Udacity Nanodegree - useful or waste of money?

I was looking at Udacity.com and their new "Nano degrees". For $200/month are those courses worth it?

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Can you take the courses without getting "credit" for free? If so then I'd say it isn't worth it. I don't think listing it on your resume would mean anything so I wouldn't look at it from that angle, just whether the skills will help you and can you get them elsewhere for less than 200 a month.

DoubleNNs

I think it'd be a good way to show you're invested in continuous learning and a good talking point during an interview. If you have $200 a month to spare for that, might be worth it. But I doubt you'd see much ROI from it alone. It'd simply be resume fodder that shows you branch out in your learning tactics and aren't afraid to try new things and stay current (w/ new learning methods).

smokeyalien

If they aren't asking for it in a job req then the ROI tends to be low. If it's a course sponsored by a company you are trying to get in with the ROI may be a little higher. In general unless a company is asking for it then it's just resume fluff. MY own personal thought is that I can spend that $200 on something else and get similar training from other less costly locations. This is how I view all of the online coursework I do for my own personal learning through sites like coursera and edx.

tpatt100

I looked at it and tempted but decided to instead sign up for a verified course at Coursera for Cryptography. I am not doing the Specialized course because I lack some of the skills required like basic programming skills so I am going to try and tackle that issue now.

I am doing it primarily for self enrichment, CPE credits for my CISSP and something to put down on LinkedIn to show I try and continue my self education in different ways. So I think the courses by themselves are worth it from that perspective.