Justifying a Techdegree

Hi Kevin,

I'm in the same boat as you really, working full time and doing the courses, but considering the techdegree.

In the future, I am thinking of using the approach you mentioned, doing as many courses as possible and then transferring to the techdegree to do it in the shortest amount of time possible. They also offer a 7 day free trial, so would like to get the most from this as well.

For me, some of the projects you get to work on look varied and hopefully will put your skills to the test. Sometimes I don't always get to put into practice what I have learned and move on to the next book or treehouse course.

I'm fine with this as I'm still learning a lot, but the signing up and committing to the costs would certainly be a good motivator, maybe like going to the gym on your own or having that personal trainer to keep you motivated and progessing to the next task ^_^

I would also be interested to see what other people think,

Thanks :)

I work a full time job and am also doing the TechDegree. There is the option of $99, though I cannot see any reference to the pricing, maybe it's old pricing, but worth looking into if you can. If you can make the space in your budget the tech degrees are great, I find i am retaining knowledge well and the projects are well thought out, and not only borrows knowledge from the courses leading up to the project, but also to earlier modules, so you or keep practiced.

The nice thing about it is that you aren't tied to a contract, I have paused mine for this month because Christmas has got me skint.

The price is still steep, though fair IMO at least, but you can do it on and off when you can afford it.

Hey Kevin! I work full time and my job I currently have is pretty demanding. I've been enrolled in techdegree since last year for front end web development and am halfway complete. It's about the same cost as a term at community college so I figured it was worth investing in if I was serious about changing my career. The projects are good and it's nice to have a additional community for support. I usually dedicate one of my days offs just for coding and plan out set days in the week to study.It does keep me motivated since I'm paying for it.

Hi Kevin Fitzhenry. The Techdegree is different than the regular Treehouse coursework. We structure it so that the projects, courses, and Slack community work together to give you a method for strengthening your learning as well as providing you with a strong portfolio of work.

Some students do try to watch all the courses in the Techdegree as standard students, and then enroll to complete the projects. I honestly don't recommend that method. The Techdegree is structured in an order that provides courses exactly when you need them to complete each project. In other words, we believe that taking courses THEN completing the project that matches that level of instruction is important for practicing and reinforcing your learning.

In addition, the community created in our Slack chat teams provides support, advice, and community in real-time. It may seem like a small thing, but having other students available 24/7 for conversation is important in learning. In addition, teachers and Treehouse Techdegree staff participate in the daily conversations in Slack.

I interviewed a Techdegree graduate yesterday who will be starting a full-time job as a front end web developer in January: his job application included a portfolio of only Techdegree projects. He was a standard Treehouse student for 2 years, then enrolled in the Techdegree. He said that the Techdegree provided a great community and the projects pushed his skills and learning.

As melissaorgill mentions, the Techdegree isn't expensive compared to a local community college and is much less expensive than a 4-year college, or most programming bootcamps.

I was very involved in developing the Treehouse Techdgree program, and I honestly believe it provides a GREAT education.

Whether you decide to sign up for the Techdegree or not, thanks for being a Treehouse student!