Bought a $50 course on Python and learned nothing I couldn't get for free

Signed up for a Udemy course last month that promised to teach me Python from scratch. Five hours in and I realized the instructor was just reading the docs out loud. I could have gotten the same info from a 10 minute YouTube video or the official tutorial. Now I'm out $50 and a weekend of my time. Has anyone else bought a course that turned out to be a total waste?

4 comments

4 Comments

williams.sage26d ago

Did you see that article about how most paid coding courses just repackage free content? I read something similar and it made me realize that checking reviews on Reddit first can save a lot of money. Was the course at least from a well known teacher or just some random person?

jana_shah26d ago

Man I got burned by a $200 course from some guy named "CodeMasterDave" or whatever on Udemy. Turned out his "Python for Beginners" was literally a 3 hour video of him reading the official Python docs out loud. I mean maybe it's just me but I could have just read the docs for free and saved my money. The reviews on Reddit later told me the guy had like 2 popular YouTube videos and slapped a price tag on basically the same stuff. I get that teachers need to make money but at least put some actual effort into making new examples or projects. Honestly I think the whole "well known teacher" thing is a trap too because even big names can do the same low effort thing.

diana51225d ago

Honestly @williams.sage I used to think paying for a course meant you got better material but that Python story changed my mind, you're right that Reddit reviews are way more reliable than the teacher's name.

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piper_kim25d ago

Tbh I kinda see it the other way. Paid courses can be bad, but I've also found some really good ones that beat anything free. The trick is finding teachers who actually build projects and explain why they do things, not just repeat the docs. Reddit is useful but you gotta sort through the noise too, lots of people trash courses just because they didn't like the teacher's style. I think the bigger problem is people buying random courses without checking the syllabus or watching a sample video first. A well known teacher isn't a guarantee but neither is a random Reddit upvote. For me, a course that includes real world projects and code examples you can actually follow along with is worth paying for even if the teacher isn't famous.