I discussed in a previous post about my usage of YouTube University to improve my coding skills. While I love the platform there are some pros and cons to using it to learn anything, including programming languages.
Pros Of YouTube University
It’s Free
The biggest pro for this platform is that it’s free! It’s that way due to ads. Yes, I know people don’t like ads, myself included, but YouTube is quite expensive to run so it needs to make money somehow to keep delivering content. It’s worth it in my opinion, however. It allows people from all over the world to learn about different topics, or upload content to teach others.
Basically Unlimited Choice Of Content
Speaking of content there’s basically an unlimited choice for any type of learning. That’s why I love using it to improving my coding skills. I can learn different programming languages, or do a deep-dive into a particular language. If I get tired of that, I can learn how to write efficient code, or broaden my understanding of data structures. Really, I’m only limited by my search queries.
It’s Easy To Try Out Content
Unlike other online video platforms like Udemy, it’s incredibly easy to try out different types of learning for a particular category or different categories. I don’t have to purchase another course, or extend my subscription.
Cons Of YouTube University
Plenty Of Outdated Content
This is the biggest con for me regarding YouTube University because I find myself wasting time on outdated content. Especially if I’m trying to follow along with a tutorial, utilize a snippet of code, or try out an application. That’s why I try to watch videos under one to two years old, but that does exclude good content sometimes.
Outdated And Recent Information In Videos
Then I find that some recent videos include both outdated and recent information in them. Again, I only discover this when I try to implement a technique in my code editor, or want to try out an interesting bit of software.
Creators Pushing Viewers To Their Paid Content
I have no problems with a creator offering paid content because they need to make a living too. However, when a creator becomes too pushy, or only offers a sliver of their content for free, I get a little upset. I think it would be better to create free, but informative videos, that then advertise paid content. That way I can determine if that creator is worth a financial investment from me.
Poor Audio/Video Quality
I still find videos that have either poor audio or video quality, or both. It’s distracting and causes me to leave the video almost immediately.