Udacity Agile Software Development Nanodegree Review
Agile development is one of the hottest ideas out there, catering to the ever-evolving world of development. An Agile Developer takes this mindset into account, giving businesses infrastructures that can support their growth and expansion to bigger, better, and more efficient practices. Breaking into the world of Agile development comes with a promising career, not to mention an opportunity to constantly push development to the next level.
If that sounds like something you’re interested in, then the Agile Software Development Nanodegree from Udacity could be perfect for you. It’s got a long list of extras plus content that covers all of the most important topics in the field. In this review of the course, you’ll find all you need to help in making the decision to take the course or not, leaving the final decision up to you. First, let’s start with an introduction to Udacity and their famous Nanodegree.
About Udacity
Udacity is an online academy that specializes in everything IT. From the business side to development to security and everything in between, anyone that is interested in the field can find something with Udacity. They started off as an online portal with free courses and the goal to bring IT to everyone. Over the years, their reputation landed them collaborations with top names in the industry, making them an accredited online portal.
Now, they offer everything from free courses to in-depth certifications known as nanodegrees. These nanodegrees are meant to hone in on topics, giving students a chance to get in, learn, and get started with a new career. Udacity’s nanodegrees are perhaps what gets them the most attention, coming with a few extras for all learners that sign up.
Nanodegree Extras
Not only are nanodegrees full of great content but, come with some extras that set Udacity apart from the rest. They are the reason behind Udacity’s fame, most of them developed in collaboration with top names in IT including Google, Uber, and Microsoft. When learners sign up for a nanodegree, they get a number of perks for the duration of the course, which include:
- Flexible learning
- A community of learners
- A technical mentor
- In-depth course content
- Real-industry projects
- Career services
- A-List Instructors
Meet your Instructors
Udacity does not disappoint when it comes to selecting instructors. They don’t just incorporate anyone but look for professionals that have years of experience in the field and impressive educational backgrounds. For the Agile Software Development Nanodegree, meet your instructors.
Hasnain Rizvi
Dr. Rizvi is an Agile Transformation thought leader. During his time in the industry, he has trained over 25,000 professionals all across the globe on the ideas of Agile development. He currently makes his way from universities to organizations, training them over his topics of expertise as well.
Vincent High
Vincent is currently a lead developer at a top-ranked US bank. His specialty is Scrum, and he shares that as an Agile Coach with businesses, fellow colleagues, and universities across the globe. Besides consulting for large corporations, he also is passionate about helping startups get up and running by adopting the Agile mindset.
Mark Ginise
Mark leads Agility training for the federal government. His specialties include Agile Transformations, DevSecOps, and cloud migration. Besides working, he also teaches his expertise along with technology education.
What are the Prerequisites?
This course is open to any and everyone that is interested in a career as an Agile Software Developer. Though there are no prerequisites, Udacity does recommend that learners considering the course have:
- Basic computer skills
- Practice with managing files
- Experience using third-party online programs
- Knowledge of how to surf the web with their favorite online browser
Course Breakdown
This course was created in collaboration with ThoughtWorks, a global software company that specializes in solutions to today’s toughest problems for businesses industry-wide. With the content included, you’ll walk away with the skills to build and deliver products that support Agile development. You’ll know how to create environments that support high-performance teams using advanced Agile techniques.
Foundations of Agile and Agile Frameworks
The course begins with an introduction to Agile. Learn the mindset of Agile and how it acts as the foundation for understanding the difference between ‘being’ and ‘doing’. Included in this lesson is an introduction to all of the top Agile Frameworks and a look at how to apply best practices to increase business value.
Project! Agile Delivery Launch
Your first project will have you take on the role of an Agile consultant. You’ll recommend and define a solution for a corporation (WorldVisitz), something that they can use to replace their current development process. You’ll prepare a presentation based on your findings, attempting to get the executives at WorldVisitz on board.
A Look into Agile Planning
With Agile development, planning is key. You have to be able to think ahead, playing out all of your options to see which one is the most promising. It also helps in planning out a work plan, able to give your teams and companies an estimate of the amount of work is entailed in the plan that you wish to execute. The end goal is to create something that is valuable, effective, and usable; all of which companies these days are hungry for.
Project! MVP Release Plan
You’ll get to planning in this project, creating software for the CDC. It will be a lot like today’s apps, which are there to help contain and prevent the spread of a deadly virus. The key in this project is to make sure that the CDC’s requirements are met and features line up with a user-friendly framework.
Progress, Communication, and Organizational Agility
Communication is a huge part of development, able to give ideas about project progress and status. This directly plays into the organization of agility using metrics. As with any kind of development, the ability to foresee risk and mitigate is crucial. The better insight about the performance both at present and future times, the more value your product will have for today’s businesses.
Project! Agile with A Big Visual Information Radar
Monitoring behavior is important to development, and something that students will work on within this project. They will create a Big Visual Information Radar, which will automatically report back the performance of the Agile project for all team members to see. Learners will be in charge of analyzing results and reporting them back to executives for a status update.
How Long Does It Take?
We mentioned earlier that Udacity offers flexible learning. This means that you can have access to content as long as you need it, logging on and learning as often as you like. As an estimate, Udacity claims that the course will take 3 months to complete at only 5 to 10 hours a week. They use this estimate as a way to give learners an idea of the amount of time it will take and to also calculate the course cost.
The cost of the course is directly affected by the total amount of time that you take. The longer you take, the higher the total of the course so, it might be a better idea to enroll and get to work, finishing in a timely manner. More on that in the next section.
What’s the Cost?
Udacity offers a few ways to pay. Each has its advantages and depends on the amount of time that you will have to dedicate to the course and your budget. Your options for paying for the course are:
Pay as You Go
Udacity works by giving learners monthly access. In this way, you are able to take as much time as you want, as long as you keep up with project deadlines. This way could be great if you don’t have a lot of time or if you think you can finish faster than Udacity’s estimated time. Why is that? Well, because each month comes with a price tag of $359. That could add up if you’re not careful and can wind up costing more than Udacity’s deal.
Udacity’s Deal
Udacity’s deal takes the estimated time to complete into account, packaging up the 3 months into a one-time payment. If you choose to do it this way, you’re looking at a total of $927. This includes a 15% discount for paying altogether, something that gives you some extra incentive to choose this option. While this is a great deal, you could beat it if you can finish the course faster than the estimated time. If not, you’ll be left paying more for the same time.
Learner Reviews
The Agile Software Development Nanodegree is brand-new and doesn’t have any reviews yet. Instead of looking at reviews for this course, we checked out the web to see what previous learners had to say. Here are a few in their own words.
“the content is organized and quizzes are helpful to measure understanding of taught content The reviewers’ feedback is helpful to learn more to improve There is always a reminder in case of falling behind There are resources after each lesson to further research or study the topics.” – Habib Z.
“It already months after I enrolling Machine Learning Nanodegree at Udacity. The best things is they taught me about the best way to think as ML engineer. I am triggered to learn more and build project. I am on my switch career and I found Community that support my goals by learning here.” – Deasy I.
“I completed the first project
It was very useful for me as I applied it to my own business. The whole scholarship is very good because the application is on the ground. As for the first project, it was related to preparing a marketing plan for a specific product in all stages” – Mohammed M.
Can I Land A Job?
The job outlook from 2019-2029 is growing 22%faster than average. This is promising for anyone with the skills to break into the field, as they have a pretty good chance of landing a job as long as they have the skills. The number of jobs in 2019 topped out at 1,469,200 and only expected to grow as more businesses push to faster production times that require more advanced infrastructures.
On top of growing demand, the average pay for an Agile Developer is $107,510 annually. With a career of this kind, the further you push your skills, the more they pay, as you will be able to create solutions for businesses that take help to take their production to the next level. So, can you land a job? It seems promising, especially with Udacity’s name backing you up after certification.
Is It Worth It?
So, after all, is said and done, is it worth it? Well, let’s recap. First of all, Udacity is an accredited online academy that offers nanodegrees that come with a ton of extras. These extras are there to help you excel, helping you from your time in the course and beyond. Secondly, the course content goes in-depth, introducing all of the most important concepts for the world of Agile development. You can finish the course in as little as a few months, surely able to finish it up in no more than 4.
Plus, we added a look at the job market which is quite promising. Not only is the demand huge and expected to grow but, so is the average annual salary. While the decision is ultimately yours, we don’t see why you wouldn’t go ahead, jump in, and sign up! A career as an Agile is fun and allows you to get creative and think critically to take businesses to the next level.
If this sounds like a career choice for you, Udacity is a great place to start, helping you gain the skills that you need while helping you get your foot in the door. Get in and get done, starting with the upcoming course set to start soon!
