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Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

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Re: Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

#121

My issue with Udemy is they stole my Python videos from YouTube and sold them to 12,000+ students at $199.99 listed price .

There is no way that is true.

First of all, Udemy doesn't "steal" anything. They're a platform for people to post videos. Like if a Udemy course appears on YouTube, you cannot say "YouTube stole videos from Udemy."

If someone stole videos, that's on the thief. It's called piracy and it's been a thing on the internet since the beginning.

Second of all, people who steal other people's videos often given them away for free. Post them to black hat sites, etc. So most of those 12,000+ are probably free.

And finally, Udemy holds the money for like 45-60 days, so if a course is found to be pirated, all students get refunds and the instructor gets banned. And doesn't make a dime.

Find me a real example of a pirated course in 2019 where the pirate made money. Go on. You can't find it, because it doesn't happen.

Re: Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had really good luck with programming topics, specifically Docker, Kubernetes, Kafka, and Elasticsearch. These are narrow topics that you are unlikely to find on Coursera and many of the courses are published by well known figures in their respective communities. I have yet to hit a bad one. Udemy has a 30 day refund policy as well, so you can try a course out with low risk.

Which are your favorites for docker and elastic?

I really enjoyed the v6 version of this one for Elastic: https://www.udemy.com/course/elasticsearch-7-and-elastic-sta...

And as for Docker, this was my favorite: https://www.udemy.com/course/docker-and-kubernetes-the-compl...

I've watched a bunch of this guys Kafka courses too, and they were all fantastic so I would recommend any thing that he's got if it picques your interest: https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=stephane%20maarek&sr...

Re: Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've bought ~20 courses on Udemy; variety of software engineering; music lessons; language lessons; and random; not a single one had reasonable "information density" - i.e., I'm sure if I watched all 20 hours I'd pick up some useful information, but probably only an hour's worth. I've since moved to mostly either using free Youtube videos and just picking specific knowledge I need, or paying much more for targeted pr…

I'm friends with a top course creator on Udemy and the info density issue is caused by the buying habits of users. - Most buy based on sales (at a crazy discount), ASP is ~$10 off his ostensibly several hundred dollar course - Most 95%+ never even _open_ the course - Of the remainder it's about .25% that "finish" the course in any meaningful way - Most people buying the courses are aspirational about it ("Yeah I shou…

> Of the remainder it's about .25% that "finish" the course in any meaningful way

Some users don't pay for courses to "finish" them, but to check key lessons and refer to them when needed. Personally I've paid for a few MOOCs just to routinely watch/listen some parts, skip a bunch of lessons, and listen others passively.

Re: Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

#124
post #8

I've never taken an Udemy class, but am sure there's quality content on the website. However, I've always felt that the way they show their prices is a little fishy. Looking at their offering now, all of the courses are priced between 10 - 13 euros, but each one seems to be "on sale" with the actual price being in the hundreds of euros.

I noticed a course this weekend I was a bit interested in. And they said it was 94% off. 150 NOK ($16) instead of 2350 NOK ($250). It was some kind of offer that would expire this weekend, and I had "9 hours left" or something to get it at that price. I actually wrote it down because I had the same feeling of being manipulated. You made me check, it's still 94% off at the 150 NOK price. Now it's some kind of offer th…

An update to this: The offer expired yesterday. Then I however was prompted that the normal price was 2350 NOK, but as a new user I could get it for 150 NOK for the next X hours. So just a new offer with the same price lined up after the first expired.

Earlier today I checked, and then the price was back at 2350 NOK. However, checking again now a few hours later, it's again a new offer for 150 NOK as a new user. And if I log in, it's 250 NOK without any mention about why, just a "90% off!" tag.

So yeah, the full price is a fake one.

Re: Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

#125
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux Academy's lab based approach is pretty helpful, but sometimes their course content (videos) is pretty horrendous. Some of the course content (particularly Kubernetes and other container related courses) often seems like it is made by people who aren't as familiar with the technologies as they think they are, or are just not capable of intelligibly organizing slide decks (making things headings that shouldn't be…

I had done some of the AWS courses and was just about to move onto their Kubernetes stuff -- is there another resource you'd recommend instead?

katacoda.com

Re: Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed a course this weekend I was a bit interested in. And they said it was 94% off. 150 NOK ($16) instead of 2350 NOK ($250). It was some kind of offer that would expire this weekend, and I had "9 hours left" or something to get it at that price. I actually wrote it down because I had the same feeling of being manipulated. You made me check, it's still 94% off at the 150 NOK price. Now it's some kind of offer th…

An update to this: The offer expired yesterday. Then I however was prompted that the normal price was 2350 NOK, but as a new user I could get it for 150 NOK for the next X hours. So just a new offer with the same price lined up after the first expired. Earlier today I checked, and then the price was back at 2350 NOK. However, checking again now a few hours later, it's again a new offer for 150 NOK as a new user. And…

Update again: The last 150NOK offer is now over. There is however a new campaign where I can buy it for 163NOK for the next 4 days.

Re: Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

#127
post #2

Anyone recommend any Udemy courses, on any topic? My experience is that there are very few where both delivery and content are good. My own recommendations would be Stephen Grider’s React courses, and Chris Croft’s management courses.

"JavaScript: Understanding the weird parts" by Anthony Alicea is a high-quality course which helped me understand JS on a more fundamental level. This is the main one I always recommend for folks who know JS, but would like to take a step further: https://www.udemy.com/course/understand-javascript/

This hasn't been updated in 5 years.
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