Large IT companies recognize nanodegrees after online training

Online courses are becoming more popular, crowding out the traditional full-time education to prepare for the professions of the future. Some conservatives said earlier that learning via the Internet is not as effective as attending lectures in person, but now they have lost this trump card. Recent studies show that online courses are not inferior in effectiveness to traditional forms of learning .

The most advanced IT companies have long understood this - and do not pay much attention to the presence of a diploma from a real university. Here they look at real knowledge, taking into account the various certificates and courses that the candidate has completed.

For example, one of the sites with Udacity courses recently started issuing nanoscale diplomas.in the field of web development (Front-End Web Developer). Such "diplomas" may well be considered an official document. At least, they are recognized when applying for a job at Google, AT&T, Autodesk, Cloudera, Salesforce and other large companies.

In the future, it is planned to open educational programs in other areas: iOS development, a backend web developer and data analyst.

It should be noted that Udacity recently received $ 35 million in venture financing. This is a big success for the famous entrepreneur Sebastian Thrun, founder and CEO of Udacity.


Sebastian Tran (left) speaks with Governor Gavin Newsom at TechCrunch Disrupt

Typically, among investors Udacity - not only American companies, but also firms from Brazil (Valor Capital Group), Germany (Bertelsmann) and Japan (Recruit). This means that the model of online learning is considered promising in different countries of the world.

“Our education system is tailored to industry needs,” says Sebastian Tran. - They provided us with the best personnel, as well as money for creating content, and they also developed the initial draft of the curriculum. For example, Google helped us create Android courses in accordance with how it understands the necessary conditions for Android developers. ”

Founder Udacity explains that online education should not compete with university education. These are professional training courses that have an extremely practical task - to prepare a person for work in a particular profession. In such a situation, learning becomes more directed: nothing extra is given to the person, but only the necessary knowledge, so the whole process goes faster.

Statistics show that the usual “student” Udacity is a man from 24 to 34 years old who is employed below the possible level and would like to improve his qualifications. According to the founder of the company, about 3 million people from 119 countries signed up for training.

Obtaining a "nano-diploma" is designed for 6-12 months, subject to training 10 hours a week.



True, training at Udacity is not free: it will cost $ 200 per month. It is cheaper than studying at leading universities. However, on the Internet you can find free courses with a similar curriculum.