Educative.io Review – How to Get your Dream Job in Tech

There was a time when YouTube and other video-on-demand platforms were the only options available for learning coding and other software topics.

That has changed. Now, there are platforms dedicated to helping SWEs upskill and prepare for interviews like the ones at FAANG companies.

Educative.io is among these newer-generation tech interview prep solutions, but it decided to follow its route and change how people prepare for tech interviews.

What is different about how Educative.io handles its courses? Is that method better?

I will also show you what features the platform has for a more efficient learning process, and then we can talk about the downsides. Are there alternatives? Yeah, watch out for them as well.

The ball is all set to start rolling. Let’s begin with… 

What is Educative.io?

Educative.io is a website where you can learn technical skills related to coding and software development. 

It also doubles up as a training ground for passing tech interviews. So you can deepen your knowledge of a technical concept in preparation for an interview.

The platform was solely meant for interview prep when it launched as an app-based service in 2015 but later became a full-fledged online marketplace where authors could host their courses, and people would buy.

Two brothers joined hands in creating the company, Fahim and Naeem. They both worked at Facebook and then Microsoft.

In its seven years of existence, Educative has been able to steal a spot in many of the world’s biggest tech companies. Netflix, Amazon, and Google are just some of the companies where Educative.io’s past students are now working.

The platform has also seen several improvements. Learning paths and early access courses are some of the most recent. 

How Does it Work?

Educative.io packs hundreds of courses on specific coding and software development topics for newbies, intermediates, and advanced learners.

You can mark the word specific. In my testing of the platform, I discovered that Educative.io has courses on very niche topics. It’s not something you see elsewhere, like Udemy and Coursera.

An example of a very specific course is Grokking the Coding Interview. There is even a course that teaches you the right way to store passwords.

That means if there is even a little gap in your knowledge of a particular concept, chances are there is a course for that exact problem you might be facing.

With the huge number of courses available on the platform, won’t finding the right one be a problem?

No. Or at least not much. You can start by picking a course of choice or be guided by the learning paths—a compilation of courses for a specific goal.

The biggest highlight of the courses is that they are devoid of videos. That’s right, no videos. It’s all based on text, and there are many graphs, pictures, illustrations, and charts for the visual aids aspect.

I found that the course format allowed me to quickly flip back and forth to catch up on something like you would have it when reading a printed book, but it might not be everyone.

But who should be using Educative.io? That’s our next stop.

Who is the Platform for?

Everything on Educative.io pertains to coding, coding, coding, so it’s for anyone who is a software techie.

For Enterprises

For an enterprise, conducting onboarding exercises can be hectic. How do you manage the employees? How do you assess their level of preparedness? 

Educative.io’s enterprise solution can make things easier. I discovered that businesses could use it to create and assign onboarding plans and monitor the progress of their test members in a simple dashboard.

For Individuals

Anybody with interest in coding or programming can make use of Educative.io in a variety of ways.

You can use it to prepare for tech interviews. There is a whole library of courses dedicated to interviewing prep.

If you are someone who has left coding for a while, your skills might be rusty. That’s where the courses come in. They teach comprehensively but also feature challenges and assessments for active learning.

These days, companies prefer to retain employees that keep adding value to themselves. That’s why learning new skills can keep you fresh and beat the layoffs. Educative.io can help with that as well.

For HR and Recruiters 

HR and recruiters can improve their interview-to-hire ratio with the help of Educative.io.

There is a plan provided by the platform specifically for recruiters. It allows them to select courses on the skills relevant to their companies that candidates should prepare for.

Interview candidates can then know what to prepare for, and at the same time, recruiters can hire the right hands.

Even if a candidate is not hired, the positive interview experience made possible by the company’s collaboration with Educative.io can lead to the candidate advocating the company for others.

Beginners Looking to Advance

Educative.io’s pattern of courses makes it easy for newbies to benefit.

Rather than just teaching you how to code, which is what most platforms do, Educative.io gives a general framework for solving problems.

So you don’t just start with, let’s say, learning Python or JavasScript. As a newbie, you’ll first be introduced to the fundamental concepts of computers and programming so you can have the basic problem-solving skills you will need later on.

There is a complete course for that, and in it, you will even be taken back to the definition of a computer, right? 

Courses on Educative io Catalog

Speaking of courses, Educative.io boasts hundreds of them, and new ones are released every week.

To date, there are over 400 courses and time economics would dictate against listing out every single one of them.

So let’s go over the general details of the courses.

Course layout

The courses cover many topics, so you can choose if you are a programmer, web designer, or software developer or want to learn coding from scratch.

You can also pick courses tailored to your needs. On the platform’s homepage, you can select from three options viz; become a developer, prepare for an interview, or improve your skill set.

The courses are grouped into three basic categories; beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

An example of a beginner course is Introduction to Computers and Programming. You will learn from scratch what a computer is and gradually progress to the fundamentals of programming.

Some of the topics in the course include computer anatomy, how to write pseudocodes, how to draw flowcharts, etc.

One thing that stood out to me when testing the platform is that the text-based lessons are virtually free of typos or other errors. It’s not too much to ask, but many other courses do not keep the integrity of being error-free.

There are also early-access courses. They grant you the privilege to view the course content before it is released. You can then send feedback to Educative.io for improvement.

Lessons

There are several lessons embedded in the Educative.io program.

These courses contain lessons and exercises that help learners prepare for different kinds of interviews.

Educative.io System Design

If you are a developer, you’ve got a clear idea of how vital system design is.

This course by Educative.io will show software engineers how to build systems for a wide variety of use cases.

It starts by showing what goes into building modern systems and then progresses to showing learners the framework for building a working system.

Towards the end, users will participate in practical projects that involve designing systems for mobile and web-based services.

Grokking the Coding Interview

Grokking the Coding Interview aims to take your coding skills to the next level.

The course is part of a comprehensive learning path designed just for nailing tech interviews.

The course goes beyond just teaching the core data aspects and bombarding the learner with a ton of coding questions for practice.

It simplifies the whole process by providing the core patterns that usually manifest in many coding questions. The idea is to be able to, according to the team that designed the course, ‘map a new problem to an already known problem’

Learning Paths

Learning paths are a series of courses leading to a particular outcome packed into a bundle.

For example, there are learning paths for becoming a front-end developer, a data analyst in Python, and so on.

The learning path feature is, to me, one that is practical. It can save a lot of time and stress figuring out how exactly to study.

Educative.io even lets you save learning paths and displays the ones you are currently in.

Assessments

They offer assessments

You will get your assessment result sent to your email (PS: I scored this low because I was in a rush to complete the assessment and grab a screenshot for my review 😩)

Interactive Coding Environment

This is one of Educative.io’s stronger points. They have an interactive coding environment right inside the browser and you don’t need to set up any kind of code editor whatsoever.

One good thing about the code editor is that you can customize it, add elements, and remove any elements you dislike.

I also liked the fact that I didn’t need to open separate windows to access the code editor along with the lessons. That’s the bane of video-based tutorial programs.

The code editor is also language friendly. You can run code with it in any programming language you are good at.

Downsides of the Educative.io Platform

It’s good to see how Educative.io strives to include everything you could ask for in a tech skills platform, but its learning style could be opening up a significant drawback that I will now talk about.

No Video Courses 

Gone are the days when all we had was paper, pen, and text to take in information. Now, videos have been a breakthrough in transforming how we learn.

So it’s a little bit awkward that a reputable platform like Educative.io decided to ignore tradition and stick to the old-fashioned way of learning.

Videos might be slower than reading; however, denying people the choice to go with the style that suits them isn’t exactly excellent.

No Soft Skills Training 

There is almost no shortage in the amount of technical training you can get from Educative.io, but it’s lacking in soft skills.

Soft skills have to do with your ability to understand others and work with them as a team.

The work and business climate is rapidly changing, and companies often need to make crucial decisions to stay afloat. That calls for having staff with more than just technical knowledge.

Employees should be flexible and be good at handling critical decisions to accommodate and adapt to change. The perfect tech interview should prepare one for that.

Educative.io Cost

Educative.io offers three subscription plans along with a one-week free trial.

The plans are; monthly, standard, and premium. They are billed at $35, $9.99, and $14.99 monthly, respectively.

Many courses are free forever, but it’s always a good idea to go for the paid subscription plans to enjoy benefits like learning paths, interview prep courses, and early access courses, amongst others.

Educative.io students reviews (verified) ✅

Here is what some of the students of the Educative.io platform have to say about the courses.

Educative.io Alternatives

Educative.io has a lot going for it, but it isn’t the only tech course platform out there.

If the lack of videos or some other flaw like the absence of mock interviews turns you off, here are a handful of alternatives you might want to consider.

Educative.io vs Udemy

Udemy is one of the world’s biggest vendors of online learning. The platform features video training through live classes or pre-recorded videos.

On Udemy, you can learn about virtually anything, from software engineering to how to repair a leaky faucet.

These classes are hosted by thousands of instructors from all over the world. Some are self-paced while others require you to stick to a schedule.

The thing with Udemy courses is that they are so many, it’s hard to know what to choose from. Also, not all of the instructors are sound. That means you could be wasting money trying out courses to see which one is right for you.

That’s what you enjoy with Educative.io. Learning paths and other guides will direct you to just the courses for your needs. Couple that with the inbuilt IDE and you are just fine.

Educative.io vs Leetcode

Leetcode is one of the world’s largest libraries of tech interview practice questions. They are up to 2000. But there are no courses.

But that’s a major disadvantage, it’s little more than a library of questions—that are uploaded by other users and not even vetted.

You do get the chance to participate in contests and the results will be displayed on the leaderboard for potential employees to see.

However, Leetcode is no place for newbies. Many of the topics represented by the practice questions pick up at intermediate to advanced levels.

Educative.io fares better on those counts and is worth recommending over Leetcode.

Educative vs Tech Interview Pro

Enter Tech Interview Pro, the leading tech interview prep platform by Patrick Shyu, aka Techlead.

Techlead is a famous YouTuber on tech-related subjects and has worked in HR and recruitment positions at Google, Facebook, and so on.

A native of Silicon Valley, he graduated from the University of California in computer engineering.

Techlead has great insider experience with FAANG companies and as such is well qualified to mentor aspiring SWEs.

What makes the course a good choice? Well, it makes up for Educative.io’s worst drawback by featuring video training. And quality is not something to worry about because Techlead is the one that teaches every one of them.

He has a simple, down-to-earth manner of teaching. That aside, there are several perks that you don’t get with Educative.io which I will highlight below:

• Mock Interviews

You will get to experience the typical interview experience before the actual interview.

• Individual resume reviews by Techlead himself. Yeah, the Tech lead will personally go through your resume and help you iron out any issues with it.

• Bi-weekly Q/A sessions with Tech lead. Here he answers any questions and addresses any fears you might have about the interviews. These sessions also feature past students who have aced their interviews saying what worked for them and what didn’t. If you missed a session, oops, but you can always watch the recording

• All Core Areas of Tech Interview Preparation

Which are coding, data structures and algorithms, systems designs, and yes, soft skills.

• Lifetime Access to All Resources and Perks

Once you’ve paid, all the benefits I explained plus the rest will be yours for life. And the best part is, the course is always updated, so you can rest assured that you’ll always stay on top. 

Conclusion

Educative.io is a platform that aims to simplify the learning process for its users as much as possible.

And it’s doing that quite well except that the move to completely ignore videos in its training might be a step in the extreme direction.

Barring that, the beginner-friendliness, access to free courses plus learning paths ensure that you are getting the best available on the platform.

If you want more, which is quite okay, you can head into the section on alternatives to Educative.io and choose your pick.

Have you tried Educative.io or are currently using it? I’d love to hear your thoughts about the platform. Please reach out through the comment box. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Educative.io

The answers to the questions in this section are just some of the takeaways from this review. 

Does Educative have a video?

No. Educative.io does not have a single video in all of its courses. The courses are all rich text. 

Is Educative io suitable for beginners?

Sure. Educative.io is suitable for beginners. It takes the courses from their basic level to the more advanced ones. 

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