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Google Launches Android Programming Course For Absolute Beginners (zdnet.com)

If you're on the fence on whether or not should you spring for learning how to code, Google is willing to offer a helping hand. The company has partnered with Udacity to offer a "nanodegree" class designed for people with no programming experience at all. The program costs $199 per month. ZDNet reports:The course material, developed by Google, is hosted on learning platform Udacity and builds on earlier programs such as the Android Nanodegree for Beginners. The basics course takes around four weeks if the student commits six hours a week and upon completion they'll have created two basic apps built in Android Studio."Google, in partnership with Udacity, is making Android development accessible and understandable to everyone, so that regardless of your background, you can learn to build apps that improve the lives of people around you," Google announced on its developer blog.

98 comments

  1. nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "a nano-degree class"

    Was that the winner in buzz word Bingo?

    1. Re:nano-degree class ? by srmalloy · · Score: 2

      No, TFA isn't even buzzword compliant.

    2. Re:nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Looks like they hooked up the Slashdot "Firehose" directly to the Google marketing department.

    3. Re:nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck is U da city?

      A new phone plan from Boost Mobile?

    4. Re: nano-degree class ? by cyber-vandal · · Score: 2

      Why the fuck do people on a tech website seem to be utterly unable to use Google.

    5. Re: nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the fuck do people on a tech website have absolutely no sense of humor?

      Oh yeah, that's right.

    6. Re: nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Speaking of Google, you might want to use it and search for "finding a sense of humor."

    7. Re:nano-degree class ? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      "a nano-degree class"

      This course is actually designed to produce the managers of tomorrow.

    8. Re: nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aw. Someone needs a diaper change :(

    9. Re: nano-degree class ? by Nunya666 · · Score: 1

      Why the fuck do people on a tech website have absolutely no sense of humor?

      Oh yeah, that's right.

      They do. But you're too lazy to tell us that it was meant to be humorous. Next time, try a wink, an emoticon, or a damn old-school (grin). Since you're new to the Internet, let me help you with a simple concept: communication via text cannot display tone or body language, so it is difficult to recognize sarcasm or humor without some kind of help, which is what smilies and emoticons were designed for.

      And why the fuck do people on a tech website refuse to log in? I'm talking to you, AC. And no, that wasn't meant to be funny.

    10. Re: nano-degree class ? by bestweasel · · Score: 1

      Why would I pay $200 a month for 0.000000001 of a degree? That doesn't seem like a good deal.

    11. Re: nano-degree class ? by cyber-vandal · · Score: 0

      You're the one with the personal hygiene problem. I can smell you from here.

    12. Re:nano-degree class ? by infolation · · Score: 1

      That would be a pico-degree class.

    13. Re: nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go back to commenting on fucking youtube, cunt.

    14. Re: nano-degree class ? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      Why would I pay $200 a month for 0.000000001 of a degree? That doesn't seem like a good deal.

      it's global warming!

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    15. Re:nano-degree class ? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      "a nano-degree class"

      This course is actually designed to produce the managers of tomorrow.

      In the future, rather than one big manager, everybody will have billions of nanomanagers.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    16. Re: nano-degree class ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think GP was talking about "Why the fuck do people on a tech website seem to be utterly unable to use Google." That doesn't seem like a facetious, wry, or sarcastic comment to me.

      > And why the fuck do people on a tech website refuse to log in?

      I am logged in. I'm posting AC cuz mods are on crack.

  2. What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Android is a terrible development environment. Develop your apps in C/C++ and avoid the rubbish Android-Java-Dalvik system entirely.

    1. Re:What is the point? by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Great, so now all we have to do is learn C++. Should be pretty easy.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    2. Re:What is the point? by sexconker · · Score: 4, Funny

      Writing C/C++ is easy.
      Reading C/C++ after it has been written is hard.
      Writing secure C/C++ is very hard.
      Reading someone else's C/C++ is nearly impossible, therefore you can copy-pasta it assuming it is secure.

    3. Re:What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Great, so now all we have to do is learn C++. Should be pretty easy.

      It was- at least for us C prgrammers.

      Back in the early 90s when I first took up C++ (and it became a resume 'must'), it was nothing. Lot's of great things to make programing easier and more productive.

      Great.

      I haven't touched C++ code in almost 20 years and it makes almost no sense now.

      And people think that's good?

      Folks make fun of COBOL, but let me tell you something, it survives because it is good.

      Yeah, yeah, yeah, get off my lawn ...

      But really, Computer Science has stagnated.

    4. Re:What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      After about 8 weeks of total combined android development under the belt... yeah, Android kinda sucks. It just feels weird. It's both too low-level AND too abstracted. It is very class hierarchy-bound, in an ugly way. It forces an app life cycle that is alien to me.
      The navigation and data flow between activities and their state is not very obvious. Nothing is obvious. Naming is strange. Using bundles for communicating data between parts of the app is too difficult beyond primitive data types and strings, so I just use static fields now. It's just horrible.
      Things seem to break in unexpected ways. My brain hurts every time I have to look up anything new, nothing is made easy by default. Doing anything worthwhile simply takes a lot of time. Some things are just broken, like list view scroll indexing requiring you to basically to re-create the entire object structure if you want to change the data.
      Maybe I'm just still new at this, but it hasn't clicked with me. My background is in web apps, mostly java back end and fugly front ends.

    5. Re:What is the point? by jimbolauski · · Score: 1

      It hasn't stagnated, just all the easy cool stuff has been done.

      --
      Knowledge = Power
      P= W/t
      t=Money
      Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
    6. Re:What is the point? by rrohbeck · · Score: 1

      Yup. There are so many different styles in C++ that they amount to different dialects or even different domain specific languages. Unless you understand the underpinnings you don't know what's going on so you just copypasta. That's why I really prefer C, but you have to know what you're doing.

    7. Re:What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " Lot's of great things"

      Lot is? Lot was? Something belongs to a lot?

    8. Re:What is the point? by Zaelath · · Score: 1

      I'm reminded of:

      [Unix process talks to its parent process]

      A: I'm bored
      B: Hi bored, I'm dad
      A: I'm \0
      B: Hi
      A: I'm AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
      B: Hi A*segfaults*

    9. Re:What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      im a veteran android developer, and you make sense. android does not. it used to make sense before android 3.0 and fragments. before then it was a very nicely organized system. instant compilation too. none of this 3 minute compiling gradle garbage.

      android is vastly over-complicated and its UI is completely hosed. the worst part is that the community is full of noobs or "professionals" who want to do it the "proper google way" which is actually fucked up. nobody actually reasons things through & goes hey - google - thats a stupid thing to do.

    10. Re:What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't get it. After "I'm \0" the buffer should resemble: \0\0
      Next step "Hi" just prints a zero length string
      After "I'm AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" the buffer should resemble "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA\0"
      Why would the next statement segfault?

    11. Re:What is the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Writing C/C++ is easy.
      Reading C/C++ after it has been written is hard.
      Writing secure C/C++ is very hard.
      Reading someone else's C/C++ is nearly impossible, therefore you can copy-pasta it assuming it is secure.

      Mmmm pasta.

  3. Only $200 a month! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And if you write thousands of shitty apps that get just one or two downloads each, you might be able to make that money back!

    1. Re:Only $200 a month! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's WAY overpriced. Expect to find some free beginners classes to rise to prominence as Google promotes their overpriced shit.

      Oddly enough, for $200/month you can sign up for one of those all-you-can-learn deals from legitimate, accredited, institutions and work toward an actual degree -- not a useless "nano-degree".

    2. Re:Only $200 a month! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      er... What would be some of those all-you-can-learn deals from legitimate institutions? Actual degree does sound better than nano-degree.

  4. $199 per month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck off, Google. You can get better education on the web for free.

    1. Re:$199 per month by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      The bigger question is are you willing to invest in yourself? Paying $199 per month might be worth it. Most people who seek free learning materials on the Internet lack commitment because they don't have any money on the line.

    2. Re:$199 per month by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

      By that logic all of the people who fell for "Trump University" are now billionaires.

      --
      I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    3. Re:$199 per month by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

      By that logic all of the people who fell for "Trump University" are now billionaires.

      There's a difference between investing in yourself and investing in a "get rich quick" scheme. Unfortunately, most people don't know the difference and want a ready made solution that requires absolutely no effort on their part.

    4. Re:$199 per month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My cousin works from home and earns $4500 a week.

      Are you ready to invest in yourself? I can tell you how, for only $199 for the first month!

    5. Re:$199 per month by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      My cousin works from home and earns $4500 a week.

      Investing in a "get rich quick" scheme is not the same as investing yourself.

    6. Re:$199 per month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Invest in yourself so you can get rich by writing apps, quick!

    7. Re:$199 per month by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Got straight to the app jail.

    8. Re:$199 per month by normanjd · · Score: 2

      "All of the individual courses that make up the Nanodegree are available online for no charge, Google said, while Udacity offers additional paid services." I THINK the $199 is for Udacity Mentoring and a Cert at the end. Being only a novice in Java and never having programmed for Android (I'm a DBA most days, but program on occasion.), I plan to take the classes for free just for the knowledge and practice... I've taken about a dozen classes for free this way, but agree most who go the free route are not committed. Even when you could get Honor Code certs, I think half the class would drop out by 2nd week, then lost another 5% evey weeks that follows...

    9. Re:$199 per month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There still might be the impression, amongst the people this training is targeting, that you can still strike it rich building apps... that Google is banking on.

    10. Re:$199 per month by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      There still might be the impression, amongst the people this training is targeting, that you can still strike it rich building apps... that Google is banking on.

      True. Google doesn't have the rich ecosystem that Apple has, where Stanford MBA graduates are writing business plans for that killer app that will turn them into instant venture capitalists.

    11. Re:$199 per month by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      By that logic all of the people who fell for "Trump University" are now billionaires.

      well trump is. he says.
      the question is where in the curriculum do you learn about zero sum games.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    12. Re:$199 per month by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      The bigger question is are you willing to invest in yourself? Paying $199 per month might be worth it. Most people who seek free learning materials on the Internet lack commitment because they don't have any money on the line.

      take the $199 and set up a Roth IRA by buying an index fund. then go out and get a job.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    13. Re:$199 per month by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      take the $199 and set up a Roth IRA by buying an index fund. then go out and get a job.

      You can only contribute to a Roth IRA from earned income of a job. No job, no contribution. Spending $199 on a new suit for job interviews is better advice.

    14. Re:$199 per month by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      take the $199 and set up a Roth IRA by buying an index fund. then go out and get a job.

      You can only contribute to a Roth IRA from earned income of a job. No job, no contribution. Spending $199 on a new suit for job interviews is better advice.

      huh. gotta admit i didn't know that.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  5. But is it cloud-scalable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    3D printed? Private spaced? Mars colonied? Asteroid mined? Maker spaced? Does it empower women?

  6. Hope it's better than the official guide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which doesn't work for newer versions of Android Studio

    1. Re:Hope it's better than the official guide by sexconker · · Score: 1

      I can confirm that the official guides/tutorials are a complete fucking mess.
      Their IDE is bloated and unwieldy.
      The emulator is slower than a one-legged cricket in January.

    2. Re:Hope it's better than the official guide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      android has had too many "improvements" which fixed problems nobody had. Fragments are technically an awful redundant idea. they should never have been introduced. you can do everything with a custom view. all of the arguments put forward for fragments (ie the 'benefits') can be done with custom views.

      then the action bar came along. which then got replaced.

      and dont even get me started on the support library and THE ENTIRE DUPLICATION OF THE FRAGMENTS AND UI API. which isnt actually compatible with each other.

  7. hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Larry Page is stupid

  8. "Hello World" app by jfdavis668 · · Score: 0

    The first thing you create is a "Hello World" app.

    1. Re:"Hello World" app by bmxeroh · · Score: 1

      And it's 200+ lines of boilerplate...

      --
      Central Ohio Home Theater Installation - The Theater People
    2. Re:"Hello World" app by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Oh, God! Not Java again!

  9. Programming is not the important thing by OffTheLip · · Score: 3, Insightful

    problems begging solutions are. When I was programming professionally I never thought being able to program was as important as having a problem to solve requiring a programming language. App development is the same, find a reason to program, solve the problem in your mind, apply a language and you are a programmer.

    1. Re:Programming is not the important thing by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Obviously you have never met my friends. "Hey, I have a great idea for this app. Can you program it for me?"

    2. Re:Programming is not the important thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The worst part is the great idea they have would be best presented as a web site or in some cases a single page. Usually consisting of a little bit of HTML5 and JavaScript. Sometimes not even requiring a database back end. The great "app" could do nothing more than present a specific bookmark in a browser. But that is what they want because an app gives them an icon to tap in their list of apps. Right?

    3. Re:Programming is not the important thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And good luck doing any of that without a solid grounding in things like basic algorithms and data structures. MBA dumbs can ID the problem but they cant code their way out of a paper hat.

    4. Re:Programming is not the important thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Coder dweebs can do the needful but they sure as shit don't know how to sell crap to idiots. Without the selling there's no fucking money in programming.

    5. Re:Programming is not the important thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Each time I have tried to get into Android development, I get hung up on getting the dang IDE (Eclipse or NetBeans) working correctly. I invariably end up with some error dialog, piss around with it for awhile, and give up for another few months until I have time to look at it again.

    6. Re:Programming is not the important thing by infolation · · Score: 2

      That's what Apache Cordova was invented for.

      Mobile apps with HTML, CSS & JS
      Target multiple platforms with one code base
      Free and open source

    7. Re:Programming is not the important thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bloatware. You don't need to make an app to use a web site. Just use the web site.

    8. Re:Programming is not the important thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      these cross-platform things are always bad. theyre a very good way to become out of date very quickly when the OS changes.
      and why the hell would you use web technologies to build a local app? theyre not even good for web apps. the web is an awful platform for applications.

  10. Money by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well at least someone figured out how to make money with Android apps: Udacity.

    1. Re:Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      except the classes are also available for free.

  11. Can't have too many by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    of those note taking apps.

  12. Boring, clueless, and stuffed full of cash... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Boring, clueless, nearly irrelevant and stuffed full of cash, Google has become the new Microsoft.

    Once seen as a 'cool' and 'hip' place to work by many, the evil has set in, the stupid is strong, and it has become painfully clear that the Google is the new Microsoft: doomed to hilarious attempts to create/acquire new tech by throwing wads of cash randomly and hoping something sticks to it.

    Yes, Google, the innovator: home of the wonderful AdSense, purveyors of quality thermostats, self-driving cars RealSoonNow (tm) (because I always wanted to buy me some top-shelp navigation software from an ad agency), and of course those really neat glasses and a plethora of spiffy here-today-gone-tomorrow web-apps.

    Not just innovation, but innovation at WEB SCALE.

    1. Re:Boring, clueless, and stuffed full of cash... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i want a web scale. make it web scale.
      a web scale factory builder implementation of web scale.
      please take 20 minutes to compile my web scale.

    2. Re:Boring, clueless, and stuffed full of cash... by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      Boring, clueless, nearly irrelevant and stuffed full of cash, Google has become the new Microsoft. Once seen as a 'cool' and 'hip' place to work by many, the evil has set in, the stupid is strong, and it has become painfully clear that the Google is the new Microsoft: doomed to hilarious attempts to create/acquire new tech by throwing wads of cash randomly and hoping something sticks to it. Yes, Google, the innovator: home of the wonderful AdSense, purveyors of quality thermostats, self-driving cars RealSoonNow (tm) (because I always wanted to buy me some top-shelp navigation software from an ad agency), and of course those really neat glasses and a plethora of spiffy here-today-gone-tomorrow web-apps. Not just innovation, but innovation at WEB SCALE.

      google's fine once you realize that everything they produce is always in beta.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  13. finding-- [Re: nano-degree class ?] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 2

    Speaking of Google, you might want to use it and search for "finding a sense of humor."

    I typed "finding" in to google, and it autocompleted finding dory, finding nemo, finding neverland, finding carter, and finding bigfoot.

    I'm to lazy to finish typing "..a sense of humor." If google won't autocomplete it for me, I figure I don't need to know anyway.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:finding-- [Re: nano-degree class ?] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somebody tell BeauHD. Clearly that's another example of the dreaded auto-complete blacklist!

    2. Re:finding-- [Re: nano-degree class ?] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...in your case, "finding sex", "finding a life", or my favorite "finding out the universe a vast empty harsh hell and no one is going anywhere, ever.".

      How's that grab ya, ya pale-skinned spotted dork?

      PS: And it's "too" lazy, not "to".

  14. Quit trying to teach non-programmers to program by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just quit. They don't get it. I was trying to explain loops and variables in a small scripting language to a girl at work who "knows" C#. She acted like I was talking about splitting the atom. She went back to her desk to "review" what I had explained so she could "get it".

    If the girl who "knows" C# can't get a simple scripting language, good luck with average folks. It doesn't work teaching non-programmers to program. Just stop.

    1. Re:Quit trying to teach non-programmers to program by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      I've programmed in assembler, and I have trouble understanding anything written in scripting languages. I think it's because by the time I've got to end.of.ridiculouslyKZF_long.identifier.poettering.factory.subobject.valInt223a I've forgotten what day it is, never mind what the beginning of it was or what problem I'm trying to solve.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  15. Lesson 1 : Relocate to South Asia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I already know how to code. I am hacking on a github project right now. But I do not ever expect to get paid for it. There are no coding jobs anywhere in the western hemisphere. If you are unwilling or unable to relocate to one of the designated countries where coding jobs are outsourced then save yourself a lot of grief and learn anything else.

    1. Re: Lesson 1 : Relocate to South Asia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your dumbass...

  16. Nanodegree? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just what the hell is a nano degree supposed to be?

    Can I pay in 199 picodollars?

  17. gold mine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    1. Spend $2000 making super simple "beginner" course materials that look real snazzy
    2. Charge 100,000+ rubes $199/mo for the privelege of looking at it
    3. Laugh all the way to the bank

  18. app permissions by just+another+AC · · Score: 1

    Knowing google the resulting tutorial will result in:

    "Would you like to install the following app: 'Hello World' "

    The app will require the following permissions:
    contacts
    messages
    Read call state
    microphone
    video camera
    storage - all files and folders

    But seriously their tutorial ought to at least touch on security - ie don't mess with it if you don't understand/need it. ...

  19. That doesn't sound competitive by istartedi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    An industry-specific intro, and $199/mo? You could take intro CS at a community college, pay about the same if it's a 3 month course, and get actual credits towards a degree--a few centidegrees if you will, as opposed to a nanodegree. Community college is orders of magnitude better!

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:That doesn't sound competitive by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

      I was pretty excited to see this, for my homeschooler, but, yeah, wow, $199 per month is more than I can swing for our homeschool budget. In States where the money follows the child, this would work out fine, but here we still have to pay the school tax but get none of it in rebate.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:That doesn't sound competitive by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      but here we still have to pay the school tax but get none of it in rebate.

      That's probably because your state is run by Democrats and their teacher union allies hate home schooling. So like most government programs they take your money and give you nothing, especially if you're (a) white and (b) middle class. Isn't socialism wonderful?

      So you're saying the education system has definitely failed you.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  20. TRACKING 101 ANDROID EDITION? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course they do. Android is Google's fork of Linux for small devices.

    The problem is, Android is already fine. $199 for this is a waste when the information is already out there in abundance. You are far better off spending $199 an an inexpensive laptop or desktop and putting Linux or many Linuxes on it. Distrowatch.com has links to them all. Then you would actually have "something" useful instead of memories of smiling faces as your wallet got lighter on something you will likely never use.

    1. Re:TRACKING 101 ANDROID EDITION? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are far better off spending $199 an an inexpensive laptop or desktop and putting Linux

      Exactly. Fuck Google. There are already apps for everything. What would you learn to code for on your phone? You would have a long way to catch up to custom ROM devs like CyanogenMod.

      You can also install an x86 version of Android in a virtual machine on any platform with VirtualBox as well as their SDK and Eclipse and whatnot for free. Pointless.

      Linux is free and laptops are almost free since they are pushed out just to get you to use Windows 10 government spyware. Just download a Linux iso to a cd or thumb drive and format over Windows 10.

    2. Re:TRACKING 101 ANDROID EDITION? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's actually $199 A MONTH!! For that much they can suck Tim Cook's dick.

  21. Android Studio not for beginners by Goonie · · Score: 2
    I teach Android programming at an Australian university.

    For various reasons, it was decided that all engineering students had to learn mobile app development in their first year of the degree. Every single person in the faculty who had any experience with Android told them it was a terrible idea.

    They ultimately ended up getting them to write web apps instead; Javascript web programming is horrible but you can at least have a relatively gentle introduction to programming in it.

    --

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
  22. how about this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://deals.techdirt.com/sal... I'm interested in Linux, should I take this course as a newbie? Also, I wanna start learnng programming. I would like to go with Java. Any primers? Thx!

  23. Why pay $199 a month???? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are already fantastic Android courses out there like this Android course.

    About 39,000 students have been through it, and thousands of reviews and only $35 (once off payment, nothing to pay month).

    60 hours of video training included!

    Honestly, it's just pure greed by Google charging that much each month if you ask me.

    1. Re:Why pay $199 a month???? by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

      Because you can earn a prestigious nano-degree!

    2. Re:Why pay $199 a month???? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      Because you can earn a prestigious nano-degree!

      quite the resume builder.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  24. "Hey Google, learned to code, now about that job" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I should preface this post with the following disclaimer: I'm a former developer currently in the second year of a medical program, largely due to the feelings I express below.

    Let's say someone takes this nanocourse, then they go out and apply for a job at a well known tech company. Surprise though, they want a formal education. Heck, even the bachelor's degree isn't enough to be really competitive. The majority of people working at Google are Math/Physics/Computer Science whizzes who have a Bachelor's degree or more. Even at the companies I've worked for getting looked at without a degree is nearly impossible.

    At my last employer all the managers had at least a B.Sci. The receptionist/office person there has a 3 year degree in accounting. The QA people have degrees. If you happen to have the degree, some experience, and a decent resume congratulations! You get to take an IQ test! It weeds out 60-80% of the applicants immediately(even for the QA positions, in fact the company policy made it difficult to even hire QA people). In the countries I've worked in they're always looking for a formal education. They don't even seem to care much about the field the degree is in. I've worked in electronics engineering with my Math/C.S. degree, I've had interviews and offers for entry level actuarial positions. Do I have any training in those fields? No. They don't care, they just want someone with a degree who they think can handle the math or anything else that comes up. A developer in my last team is a nuclear engineer, my girlfriend who still works in the QA department has a bachelor's in education. It's not how things should be, but it's how they are for the majority of jobs.

    Let's say things go exceedingly well: The person completes this course, gets a job somewhere with low education demands, and gets 3 years worth of experience. That company lays people off eventually and now they have to apply for a new job. They're competing against other people who also have 3 years of experience, except they have a B.Sci, B.Eng (possibly a P.E.) or even a graduate degree. They know their algorithms in and out and have spent 4 years learning how to study. They've mastered the coding interview. That's the competition. In only 5 years in the industry I'd interviewed and turned down multiple candidates who possessed a Ph.D in math or engineering at the first interview stage because we had actually had better candidates to choose from. It's that competitive. The development jobs are drying up slowly, especially the easier web dev stuff. Things like embedded control are difficult to break into and unreliable in their tenure. Nearly anything is more of a sure bet at this point than competing for tech jobs against the massive pool of candidates.

    Find a protected profession where you work with people and dig in.

  25. designed for people with no programming experience by gzuckier · · Score: 1

    "The company has partnered with Udacity to offer a "nanodegree" class designed for people with no programming experience at all. " So aside from the improvement in quality, won't be much difference.

    --
    Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  26. $199 by DirtyAmish · · Score: 1

    I was cool with it until the cost. I mean, $200? Google wipes its ass with 100 dollar bills.