
Ask HN: Is it worth paying for a Coursera course? - eecks
There are lots of free courses online but some offer the option of paying and receiving a certificate on completion.<p>Does anyone here have one of those certs? Do they hold any value? Is it worth paying for the cert when you can still do the full course for free?
======
paukiatwee
I personally paid one course and one specialization courses.

There are the reasons why I paid:

1\. The course is awesome and I want to support the authors.

2\. The course I paid is new learning area I never use professionally during
job but I wish to use at my job (or new job). Instead of say "I interested in
XYZ", I said "I interested in XYZ so I took online course to learn" at my
interview. This is to partially solve chicken and egg problem.

3\. For serious courses, I pay so I can have pressure and motivation to
complete it.

~~~
OJFord
If you've reached that stage yet, have you found prospective employers
appreciate the (paid-for) certificate?

Over taking the course and saying "I'm interested in X, so I took the course
for free, and consequently have no proof to show you".

~~~
Zyst
I have some Machine Learning certificates from Coursera, and at the gig I'm
working some really entry level Machine Learning was required.

I do believe it helped when I told them about the courses I took, showed them
some code I had backed up online, at least it let them know I wasn't just
completely bluffing.

------
henrik_w
I've taken several Coursera courses all the way since the beginning. My
general impression is that the quality has gone down. Personally, I don't care
about the certificates. I think a much better way to demonstrate that you have
taken a course is to apply what you have learned, or blog about it, or review
it on one of the review sites (I think the biggest ones are Class Central and
Course Talk).

Courses I have taken (and reviewed):

[https://henrikwarne.com/2015/10/20/coursera-course-review-
so...](https://henrikwarne.com/2015/10/20/coursera-course-review-software-
security/)

[https://henrikwarne.com/2015/01/01/coursera-course-review-
co...](https://henrikwarne.com/2015/01/01/coursera-course-review-
computational-investing-part-1/)

[https://henrikwarne.com/2013/02/18/coursera-algorithms-
cours...](https://henrikwarne.com/2013/02/18/coursera-algorithms-course-
part2/)

[https://henrikwarne.com/2012/05/08/coursera-algorithms-
cours...](https://henrikwarne.com/2012/05/08/coursera-algorithms-course/)

[https://henrikwarne.com/2011/12/18/introduction-to-
databases...](https://henrikwarne.com/2011/12/18/introduction-to-databases-on-
line-learning-done-well/)

[https://www.class-central.com/mooc/4893/coursera-the-
global-...](https://www.class-central.com/mooc/4893/coursera-the-global-
financial-crisis#reviews)

Review sites:

[https://www.class-central.com/](https://www.class-central.com/)

[https://www.coursetalk.com/](https://www.coursetalk.com/)

~~~
zamalek
I think this is a great effort. Are you at beginner level or advanced? My
nephew is currently learning to code and the book he is using is very much
university level content (read: utter garbage), it goes as far as
distinguishing "inner loops". Any developer knows that there is nothing
special about an inner loop (besides O(N^2)) - it's nothing more than logical
progression. I'm looking for something worthwhile for him to learn from.

I've saved these reviews and will be contemplating them for his education - it
would help to know how far along you were when approaching them.

~~~
warrenmar
Depending on how you structure your loops, things can be optimized on how it
hits the cache and reads contiguous memory addresses.

~~~
theoh
There was a time (late 90s) when GCC would optimize conditionals in an
asymmetric way. Somebody will hopefully correct me, but I think the advice was
to make conditionals usually be true, for best performance. Since most coders
would never hear about this asymmetry (though that's just my impression) it
was a bizarre case of favoring one branch of a conditional over another for
purely historical (machine code) reasons.

~~~
striking
I think now branch prediction on processors can go either way, just as long as
it's biased one way or another. If it's not biased one way or another, try to
reduce out branches into vectorizable instructions (or pray that GCC takes
care of it for you).

Branch prediction isn't a GCC thing, it's a processor thing.

Observe this wonderful Stack Overflow question:
[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11227809/why-is-
processin...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11227809/why-is-processing-a-
sorted-array-faster-than-an-unsorted-array)

------
munin
Coursera's assessment methodology started off bad, and when they moved to the
new platform it became even worse. It's now basically impossible to write
meaningful or good examinations using their platform.

Previously, you could do novel things like limit the number of times students
could re-take exams and assign different point values to different questions.
No longer!

All a Coursera completion tells me is that you were persistent enough to go
back and re-take the (multiple choice) exams enough times to get a passing
grade.

~~~
Zyst
This is honestly true.

I take quite a few Coursera courses and I have had a score of '100' in all of
them. And this is almost exclusively because even if I fail I can just see
which question I failed, go back to the lecture, study that section again, and
try again until I get the 100.

~~~
ghaff
Of course, one might argue that, if you're using testing as a pedagogical
technique as opposed to a certification mechanism, that's _exactly_ how it
ought to work.

~~~
Jugurtha
Exactly. If we go from the assumption that the whole _point_ of lectures and
courses is to _acquire_ knowledge, doesn't it make sense to make sure
knowledge is indeed acquired.

There's that saying that amateurs practice until they get it right and pros
practice until they can't get it wrong.

A perfect score in the current configuration tells you that the students
didn't just persist through the course, they went back and filled the gaps and
made sure they get it right even if they got it wrong at first.

~~~
tyre
But is that long-term knowledge?

In college I took a class and, after the first session, realized the professor
was utter shit[1]. I did not attend a single subsequent class or complete any
reading/assignments. After cramming for the midterm for 10 hours, I earned an
80% and dropped the class to prove a point[2].

Could not tell you a single thing that was part of that class, but I got a lot
of questions right.

[1]: He was hired because the college wanted his wife, so they hired them
both. Terrible hiring practice. [2]: Yes, I was a pain in the ass at that age.

~~~
Jugurtha
Preaching to the choir, tyre: I have a catastrophic college track record, 9
years instead of 5, almost expelled, extremely poor grades, missed exams,
pissed off some teachers because I didn't think their course was worth the
time (because I knew more about the subject than they did and they weren't
okay with that even though I shut my mouth unless they said something wrong
and I would suggest something correct very discreetly, privately, and as a
question not even a statement, giving them the opportunity to take credit for
the embedded answer. Yet they didn't like it).. Those very same teachers would
entrust me with the class to answer questions or assist students when I was
there, and then give me poor grades.

It's hurting me right now because a recruiter would look at my grades and
think I'm stupid, so you do have a point. I was looking at it from the
personal quest to quench the thirst for knowledge, not how it looked from the
outside.

------
wallflower
Is it worth paying for a course?

No.

Is it worth paying for a course so that you complete it?

Yes. Paying for something hits us hard in the accountability checkbook. The
more you pay (and the harder it is to get out of), the more you are committed.

Is it worth paying for a course and telling your friends, significant other,
random strangers that you are going to learn X, even if that course is only
part of learning X, so that you cannot quit because of pride and
accountability?

Big YES.

~~~
copperx
> Is it worth paying for a course and telling your friends, significant other,
> random strangers that you are going to learn X, even if that course is only
> part of learning X, so that you cannot quit because of pride and
> accountability?

Some people would mentally check-off the task as "done" after making a
financial effort.

I learned that lesson when I was 20 and I saved money for weeks (I didn't have
a job) to buy Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach. I told my friends how awesome
the book was supposed to be. Then when I finally bought it I never got past
the first chapter.

I never got rid of the book so that every time I see it I reminds me of that
time. I now know that committing financially, or by telling other people about
your goals doesn't mean a lot. Committing yourself mentally to the task is
what's important.

~~~
eecks
I agree 100% with this

------
hyperpape
I took four or five Coursera courses in 2012-2013 while trying to get into the
industry. I listed the completed courses on my resume. Employers seemed mildly
intrigued but never made a big deal about them, and no one ever asked to see
certificates (back then they offered free certificates of completion if you
completed the course with a sufficient grade--there was no webcam of typing
verification back then, and I think the certificate was just a pdf you
downloaded or something).

My experience may not generalize, but I'm not sure I'd worry about it.

Note: I also had an undergrad degree (math and philosophy, and graduate degree
in philosophy, but no school CS experience. No idea how this changes if you
don't have any degree).

------
bobadams5
I paid* for and passed the cyber-security specialization from the University
of Maryland. Overall I think it was worth it since I learned a lot and met
some interesting people. Half of the courses were substantially less useful
than the other half (Hardware Security / Usable Security were not as
informative as Software Security / Cryptography). I added the specialization
to my LinkedIn profile & Resume but I've never had anyone ask about it.

Coincidentally at my old job I was the cyber-security expert for my domain
(HW), which only meant that I would be assigned to security relevant programs
if we got any (we didn't), and they paid to send me to Defcon. They didn't
even know I was taking the specialization, just that I like to talk about
security.

*I say paid because I just got a refund since apparently there are some issues with migrating courses to a new format and not offering enough of them this year.

------
Fundlab
My take as I have tried used all the major platforms. Edx has quality and more
challenging tutorials Udacity is project focused, and coursera has lost its
grip by chopping up courses and charging fees for each module.

If you feel the need to pay for anything I suggest you go for Edx Micromasters
program or Udacity's Nanodegree. I think you'll derive a lot more from that.

------
ghaff
I suppose it wouldn't work for the VC-funded ventures like Coursera whose
investors were presumably looking for big exits, but I've actually wondered if
an organization like edX wouldn't have been better just having a "suggested
donation" of the same magnitude as what a book costs--say $25 or so.

As soon as you have a formal price for a certificate, it shifts the
conversation to how much personal value I'm getting from the certificate
specifically as opposed to doing my small part to keep this sort of
educational material available.

~~~
huac
I agree, though I can only dream of the day when textbooks are $25

~~~
tpudlik
When I'm learning a subject for myself, I buy the previous edition from Amazon
(if I can't get it from the local library). I rarely pay more than $25 for a
book.

------
mindcrime
I hate to sound glib, the answer really is "it depends". I'd question any
blanket statements being made by anyone here, especially any saying "Coursera
certifications hold no value" (or the opposite).

Ultimately it's just like any other certification, certificate, diploma,
etc... the value is in the eye of the beholder. If you're applying for some
jobs, I'm about 100% certain there are some people who would snicker and laugh
at a Coursera cert and refuse to give it any weight whatsoever. OTOH, I am
absolutely 100% certain that some people will give it at least a moderate
amount of weight (I can say that, as I know I would do so).

Like other certifications like, say, being a Sun Certified Java Programmer or
something, you usually don't want to be in a position where you're trying to
stand on that as your _only_ credential, unless you are very young and early
in your career. But if you had, for example, just graduated high-school and
already gained a SCJP and a Data Science certification from Coursera, I'd be
darn impressed and would probably want to hire you.

Similarly, if you've been programming for 10 years, in, say, Python and Java,
and you're trying to transition away from "plain" programming and move more
into data science, then _complementing_ your existing skills and knowledge by
gaining some data science / machine learning certifications from Coursera (or
Edx, or whatever) could, in some situations, give you the leverage to start
bridging from one career track to another.

Ultimately, it's a judgment call. Myself, given how inexpensive the paid
Coursera classes are (most of them seem to be around $50), I've chosen to go
the paid route for a number of the ones I've taken. I've also done a bunch
where I was literally in it for the knowledge alone and didn't bother with the
certification. I wish I could tell you some strictly deterministic algorithm
for figuring out when/if it makes sense to pay for a given class, but I
honestly don't know. All I can tell you is that I think it does make sense in
at least some situations.

------
davismwfl
My 2 cents. Are you going to learn something at the end of the course? If yes,
then it is worth paying something for, how much is depending on the value you
feel it will net you.

Is a certification worth it. Personally, not likely, but I know people that
live and die by the certs they hold. So to each their own. Is it going to get
you in the door of an employer? Maybe if you have little or no experience and
the guy/gal applying with you is similar it might give you a leg up.
Otherwise, what you do and how you present yourself is more important than any
certification you pass.

When I was actively hiring, I cared far more about what you have done, what
you can explain to/show me, then any piece of paper you could present.

------
mindo
Just couple days ago I decided to give 5 weeks android course on edx a shot.
I'm in week 5, spend like 3-4hrs to complete 1-4 weeks work (including time
spent watching videos), wrote probably no more than 30-50 lines of code mostly
something simple as "smth++". I feel like the quality went down dramatically
compared to first courses they had, now its all about the money...

~~~
ghaff
Andecdotally, there does seem to be an increase in the number of courses on
these platforms. I'm not sure that's wholly negative given that the data has
shown pretty consistently that with each week more learners stop engaging.
Which suggests that smaller chunking might be more effective.

Of course, it also means that there are more opportunities to sell for a given
amount of content, so I certainly don't rule out monetization as a factor.

For me, it's something of a tradeoff. On the one hand, there aren't many
courses that are good enough and that I care enough about to devote university
levels of work to. On the other hand, I'm taken some that were so trivial that
it would be hard to say I got anything lasting out of them.

~~~
mindo
I understand that the longer the course is the less people will complete it,
but at the same time, if you have to write 3-5 lines of code for each
assignment what is the value in there? What does the certificate certify?

~~~
ghaff
No argument here. As I said, I've taken or started to take a few courses that
were so cursory (at least with respect to my level of existing knowledge) that
they were largely a waste of time. I may not be prepared to spend 10+ hours a
week over the course of 2+ months for very many classes--but if the whole
class amounts to watching a webinar or reading a chapter in a book, it's
probably not very valuable.

------
booop
If you're talking only about the certificate: No.

Put the skills you learned in your resume or start working on projects which
demonstrates those skills. List out the courses you completed under the
'Trainings' section of the resume and Mention MOOCs under your hobbies (If you
have such a section a resume).

I was very interested in MOOCs (ai-class was awesome!) but unfortunately most
of them seem to have gone the 'pay XX to get this certificate you can to print
out!' route to make money.

The fact that you're interested in MOOCs says many positive things about you
and shows that you're interested in learning and improving your skill-set, and
at this point in time, I would be very surprised if anyone gave two shits
about the certificate, because who the hell lies about taking a MOOC?

And in the case of coursera - many of the courses are actually poor quality.
Udacity and Edx (especially EdX) seem to take quality much more seriously.

------
soofaloofa
For anyone interested I posted a review of the Data Science Specialization
that I paid for and completed:

[http://sookocheff.com/post/datascience/datasciencespecializa...](http://sookocheff.com/post/datascience/datasciencespecialization/)

~~~
geomark
I also completed this specialization, but unpaid so did not do the capstone
project. I agree with most of your take/skip assessments. The Statistical
Inference course was particularly disappointing. I recommend the excellent
Data Analysis and Statistical Inference
([https://www.coursera.org/course/statistics](https://www.coursera.org/course/statistics))
to fill in that missing area of learning.

~~~
mindcrime
I was just about to sign up for the Statistical Inference class, and happened
to read some reviews before hand. I'm glad I did. A number of people have
pointed out how that class diverges from the others, becomes very math heavy
without covering basic pre-requisites, etc. Everybody is saying to make sure
you've taken a least a basic Statistics class before taking that one, and
since I haven't had a Stats 101 class, I'm going through a bunch of Stats
material _before_ signing up for this class.

I'm still going to take it since I want to finish the specialization, but I'm
glad I didn't wind up diving into it blind. I think I would have struggled
with it if I had.

------
afs35mm
I took and completed Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 1
([https://www.coursera.org/course/algo](https://www.coursera.org/course/algo))
for free, and it was 100% worth it. It was just the right amount of
challenging, intellectually stimulating, and language agnostic so I think it
actually made me a better JavaScript programmer in addition.

I made it a point to meet all the deadlines and assignments, which kept me
honest and forced me to be timely. It was free when I did it, but I'm not sure
if that's changed since looking at other courses I don't seem able to receive
a certificate or weekly grades if not paying... Point being it may be worth it
to pay just so you feel incentivized to finish the course with a passing grade
:)

------
ken47
If you believe an education system is directly tied to the advancement of
humankind, globalizing access to advanced subject matter from some of the
world's top professors could actually alter the course of human history for
better. If that's something you care about, then it's probably something
supporting with money.

It removes a suffocating constraint on the structure of the education system:
finding instructors X capable of teaching some advanced/esoteric subject to
students Y, in a sufficiently small geographic space. Under this constraint,
sometimes the only solution has been a dumbed-down, cookie-cutter curriculum.
Once online learning has matured, this will no longer be the case.

~~~
ghaff
Or you could read books or watch videos on YouTube, etc. Unfortunately, MOOCs
are (for the most part) best at the same sort of broadcasts of information
that are already available in a number of different ways.

~~~
ken47
I wouldn't pose this as an either/or. MOOCs, as we know them today, are the
next step in the evolution of online education.

------
spriggan3
Do the certs hold any value ? compared to a diploma or real work experience,
the answer is no.

Can it be a plus on a CV the anwser is yes as it show you're willing to learn
new techs/ skills continuously.

Coursera has great courses, no question, but clearly their certs offer very
little value compared to official diplomas.

------
junko
I'm on my 3rd module of a game design specialisation course.

So far I thought it was good, the content is not super deep but I kinda like
it that way because it could fit in my busy schedule easier while also
allowing me to practice writing. That's really my motivation to take the
course, if I can start thinking like a game designer for £250, that's awesome
enough. Personally I've 'outgrown'video games but taking the course has
reignited that interest and I'm seriously considering a game idea :D

My assessments aren't multiple choice tests though, I had to submit written
work every week which is then reviewed by at least two other classmates. I
thought that system's pretty good. The forums are useless I find, as it's easy
to have so many 'heyy nice to meet you' threads that I don't bother checking
anymore. I do wish that we can have access to the tutors themselves though,
it's not practical i guess but that would definitely enhance the course
experience.

------
waitingkuo
Disclaimer: I've paid for many courses but never paid for a specialiazation.

I personally don't care about the effect of the certificate. I paid simply
because what instructor taught me worth more than it cost.

~~~
eecks
What courses did you do?

~~~
waitingkuo
Most of them are about Data Science / Machine Learning and some math stuff

------
sidchilling
Has anyone completed any business courses / specialisations on Coursera? Are
they worth it for a developer trying to make the move into a business-oriented
role? And, do you think, that certificates matter for securing such roles in
companies?

~~~
godzillabrennus
What kind of business role do you want? If it's sales pickup books like Spin
Selling, Launch (by Jeff Walker), and Predictable Profits Playbook.

If it's more general finance you want to learn coursera should be fine.

If it's leadership qualities, start with the book How Google Works.

------
MangezBien
I pay for mine but not because I care about the certs. I have a better
completion rate when I pay for the course (80% v 10%). I know it is purely a
mental thing but it works for me and is worth the money I pay.

------
brudgers
For some people, but not others, paying for the course helps motivate the
person toward completion.

For some people, but not others, the certificate holds value independent of
the learning experience. That also can motivate the learner to completion or
increase esteem for an applicant to an academic or commercial solicitation.

I have a bunch of the free unverified certificates from a few years ago. I
found the certification _process_ motivating and a useful time management
tool.

Good luck.

------
ben_jones
About 5 years ago when I was still in high school I found $500 in a derelict
paypal account that had been locked. Having finally gotten a debit card I was
able to unlock the paypal account by linking my bank account. I decided to
immediately chuck $350 of it at coursera (although it could've been a similar
product I can't remember). I wanted to become a successful mobile app
developer and self-learning seemed the best way to go.

Long story short the courses I happened to pick were of low quality and never
completed. Four years later I still cringe when I hear the word eclipse (even
though I'm getting into mobile development now after a few years in webdev
land). While I'm sure there are a number of very good courses, and quite a few
people capable of completing them and benefiting from them in their lives, I
believe I was at the time not only the prime demographic for the product but
also in the majority of their users.

TLDR; you can make any learning opportunity beneficial. Is courser and similar
products worth the effort to make productive? Maybe, maybe not. There are
other alternatives that should always be researched.

~~~
wallflower
OT: As a web developer, you might be more comfortable with iOS development.
Checkout Swift and Xcode Playgrounds. Even though Android Studio 2.0 was just
released this week, iOS and Xcode is more like Visual Studio (complete
ecosystem) than Android will ever be. Good luck!

[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/recipes/Playground_H...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/recipes/Playground_Help/Chapters/AboutPlaygrounds.html)

Android Studio 2.0 released
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11449029](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11449029)

~~~
reitanqild
That really was off topic...

~~~
Zyst
>I wanted to become a successful mobile app developer

>As a web developer, you might be more comfortable with iOS development

How was that off topic?

~~~
reitanqild
Or maybe my reading skills are off. I reread it before I posted but still,
well deserved ;-)

------
genedickson
Recent memory research supports the way they structure the testing. The
repetition and redoing things until you get the score of 100% not only shows
sticktoitiveness, but the process improves retention. Also, the way they have
the video lectures stop and ask questions which require the correct answer
before continuing improves retention. So far, all the courses I've looked at
have a free option, but some are more free than others. One course I enrolled
for would let me take the tests, but wouldn't grade them. Guess what I didn't
finish? What do the certificates look like? Do they name the school providing
the class? Lots of colleges and universities are offering courses on coursera.
Some charge more than others for the certificate. In theory, the value of the
certificates should be affected by the outfit presenting the course. What does
it matter who gives the course if the certificate is going to only say
coursera? A certificate from a famous school is a certificate from a famous
school. Coursera is just a classroom.

------
ghaff
I agree with most of the other answers here. If paying provides personal
incentive or you want to "give back" (although I suspect that most of the
money goes to Coursera and its VCs rather than the creator of the content),
sure, go ahead. However, outside of edge cases such as needing a verified
certificate for a continuing education requirement or something along those
lines, it's hard to imagine the certificate itself having a lot of value.

(Which is one of the challenges for MOOCs. On the one hand, most adults aren't
going to pay a lot of money just for a learning experience. On the other hand,
there doesn't seem to be a lot of value in the MOOC certification process. I
suppose that a specialization from a good school _might_ be worth something in
the absence of other relevant background that you could point to, but I have
to believe it's marginal.)

------
m0atz
I agree with some of the comments about effectively being able to play the
exam game. That said, some courses I've seen have offered extra credit, and
distinction grades, if certain extra work is undertaken which is not simply
guessing exam questions multiple times. Such an example is Cryptography by
Prof Katz which is part of the Cybersecurity specialisation. You can pass the
course by playing the system, but to do well you need to write code to crack
crypto systems. Not something everyone is capable of and offers a different
perspective on the overall result. I've done several coursera courses and
they've landed me some pretty decent jobs. Just depends on how You sell them
:-)

------
VLM
Is it worth paying for the streaming rights to a TV program you can watch for
free OTA? Is it worth paying fraternity dues when you could just have a party
with friends?

As a hobby I'd say its pretty cheap per hour. I've paid for some of the data
science classes.

~~~
eecks
Those examples make no sense.

~~~
VLM
Exactly, yes. For small enough amounts of money, rational behavior is not
expected, its surprising. Especially when its not mere quiet consumption, but
the transaction has a fat dose of social signalling mixed in.

------
zura
For the 3rd party (ones that you want to show off the achievement), I don't
think there is any difference between "Passed course on Coursera" vs "Passed
course on Coursera and paid for certificate".

------
kercker
From answers given by some CS professors on Quora, just a cert from a MOOC
means nothing to them if you are applying for PhD. What they really care is if
you have mastered the techniques you got from learning the MOOC.

~~~
eecks
Is the cert a step to proving you have mastered the techniques?

~~~
mathgeek
For many Coursera courses, absolutely not. The cert just says that you're good
at knowing where to look for the answers when you take the quizzes/tests. I'm
sure there are some courses where this is less true, but most I've taken are
simple "what do the provided notes or videos say the answer should be?"

~~~
1337biz
So it is pretty much the same as "regular" college courses?

~~~
mathgeek
Except you can retake the exams until you pass.

------
unhppy_student
I don't think is worth to pay for a course or specialization beyond the
motivation of not losing the money invested because there is no difference at
all between the free and paid version, which is more frustrating are the
support forums, they are run very cheaply, getting an answer could take weeks
and it's just the blind leading the blind, also there is no guarantee that a
course offered today will be offered in the future, have that in mind if you
start an specialization, if you miss a course it's impossible to get something
that you paid for.

~~~
ghaff
The forums and peer-to-peer interactions more broadly are unfortunately one
aspect of MOOCs that scale poorly. MOOCs haven't really lived up to their hype
(they're valuable but not transformative) because the thing they do really
well--broadcast lectures--was largely a solved problem. While the thing that
they do poorly--individual or small group interactions--is the part of
education that's difficult and expensive.

For certain types of content, which happen to line up well with programming
topics, autograding systems are another good innovation. But otherwise peer-
grading and multiple choice tests are pretty weak.

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joelberman
I don't care if you paid for it or not. I care if you learned anything.

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BostonEnginerd
I've paid for a few courses to simply pay for the content that I'm watching.
The Coursera crypto course was excellent. Lately, the better courses that I've
seen have been on the edX platform.

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blabla_blublu
I've taken a couple of courses and paid for one. The reason I paid it was
simple - I loved the course, wanted to make a clear commitment that I was
going to finish this one (I am poor with finishing projects :/).

The $49 for most courses was something which I could afford and it helped in
serving as additional motivation. The reward at the end of it all felt good as
well!

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guptarohit
Currently I am taking specialization in Python, it is Awesome. I can't pay for
certificate so applied for financial aid. I've also received certificates for
three courses in this specialization, all with 100%. For me it is fun learning
experience.

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smappy
I have several from when they were free, and none from when they started to
charge for them. I don't think it means anything, really. You can print your
own score screen and show interviewers and it would mean as much as a
coursera-generated pdf..

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tolgahanuzun
Internet a great source. Internet resembles the sea.I think you should pay.

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gauravgupta
There is enough free educational material on the web (google for Hackr.io
etc.) What is the point of paying for a course if good (sometimes even
better!) stuff is available for free?

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ipozgaj
Wait what? You actually have to pay for Coursera courses nowadays? I remember
they used to be completely free (as in "free beer")

~~~
junko
Many of them are still free, but not the specialisation courses I know.

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geomark
The free option means they are crippled. You can't take the tests or submit
assignments for grading.

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booleanbetrayal
Have you tried Smartly yet ([https://smart.ly](https://smart.ly)). Totally
free!

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thefastlane
i'd say a course's institution of origin would play the biggest role in
determining the certificate's 'value'. never hurts to say you got a
certificate from yale. nobody's going to think you did your phd there, but
it's still a fun resume stuffer.

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rsmsky1
I think they have some financial aid for some people. That might be worth
looking into.

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readme
It 100% depends what your goal in taking the course is.

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irixusr
A follow up question to the OP's:

Which courses are worth taking?

~~~
mindcrime
I'm just finishing up Andrew Ng's Machine Learning course and would definitely
say it's worth it (depending on how much, if anything, you already know about
ML).

I'm also about halfway through the Johns Hopkins Data Science specialization,
and I've found all of those courses to be worthwhile. But then again, I'd
never programmed in R before and that's something I very pointedly wanted to
pick up. So far, this series has been invaluable in terms of learning R (much
like I had to learn a fair amount of Octave for Andrew Ng's class).

