There are a lot of programs out there that teach you to code, and most I tried were too boring, too basic, or too much like a lecture hall class. And then one day I visited the Skillcrush site and it was like falling in love. It was exactly what I wanted and never knew existed until that moment.
Top 3 reasons I had love-at-first-sight feelings for Skillcrush:
- They weren’t pitching me on what I would learn, they were pitching me on what I would make with my skills.
- They empower women to pursue careers where women are underrepresented.
- I was impressed with the content on their blog—the copy was useful and not just promotional.
- (Bonus bullet point: their locked-content/unauthorized page is a picture of a cat wearing a wig.)
My “Shut Up and Take My Money” Moment
Skillcrush had 3 career tracks (they call them Career Blueprints) I could choose from. I’m a
budget savvy person who frets about the smallest of expenses, so I couldn’t make the $399 plunge without knowing how the courses were—I didn’t want to pay for another boring learning experience I’ve had before. So I decided to take their free 10-day boot camp course.
It was amazing. It wasn’t a 60 minute video recording of a lecture hall discussion. It wasn’t a logic game. It wasn’t a virtual console asking me to input commands. Each day had a short, 2-4 minute introductory video to a new topic followed by live examples and in-module, hands-on mini-assignments and a do-it-yourself homework assignment.
Six days into the boot camp, I signed up for their next Web Designer Career Blueprint class and didn’t even care what the price was—I knew this was it. The thing I’ve been waiting for. Shut up and take my money, Adda Brenir!
Fast forward to the present, where I am now 2 1/2 months into my Skillcrush blueprint, with Photoshop, UX, wireframing, HTML, and CSS classes all completed and JavaScript, jQuery, and API classes ahead. And every single second has been amazing.
7 Things You Need to Know About the Skillcrush Experience
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Don’t understand the homework assignment? Have a classmate explain it using cake as an example. Delicious.
The learning format is: 1) to introduce you to a new topic, 2) have you play around with an example of the new topic, and 3) create a version of that topic from scratch using what you just learned.
- You can watch your daily online module and complete your homework in less than an hour.
- You can work at your own pace—whether that’s with the class, working ahead, or catching up.
- Every day you have proof that you learned something, and you complete the homework feeling accomplished, excited, and ready to learn more.
- You and your classmates work together to help each other solve tough assignments.
- It’s not graded—everyone does their best, and you get out of it as much as you put into it.
- The class instructors are available for Google Hangouts and by email to help you with your assignments or to understand broader concepts.
Do you think you’ll love Skillcrush, too?
If any of these bullet points apply to you, then I think you’ll love Skillcrush, too.
- Your motto is to never stop learning and you want to pick up something useful and new.
- You want to move into a career that pays better and has better job security.
- You want to become a freelancer.
- You want to work remotely.
- You want to build your own portfolio site to help your job prospects.
- You want to learn skills that will compliment your job in marketing/journalism/etc.
If you have any questions about my experience taking a Skillcrush course, leave it in the comments below or reach out to me on Twitter. I wrote this blog post out of the sheer awesomeness of the experience I had, and I think there are a lot of other women and men out there who would find it just as useful, fun, and career-enhancing as I do.
October 2015 update
I just finished my second Skillcrush Career Blueprint, and the result of this is right here. I designed this WordPress site at the end of the WordPress blueprint. With my web designer blueprint skills and my WP developer skills, I’m ready to take on the world!
September 2016 update
Things are going pretty well! I’m growing my web design business while also including my marketing skills. Skillcrush has done a great job of keeping alumni active—we even have our own Slack channel to connect with others. I love Skillcrush so much I’m now an ambassador of the program. But don’t let that shy you away from giving this a try!
Hi Sarah! I just got the email that today’s the last chance to sign up for the Blueprint classes. Does that mean if I take the free 10 day course that I won’t be eligible to sign up for the class?
You can take both the free course and the class—you can take them at the same time if you like! Think of the 10 day boot camp as a sneak peek of the learning module experience.
Also, I think they’re opening Skillcrush courses every other month, so if you aren’t ready now, there should be another one in 6-8 weeks I believe.
Hey, thanks for this review – I signed up for the WordPress course starting Tuesday and I started having buyer’s remorse – but you’ve made me feel better. 🙂
You’ll have to come back and tell me how it goes! I just finished the web design course in January, and have my sights on the WordPress Dev blueprint this summer.
This is a fantastic post! I’m trying to decide which blueprint to take first…the WordPress or Web Design. I may try the Design one since I have a bit of experience and want to keep the momentum going! So I know the basics of Photoshop, did you do any advanced work with Photoshop?
Deciding which one to take will depend on your HTML and CSS skills. If you can build a static one page site, then go right for the WordPress Dev course! I plan to take the WordPress course later this year.
As for the Web Designer course, it offers a crash course in Photoshop, so for 2 days you’ll probably be ahead of the rest of the class as they learn their way around Photoshop. But after that, your familiarity with photoshop will really pay off in being able to make great wireframes for clients. I’m jealous-the design part of web design is the hardest part for me!
Hi Sarah-
So, it’s now months later, and I’m wondering- have you gotten more work as a result
of doing the Blueprint? I really like her emails and I’m going to do the free Webinar this week. I’m feeling how you did before you clicked “Buy”…
I didn’t take this blueprint class to find a new job, so “more work” doesn’t quite apply to me. However, it has been awesome in my day job—at a small company, a marketer who can code and create content is VERY valuable, and I’ve been able to accomplish projects now without waiting for IT, or for the company to hire a freelancer. Also, it really helps for when it comes do raises, since I do above and beyond my title! If you want, I can refer you to some of my classmates who might have an experience/job change that you’re probably looking for.
PS. I enrolled in the WP Dev course this month—I so definitely got my money’s worth the first time, and I’m hoping to start a WP freelance side hustle.
Hi Sarah! This is exactly the reason why I wanted to take Skillcrush’s web development and web design courses. I am a Marketing Intern with a degree in Communications and I’m currently pursuing my AS in Graphic Design with a minor in web design. I’m currently taking a Udemy course on web development and I want to know as much as I can about HTML and CSS before I sart taking classes on it in school. After I complete the Udemy course, I was going to take Skillcrush’s Web Design and/or Web Development. Since I’m going to be learning web design in school do you think it’s necessary to take the Web Design course? I don’t think I’ll be learning about using PS for creating web pages but will ot be less of a waste of time to just skip to the web development course instead? Thanks!
If you’re learning web design in school, it might be too redundant to take Skillcrush’s Web Designer program. As for web dev, you can just jump right into that one—you’ll do great! However, given your skillset, I think you should go for their new program, Front End Dev. That’s you specializing the code-side of building websites, especially the much-desired responsive sites.
I’ve also asked some peeps from Skillcrush to answer your question as well, so hopefully they’ll chime in!
Hi Morgan! I’m the Class Manager at Skillcrush and a friend of Sarah’s so she asked me to take a look at your q. 🙂
It’s awesome that you’re taking classes at a few places! I think that’s a great way to solidify your understanding. As far as whether or not the Web Design or Web Development Blueprint would be repetitive with your other classes, that would depend on the exact syllabi they’re using. My guess though is that you might be a little bored in the Web Design and Web Developer Blueprints, since you’ll already have a basic understanding of HTML/CSS. I think Front End Developer might be a little more interesting for you!
But if you know web design specifically is your area of interest, I’d actually encourage you to check out the Mobile Web Design Blueprint (http://skillcrush.com/skillcrush-blueprints/mobile-web-designer). It’s likely to build off the Udemy course really well, give you a deeper understanding of HTML/CSS, and still introduce you to Photoshop, as well as mobile-first concepts, etc.
It also covers some of the really common “extras” like Bootstrap and Flexbox that are really popular in the industry, but not often covered by college programs in my experience.
Hope that helps! And definitely feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if there are any questions we can answer for you. 🙂
As a Legal/Administrative Assistant, I have computer skills, on both a PC and Mac, including Microsoft Office, Adobe and Access. I have signed up for the Web Developer Blueprint. I am nervous I may not understand the course work. Any opinions or advice? In addition, you mentioned to one of the other commenters you knew of some people who had experienced the “new job/career” aspect. I would love to know more about that.
Hi Teri! I think you’ll be fine. It goes at a steady pace, and there are lots of opportunities with office hours to get help with any stumbling blocks. Just remember: 1) never give up! 2) google it, because someone else probably had that problem and figured it out and 3) when in doubt, ask a classmate or schedule time with your teacher. Good luck! Let me know how it goes!
Do I need a photoshop course before taking these courses?
Not at all! Built into the Web Designer BluePrint is a week-long crash course in designing in photoshop.
Hi!! I really enjoyed reading your input!! Thank you so much! I just signed up for the Web Design Blueprint and the new classes start January 11th. However; I believe I have access to the previous classes. Should I dive right in before the January 11th start date?
I say go ahead and dive in! I also started early, and liked that I had a week to get a sneak peek at the modules and see how the homework is. Just don’t work too far ahead, because it’s more fun to share your work with your classmates and to brainstorm solutions together.
Great! Thank you!!?
Hi Sarah,
I have been “freelancing” (I use this term VERY loosely! 🙂 for about a year now.
I have created/updated a few WordPress sites using pre-made themes. I have never taken a course in this field. Everything I have done has been self-taught.
I plan for this to be my career moving forward. I was hoping you could advise which course would be best for me to get started? (I understand I may need more than one)
Thank you in advance!
Great question! If you have a good grasp of HTML/CSS coding knowledge, then you can jump right into the WordPress Developer blueprint-it’ll teach you all you need to know. In that blueprint, I used my HTML and CSS knowledge to build upon current themes and make child themes, managed client billing, and learned the ins and outs of freelancing. If you’re not quite up to speed on HTML & CSS but don’t want to take the Web Designer blueprint like I did, I believe that they still sell per class, and you could just enroll in the Skillcrush 101: HTML & CSS before jumping into the WordPress blueprint. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much Sarah!
So, “Web Designer” will cover HTML and CCS for beginners? Not just the “design/art” aspect?
Here’s what the Web Designer Blueprint will cover: http://skillcrush.com/blueprint/web-designer/. But if you have that skillset and just need to brush up on HTML and CSS, then you can just purchase that Skillcrush course instead of taking the 3-course blueprint.
Sarah recently posted…How to Set Up Rich Pins for Your WordPress Blog
thanks again Sarah!
Hi Sarah,
I tried out a WordPress dev course on teamtreehouse and they jumped right in with installing wordpress , php and mysql. Do you think skill crush covers that well? I have hosting through bluehost so they installed everything for me….
Hi Chelsea,
Yes, Skillcrush covered everything in WordPress. Our first week was the step by step on how to install WordPress. And while many hosting services do a one-click WordPress install, all devs need to know how to install so we can work on it locally. (Aka so we can build the sites offline first, and then make it live when it’s good to go!)
The 101 course goes from installation to building our own themes! It’s a really great course. I created my own responsive theme (it’s on this blog) from it.
Damn. I was wondering “Did she build this site on her own, before Skillcrush?” Girl! I love your blog! I am currently in the Web developer blueprint. I get so excited about it every week but my biggest fear is the competition. I’m doing this not only for me, but for my kids. I just want to be able to give them a life to enjoy. I want to work remotely, but I feel like by the time I finish the jobs will be all gone.
Hey Danielle! Don’t worry about the competition. The fact is, industries need developers SO BAD. Tech jobs will never be “all gone.”
And oh my gosh, you should’ve seen my sites before and halfway through the blueprint. They were so.. meh. But the more you play, the more you learn! And every re-iteration this site gets closer to what I dream of it to be.
Thank you thank you thank you for this review! I decided yesterday to take the plunge and enroll in a blueprint – only problem is I can’t decide between web developer or front end developer! Ah tough choice! But thank you for solidifying my decision 🙂 your site is beautiful!
I’m glad this helped. Let me know which one you choose!
Good review. I recently started a new website, but was thinking about taking the WordPress Blueprint so I can edit my own site design. I already have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. What else did you learn in the WordPress Blueprint?
If you can code up a website in HTML and CSS, then you’re ready for the WordPress blueprint. However, if your knowledge is at a very basic level and understanding a stylesheet or doing something like floating elements right or lect is new to you, then the WordPress Blueprint will be too advanced for you.
I know in the past Skillcrush let you take sections of courses if you asked, so if you need to you could take just the HTML & CSS of front end or web design blueprint, and then jump into the WP blueprint.
As for the WordPress blueprint, you learn how to use Git, how to install WP, troubleshoot WP, make changes in the PHP, create your own custom WP pages with PhP, how to find clients, and how to run a freelance business.
Hello! I have chose to take up 3 different blueprints but I would like to find out how many hours a day do you commit for the classes?
I am juggling 2 jobs and part time studies right now, so time is really an issue. I am trying to block out an hour a day but I’m not sure if it will be enough.
A rough gauge will be really helpful! 😀
Hi Jolene,
These modules do have a class that works through at a reasonable pace. However, you always have access to the courses, so if you need to take a break or go at a slower pace, it’s OK! If you can save 1-2 hours per week for the course, that should always keep you on track.