Ask HN: Did Online Course Lead into a Job for Anyone?

Not sure if this is the anecdote you're looking for, but my spouse did a few online Python classes, decided she enjoys it, and enrolled in a coding bootcamp. She's set to graduate in a couple weeks and already has an offer.

I've done a lot of online classes, and I have a job. But I also have 15+ years of experience as a developer, so it would be hard to suss out exactly which attributes did or didn't contribute to my successful candidacy the last couple of times I changed jobs. Subjectively, I feel like that stuff helped, but it's hard to be sure.

I teach online courses and have had students report back to me that the course helped them get a job or pass an interview, but it's pretty much always in addition to their own self study and experience. an online course can definitely help you get a job, but it alone probably won't be enough. although more and more I see online courses or degrees that guarantee a job or your money back, do that might be with checking out.

I completed a couple of courses offered by Coursera and Udacity on Android development and managed to get a great role in a decent company a few months later with no previous professional experience. The courses are mostly entry level, but they gave me just enough motivation and knowledge to create my own apps, which I feel is the real reason I was hired.

The difficulty come from having no prior professional experience, so showing that you can design, build and ship a project in your own time really helps you to stand out.

The only thing about the course that you linked is that its not specific to a certain field. I would suggest that you try a couple of different courses and find a subject / stack which really interests you, then build small but increasingly more complex projects using what you've learnt.

I list the courses I've completed along with links to any verified certificates on my resume, but not once have they been referenced in interviews.. It's always the projects that make me stand out.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have! Also, the forums are also great place to meet like minded people!

Anecdotally, I get many, many emails from people who have taken my React courses on Udemy (https://www.udemy.com/user/sgslo/) and go on to get jobs. They generally have some previous programming experience, but I assume if they are taking the time to write me an email then they figure the course helped them.

My entire career at this point was jump-started by udacity web dev course. Prior to that I was flitting around with developing scrapers and some basic desktop systems. After I took that course, I went from one level to another and am now working remotely with buffer.

As of late I've been looking back on this experience and wondering how much I'm losing out on by not taking more courses. Hoping to change that from March this year.

Yes, for many people!

How do I know? I am actually building FirstDevJob and am interviewing such people. I have published two interviews[0][1] with people who used FreeCodeCamp. More are in the pipeline!

It is absolutely possible. But just don't depend on one course or site. Be flexible and willing to learn from many different places to develop your skills enough to land a job.

[0] https://firstdevjob.com/stories/dan-minshew/

[1] https://firstdevjob.com/stories/taylor-milliman/

I tried Edx for a while, yes online courses are great and don't solely rely on them. Taking courses alone won't help you get a job. Build something practical that you can be proud of. Build real world applications and add them to your portfolio. Another great resource I'd recommend is this one https://ilovecoding.org