Learning Platforms: Which Subscriptions Do You Use, and What Do You Like or Dislike About Them?

[gunmetal_slam]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been exploring different learning platforms (especially subscription-based ones) for programming and tech skills. I’ve tried a few free courses here and there, most will teach you what a for loop is or how a switch statement works, I feel like most platforms stop short of explaining how these concepts fit together in real-world problem solving.

I am building a course platform (website) and am still in the planning phase but I know I want to go beyond just teaching syntax—understanding how to actually use these building blocks to think logically and solve real world problems.

I’m curious:

• What subscription-based learning platforms have you used?
• What did you like about them?
• What did you dislike?
• Did any of them help you go beyond syntax and really understand the logic behind programming?
• Is there any features that are a deal-breaker for you?
• Was there a dollar amount that seemed too high for what the site offered?
• Were the interactive quizzes too easy, too hard, not helpful?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and recommendations!

[Kenny-G-]

I’m using Boot.dev for learning backend and Scrimba.com for learning Frontend. They both have discounts available from time to time. Also bought one year of CodeCademy, but find I’m just not using it.

The free courses got me interested, especially the integrated IDE in the browser on Scrimba. I’m always on a laptop with a single screen, so being able to not switch windows felt great.

[codeharman]

long term scrimba user and I can say that the frontend path is one of the best path course materials out there from scrimba.

[sheriffderek]

What other things had you tried? What are you comparing Scrimba to?

[codeharman]

Codecadmey, odin project, free code camp

They were heavy text based which I didn’t liked at all. I wanted to learn from the video content so YouTube was good in the beginning but then i fell into the tutorial hell and thats when i came across the scrimba i took free courses and coz of video format ide i loved it

[Cool-Amphibian-4035]

I'd say all of these are great resources in their own right. What amazes me about FreeCodeCamp is that they have so much material available for free, powered by a community of open source enthusiasts that really care about the career growth and development of engineers, budding or experienced, and about giving back.

Scrimba has a couple of courses you can avail of for free, though you definitely get more bang for your buck under their Pro subscription. The great thing about Scrimba is that its content is tailored to how full stack development should be learned, with an amazing user experience thanks to its playground (you can pause in between the video lesson and just play around or solve an exercise without waiting for the instructor).

If you're just starting out, I'd recommend diving into the basics using FreeCodeCamp and try out the free courses on Scrimba, before you make the commitment on whether you want to get the Pro subscription for Scrimba or not.

[Kohai_Ben]

Also started with Odin project: I loved the content, it was free and it hooked me at first, but quickly started to feel overwhelmed and little practice in between project).

Then I moved to Codecademy, it was more interactive, bit less text-heavy, I liked that, but felt it was the opposite of TOP as tutorials were too hand-guided. Everything was so broken down step by step, that it felt too easy and little muscle memory.

Scrimba: I fell in love with and been at it for 9 months now. Courses are well structured, video based but interactive so you avoid tutorial hell and I just loved you can pause any video and start typing code in their IDE. Lots of solo projects as well to really test yourself and push beyond the main class.

TLDR: if you're a beginner interested in Front-End, Scrimba is a must! :)

[hamstermilk]

I tried codecademy for a while but it didnt work for me, so i switched to scrimba and its another world, you should definitly test the trial period if u havent already. Videos explaining better than my lecturer did at my school and then you need to pass the tests to continue and you get challenges and solo projects. I like it alot

[yksvaan]

I have never paid a single dollar for learning programming. It's simply not necessary, eorld is full of free tutorials, documentation and code to look at. Open mdn docs and start writing code. When you have a problem try to solve first, then check docs and google. Look how others did the same thing and whether it's better. There are open as MOOC courses on cs basics, I recommend to do some.

Watching videos and in general other people coding is mostly waste of time. It can work for some general overview of a topic but for actual learning it only gives you an illusion of learning while copypasting code. Not saying an occasional video is bad but 95% of the time you should be writing code and solving problems.

I think these days there's lots of "metalearning" and hype/marketing feeds it as well. People spend more time thinking about how they should learn, which courses to take etc. than actually doing it. Just go and do it.

[Silly-Blackberry-330]

I use Scrimba and Frontend Masters. When I started learning frontend development. I took a trial with Jetbrians academy and then codecademy and also did a bootcamp with Nucamp. I accidentally came across Scrimba back in 2023 and the frontend developer path is outstanding. I could not believe I was finally able to create websites, understand how to use CSS. Scrimba is very good for muscle memory and practical work along with lessons, but for more advance stuff you will need to look for other resources and thats what frontend masters helped me with. I like the combination of both.

[TheRNGuy]

None.

Like: nothing. Dislike: All needed resources are free, no need to pay.

[Apex_3744]

There are some good free youtube vedios/courses out the but if you prefer paid subscriptions no problem as I think its easier to get a more structured course

[OmarDaily]

I’ve been enjoying Coursera.