Why I don't pay for online courses

I don't pay, nor have I ever paid for online courses, maybe I'm missing something, but here I explain why I don't think they're worth it. Remembering that I write guided by my experience in technology, and I do not know how this information applies to other areas.

Where to find information

My first point is that someone who works with technology must first be an expert in finding information, from articles on sites like gen.lib.rus.ecKnow how to read official documentation, but mainly use research tools correctly.

Then comes the point about finding courses. A brief example search shows only paid courses or paid tools for what you are looking for, after all, the financial incentive justifies paid media spending and a larger SEO investment. With a quick deeper search, one easily finds the example This one course on the same subject by a reputable university. Which is possibly far superior to paid courses taken by individual!

Discipline and value

One thing that greatly changes the way people handle paid courses is that there is a much greater tendency to value content when you pay. This article According to MIT, 59% of the payers completed the material, compared to 5% of those who took the free course. Of course the statistical value is not all that trivial, but there is certainly a greater psychological incentive when paid, which can (and should) be counteracted with greater self-discipline.

There is also the argument that "there is no free lunch". Not to distort Stallman's words, in which Free Software is free as free, not free, the amount of material in forums, repositories, and wikis, along with the helpfulness of anonymous people who help to help, strongly disagrees with premise.

Certifications?

Another point in favor of paid courses is certification. Yes, there are famous and recognized certifications, I remember especially in the IT areas, with Microsoft and Linux certifications. My question is the value of a Udemy certification in Logo creation in Illustrator, which has hundreds of other equal courses. I, as a potential contractor would give little value, having much more interest in past experiences and a portfolio.

Money is easy.

Another part to consider is that the goal of a paid course is the creator's profit, and secondly the student learning, causing people interested in a course to fall for trendy words rather than following an organic progression. as doubts arise, such as selling Vue.js courses to people who don't even program.

 

Also worth remembering is of interest to the APIs, frameworks and tools that you learn to use them. I remember when I started studying Android development around 2012 that I was delighted with the quality and simplicity of the documentation, making the whole learning process enjoyable and efficient, so it's always good to check out the official sources of information, which is where most of the courses come from.

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