Why should you prefer Coursera over Udemy for certifications ?
The online course sites have become the virtual coaching centres nowadays and they are the most preferred way to gain knowledge and hands-on skills. Most of these courses include those which are not generally taught in regular curriculum of a college/school or any other educational institution — especially in India. Thus, these sites generate high revenue as they include hot-topic courses. I highly recommend you to read the full article to get a clear insight.
But when it comes to choosing the right site for course certifications to present on your CV/Resume, it becomes tricky to choose the right one. Udemy, Coursera, Simplilearn, edX, Udacity and DataCamp are among the first choices, globally to pursue courses and gain relevant certifications.
First, I’ll make an important point over here. These course certifications, from any website are null and void if you don’t develop hands-on skills and gain knowledge. If you’re doing it for just the sake of certifications, just simply don’t do it. You might get certificate but you’ll still not be able to apply that knowledge in your career and hence you’ll be wasting your time on that course.
However, Udemy and Coursera go one-on-one to attract students towards their courses.
But is Udemy worth it ? We’ll come to that now.
UDEMY:
You can get courses on Udemy for less than INR 500 on sale days for lifetime validity to the course materials with 30 days money-back guarantee.
Imagine you just want to get insights and basic practical knowledge for a field say, Data Science. You’d go on to search ‘Data Science’ on Udemy and you’d get hundreds of relevant results.
Now, the bestselling or highest rated courses would appear on top, for of course obvious reasons. But how many of those courses carry a weightage that could be displayed on your CV/Resume ? I’d say a couple. Most of those courses are not developed by verified institutions and organisations. They surely don’t add much value to your course certificate
Only a couple of those courses are developed by highly skilled team or an organisation. These types of courses can surely add value to your certificate.
You can simply click on the checkbox besides the content of your Udemy course including assignments to mark them as completed. And you get your certificate.
Although, this practice is not morally ethical and absurd.
COURSERA:
Now coming onto Coursera, I’d say it’s the most relevant website to pursue courses. Few Coursera courses are free to learn from but their verified certificates come with a price, usually above INR 1000.
Coursera courses are either developed by recognised educational institutions or organisations/companies. These courses can be accessed by paying a monthly-fee usually between INR 2500 — INR 4000 until course completion. Also, you’d get a week of free-trial to check if it is relevant to your interest plus a great option for financial aid.
Coursera course certifications carry a weightage on your CV/resume because they come from verified and recognised institutions/organisations who developed the course. Also, most of your final assignments are peer-graded which makes sure that you applied what you learnt from the course. Plus, you get options like specialisations and professional certificates for various courses which stands you out from others.
Thus, your Coursera course certifications can add more value to your CV/Resume than the Udemy ones.
An another important addition at the end which is a quote by Elon Musk : “Anything you want to learn is free.”
Skills still outperform your certifications. If you have relevant skills and projects, you simply don’t need certifications to pursue your dream career.
But hey, it’s simply a perspective of my own experience. Yours can surely vary to some extent. Have a great day of learning!
