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If you want a career change or if you’re already working in the IT field but you feel like going to the next level or get a promotion, you should consider enrolling in an online course that improves your skills.
Nowadays, it is possible to land a job in IT even if you don’t have a college degree in that specialization. What truly matters in the real world is your expertise and your set of skills.
In this post, you will learn everything one needs to know regarding two popular MOOC platforms: PluralSight and TreeHouse. I’ve made a thorough research on both of these providers to see what they have to offer and what their pros and cons are.
Bottom Line Summary: If you are looking for approachable fundamentals of NEW topics, go with TreeHouse here (novice friendly). If you are looking to learn and MASTER advanced concepts, go with PluralSight here (experienced professionals).
The Main Differences between PluralSight vs TreeHouse:
The main differences between Pluralsight vs Treehouse are:
- PluralSight offers in-depth courses for advanced students, whereas TreeHouse is more suitable for beginners;
- PluralSight has consistent course quality throughout its entire content due to the specialized team that reviews and edits all materials, whereas TreeHouse’s content quality varies from one course to another;
- TreeHouse has a tad over 300 available courses, whereas PluralSight amazes us with more than 6000 different educational programs;
- TreeHouse is less popular and has fewer active members, whereas PluralSight is seen as a reliable and trustworthy e-Learning MOOC and it has received plenty of positive feedback.
PluralSight vs TreeHouse Compared – What Are They?
PluralSight Online Learning
PluralSight is a popular MOOC, an online education company that’s publicly-held and provides a wide range of training courses followed by video tutorials and lectures. These programs are mostly created for software developers, creative professionals, and IT administrators. It was founded in 2004, in Utah, United States.
If you want to gain access to the provider’s entire training library, you must subscribe to its membership and pay a monthly fee. Funny thing, though: PluralSight was firstly developed to function as a simple classroom training program and it went on this path until 2007 when it began to offer online courses.
Pluralsight is a better option for professional development for those with an EXISTING base level of knowledge. Excellent for MASTERY of your chosen field. Being able to actively measure your progress in a certain Path helps keep the drive to keep improving.
TreeHouse Online Learning Platform
TreeHouse is an online platform that provides easy-to-follow technology, at affordable prices, to individuals all over the globe. According to the company’s representatives, their e-learning services will help students achieve their professional and career goals. Right now, TreeHouse has no less than 37,000 paying members.
The e learning platform was created in 2011, by Ryan Carson. It focuses on programming language and coding (a sort of coding bootcamp). On its dashboard, you will view plenty of coding subjects like iOS development, JavaScript, PHP, and many more. Some other course content targets topics such as marketing, web designing, Photoshop, business, and others.
Treehouse offers more approachable courses, with a better skills based course design for enterprise level jobs. Treehouse is also more exclusively "tech focused", meaning that programming and IT programs are more tailored and up to date.
PluralSight vs TreeHouse Compared – Pros and Cons
PluralSight Online Learning
Pluralsight Course Pros
- PluralSight provides advanced content such as programming lectures for both intermediate and advanced users. It offers in-depth courses;
- There are mobile apps available on both Android and iPhone devices;
- The platform offers learning paths. These play the role of helping students figure out the type of classes they should take and the proper order in which to follow and complete those lectures;
- On PluralSight, you will find consistent quality. Every published video is first reviewed by an editing staff. The provider requires these tutorials to meet certain quality standards;
- There’s a large array of available topics on this platform and PluralSight features over 6000 courses;
- One interesting and useful aspect is the possibility to add notes to the courses you’re currently following. This way, it will be easier for you to learn certain things quicker and simpler;
- If you want, you can share the topics you’re interested in as well as your learning progress on the platform’s public profile statistics page;
- PluralSight’s team adds new courses and learning materials on a regular basis.
Cons
- In some people’s opinion, certain PluralSight courses are a tad outdated. It seems that they haven’t been updated since they have been published;
- This e-learning platform isn’t a free one;
- You won’t find any coding exercises so you won’t be able to test your newly-acquired skills.
Pluralsight is a better option for professional development for those with an EXISTING base level of knowledge. Excellent for MASTERY of your chosen field. Being able to actively measure your progress in a certain Path helps keep the drive to keep improving.
TreeHouse Online Learning
Treehouse Course Pros
- TreeHouse has great instructors. This happens due to the platform’s high flexibility level which allows tutors to bring their own style into their lectures. Hence, they are approachable and they communicate clearly;
- The site features learning tracks in which it includes groups of courses. This makes students aware of the things they need to learn to gain or improve a certain skill. Also, this particular benefit brings more guidance;
- You will experience an all-around learning service due to the website’s amazing course materials represented by visual lectures, presentations, and instructions;
- It provides a project-based type of learning. For instance, there’s a course that teaches students how to properly develop an application, in real-time, following the program’s step-by-step guidelines. Each chapter is short and easy to audit;
- There’s new material published frequently on the platform. TreeHouse publishes multiple new learning programs on a monthly basis;
- The provides has created its own dedicated mobile app available on both Android and iOS devices;
- As a member, you will benefit from a very supportive online community that will definitely boost your motivation. You will find plenty of recommendations regarding the achievement of your career goals that suit your skills.
Cons
- There’s a 14-day free trial period but users need to insert their credit card details in order to sign up;
- You cannot skip ahead because all the course materials are condensed and every new section of each program relies on previous practical examples;
- According to some students, the quality isn’t the same for all courses. It varies from one teacher (instructor) to the other. For instance, some lectures are quite affordable while also being well-explained. In the meantime, other courses are hard to follow;
- Your credit card will be charged before the completion of the free trial period. Moreover, if you cancel your subscription before the end of the trial version, you won’t be able to access it anymore;
- TreeHouse isn’t an in-depth learning resource. I dare to say this because the majority of TreeHouse courses are created for beginners.
Treehouse offers more approachable courses, with a better skills based course design for enterprise level jobs. Treehouse is also more exclusively "tech focused", meaning that programming and IT programs are more tailored and up to date.
PluralSight vs TreeHouse Compared – Main Courses
PluralSight
You will find 10 available course categories on PluralSight:
- Software development – Python, mobile development, Java, web development, etc.;
- IT ops – security, servers, networking, database administration, etc.;
- Data professional – business intelligence, SQL, Oracle, big data, etc.;
- Information and cybersecurity – security certifications, malware analysis, penetration testing, security auditing, etc.;
- Architecture and construction – introduction to AutoCAD, introduction to Revit 2014, etc.;
- Cloud computing – secure cloud applications, cloud maintenance, cloud configuration and deployment, etc.;
- Manufacturing and design – SolidWorks essentials, 3D printing, etc.;
- Business professional – business analysis, security awareness, etc.;
- Creative professional – drawing fundamentals, digital audio fundamentals, cinema 4D Mograph fundamentals, etc.;
- Machine learning – production machine learning systems, etc.
The company keeps updating or publishing new content because they want to keep up with constantly changing technologies. Each course category comes with learning paths and assessments. To find the program that’s right for your needs, you should keep in mind the following tips:
- Find your niche;
- Become aware of your proficiency;
- Review the author’s profile;
- Check the schedule and video duration of a course;
- Find user reviews and ratings;
- Check the preview and enroll in the free trial.
TreeHouse
Unlike PluralSight which offers a pretty impressive diversity of courses, TreeHouse only features around 300 educational programs on 23 subjects. Besides the actual courses, you will also be able to engage in around 278 workshops.
Apparently, there are over 50,000 active students as we speak. TreeHouse lectures help you learn how to work with modern development tools and master both soft and technical skills.
Here are some of the topics you can find on TreeHouse:
- Web design;
- HTML;
- PHP;
- Development tools;
- CSS;
- WordPress;
- Business courses;
- JavaScript;
- Android; etc.
Some of their most popular courses are:
- Front end web development;
- UX design;
- Full-stack JavaScript;
- PHP development.
For each of the categories presented above, the provider has created the so-called tracks which are sequences of subject training. Therefore, you won’t have to search for every course on your own. Instead, the platform guides you from beginner to advanced lectures. It is a step-by-step learning process.
PluralSight vs TreeHouse Compared – Pricing Plans
PluralSight Pricing
There are two types of subscriptions: personal and business. The personal membership comes with three options:
- Basic personal plan – billed either monthly ($29) or annually ($179). Perks: access to the course’s library, exercise files, course learning checks, offline viewing, course discussions, mobile apps, etc.;
- The Premium plan – it is billed on an annual basis and it includes all the benefits of the personal plan plus interactive courses, certification practice exams, and projects.
The Business subscription has two possible alternatives:
- Professional – $579 per year. It provides user analytics and basic reporting for teams. It offers all the perks of the Premium plan plus analytic tools for trends, usage, channels, and more;
- Enterprise – $779 per year. If the things you need for your company are advanced analytics and flexibility, then this is the right subscription plan for you. It brings all the advantages of the previous plan and other additional perks like role customization, API access, data export, and single sign-on.
*The prices mentioned for both personal plans (the annual basic plan and the premium version) are promotional ones. The company is offering a limited-time 40% discount.
Pluralsight is a better option for professional development for those with an EXISTING base level of knowledge. Excellent for MASTERY of your chosen field. Being able to actively measure your progress in a certain Path helps keep the drive to keep improving.
Treehouse Pricing
In terms of pricing, there are three available choices on the TreeHouse platform:
- Basic plan – the fee is $25 per month and you will audit more than 500 hours of lectures. It is suitable for beginners;
- Pro plan – the monthly fee is $49. It contains more than 1000 hours of video tutorials as well as complete access to the provider’s video library;
- Tech plan – this is the Techdegree program that I have detailed below.
TreeHouse also offers the possibility to enroll in a Techdegree. It is a project-based program developed to help you get ready for a fruitful career in one of the many tech industry branches.
You will gain access to plenty of interesting and useful materials like tutorials, code challenges, and quizzes. Moreover, you will be able to build your own portfolio to use it later on, for job applications. There are two subscriptions when it comes to Techdegrees:
- Self-guided – it costs $25 per month but you won’t have access to many of the program’s perks;
- The full access plan – it costs $199 per month and enables you to build a portfolio while also providing you real-time support.
Treehouse offers more approachable courses, with a better skills based course design for enterprise level jobs. Treehouse is also more exclusively "tech focused", meaning that programming and IT programs are more tailored and up to date.
Frequently Asked Questions About PluralSight vs TreeHouse
Yes, PluralSight is worth it because it is one of the best choices if you want to give your tech skills a boost. You can start by trying their 10-day free trial. Thinking in perspective, this platform is worth paying the membership fees as long as it helps you land your dream job or get your desired promotion. For career-oriented individuals, this e-learning provider offers a lot of value. You will learn updated tech abilities at affordable costs.
There are plenty of great courses on PluralSight but, nevertheless, here are some of the best and most popular educational programs on this MOOC website:
– For Android (Understanding Android, Using Android Studio to build apps, Start developing for Android, Android layout fundamentals etc.)
– For Java (Testing in Java – introduction, The Java languages – fun)
– HTML5 Learning Path (HTML fundamentals, HTML5 fundamentals, HTML5 advanced topics, HTML5 Canvas fundamentals; etc.)
– CSS (Introduction to CSS3, CSS3 in depth, Introduction to CSS.)
– New JavaScript Learning Path (Advanced techniques in JavaScript, Rapid ES6 training, Advanced JavaScript.)
Although TreeHouse was initially focused more on coding courses for beginners, they have started to upload more and more intermediate programs which is great if you want to cover all levels of expertise. They even have learning paths that take a newbie and teach him or her a certain subject, from the simplest aspects to more comprehensive and in-depth knowledge. So, long story short, the answer is definitely yes.
If we take a look at both of these MOOCs ratings, we can easily see that Codecademy is above TreeHouse in terms of rankings: the first one is situated in the 9th place while TreeHouse occupies the 12th place. This happens mostly because Codecademy allows students to write code right from the start by starting in a smaller and simpler environment. As a subscriber on Codecademy, you will always receive feedback and you will be able to progress in a gradual manner towards more complex concepts.
PluralSight vs TreeHouse Compared – Bottom Line
So, which one is better from these two? It is hard to say which is above the other because they have many similarities but they are also different in certain aspects.
On TreeHouse, you will be taught the fundamentals of any topic of your choice (from those available on the website) while on PluralSight, you will learn how to master those skills by learning advanced concepts. So, these two platforms go hand in hand.
Bottom Line Summary: If you are looking for approachable fundamentals of NEW topics, go with TreeHouse here (novice friendly). If you are looking to learn and MASTER advanced concepts, go with PluralSight here (experienced professionals).
Recommended Reads:
- If it’s important for you to master something that you want it to become a future career, you need to find some courses that will help you overcome the blocks you are facing so far. Udemy vs Pluralsight offers a lot for beginners who want to learn everything ASAP, so you might want to check them out.