Hello, I'm currently learning Android development and plan om eventually taking the Google's Associate Android Developer certification. I have already gone through the courses in the Android basics series from Udacity and found the teaching style really good for me. I also like that you have projects to work on. I never enrolled in the Nanodegree itself, but I followed along and did all projects. I was thinking about going through the courses in the Android Developer Nanodegree and working on all projects, but I'm not sure about it anymore. (I have to clarify that I would never enroll in the Nanodegree itself since it become way too expensive, and the quality of their mentors is not very good, from what I experienced in a free trial). I've read that the quality of these courses is not on par with the one in the beginner courses, and that lots of concepts are rushed and not well explained. This worries me and I've started researching other options in order to see what's the best one for me. I've come to learn of the following resources:
- Treehouse: has Android tracks for beginners, intermediate and advanced levels. I don't understand if you get some sort of support with questions.
- Pluralsight: has a specific path for the Google certification, and the courses inside seem reasonably up to date (by looking at their dates at least). They offer mentors.
- Udemy courses
I am looking for something with:
- a great and logical structure of topics
- concepts that are thoroughly explained
- Mix of theory and practice by following along with the instructor's project
- step by step or at least final working code version I can compare my work with
- I'd love the possibility to have support with questions or coding task/project reviews (and that it's actually good support)
- Up to date content
I am willing to pay for something if it's really good and proves to be worthy. I hope people who've had experience with these platforms can chime in and comment on their experiences and give some advice! Thanks!
Top comments (7)
Maybe think about building something on your own first, before diving into the next course. Just to strengthen your current skillset, to face some real-world-problems, and to find gaps to fill, which also might help with the choice of next course.
Thanks for the advice 👍
Fix
developer.android.com/docs/
Thanks, I was also looking for a video series to work with since I'm a very visual learner.
I have been working on these:
developer.android.com/courses/fund...
They are straight from Google, and while they are not videos, they are very well explained. Each builds on the other and teach from beginner to pretty advanced stuff.
My only suggestion for you is that you need to research a lot. There isn't one resource that teaches you every single thing. If one tutorial isn't giving you a topic properly, pause it, and find another blog post or something that explains a topic until it clicks.
Good luck.
Hi, thanks for your suggestion! I'm finding out too that one resource never teaches you everything and that you may also not completely understand things the way they explained them. Researching is certainly very necesary.