Udacity Raises $105M Series D, Bringing Valuation to $1B(techcrunch.com)
techcrunch.com
Udacity Raises $105M Series D, Bringing Valuation to $1B
http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/11/udacity-raises-105-million-series-d-bringing-valuation-to-1-billion/#.wg5qvi:VBm7
79 comments
Man your blog post brought back so many memories. I went through just about the same learning path, and in 2012 as well. Like you I'd done CS in HS and taken one class in college, but couldn't build anything real if my life depended on it.
To me what really made me transition is their WebDev course In all seriousness, though, is their CS253 the greatest course ever or is it the greatest course ever?! Huffman was just brilliant in providing a nice framework with which to think about development. After I took that course, it was if Googling my way through problems and learning from the available resources on the internet became that much easier, because now I could see how all of these little parts fit into a broader context.
That's one thing that definitely disappointed me about how Udacity has grown. That course taught by Huffman was so good in that he explained so much of the theory and reasoning, and not just tools. Peter Norvig's advanced Python course is another one of their offerings which feel very similar. Lately, though, I think their courses have resembled much more what you find on CodeAcademy or places like that: A lot more focused on tools, content, etc., and less so on the broader picture.
To me what really made me transition is their WebDev course In all seriousness, though, is their CS253 the greatest course ever or is it the greatest course ever?! Huffman was just brilliant in providing a nice framework with which to think about development. After I took that course, it was if Googling my way through problems and learning from the available resources on the internet became that much easier, because now I could see how all of these little parts fit into a broader context.
That's one thing that definitely disappointed me about how Udacity has grown. That course taught by Huffman was so good in that he explained so much of the theory and reasoning, and not just tools. Peter Norvig's advanced Python course is another one of their offerings which feel very similar. Lately, though, I think their courses have resembled much more what you find on CodeAcademy or places like that: A lot more focused on tools, content, etc., and less so on the broader picture.
CS253 all the way. I still have Steve Huffman's "pretty neat, huh?" echoing in my brain. Whenever anyone asks me "how can I learn to build web applications", it's the first place I point them. He even goes over basic crypto and security, yet doesn't oversell what he's teaching. Just perfect.
I agree that the Udacity classes available today just don't measure up, sadly.
I agree that the Udacity classes available today just don't measure up, sadly.
Yeah CS253 definitely is the greatest class ever. The problem with web development is that to even make a hello world page there are like 10 completely different and unrelated technologies you need to know. So you can know a little Python, a little HTML, and some js, but if you've never used a web framework or SQL then you're out of luck. CS253 really combines all these technologies, getting you just far enough into each of them that you can make something that actually works — and then be able to understand (albeit with difficulty at first) the rest of the documentation on your own.
Udacity is awesome, I got hooked on programming and use python as my go to language due to udacity's programming 101 class. I still have a lot of subscribed courses which are not finished :) and take a look at them from time to time.
Though with Huffman's webdev course I would disagree. I do not know when you took it, but myself, I did it just as it was released, and at that time it was not fully complete. I mean in a sense of extra helping material. Huffman discussed some basics, which were great (especially about how not to make noob mistakes), but for a complete python and webdev noob exercises were really opaque. I remember how flooded forums were of how to setup your app for google app engine or how to complete some exercises to fit it (GAE).
Though with Huffman's webdev course I would disagree. I do not know when you took it, but myself, I did it just as it was released, and at that time it was not fully complete. I mean in a sense of extra helping material. Huffman discussed some basics, which were great (especially about how not to make noob mistakes), but for a complete python and webdev noob exercises were really opaque. I remember how flooded forums were of how to setup your app for google app engine or how to complete some exercises to fit it (GAE).
I've used quite a few other (pay) MOOC services; subscription based, pay by class, free, etc...
Pluralsight, Udemy, Lynda, Coursera, Code School, Stack Skills
I've also used some small independent ones as well (Bitfountain is just one example).
The thing I would be really curious to see (but unfortunately don't think we will see any time soon) is how the profit numbers stack up on these different pay models.
For the subscription based services I will pay a monthly fee for no more than one service at a time and I will make heavy use of it during that time period. This is what I did with Pluralsight, Code School, and Lynda. Got a subscription and used it for awhile then canceled when I was done with the material I was interested in or I didn't have enough time to spend for it to be worth the money.
I also cap the value at about $50/month max. Not that Udacity has bad content, but there is great content on the competitors too. I can sign up for Pluralsight + Lynda + Code School every month and still have money left over to buy some courses outright on Udemy or Stack Skills.
In total I've spent a lot more money on buying courses outright from sources like Udemy. Originally I was looking there for some specific technical classes, but they have so much variety I have spent more money on things like art, photography, and design classes.
Wow... I went off on a bit of a tangent there. Anyway; really would be interested in seeing how much money is being made by these different services as well as seeing percentages/dollars of how much of that passes through to individual content creators etc...
Pluralsight, Udemy, Lynda, Coursera, Code School, Stack Skills
I've also used some small independent ones as well (Bitfountain is just one example).
The thing I would be really curious to see (but unfortunately don't think we will see any time soon) is how the profit numbers stack up on these different pay models.
For the subscription based services I will pay a monthly fee for no more than one service at a time and I will make heavy use of it during that time period. This is what I did with Pluralsight, Code School, and Lynda. Got a subscription and used it for awhile then canceled when I was done with the material I was interested in or I didn't have enough time to spend for it to be worth the money.
I also cap the value at about $50/month max. Not that Udacity has bad content, but there is great content on the competitors too. I can sign up for Pluralsight + Lynda + Code School every month and still have money left over to buy some courses outright on Udemy or Stack Skills.
In total I've spent a lot more money on buying courses outright from sources like Udemy. Originally I was looking there for some specific technical classes, but they have so much variety I have spent more money on things like art, photography, and design classes.
Wow... I went off on a bit of a tangent there. Anyway; really would be interested in seeing how much money is being made by these different services as well as seeing percentages/dollars of how much of that passes through to individual content creators etc...
As someone who wants to use perhaps one or two--but certainly not all-- of these services, I'm curious which of these services you've found most valuable. I'm asking generally, though I'm mostly interested in compsci/dev topics, if that's helpful.
"mostly interested in compsci/dev topics"
Assuming you are looking for primarily video content:
- Go deep into some recent-ish tech stack, e.g. React/Flux: Udemy
- Learn foundational stuff, like math: Coursera
- iOS: Bitfountain if you can afford it. Otherwise Udacity or Udemy.
- Android: Udacity
- Frequently need access to 'how do I do this thing that I know should take only 10 mins in app Y?' help: Lynda
- ELI5: Code School or Treehouse
- Anything teachable that's non-tech: Udemy
Assuming you are looking for primarily video content:
- Go deep into some recent-ish tech stack, e.g. React/Flux: Udemy
- Learn foundational stuff, like math: Coursera
- iOS: Bitfountain if you can afford it. Otherwise Udacity or Udemy.
- Android: Udacity
- Frequently need access to 'how do I do this thing that I know should take only 10 mins in app Y?' help: Lynda
- ELI5: Code School or Treehouse
- Anything teachable that's non-tech: Udemy
Bitfountain also has a great Android class set, which for the life of me I don't understand why it's not listed on their main page, but you can directly access it here.
https://fedora.bitfountain.io/courses/android
It's normally $149 for lifetime access, but they runs sales on it as low as $49.
https://fedora.bitfountain.io/courses/android
It's normally $149 for lifetime access, but they runs sales on it as low as $49.
we put a lot of effort into the android course but realized online education is lacking depth. you can take intro courses in 20 different subjects on lynda, udemy, udacity and treehouse. we want to be the place to learn everything there is to know about building iOS apps.
You're doing great stuff on the iOS front so keep up the good work. The Android classes are high quality though as well; it's sad to see that you aren't continuing that track. I would love to see an Android online training equivalent of CommonsWare; and Udacity isn't that.
It depends a bit what specific stacks you are interested in. Pluralsight and Lynda's "all you can eat" monthly subscriptions are probably the best since they just have more classes all around. Lynda by and far has the most classes available. They have more tech classes than Pluralsight, but they also have classes in many unrelated categories as well. The flip side; I think Pluralsight holds content authors to a higher standard. Once Pluralsight was heavily focuses on .NET, but they've branched out a lot more.
Coursera has some good stuff and it's free if you don't care about the cert. Their Functional Programming in Scala class is excellent.
Coursera has some good stuff and it's free if you don't care about the cert. Their Functional Programming in Scala class is excellent.
Udemy has some crazy discount almost 90 % of the time... I'm constantly getting 75-95 % discounts on my courses. So that might be a factor as well.
This actually led to a really good course author having an issue with them over this. (Alan Richardson who hosted a very good technical testing course and a good selenium/webdriver course).
I believe he still has those courses but he intially opted out of their discount program. A course he sold for $200 would have been sold for far less which undermined his own brand but also didn't give him a fair shot at earning from it, especially since he was helpful in responding to any questions I had.
I was lucky and took the course when it was $200, it shortly after went up to $300 due to changes in revenue sharing based around coupon codes. This also meant he stopped offering for free a really helpful free course on technical testing.
(The source of this information is through course announcements made at the time, I can publish them in full here.)
This post from udemy to instructors is interesting reading: https://blog.udemy.com/announcement/
One benefit of the udemy over the pluralsight model is that years later I still have access to the course and can revisit it, without paying an on-going subscription.
Pluralsight overall seems to have better content, at least from a software developer perspective.
I believe he still has those courses but he intially opted out of their discount program. A course he sold for $200 would have been sold for far less which undermined his own brand but also didn't give him a fair shot at earning from it, especially since he was helpful in responding to any questions I had.
I was lucky and took the course when it was $200, it shortly after went up to $300 due to changes in revenue sharing based around coupon codes. This also meant he stopped offering for free a really helpful free course on technical testing.
(The source of this information is through course announcements made at the time, I can publish them in full here.)
This post from udemy to instructors is interesting reading: https://blog.udemy.com/announcement/
One benefit of the udemy over the pluralsight model is that years later I still have access to the course and can revisit it, without paying an on-going subscription.
Pluralsight overall seems to have better content, at least from a software developer perspective.
I think Pluralsight has consistently higher quality classes than Udemy, but that Udemy also has some great classes. You have to spend a bit more time looking at reviews before you buy on Udemy. Also you end up having to accept the fact that sometimes you will end up buying a course that isn't worthwhile.
As an example of a non technical class; The Secrets to Drawing on Udemy is Amazing. I am a (bad) hobby artist in my spare time and this class has done more to help me with my drawing skills than any other book or class I've tried in the past; my kids have been going through it too and they absolutely love it.
https://www.udemy.com/the-secrets-to-drawing/#/
This is two of the benefits of Udemy over Pluralsight
1) On Pluralsight I would never see this class (well not currently anyway) because it doesn't fall within their accepted domain of classes.
2) I paid the $30 one time for this class and I can go back and review whenever I want and let my kids go back and use it a year later and not have to pay another subscription fee.
As an example of a non technical class; The Secrets to Drawing on Udemy is Amazing. I am a (bad) hobby artist in my spare time and this class has done more to help me with my drawing skills than any other book or class I've tried in the past; my kids have been going through it too and they absolutely love it.
https://www.udemy.com/the-secrets-to-drawing/#/
This is two of the benefits of Udemy over Pluralsight
1) On Pluralsight I would never see this class (well not currently anyway) because it doesn't fall within their accepted domain of classes.
2) I paid the $30 one time for this class and I can go back and review whenever I want and let my kids go back and use it a year later and not have to pay another subscription fee.
"One benefit of the udemy over the pluralsight model is that years later I still have access to the course and can revisit it"
This assumes that Udemy still exists at that time. The Udemy mobile apps allow offline caching, but the Udemy site does not allow you to download videos to store them permanently on your computer. An open source tool to help users do this themselves was served a DMCA notice: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2015-08-12-Udemy....
This assumes that Udemy still exists at that time. The Udemy mobile apps allow offline caching, but the Udemy site does not allow you to download videos to store them permanently on your computer. An open source tool to help users do this themselves was served a DMCA notice: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2015-08-12-Udemy....
This is so true. I almost never pay "normal price" for classes on Udemy and always buy them on a discount. This is true of a lot of the other networks to.
I also subscribe to the BGR Store mailing list which sends out notifications of discounted classes across a wide range of MOOC offerings. It's a bit tedious to wade through the emails, but it's worth it to keep track of the discounts available.
I also subscribe to the BGR Store mailing list which sends out notifications of discounted classes across a wide range of MOOC offerings. It's a bit tedious to wade through the emails, but it's worth it to keep track of the discounts available.
not the person you are responding to but i've found udacity and linda to be the most valuable. Short and to the point videos are more useful to me than long winded lectures.
I am one of the first cohort of Udacity to complete Front End Web Developer Nanodegree. However, when I applied for a developer job(something called Udacity Experience Program) on their career site, few weeks after I got an email describing I am not a good fit for the role.
I have been looking for an entry level developer job for last couple of months. During job interviews when I mention regarding the Certification Program from Udacity or discuss on the projects that I did it does not ring a bell to most of interviewers.
Agreed I learned a ton on front-end development from the program but so far the nanodegree has not really helped me in my job search.
It will be interesting to see if Udacity can gather and publish data on number of nanodegree holders getting developer jobs after completion.
I have been looking for an entry level developer job for last couple of months. During job interviews when I mention regarding the Certification Program from Udacity or discuss on the projects that I did it does not ring a bell to most of interviewers.
Agreed I learned a ton on front-end development from the program but so far the nanodegree has not really helped me in my job search.
It will be interesting to see if Udacity can gather and publish data on number of nanodegree holders getting developer jobs after completion.
Do you have other finished projects in your portfolio? Or is the Nanodegree the only thing you have?
If it's the latter then I am not surprised, since you can't really get a job based on just one finished course, it's best to showcase what you've learned by building stuff and putting it on github or alike.
If it's the latter then I am not surprised, since you can't really get a job based on just one finished course, it's best to showcase what you've learned by building stuff and putting it on github or alike.
Are you looking for jobs at startups? If so, it's going to be difficult to get hired regardless of your training if you've never worked in the field before. This is just due to some quirks about the economics of the industry. It's much easier to get hired at a dev shop, work there for a year or two, and then apply to work at a startup or large company after that.
Right. Few startups and dev shops that I have interviewed in SF Bay area are looking for those developers (2-5 years experience) and the market here is crazy for experienced ones.
Few days ago I posted on HN (Who wants to be hired) even to work for free as an intern for couple of weeks but so far has not received any response.
Few days ago I posted on HN (Who wants to be hired) even to work for free as an intern for couple of weeks but so far has not received any response.
Interesting, maybe it's different in NYC due to all the money in media, fashion, healthcare, and other industries where tech is more peripheral. Recently I've also seen some folks have success after regularly attending the weekly hack nights for their technology of choice, and then get hired after a couple months of that.
where geographically are you looking?
In SF Bay area. But considering relocation option. Due to several bootcamps in bay area the market is flooded with bootcamp graduates ( I am a bootcamp graduates too). So it is fiercely competitive job market especially for junior developers position.
A lot of people are going to dump on this billion dollar valuation, but we don't have the terms. Presumably there is liquidation preference. According to Crunchbase [1], the total capital raised is about $160 million after this money, so the investors don't need this company to be worth $1 billion to come out fine. Sam Altman made the point a few days ago that a lot of these late-stage private financings are kind of debt-like [2, about paragraph 8-9 and footnote #2], with the result that the valuations aren't really meaningful.
[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/udacity#/entity
[2] http://blog.samaltman.com/the-tech-bust-of-2015
[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/udacity#/entity
[2] http://blog.samaltman.com/the-tech-bust-of-2015
I used to think these online educational companies wouldn't be very profitable in the long run. Then I discovered Udemy. In the last two months I've bought three courses on Udemy (at about $10-$20 each). The courses aren't your conventional CS classes. I bought a course on Photoshop mastery. Another on Android programming, and another on Adobe Illustrator skills. I've enjoyed the material so far.
I have undergrad and grad degrees from respected US schools, so I don't really need certification, but I still find myself taking these online courses.
In the case of Photoshop and Illustrator, its not even for the sake of employment (although it might be useful in the long run). There's something satisfying about acquiring skills in an area you are really deficient in.
I have undergrad and grad degrees from respected US schools, so I don't really need certification, but I still find myself taking these online courses.
In the case of Photoshop and Illustrator, its not even for the sake of employment (although it might be useful in the long run). There's something satisfying about acquiring skills in an area you are really deficient in.
I've bought several courses on Udemy (which hosts some awesome content), and am part way through my second Udacity nanodegree. These sites seem to serve slightly different purposes:
- Udacity: help you get a job in a new field
- Udemy: help you learn a new set of techniques, that can help with what you're currently trying to do (e.g. in your current job)
- Udacity: help you get a job in a new field
- Udemy: help you learn a new set of techniques, that can help with what you're currently trying to do (e.g. in your current job)
I'm in a similar boat. I've been a software engineer for 15 years, but I'm able to learn new languages and tools by watching videos on 2X speed on Udemy. It's much harder to find good quality videos on Youtube. I'm happy to pay the $10-20
I like a good deal of what's on Udemy, but it feels like for reasons totally different from the marketing. For me it's more like the online version of those video lecture series you used to buy on VHS or DVD through a "distance learning" mailorder catalog, and not so much like an online classroom. There's some course-like content in it beyond the lectures (quizzes and such), but imo the main value is really just the lectures, and the quality of the lectures is what differentiates good courses on there from bad ones.
Which is fine, video lectures are a model that's worked for a few decades, but now online and more convenient to shop for. And a good video-lecture course is certainly worth at least $10. I guess I can see why they don't brand it that way (the "disrupting education" hype train has money/press, while "mail-order video lectures, but on the internet" is a harder sell). But for me, their courses made a lot more sense to me once I started thinking of it as a place to buy a video lecture course, like the way you might order DVDs of the Feynman physics lectures.
Which is fine, video lectures are a model that's worked for a few decades, but now online and more convenient to shop for. And a good video-lecture course is certainly worth at least $10. I guess I can see why they don't brand it that way (the "disrupting education" hype train has money/press, while "mail-order video lectures, but on the internet" is a harder sell). But for me, their courses made a lot more sense to me once I started thinking of it as a place to buy a video lecture course, like the way you might order DVDs of the Feynman physics lectures.
Agreed, in my experience (primarily with Coursera and edX, which are admittedly different from Udemy/Udacity in their focus), the recent wave of online courses or "MOOCs" mostly boils down to video lectures being made readily available online. For my purposes, this is just great! The content is often very high quality, and I have yet to pay for a course since so much is available for free.
I'm really glad for these comments on Udemy, I'll have to give them another look. I must have given them my email address at some point but their constant discount emails are so close to spam I'd written their content off as a scam ages ago. Appreciate the positive comments :)
Same here, I've bought close to 13 courses on Udemy. For learning React, Unity, and for brushing up my Nodejs, a few for game design and drawing etc. Also bought a Cocktail making course just for kicks.
I usually buy courses for 10$, which are good. But there are some awesome courses which costed a lot more, from 99$ to 199$. I used to add them to my wishlist so that I can buy them later when I save enough money, but sooner or later, all those wishlisted courses would be on sale for 10$. No idea if this is intentional, or if I picked the most popular courses and hence were on sale.
I usually buy courses for 10$, which are good. But there are some awesome courses which costed a lot more, from 99$ to 199$. I used to add them to my wishlist so that I can buy them later when I save enough money, but sooner or later, all those wishlisted courses would be on sale for 10$. No idea if this is intentional, or if I picked the most popular courses and hence were on sale.
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Mind. Boggles. "Nanodegrees"? "now recognized by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies, including Google and Salesforce"? What does that even mean?
And this is a company that has essentially "pivoted" to being a sort of vocational training in the CS space. There may be a business model there but it doesn't seem like anything particularly unique or deserving of out-sized evaluations.
And this is a company that has essentially "pivoted" to being a sort of vocational training in the CS space. There may be a business model there but it doesn't seem like anything particularly unique or deserving of out-sized evaluations.
I wouldn't be so down on vocational training for software...It is a field that has an unusually high requirement for ongoing learning. And when you have to learn some new tech, usually you have to do it now, and in-place, not next September, in the nearest college town. Given the high ongoing learning requirements that software has, I think there is a pretty clear need for training that's delivered where you are and when you need it, and traditional schools won't be able to do that.
Oh. To be clear. I think on-going training is great especially given the pace of change. And things like automated evaluation of code is something that actually works pretty well in MOOCs in my experience. (Unlike peer grading.) However, the argument for platforms like Udacity hasn't in general been that they're a great advancement for vocational training but that they disrupt higher ed generally. And that's probably a different valuation metric.
That depends on how sensitive higher ed is to competition from vocational training for things like programmers, right? Something like Udacity isn't going to replace a traditional CS degree, but something more like an IT degree could just be high-end vocational training offered by a traditional four-year institution, and as college costs rise, it could start to eat into the lower end.
I feel that the ongoing learning requirements that software has lead to developers becoming VERY good at learning new software.... which means they don't need training, because they can self-teach. At least that has been my experience.
Sure, but if they can spend $50 or $100 for an online course as part of their "self-teaching", then a goodly percentage probably will.
Nanodegrees aren't the only thing Udacity does; they're also the content delivery platform for Georgia Tech's OMSCS program (http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/) that was in the news not so long ago (the "$7,000 master's degree"). I'm not sure how much revenue that partnership generates, but maybe they plan on having similar relationships with other universities in the future?
Some of the mixed education initiatives actually make a lot of sense. There are aspects of many classes where one-to-many broadcast and automated grading serve a useful role. Not sure they're "unicorn" valuable, but they're valuable.
Udacity has also partnered with Georgia Tech and AT&T to offer the OMSCS program. If this program continues to scale effectively on Udacity's platform, I imagine that more large-scale partnership opportunities will emerge. I would think that at least some of this funding is earmarked for smoothing out the platform's integration points and addressing insufficiencies revealed by this relatively new context.
I would be surprised to hear B2B sales of their underlying platform isn't a big part of the current or expected business. Most universities have or need a way to build compressed or distance courses. Most of their home-grown platforms are probably substandard compared to Udacity or EdX or something else like that.
Similarly for non-traditional education, custom-tuned and branded platforms for companies, non-profits, public agencies and the like. Helping build packages of courses and hosting self-developed content for internal development programs (lots of engineering firms have a learning component in career progression, for example).
It feels like there should be a huge market something that does all this ^^ simply, provides useful reporting and basic information analysis, and for a good price.
Similarly for non-traditional education, custom-tuned and branded platforms for companies, non-profits, public agencies and the like. Helping build packages of courses and hosting self-developed content for internal development programs (lots of engineering firms have a learning component in career progression, for example).
It feels like there should be a huge market something that does all this ^^ simply, provides useful reporting and basic information analysis, and for a good price.
I assume "recognized" means that when a recruiter for those company sees that, their reaction is:
"Nanodegree in... what the what? Oh, wait a second. Yeah, this is that PR from the Khan Academy or whatever. Sure, I recognize that from the other wave of applications."
Depending on the savvy of the recruiters they might start to figure that nano = one billionth, so a nano degree is roughly an eight of a second of a four year degree.
"Nanodegree in... what the what? Oh, wait a second. Yeah, this is that PR from the Khan Academy or whatever. Sure, I recognize that from the other wave of applications."
Depending on the savvy of the recruiters they might start to figure that nano = one billionth, so a nano degree is roughly an eight of a second of a four year degree.
really? Companies pay _sooooo_ much money for employee training. a billion for this makes a hell of a lot more sense than billion dollar valuations for companies in races to the bottom.
If these kind of valuations were based on company training budgets, I'd be happily convinced. I haven't heard that argument being made but maybe it's the basis.
Not that I want to defend a billion dollar valuation from a private company with no liquidity... But the sector is one that is arguably incredibly lucrative. Last year I was reading lots of CVs as we were trying to hire people. The number of people who have Coursera courses on their CV is amazing. And to be honest, it works (on me, anyway ;-) ). It communicates the idea that they have initiative and that they value improving themselves. These are traits that I want in people that I work with.
Personally, I hate organized forms of education (and I spent 5 years teaching English as a foreign language in a high school!) Point me a text book, or blog posts or whatever and I will work through it at my own pace and in the order that I prefer. But I have to admit that it's pretty hard for me to put anything on my CV. The Coursera certificates (and I suppose these "nanodegrees" -- I haven't looked into this and know nothing about it) have a lot of value in that sense. From my experience hiring, I think it's certainly worth a few hundred dollars to have things like that on your CV. If it catches on (as it appears to be doing), then the bar will be raised and you will have to spend more to stand out. There is definite opportunity.
Personally, I hate organized forms of education (and I spent 5 years teaching English as a foreign language in a high school!) Point me a text book, or blog posts or whatever and I will work through it at my own pace and in the order that I prefer. But I have to admit that it's pretty hard for me to put anything on my CV. The Coursera certificates (and I suppose these "nanodegrees" -- I haven't looked into this and know nothing about it) have a lot of value in that sense. From my experience hiring, I think it's certainly worth a few hundred dollars to have things like that on your CV. If it catches on (as it appears to be doing), then the bar will be raised and you will have to spend more to stand out. There is definite opportunity.
Fair enough. One of the key questions with these MOOCs (using the term broadly) is the degree to which their certifications elicit a positive reaction from a recruiter or a hiring manage. (And, of course, how effective they are, on an hourly basis, teaching material relative to other methods. Although I expect the answer to this depends upon the person and how much structure they prefer.)
One worrying aspect of this sort of thing is that it obligates them to go after really big revenue potential as an end game.
We don't know much about where online education is going yet, how it works. It may be the case that a MOOC could change the way education works fundamentally and still have revenue that does not justify a valuation like this.
The field is still young and feels like the potential is much bigger than the current state. We don't know what achieving that potential looks like. I hope they aren't taking important options off the table.
We don't know much about where online education is going yet, how it works. It may be the case that a MOOC could change the way education works fundamentally and still have revenue that does not justify a valuation like this.
The field is still young and feels like the potential is much bigger than the current state. We don't know what achieving that potential looks like. I hope they aren't taking important options off the table.
No they raised $105M in preferred shares with 1x or more liquidity preferences. The common stock is worth no more than the value of a way out of the money penny option that is only excercised in the case of a liquidity event. Meaning the real valuation of the company is maybe two or three hundred million. Of course founders don't tell employees that because they can get talent for pennies on the dollar this way.
How do you get to 300M?
Is is possible that someone like University of Phoenix might offer $1B for the company? If so, might it be accepted? If so, how much are shares worth?
At my old job, whenever investors bought in they offers to buy out employee shares at the stated valuation.
At my old job, whenever investors bought in they offers to buy out employee shares at the stated valuation.
Yes possible. It's possible my $2 lottery ticket will also be worth $100m but until it is, it is still worth only $2 or maybe even less. Until then the value of each share class is not the same and so it would be a mathematical mistake to calculate valuation as the sum of all shares multiplied by the highest price paid for the most senior share class.
The JavaScript Design Patterns course[1] kickstarted by web dev knowledge. Not sure how the rest of the catalog is, but that course was useful for a newbie.
[1] https://www.udacity.com/course/javascript-design-patterns--u...
[1] https://www.udacity.com/course/javascript-design-patterns--u...
I interviewed at this place -- comically bad.
They're all clearly drinking the koolaid around a fire of VC money -- their CEO's ties to Google and resume will let them raise whatever funds they desire, but the people I talked to seemed elitist and really concerned about everything but the end product. We'll be talking about a "unicorn" failing in 2017 when they burn through this $105M...
They're all clearly drinking the koolaid around a fire of VC money -- their CEO's ties to Google and resume will let them raise whatever funds they desire, but the people I talked to seemed elitist and really concerned about everything but the end product. We'll be talking about a "unicorn" failing in 2017 when they burn through this $105M...
How long ago did you interview? There have been some pretty big changes internally and things should have improved quite a bit over the past year or so.
End of Sept 2015
I curious what you mean by "everything but the end product". Care to elaborate?
Did they give you a job offer?
No, it was obvious we were not right for one another.
Udacity has the absolute best online CS classes I've seen. My brother used Udacity to learn software development, and is now employed.
Hi Caleb,
Care to elaborate a bit more about your brother's scenario? I am interested as I am a recent graduate from Udacity and looking for a junior developer position in SF Bay area.
There is a ton of astroturfing going on in this thread. The article looks like an ad... Where are the contrasting opinions?
TechCrunch is known for being "in" with VCs...you know, the ones who fund the companies they write articles for.
Relevant interview with Sebastian Thrun(CEO) on the raise: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-11-12/sebastian-th...
Awesome, Udacity is awesome! Any time my friends ask me how I learned coding I always refer them to Udacity. The quality is just as good as University courses, and you don't have to wait months to finish because you can go on a 2x speed binge watch and crush it in days/weeks.
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I think Udacity is great but I don't know about efficacy of it. I think it's going to face the same challenges as any other online education site. I think one of the founders had some doubts a few months back about direction of the site, it didn't prove to be what it set out to be. In any case I wish Udacity all the best because I like them.
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Udacity is great for picking up specific skills but if a nanodegree is all you got on your resume, I doubt you would be taken seriously by employers.
I wouldn't put it on the resume either. I would instead just build something at work or after work using the skill I have. If someone asked me how I manage to write a simple chatbot I would say I learned it from Coursera and the Internet.
There's no reason why everyone shouldn't be on there.
edit: Obligatory link to sign up for the private beta: http://fwdeveryone.com/
Also, here is what I wrote about the experience at the time: http://alexkrupp.typepad.com/sensemaking/2013/11/2012-my-yea...