Udacity helped me land my first software engineering job!

The purpose of this post is to describe how I landed my first software engineering job with the help of Udacity’s Front End Web Developer Nanodegree. Udacity is an online provider of technical education that provides all of its course material absolutely free. They also offer an enhanced course experience at an affordable price. I chose to enroll in the enhanced experience and see if I couldn’t learn what I needed to get where I wanted. This blog post is not an official, formal review of Udacity’s Front End Web Developer Nanodegree program. Rather, it contains some highlights of my own personal experience. Nonetheless, if it helps you to make a more-informed decision, all the better.   

I acquired the skills to land a job as a software engineer in just four months (I started the Nanodegree program in December 2014 and finished in March 2015). The price I paid was $200/month, so $800 in total. The only “school supplies” I needed was my computer. Since I already had my computer before I started the Nanodegree program and I would have had it whether or not I enrolled in the program, I don’t consider it an additional cost. Also, I could’ve went to the local library and used one of the computers there at no direct cost to me.

The meat of the Nanodegree program consists of a collection of class projects, several of which are fully functioning JavaScript web applications. In preparation for each project, the student progresses through one or more relevant Udacity courses. The majority of the diligent student’s time is spent working on the class projects in a self-directed manner. This may include doing a little extra online research in order to round out one’s understanding of a particular topic.

Positive adjectives that describe my own Nanodegree experience include:  edifying, exciting, challenging, rewarding, worthwhile, engaging, motivating, and thrilling. Negative adjectives that describe my own Nanodegree experience include: frustrating and time-consuming. It is important to realize that each of these adjectives represents my feelings at a certain point in time and any single one of them does not fully and accurately describe my experience as a whole. Rather, the sum of all of them may describe my experience as a whole. If I had to choose one adjective to describe my Nanodegree experience as a whole, I would say it was worthwhile. 

As you may have noticed in the above lists of adjectives, I named more positive adjectives than negative ones. This is reflective of my experience; that is, there was much more positive than there was negative. I would like to elaborate a bit about the some of the positives.

One thing that is really great about the Nanodegree is that it is a well-defined curriculum. It provides goals and deadlines. It provides both lecture-based and project-based learning. These characteristics are crucial in staying on track and crafting engineering skills. Another part I am very grateful for is the networking aspect of the program. When you enroll in the program, you become a part of a cohort that sticks together until the Nanodegree is finished. You have the opportunity to network with and get to know many others that are on a similar journey as yourself. I am happy to say that I met some really awesome people (both students and instructors) during my journey. Udacity provides chat rooms where you can instantly contact students and instructors and get help if you’re stuck. Udacity also provides its own Q & A-style forum, similar to stackoverflow, where you can learn from others’ past issues and even get help on your own issue. I remember being stuck trying to get OAuth to work properly with the Yelp API, and when I posted on the forums, Mark N. (Udacity coach) replied at lightning speed. As if all this is not enough, you can schedule a one-on-one appointment with a Udacity coach to get live, specialized attention. There are also live video hangouts where you can ask questions and get feedback on your projects from Udacity coaches. Udacity also shows you how to research companies and network with individuals within those companies.   

In the above lists of adjectives, I named more positive adjectives than negative ones. This is reflective of my experience; that is, there was much more positive than there was negative. Now, I would like to elaborate a bit about the some of the negatives. It’s hard for me to list the negatives, because I am so happy with my Udacity experience. However, I’m afraid if I don’t, my opinion may be discredited as overzealous or incomplete.

Perhaps the heaviest-hitting negative factor of my experience was frustration. Frustration experienced when I was stuck on a certain part of a project. Frustration experienced from having to interact with students and instructors via online communications rather than in-person. Frustration experienced from having to sacrifice other things in my day in order to complete a project. Frustration experienced from wondering when it was all going to “pay off.” It is important to realize that all of these negative factors are some of the side effects of the infrastructure of online education rather than characteristics of the Udacity experience itself. Nevertheless, there was some frustration that I experienced during the program and it is worthwhile to mention it.

Toward the end of the Nanodegree curriculum, I began researching companies in my city that I would potentially like to work for. I made a spreadsheet of all the potential companies and started contacting them, taking detailed notes on each one. Within a few weeks, several opportunities began to take shape.

 There is a motivational speaker by the name of Les Brown who once spoke about how when a person takes action toward his or her dreams and goals, the universe tends to work in his or her favor. After taking action on one of my goals, I was both surprised and thrilled to learn of all the job opportunities that were out there for the taking and all the people that were willing to help me along the way.   

I would like to give a special shout out to my Udacity coach, Poornima Sundararaman. Thank you Poornima for your guidance and support throughout my Nanodegree journey!