Hi, I’m Olga! I have years of experience in data science, most recently at eBay. Now I work as an industry mentor at Pathrise, helping data scientists land great jobs through technical workshops and 1-on-1s. Check out my article where I compare General Assembly vs Udacity.
- Similarities and differences between General Assembly vs Udacity
- Courses offered on General Assembly vs Udacity
- Prices for General Assembly vs Udacity
- Ratings and reviews of General Assembly vs Udacity
- Alternatives to General Assembly vs Udacity
- How do General Assembly and Udacity compare to Pathrise?
Similarities and differences between General Assembly and Udacity
General Assembly and Udacity offer courses in software engineering, data science, and other subjects.
Similarities
- People can take courses in programming, data science, digital marketing, product management, and other subjects online.
- Both offer courses for people at all levels, from beginner to advanced.
- Those who enroll in General Assembly (full-time bootcamps) and Udacity (nanodegree program) receive 1-on-1 support from mentors and career coaches.
- In addition, General Assembly & Udacity have part-time courses for people who cannot commit to a full-time bootcamp.
- Students can take courses that emphasize hands-on projects and portfolio building.
Differences
- Udacity is an online learning platform and General Assembly is a bootcamp.
- General Assembly offers one-day, part-time, and full-time programs online, as well as onsite in cities such as San Francisco, New York City, and Seattle.
- The courses offered by Udacity are self-paced, require 10-15 hours of work per week, and take 3-7 months to complete.
- General Assembly holds their online classes live, so attendance is required.
- While many Udacity programs have prerequisites, you are not required to prove your prior knowledge or complete a formal application before enrolling in a course.
- People looking to take immersive bootcamps through General Assembly must submit an application, participate in an interview, and complete a technical assessment.
Courses offered by General Assembly and Udacity
Both General Assembly and Udacity offer courses for people in tech that teach the following topics and more:
- SQL
- Growth and acquisition strategy
- Product management
- Machine learning
- UX design
- Front-end web development
- Data visualization
- Marketing analytics
- Software engineering
Prices for General Assembly and Udacity
Udacity offers free courses in a number of topics, including Swift, Linux, and SQL. Those who enroll in individual courses and nanodegree programs pay approximately $200-$400 per month and receive personalized feedback, unlimited assignment submissions, insider tips, and additional resources. Moreover, the nanodegree degree program also comes with 1-on-1 mentorship, career coaching, and a shareable certificate of completion.
General Assembly offers free and paid workshops, as well as part-time and full-time bootcamps. Full tuition for General Assembly’s full-time bootcamps is $16,450. Students who pay upfront get a $450 bootcamp. Part-time courses cost $4,050 and students can choose to pay this upfront (with a $250 discount) or with loans. Discounts and scholarships are also available. Through our partnership with general assembly, you can get access to a series of exclusive program offerings, including $1500 off any of their bootcamps or short-courses. If you’re interested in launching a career in tech, schedule a call with the GA Admissions team and ask them for the free workshops, events and discounts.
General Assembly offers a wide variety of payment options. Probably their highest profile option is the “income share loan” (ISL) — this option allows full-time bootcamp students to pay once they land a job. Made possible via Edaid, students pay only $500 upfront. Then they pay nothing until they land a job paying at least $40,000.
A simpler option might be paying installments. General Assembly allows students to divide tuition into two, three, or four easy payments while in the program. Interest free loans are available as well via Climb. Students can choose to start paying immediately (over 18 or 24 months), or pay 12 months later over 36 months with $500 down payment. Students can also take out interest loans through Ascent, Climb, or Meritize. Students who pay via loans can choose to repay immediately, defer payments, or choose an interest-only option. Interest rates range from 6.5-15%, with terms from 3-5 years. While Launch Academy invites some of their hundred hiring partners to free networking events, General Assembly connects students with 19,000+ hiring partners including top tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google.
Ratings and reviews of General Assembly and Udacity
While older reviews of Udacity praised the program for its curriculum, more recently people have reported that their quality has declined as the program has expanded. Some students wished that they had more 1-on-1 mentorship, while others were frustrated by how difficult it was to get in touch with their instructors. But, many grads did benefit from the project-based curriculum and the instructors, who are industry experts.
Like Udacity, reviews of General Assembly are mixed. Most grads landed jobs that related to what they studied in their respective bootcamp. Some people benefited from the bootcamp’s hands-on curriculum and career preparation services, whereas others were disappointed with the rapid pace of the curriculum. Similarly, a few grads noted that some of the instructors were inexperienced or recent General Assembly grads themselves.
Alternatives to General Assembly and Udacity
If you decide not to enroll in General Assembly or Udacity, you might consider one of the alternatives listed below instead:
- Aspiring software engineers and UX designers can check out Kenzie Academy, a full-time tech bootcamp that offers in-person and online courses. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
- Tech bootcamps, BrainStation, Thinkful, Ironhack, and Flatiron School have programs in software engineering, data science, and other fields.
- Those who wish to finance their software engineering bootcamp tuition through an income share agreement (ISA) can consider Lambda School and Holberton School.
- Other options for software engineering bootcamps include Rithm School, Hack Reactor, Codesmith, and The Software Guild.
- If you’re interested in taking an online product design bootcamp that is self-guided or instructor led, take a look at DesignerUp. Read about DesignerUp in our program review.
- Another option for aspiring designers is Designlab, an online bootcamp that teaches the necessary skills to land an entry-level UX designer job. See if Designlab meets your needs by reading our program review.
- An online bootcamp, GrowthX Academy has courses for people who are interested in growth marketing and UX design, as well as sales and business development.
- Similarly, Pluralsight, Bootcamp Digital, Digital Creative Institute, Somerville Academy, and InternStreet offer tracks in digital marketing.
More alternatives
- Metis has introductory data science courses with both onsite & remote bootcamp options. Learn more about Metis in our review.
- Similarly, Divergence Academy has part-time and full-time data science courses.
- You can also consider Tech Talent South or allWomen Academy, which have courses in web dev, software engineering, data science, and UX design.
- An alternative to Udacity, Springboard is an online learning platform with courses in programming, data science, and other subjects. Discover how Springboard can help you advance your current tech skills in our program reviews.
- Codecademy is one of the most popular coding programs online. They provide free courses on many different programming languages. They also offer membership options ranging from $20 to $40 per month for more course options and greater support. Learn more about Codecademy in our review.
- Similarly, Coursera is an online learning tools with hundreds of courses.
- Finally, edX is one of the most popular online learning platforms. They have courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT as well as big tech companies like Microsoft. Learn more about edX in our review.
How do General Assembly and Udacity compare to Pathrise?
Both General Assembly and Udacity offer courses that teach people the necessary skills to land a job as a software engineer or a data scientist from scratch. In addition, they have programs for current and aspiring digital marketers, web developers, UX designers, and product managers. At Pathrise, fellows entering our program should have some background in their field of interest so that they can fully benefit from our industry workshops and 1-on-1 sessions. We currently have tracks in software engineering, product design, data science, digital marketing, and product, strategy & ops.
A full service organization, Pathrise helps people land their dream job in tech. Our mentors have years of experience on both sides of the hiring table and provide 1-on-1 assistance on every component of the job search. Besides placing a great deal of emphasis on technical interview preparation, we support job-seekers on resume & portfolio building, cold emailing & reverse recruiting strategies, behavioral interview preparation, salary negotiation, and more. Fellows learn skills that can benefit them in future job searches as well.
While we require fellows to have technical skills, we don’t necessarily require them to have job experience. You may benefit from completing a program like General Assembly first, then joining Pathrise to get placed at a job. To help you get the skills you need to join our program, we offer $1500 off any General Assembly bootcamps or short-courses, as well as other exclusive offerings to get you up to speed. Schedule a call with the GA Admissions team and ask them for the free workshops, events and discounts.
Both Pathrise and General Assembly offer an ISA (income share agreement), though the Pathrise ISA is just 5-9% and we never require upfront payments or deposits. Udacity does not offer an ISA option.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. With our tips and guidance, we’ve seen our fellows interview scores double.
If you are interested in working 1-on-1 with any of our mentors to optimize your job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
