Learning is one thing that I really enjoy. Part of this is being in an industry (internet marketing & web design) that requires you to learn due to its ever evolving nature. Most of my energy learning has been though attending conferences offline and online, local meetups, going to college, getting more college, and taking online classes. The recent addition to this has been through subscribing to TreeHouse online courses. Here I have some thoughts about the program.
NOTE: I do like this service so this is a sincere review. However, I do want to make it clear that the links in this post do give me a free account to Treehouse if I refer enough people to Treehouse. I would recommend giving them a try but if this in some way poorly reflects my review than please let me know. You don’t need to click on them nor do you need to feel required to click on them.
First, I want to say that taking some this was to expand my knowledge. I would consider myself an intermediate web designer. My abilities knowledge of WordPress, CSS, and HTML all self taught have been important but there are areas that I believe I could use a little more understanding. That is why I went to find something that could pay for some additional training.
The areas that have really interested me at Treehouse have been in CSS, WordPress, Javascript, & PHP. While CSS, HTML, and WordPress I have extensive knowledge in PHP and Javascript I am a noob. Well, I can say safely that I know enough about PHP to at least understand to some level what is going on and execute some scripts.
So why did I go with this?
I would start by saying TreeHouse offers an organized method to learn your desired skills. What I don’t have time for is haphazard learning skills that I have gained from my own studies in other areas. A laid out course like TreeHouse provides me with succinct step by step plans to help me learn and retain knowledge. Since I am a hands on type of learner this programs helps me learn by providing projects and quizzes that test my understanding and knowledge.
The other reason is that it is affordable. I might spend a couple thousand to learn this in a school somewhere while I don’t expect to be an expert in programming within a couple months even if this takes me a couple years it won’t cost me large fees and time away from working that a school and classrooms might require.
A benefit of the program is that there is a community you can be a part of. The forums section allows you to interact with other users with questions and answers. So you can find other people to participate or look for answers if you get stuck. There is also a job section with companies who see the benefit of people who come out of learning programs like TreeHouse.
There are a couple of things that I consider a downside. I wouldn’t mind some of the modules to have more blog related content. Although they do have it all transcribed it would be nice for me to be able to read a few things. The other is some of the presenters just feels a little awkward or sound funny to me. Really both points are minor.
Overall I have found that TreeHouse has been a positive experience for me. I hope to continue learning and adding to my knowledge in areas of web design and development.