Udacity

I started the Business Analytics Nanodegree Program in October 2019 and I am almost done with it. I also finished the Digital Marketing Nanodegree Program like a year and a half ago.

The things I liked about the program:

-The modules are well structured in a way that is easy to follow and practice what you learn

-You don't need a previous solid knowledge in the field to start learning

-There are projects are the end of the modules to help you gauge the skills and knowledge you learnt. Reviewers will review your project and provide you with a detailed review

-You get a certificate upon completion

-You have a dedicated mentor to help you and answer your questions

-You can benefit from career coaching services

-Slack channel for students

 

What I did not like:

- The course is a bit expensive

-If you don't finish within 3 months ( in my case I chose to pay the three months upfront), you will lose access to the program unless you start paying as you go on a monthly basis again. 

BR,

Rami

I have been developing Android applications in the past as a hobby. When Google announced to partner with Udacity for this course, I got very excited and had to try this course.

It was an awesome experience.  In my opinion, the course is based on the actual career path of an android developer. Generally, an android developer starts his career with making simple basic apps, then moves to support multiple devices, fixing bugs , then the new android wear apps and material theme and then create an app of his own idea and involved in from designing UI to final development. This course does the same thing . I have learned a lot from this course. The reviewers are very good and give many suggestions to improve your coding style.

After completing this course, I feel I can develop any android application on my own. I don't need any server guy, designers, and testers. That is the real benefit of this course.

Are you interested in robotics? Do you want to learn programming applied to robotics? Are you looking to learn how ROS works? Does the cost worth the course? Well, let me give you my opinion.

I like learning from online courses like this and I've taken several in the past, all of them related to robotics and programming. And I have to say that this is a good course for beginners and for people who wants to try an online platform this will work great. So I will talk about the platform, the content, assistance, and cost.

NOTE: This is just my personal opinion. Keep in mind that we have different ways to learn in my case video lectures and hands-on exercises are the best way to learn. I will grade each content with the following metric:
 - Bad: Offers nothing
 - Regular: good enough but does not offers anything new
 - Awesome: Intuitive, clean, clear

Platform: "Awesome"
The platform is great, very intuitive and drives you easily to the content you are looking for. It also offers different free courses that you can take at the same time as you are taking the nano-degree. Every project delivery offers multiple options to upload your project.  There is a very active wiki and forum where you might find the answer to some of the questions. It even offers you an amazing online Debian platform where you can develop your projects and/or test them in some cases you do not have to worry about downloading a Virtual Machine (VM) and install your environment on it. However, If you want to learn the process of installing all the tools you need to succeed in this nano-degree I recommend you to install everything yourself. 

Content: "Regular"
The content was framed in a way that every single concept was easy to understand, the instructors are really good explaining and giving the necessary pauses for each step in the structure of algorithms and/or next steps, this includes the connection between one chapter to another. Knowing the concepts and theory is very important and Udacity really knows how to teach you that. However, if you really want to be a Robotics Software Engineer, the course should also teach you how to construct an algorithm from paper to software. 

1. Introduction to robotics:
This chapter is a brief introduction to the robotics world, giving the student a great overview of what to spect and where to focus in the future. It explains the use of the platform along with a nice welcome to the nano-degree.
2. Gazebo world:
This chapter is all about gazebo and how to create models, worlds, and plug-ins. I used gazebo a couple of times in the past and honestly, I was running away from it because I used to find it very unstable and difficult to use. Udacity took that fear away from me with this chapter, the explanations were like real-time tutorials making easy the understanding of this very powerful tool, I ran into a lot of problems trying to run the examples and the project, but hey that is the only way you can learn right, by troubleshooting your own mess. Anyway, the project was nice and useful for the rest of the chapters, this is where I go back to the chapter connection, whatever you did in your last project will be used in the next. The final project was about creating your first robot.
3. Ros Essentials:
This chapter is very straight forward. If you've never used ROS before this will give you a good explanation of the system. However, if you've used ROS before it is a waste of time you can easily jump to the project. At this point, you can find the same quality of explanation in some youtube tutorials or even reading the ROS wiki.
4. Localization, mapping and SLAM, and Path planning navigation:
In this chapter you will have a great time, you will see ROS working with a real algorithm. I enjoyed these modules a lot, it makes you troubleshoot your code and your architecture a lot of times and this is just the beginning. The only thing I really do not like is the use of pre-made packages for the projects, it would be helpful to use the packages at the beginning to teach the student how to run a more complex system on ROS and then teaching the students how to create a real localization algorithm, for example, implementing Monte Carlo localization from the paper (explained in the chapter) to code or RRT for path planning. 

Assistance: Awesome 
Assitance was great, there is a big forum full of people with great discussions, you have a private tutor to help you whenever you get stuck. Furthermore, you receive feedback every time you submit a new project. This makes the course a lot more interesting and mainly fun.

Cost: High and keep increasing => Regular

The nano-degree costs almost $900 USD. If you are new, interested in robotics and ROS and you can pay this nano degree. TAKE IT!!, it is the best option online by far. However, if you cannot pay such amount don't worry if you commit yourself to read the ROS wiki and/or practice with some video tutorials from YouTube/Coursera/EDX/Udemy they will get you up and running with all you need to start your career on ROS.
I personally enjoyed the course, however, I wasn't ready to be called a robotics engineer. It requires a lot more than any training or course. It requires commitment, hard work, practice and the most important of all HAVE FUN.  If you can take these challenges take this nano-degree. 

Well, it was me an exciting journey. I always wanted to pursue a course but would always give in. The best part about scholarship is that you're not alone doing the courses. But you're put in a group of fellow members, of all ages; that's the best part. I really like the AMA session that happens once in a week. That actually is one of the best places to share your knowledge. So, when it comes to programing. It's amazing. I like it and some times I hate it.. but once i got the hang of it. I can't resist it. That's true.. in the beginning. Everything is new, but slowly you develop an aptitude for it. I really don't know how you're going to get used to it. But, for me it was like that. Even when you're stuck at some point, there are mentors to guide you. That's another good thing I really liked about. Having a mentor is like having a second Google. This time, all you have to do is ask him. And he might not give you the whole code but will guide you in the best way to get out of the error you're stuck in. I'd say I've learned a lot.. Thank you udacity for such amazing journey. All new connections. And it's been a good journey.

This Nanodegree was my first introduction to Machine Learning as I come from a Marketing background. The curriculum is very complete, as it covers everything you would like to know about machine learning. The projects they propose are the best I've found across different learning platforms: they are challenging, forcing you to really understand the content, and apply the algorithms yourself. Once you have finished the course you really feel confident about your knowledge and skills to apply for jobs. In my case, thanks to this Nanodegree, I was able to get into an MSc in Artificial Intelligence.

I will always like to quote myself as a self instructor,reference and the curriculum I use is basically my personal building experiences over the years which I use to motivate others.

        Thinking about achieving goals,dreams and any related self power is a conception whose foundations are :

i).Continous dedication

ii).Hardwork

iii).Self Discipline

iv).Positive Attitude(personal love or belief)

The above four mentioned points have worked for me over the years and still working :

Today I can fully stand to call myselt a "computer scientist" but I never started as one , I did pure science both at secondary and high school  without any knowldge in computer science but when I got to the University I decided to study computer science,since I knew I had no backgound in computer Science I decided to adopt the above four techniques; continous dedication which helped me work tirelessly,self discipline impacted me with ability to think rationally ,positive attitude gave me self love and belief ,knowing I was capable to do it,that is to say even at the verge of darkness I still believed there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Today I boldly quote myself as a "transformed computer science student" why not computer scientist?

                 ACHIEVEMENTS

1. I'm  a final year student who will be graduating with a BSc in computer science in less than 8 months.

2.Recently graduated with a Nano degree in AI from Udacity,online school.

3.I was selected for facebookdevelopercircleBuea scholarship in machine learning using pytorch at Udacity recenntly.

4.Am  member of Hackclub, coding club.

5. One of the Coordinators of Xcode++ coding club at the university of Buea,Cameroon( a less than 5 months old  club).

              Challenges You Must Face

1. The learning curve for Programming is so stif(My personal experience),so  it has to be difficult .

PROPOSED SOLUTION: you must double efforts apllying the above four techniques simultaneously.

2.You have to know Programming is based on creativity and for none foundation people it seems very impossible.

PROPOSED SOLUTION:Remember the word impossible means "I'm Possible".

3.You have to be smart and not intelligent.Question is HOW DO I BECOME SMART?

PROPOSED SOLUTION: work hard on your skills in Mathematics.

4. Don't be shy to ask questions,remmember there is  no stupid question.

 these are just a few challenges which I faced and I know magority of people who will enter just like I did will likely face same.Also some of these challenges could be based on our environment but  I have tried to remain general as possible.

                      ADVICE

You must always remember computing generally be it in what field is focused on solving problems which have never existed and whose solutions might not be known.So focus on the skills and its applications.

 also Based on my personal experience Udacity is one of the best Schools to make dreams come true ,horray!! hurry up enroll and make your dreams come true.

it made my AI dream a reality!!

 

            ACKNOWLDGEMENTS

   Special thanks to God

    I fully dedicate this to myself for everything is my personal experience.

    

by Nyuykighan Mark Ngoran

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The course was very well structured and engaging. It covered lot of concepts starting from the basics. I got familiar with how to develop an end to end webb application using Python, Flask and Postgres. Loved creating real time web applications and getting it reviewed by our mentors. The mentors were also quick in responding back whenever I faced any issues. It covered a lot of new concepts and techologies but only thing I felt a bit lagging was that the course was a little outdated. I believe that Udacity has now newly included docker, kubernetes to the program which is good. They can also include Angular or React along with this instead of basic javascript to make the course a perfect one!