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Steve Leichman
7,008 PointsI wish Treehouse Staff had quicker Code Challenge Help Resolution
Does anyone else get frustrated when you're stuck on a coding challenge, only to post it to the Forum (as Customer Support suggests you do before emailing them) and only MAYBE receive a response?
I can see a question on the forum behind this discussion post that was posted 6 hours ago and has zero responses.
Granted, some questions are asked poorly. I've seen my fair share of those.
However if a paying member is stuck on something, I feel like there should be a team dedicated to resolving the issues in a timely manner, especially considering how helpful the in-console "error messages" usually aren't.
Now, I'm not talking about Customer Support, per se, because they've done a 100% awesome job in dealing with site issues, etc, for me. In fact, they even have helped me with coding issues in the past.
However, when they make such a big deal about posting to the forum and not contacting them with challenge issues it truly leads me to believe that solving code issues really isn't their job and their time is better spent making this site more usable.
I'm not asking for 24 hour support. I know the company isn't that big and I appreciate the hours of a small business. I just wish that when I have a question about a coding challenge and the error messages provide zero help, that I wouldn't have to A) cross my fingers for a response within an hour, if at all, nor B) feel like I'm bugging and burdening someone for help.
6 Answers
Steve Leichman
7,008 PointsI fully see your point, Greg. I do my best to solve the problems on my own and I understand the values of immersive learning (heck, it's why I'm here), but when I'm stumped by what they're even asking me and I'm not sure why what they're telling me is wrong is wrong, then I have an issue. I need to know what to fix in order to fix it, you know?
But, again, you're correct, everyone learns differently.
James Barnett
39,199 Points> if a paying member is stuck on something, I feel like there should be a team dedicated to resolving the issues in a timely manner
Treehouse is kinda like a book with videos instead of text and code challenges instead of exercises.
There are companies that offer 1-on-1 online mentoring however they cost quite a bit more per month than Treehouse.
P.S. - I don't work for Treehouse, this is just my 2 cents
Nick Pettit
Treehouse TeacherHi Steve Leichman,
We hear you loud and clear. We try to provide the best service possible for a low price and we do the best we can to respond. However, there's 60 Treehouse staff members and 60,000 students (or 1 staff member for every 1000). None of the alternatives are very favorable in this scenario.
For example, we could increase prices to allow us to hire more people, but we won't do that because we're committed to providing affordable education. 1-on-1 mentors are super expensive because it only scales to a handful of people. Even in a college where you're paying thousands for a course, the professor might not really be around to help you. We have considered providing 1-on-1 mentorship, and in fact we've even done a few trials for it, but the economics just don't make business sense. The prices would only be in reach of a few privileged individuals, and there are already other places to go for that sort of thing.
Another option might be to have all of our full-time teachers answer forum posts all day, but then there wouldn't be any new courses... like, ever. That would just be silly and eventually the site would just fall apart.
So, James Barnett is correct here. Treehouse is learning resource with various support mechanisms that hopefully strike the right balance between quality and affordability. We try our best to be as clear as possible in every video, provide good error messages in code challenges, and make sure that we stay involved with the forum enough that students and moderators can help one another. Hopefully that all makes sense!
Tom Bedford
15,645 PointsHi Steve
I generally find re-watching the related videos and rereading the challenge question is the best help. As I watch the videos I usually make my own examples alongside and change things around rather than recreating exactly what is in the videos. This really helps me to understand what is being taught rather than just being able to repeat it. DocHub is a useful place to check you have your syntax correct.
If you are wanting faster answers there are several other web dev communities that you could register with and post questions to (e.g. stackoverflow).
James Barnett
39,199 PointsTom Bedford - Have you seen devdocs
Tom Bedford
15,645 PointsI hadn't, thanks for the link.
Steve Leichman
7,008 PointsThanks for the feedback, folks. I like James Barnett's comment about Treehouse being a book with videos and challenges, and I definitely agree. However, when the degree of difficulty is all over the board from challenge to challenge, quiz to quiz, I find myself frustrated when one quiz question is True/False: Murder is bad and then the next question is in, to me, syntactically incorrect Greek.
And thank you, Tom Bedford, for the DocHub suggestion. I do my best to watch and re-watch as much as possible, however I guess sometimes they move way too quickly and I get frustrated. The one small thing I miss is often the difference between easily understanding a challenge, and spending an hour or more on it.
And, honestly, I wouldn't mind paying a little bit more per month for a coding challenge system that helped me better understand what I was doing wrong.
Most of us doing this are such beginners that vague hints aren't helpful.
I should clarify, I absolutely LOVE Treehouse. It has provided me with an amazing educational opportunity that I want to fully embrace. I guess I sometimes have higher expectations because I want to learn so badly, you know?
Anyway, thank you all for your help and insights.
Go Treehouse.
James Barnett
39,199 PointsOn the topic of moving too fast I'd recommend using the video speed control to slow down the videos and take notes on the important concepts using something like workflowy.
When you need to check on a concept reference your notes when you need to check on syntax reference devdocs or dochub.
Steve Leichman
7,008 PointsWow. A response from THE Nick Pettit. That's pretty cool. I feel like he's the, I don't know, Leonardo DiCaprio of Treehouse or something.
Anyway, to reiterate, I love the services Treehouse provides. I truly do. I wouldn't still be here paying $X/month and attempting to refer people like crazy if I didn't.
All of this feedback from everyone was incredibly helpful. This was a wonderful example of one of Treehouse's strengths in the form of a high-response forum feed.
It would be nice if all feeds could receive this type of attention, but, again, to Nick's point and a point I made earlier, I understand that the ratio of employees to members is unfortunately unrealistic.
In the end, though, I will move on, continue my education, and hopefully we've all benefited from this discussion.
Thanks all,
Steve
Steve Leichman
7,008 PointsAnd, while we're on the subject, I do want to give credit to Nick Pettit, Guil Hernandez, and really all of the teachers on this website. It's tough to teach a bunch of people who have barely any base knowledge of a subject how to do anything, let alone program. Your task is made even more difficult by the lack of actual human interaction, so you really should be lauded for any successes you do have. While I may not understand everything on the first go around, you all do a wonderful job in not the easiest environment.
Thanks again.
Greg Barbosa
9,874 PointsGreg Barbosa
9,874 PointsI want to say both yes and no on this. It is a topic I've seen come up frequently in the forums, and it's hotly contested on both sides. But I think at the end of the day it comes down to personal learning style and opinions.
For me, I don't go to someone with code questions normally. Rather, I hunt and hunt and hunt to find out what I did wrong, and how to fix it. I've been learning this way for years, and it's allowed me to gain a lot of long-term ancillary knowledge I wouldn't have acquired had I just received the answer.
At the end of the day here is my stance: If you can't find out the problem (to a code challenge or programming topic), ask it in the forums, search for it online, use StackOverflow, ask others on Twitter. I feel like for me to truly understand what I am learning, I have to surround myself in it. Doing this, I've learned a lot of iOS and web development.
As for the questions without responses, I try to answer those that are written well enough to understand, and I reach out to those others who post short, and confusing questions. I hope that doing this, others will hope on and help each other as well.