Introduction
In our review of Skillcrush, we will cover the basics of this platform, from the technical skills you can learn there to the financing options, learning experience, and career development opportunities you’ll enjoy.
The days of sitting in a classroom for half a year to get the skills needed to be successful are over. Skillcrush is an online learning platform that has taken the traditional education system and flipped it on its head.
Is Skillcrush worth it? That’s you to decide. However, this Skillcrush review will tell you everything you need to know.
What is Skillcrush?
An online learning platform, Skillcrush offers 12-week online classes in technical skills like web development and web design. These are known as Skillcrush Blueprints.
You’ll acquire the skills you need to get you on the right career path while also helping you build a solid portfolio of work (based on real projects) that you can showcase when it’s time to find a job.
These courses are almost entirely offered online, but a feature that countless people love about the classes is that they are paired with more interactive components.
For example, you can interact with other students in the class as well as career coaches and instructors via office hours and a more structured learning environment.
Founded in 2012, Skillcrush was developed by Ada Birnir, born out of her desire to help people, particularly women and minorities, avoid being rejected for jobs because they don’t have actual programming skills. She created the platform to teach people, especially women, the basics of coding and other web concepts and techniques.
Who is Skillcrush For?
Chances are, Skillcrush is not the first open online course provider (MOOC) or online learning platform you’ve heard about. There are countless providers out there that host all kinds of courses for students pursuing various career paths.
Skillcrush classes were originally devised for women, with the platform focused on inclusivity and representation. Individuals who tend to be underrepresented in the field of programming and coding, like people of color, women, and the LGBTQ+ community, will all be able to learn the technical skills they need by taking courses on Skillcrush.
The learning experience on Skillcrush is second to none. Most students reflect back positively on their user experience with this platform, arguing that Skillcrush’s Blueprints are easy to follow and personally tailored.
Visit the Skillcrush website and you’ll note that Skillshare advertises itself as being a platform that offers “tech [sic] for everyone” – it caters specifically to women and non-binary individuals, late-career changers, people with disabilities, LGBTQ, and BIPOC people.
Features and Functionality
Blueprints
When you sign up to take a class on Skillcrush, you’ll be able to receive a customized Blueprint. A Blueprint is a step-by-step guide that will prepare you for the carer of your dreams. You’ll be able to engage in courses that teach the concrete skills that you, specifically, need, while also creating a portfolio of projects.
Some Blueprint examples include:
- Break Into Tech
- Digital Marketer
- Front End Developer
- User Experience Design
- Virtual Designer
While the concept of a Blueprint might be confusing at first glance, all you need to know is that a Blueprint is simply a course that is meant to be an extensive learning program to help you get started on the career path of your dreams.
User Experience
Most students who choose to take classes on Skillcrush find that this platform is one of the best when it comes to ease of use.
You’ll start with a generic, easy-to-navigate homepage that will give you all the information you need to get started without bombarding you with extra landing pages, banners, pop-ups, and moving displays.
You’ll be prompted to complete a quiz as soon as you visit the homepage – this quiz will tell you whether the tech industry is right for you (chances are, the quiz will tell you that it is – this is the platform’s clever way of collecting your email address!).
Afterward, you’ll find everything you need, including partner lists, testimonials, and more. Everything is easy to navigate with an eyeball-friendly white and light red color scheme. Everything is easy to find and available.
Career-Focused
Skillcrush is a platform that connects people who are looking for career advice with professionals. Experts can also post their content and videos to the site, which helps them build expertise and promote themselves as an expert in their field.
Skillcrush is a resource for both students and professionals seeking to improve their skills in the fast-paced world of technology. With over 2,000 videos, Skillcrush offers topics ranging from web design fundamentals to advanced JavaScript coding techniques.
Whether you’re looking for an introduction or wanting to take your skillset to the next level, Skillcrush can help you find what you need.
Helpful Course Pages
When you view each Blueprint page, you’ll find that is quite easy to navigate. They’re filled with interesting content that will give you all the information you might need or want, such as how or where to enroll, what content is covered in the class, and more.
Some online education platforms don’t make this information easy to find, but Skillcrush does for sure.
Personalized Learning Path
Skillcrush is most unique from other online learning providers in that it offers something unique to each and every student. There’s no cookie-cutter approach here. You’ll be able to enjoy a 1:1 learning path, personal, real-world projects, prize wheels, career preparation, and even job guarantees.
All of these features help to ensure that you will be able to succeed in the career of your dreams. These features also help to make the platform more inclusive, since everything is personally (and uniquely) catered and tailored to you and your career goals.
Skillcrush Pricing Model
Curious about the Skillcrush cost? The payment options are broken down into convenient monthly payments or one-time payment options.
The Coding Camp is a free mini-class option on Skillcrush that will provide you with a basic introduction to technology. However, beyond that, there are several financing options,
For Break Into Tech, you’ll make a one-time payment of $1599 or 12 monthly payments of $149 each. You can add on additional classes in things like Digital Marketing or Advanced CSS or $199-$249 each.
If you sign up for a Specific SKill course, you’ll make a one-time payment of $549 or three monthly payments of $199 each. The Front End Developer plus ReactJS is the exception, coming in at a total cost of $699 or four monthly payments of $199.
Support
It is very easy to get the help you need while you are taking a class on Skillcrush. You can contact the customer service team at hello@skillcrush.com and get a hold of your instructors at any time during the course.
Another feature of Skillcrush’s support system is the Skillcrush Alumni program. This unique feature will enable you to ask for help, talk with other students, or even find a job. You’ll be connected with other individuals who are currently taking (or have successfully completed) a wide range of Skillcrush Blueprint programs.
Plus, you’ll enjoy a risk-free, 100% satisfaction guarantee. Enroll in a course and change your mind, for any reason, within two weeks, and you’ll receive a full refund.
Some of the other support services you will receive as a Skillcrush student include:
- Access to a Slack community
- Helpful feedback on your work
- Email capabilities
- Video chat in group question and answer sessions
The Advantages (Pros) of Skillcrush
There are numerous advantages to taking online classes via this unique platform. It can take quite some time to analyze all the Skillcrush reviews that are out there, so instead, consider this quick round-up of pros and cons.
Inclusive and Personalized Format
One of the most helpful features of Skillcrush is that everything is tailored uniquely to you and your personal and career goals.
Because of this, Skillcrush is one of the most inclusive platforms out there. You don’t have to worry about plodding through course material that you’ve already mastered since everything, from the course content to the projects you complete, is tailored 100% to you.
Plus, all courses are online and self-paced, so you can complete them whenever it’s most convenient to you.
Easy to Navigate
If you are the kind of student who expects more support from his online courses, Skillcrush is the way to go. With this platform, you will be able to move quickly through your studies and gain more assistance from instructors, mentors, and other students.
You don’t need to have any kind of programming experience to work on the classes here, but you do need to be comfortable with computers and the Internet. You will cover all kinds of computer-based content such as UX design, JavaScript, Ruby, WordPress, HTML/CSS, and more.
As you move through the curriculum, you’ll be guided by instructors who want to help you succeed. Skillcrush is unlike any other type of online course platform in that it enables you to get real-time assistance from instructors – courses aren’t just uploaded and left there but are instead living, breathing things that are constantly updated and revisited.
Supportive Environment and Excellent Content Quality
Skillcrush has a strict content quality review process. You will find very few Skillcrush reviewers who state that they were dissatisfied with the content of their courses. That’s because everything is thoroughly reviewed and checked to make sure things are accurate and up to date.
That’s a sharp contrast to many other course providers. There are all kinds of course platforms out there that don’t do a great job of getting their instructors. All you have to do is create an account and upload, but that’s not the case with Skillcrush.
Skillcrush Cost
One of the biggest benefits of taking classes on Skillcrush is that you won’t pay extra for classes you never take or features you don’t utilize. It is very much an a la carte service, since you’ll only pay for the classes you want.
Although the course costs are somewhat steep, you’ll acquire tangible, relevant skills that can be applied to the workforce immediately.
The Disadvantages (Cons) of Skillcrush
There are several disadvantages to using Skillcrush as well. After reviewing countless Skillcrush reviews, these were the “cons” that stood out the most sharply.
Basic Level of Instruction
This con could also be viewed as a benefit of taking classes on Skillcrush, depending on where you fall on the spectrum in regard to your experience level.
Many reviewers write that the information provided in the course is not enough for professionals who already have some skills in these areas. Some reviewers write that the content errs on the “childish” side and doesn’t prepare you well enough for what employers are looking for, especially compared to the high price tag.
Other reviewers write that the instruction tends to glaze over some concepts and not go into enough detail, making it challenging to get a good idea of what needs to be done and how.
Difficult to Get Refunds
While Skillcrush does have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, many students report that it’s hard to actually tap into that guarantee after you’ve enrolled in the course. Some say that the platform continues to charge them every month for a course that they are no longer using.
Practice Sessions Need Some Work
Although you can engage in helpful practice sessions while taking classes on Skillcrush, the disadvantage here is that you won’t always get concrete feedback on what you did correctly and what needs work. You won’t know whether the coding you completed is right or wrong, making it difficult to know if you are doing things correctly.
Poor Soft Skills Training
Although you will be given some instruction in career preparation and related job readiness skills, many users report that the platform does a subpar job in improving your soft skills (such as communication, problem-solving, etc) which can make it harder for you to find a job.
Skillcrush Alternatives
If Skillcrush doesn’t turn out to be the best option for you, don’t worry – there are plenty of other coding boot camps out there for you to choose from.
Launch School is one of the newest. You’ll pay a monthly subscription of $199 to embark on a self-paced journey to begin a career in software development. The curriculum is highly structured and starts with the basics, teaching you the technologies and programming languages you need to help master the fundamentals.
Another option is Flatiron School. This school is also self-paced, with most students completing their studies in less than a year. You can engage in curricula that will prepare you to become a data scientist, full-stack web developer, or even a cybersecurity expert.
The cost of Flatiron is steep – you’ll pay around $15,000 for the program. The good news is that financing is available and that you really can’t beat the career outcomes of this platform. It boasts a 93% job placement rate!
One final coding Bootcamp to consider is Bloc. Bloc costs $7,500, so still not cheap, but again, financing is available. As the world’s largest online bootcamp, Bloc will allow you to learn at your own pace and to develop the skills you need to create apps with real-world use cases. You’ll be able to communicate with a mentor on a weekly basis and to embark on two tracks, those in web design and in web development.
With Block, you will also be able to build a professional portfolio so that you can show your skills off to potential employers. Like Flatiron, Bloc has an impressive career placement rate of 75%.
Conclusion
So what do you think – will taking Skillcrush classes be the way you pursue your next career path? Hopefully, this review of Skillcrush has been helpful in providing you with the information you need to make an informed decision.
FAQ
Is Skillcrush legit?
Skillcrush is a website that teaches you how to code from the comfort of your own home with no experience or degree in computer science. Skillcrush provides an easy way for people to learn coding skills at their own pace with lessons, tutorials, and courses that are personalized for each person’s needs.
There are also some reviews on this site so you can see what other people thought about it before deciding if Skillcrush is right for you, but all in all, we think Skillcrush is 100% legit.
Is Skillcrush worth it?
Is Skillcrush worth it? Only you can be the judge of that – but we think so.
Skillcrush is a company that offers online coding classes to anyone who wishes to take them. They have been around for about six years now and offer courses in everything from Ruby on Rails to JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
The courses are all self-paced so you can go at your own pace but also have deadlines set by Skillcrush if you need the accountability of having someone else telling you when your course should be completed.
Is Skillcrush free?
Unfortunately, Skillcrush is not free. While there are certain components of the site that you can access without having to pay – such as the Skillcrush Coding Camp, which is a mini-class meant to introduce you to the world of coding – for the most part, all courses have fees associated with them.
How much does Skillcrush cost?
Skillcrush courses vary in costs. You’ll pay anywhere from $149 per month to up to $1599 as a one-time payment depending on the payment plan you choose and the course in which you want to enroll.
What financing options are offered by Skillcrush?
Skillcrush offers a variety of financing options including loan financing and upfront payments. You can also spread your payments out over several months so that virtually anyone can take classes to help them meet their career goals.
What types of programs are available on Skillcrush?
What is Skillcrush? Most Skillcrush classes focus on programs such as coding, web design, and other digital skills. The courses are meant to be accessible and career-focused so that you can land the job of your dreams as quickly as possible – but also so that you can acquire the technical skills you need while studying in the comfort of your own home.
