning style. They give videos, reading materials, and hands-on projects. They also have a place for discussions so you can interact with the other students and teacher and receive feedback and help. I'm brand new to coding and this course is a great way to start. I tried learning on my own but there was too much material available that it made me feel lost and overwhelmed and I had no support system to help me when I got stuck. Skillcrush has given me all the essential material I need in order to start a tech career.

I marked "Job Assistance" as "Not Applicable" because I'm not sure if they assist with getting you an actual job but they do have lots of articles about where to look for job listings, how to ace your interview, what you can do with your new found skills, and so many more! I receive emails about their articles and I feel like they know me because they keep sending articles that are so relevant to how I feel and what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm trying to not overwhelm myself so I'm taking it a step at a time and focusing on my course before diving into all the articles.

I'm also enrolled in other in-person coding course because while Skillcrush is great and has a great online community, I wanted something in-person. Both courses are covering a lot of the same material (as expected) but being able to compare the two helps me see the strength in each. Skillcrush is great at explaining the material, it gives you awesome notes/cheatsheets, and has a lot of references and articles you can review.There have been a few things Skillcrush didn't cover or go in-depth about, but I can say the same about the in-person course. There's a lot to learn and Skillcrush is doing a great job putting everything together for us.

I would definitely recommend Skillcrush to anyone. It's affordable, they are very responsive in the discussion posts and emails, and the courses are easy to follow along. Even if you fall behind, you can still continue at your pace and you can still post your questions in the discussion.

I am currently in my second month of the Web Designer Blue print through Skillcrush and am thoroughly enjoying it.

I was hesitant for a long while to sign up due to some of the poor reviews but since they have a 30 day money back guarantee, I went ahead and finally took the chance. I am glad I did. I have already done some HTML/CSS and Javascript through Codecademy, so I am not entirely new to coding and this is my reasoning for breezing through so far. The Designer course goes through User Interface/User Experience,Typography, Photoshop, HTML/CSS, Starting a Site, and then a Capstone course of sorts where you have to create a web page for a client for $100 as your last course. I have not gotten to the capstone portion yet. For those that have already done some HTML/CSS, as I've said, you will breeze through most of this but I took this blueprint mostly for the capstone type class so I can gain confidence and advice on how to pitch myself to a client and get started with freelance so I hope that portion is worth it as the rest of it has been so far.

I see a lot of reviews about it not being enough to really do anything and that you can get the content online for free. Yes, this is true and nothing in this blueprint is new or earth shattering, but this is not the point . I think the point of the blueprint is for you to get your feet wet and learn the very basics in an online class setting. I needed structure and the daily lessons and postings on the class forum (mightybell) did that for me. When I was using Codecademy I felt it was not progressing toward anything and I felt I was just "playing" and not really learning since I was just recreating what I was told. Skillcrush does this as well, but at the end of the HTML/CSS portion you start to create your own website so you can really let your creative juices flow instead of just regurgitating instructions and matching the example site that is given. During the daily lessons you also can create little bits of code on your own, using the theory and coding you've learned and I think this cements what you've learned a lot more than just "follow these code instructions and make your code look like the example." Using your own examples makes you really think about what you're doing vs a "cut and paste" mentality.

I've also seen complaints on mightybell. In my opinion, mightybell is one of the best things about the courses because it allows you to talk with instructors and other classmates so you can post your work and get feedback. My class is very active on mightybell so I am thankful for that, however, Skillcrush isn't at fault if you happen to have classmates that are not very active on mightybell so I would not dock Skillcrush for that if that is what you have experienced.

I also had issues with not receiving emails at the beginning of class. I did receive responses from my instructor and the help staff promptly. Yes it was frustrating and it took a few days but they did get it all fixed for me and I had no further issues. I am happy with the response time of the stuff and instructor so far.

Another thing I've seen that I wanted to address is the issue of having to Google things in order to solve an issue or get a grasp on a concept. I have had to do this too since it's been a while since I've used Codecademy. I do not think that is a complaint about the class to have to use Google to solve issues because doing that is preparing you for the real working world as a freelance or junior web designer. There will not always been someone to ask or to help you so learning now how to search for answers and learn on your own is an extremely critical skill to have when working in tech. It is better to be in a course like Skillcrush and learn to find answers on your own as well as bounce ideas off colleagues (classmates) now rather than be in your first position in web design or have your fist client and be lost.

Over all, would I take another Skillcrush course? YES I would and I plan to do just that. I have enjoyed the whole experience of having a class type structure along with classmates to give feedback to and get feedback from and I have learned things that I did not know before. Skillcrush won't teach you everything you need to know and the creator, Adda, has said this. I haven't learned a ton that I did not know about HTML/CSS, but I've gained value from the UI/UX lessons that I haven't experienced before and having the master class videos with tips and how-tos on how to get started in web design have been valuable.

Will this Web Designer Blueprint get you a job? Ahhh, on its own, no I don't think so. I think you need to take your skills that you've gained and practice more and gain exp on creating web pages and sites from scratch. This blueprint is supposed to let you leave it with a portfolio but I'm not sure if it will be substantial enough to get hired somewhere. The pages you will be making after you've went though the HTML/CSS portion are going to be very basic so don't expect to make flashy sites right off the bat. I would just tell everyone thinking of it and reading reviews to know what you are getting. Do not expect to be able to create fancy websites with interactive portions and drop down menus because that is way to advanced. This class is truly for the beginner and if you really have not experience any type of HTML/CSS or coding before it may require some Googling to wrap your head around it at first and I think that is ok. Use this blueprint to guide you through the learning, not as a be all end all...it's a stepping stone. I am hoping I will be able to get at least some freelance work with what I've gained and learned from the last class that I will take. I'm hoping it will give me confidence to start small and to remember that no one knows everything and everyone has to start somewhere. :)

This review is for skillcrush's Freelance Developer Blueprint. I am currently taking this blueprint and have about a month left in the course. Taking this course has been one of the best decisions I have made.    I have over 15 years of experience in Java, C, C++ programming. I wanted to learn web development and self hosted wordpress development. I was not only looking to learn but also be part of an active, supportive community. And that's exactly what skillcrush offers.      The blueprint is split into different modules and some of the modules were a refresher for me and I liked that I got to relearn and absorb the concepts even more thoroughly. It was when something broke while doing a project that I realized that even though I had learnt those concepts, there were things I had to relearn in order to fix the issues. I'm a big fan of breaking code now to see how to solve it.    My favorite module in this blueprint is the one I am completing which is 203 and is challenging with intermediate to advanced concepts. This course was worth its weight in gold for just that module. I have been supplementing my web development and wordpress learning with other free and paid resources and realized the combination of theory with practical knowledge would not have been achieved as fast if I had not taken this course. I wish they had  one more month of module similar to 203. I would pay extra for that.   What makes skillcrush unique for me is their office hours and how fast the instructors respond to questions on the mightybell forum. I like how organized the forums are for each lesson of the day. I learnt a lot during the office hours and also got to interact with students and the instructors. That's the part I don't like about online courses where the forums posts can get overwhelming or there is very little interaction. Having that group interaction during office hours made learning fun.   I could have asked for a refund or given up when I found the first month easy and I am so glad I did not. What I know now about wordpress compared to 2 months ago is exponential. I know I keep repeating module 203, but that module brought it all together for me.    You get what you put into anything in life and that includes learning. It took me a while to become active on the mightybell platform. And once I did, I realized that by asking questions or helping other students, I was learning a lot too.  I also loved the fact that each day, there is a separate post on the mightybell forum for the lesson and project of the day where students and instructors interact. So if I am behind or if I want to go back to that lesson weeks later, I don't have to search for specific keywords, I just go to the lesson page. Mightybell platform did take some getting used to and I am told they might be transitioning to another platform.    I also love the fact that each day's lesson is manageable and there is a video portion to the lesson in addition to the written portion. And there are downloadable cheatsheets for most of the concepts learnt. Being a visual learner, this is really helpful. I can't wait to take another course with them. I do wish they had more advanced course offerings. If I was just looking to learn a specific topic deeply, I could go elsewhere but the combination of learning and amazing instructors who respond so quickly to questions is what will keep me with skillcrush.    And finally, it is a women friendly environment. I am not sure if women learn differently but I never felt more at home taking an online course than with skillcrush.