HyperskillReviews of hyperskill.org

Update on my previous review of AI Bootcamp I believe in giving honest feedback — both when things go wrong and when they are handled well. After my earlier review, the Hyperskill team reached out to me promptly and took my concerns seriously. We had constructive discussions, and I’m happy to share that we’ve reached a resolution I’m genuinely satisfied with. Here’s what they’ve done: - Extended my platform access for an additional 1 year to ensure I can fully benefit from the program - Arranged a direct session with an AI engineer to help map out a focused learning path tailored to my goals - Clarified the certification path — I will receive the full certificate upon completing the required projects - Acknowledged that the AI field is rapidly evolving, which influenced their broader curriculum approach What stands out to me is their willingness to listen, engage, and improve the experience rather than dismiss feedback. While my initial experience had challenges, I appreciate how professionally they handled the situation and worked toward a meaningful resolution. This update is important because it reflects the full picture — not just the frustration, but also the response and accountability. If you're considering the program, I’d say this: ask questions, be clear about your goals — and know that the team is responsive when issues are raised. Credit where it’s due.

I chose to take the Hyperskill course on Kotlin for a number of reasons. #1 Courses on Udemy and Coursera were out of date or didn't cover things like Coroutines. #2 Made by JetBrains Academy, and Kotlin was developed by JetBrains #3 I recently lost my job, so having free and paid options appeared to be beneficial, as I could upgrade to Premium once my situation was sorted out. I've known Java for 20 years and used it professionally for 8 of those. Since Kotlin was a new take on Java, I thought it would be easy to learn. The course started out ok. Theory sections were short and informative. Some questions were easy and some were harder, but not too bad. The problems started once I got a bit further in. Theory would cover things, and then some of the questions would be on those things, and some would be on things that weren't covered or even mentioned. As the topics moved beyond my existing base of knowledge, it became apparent that it was only easy in the beginning because of my broad knowledge base. From that point forward, a higher percentage of the questions started to be on content that hadn't been covered. I was trying to learn something I didn't know from a training course. That wasn't happening, I was just burning lives guessing, and wasting time leaving comments on the questions once I guessed the right answers. Most of the skills I have acquired in my life were self taught, I'm no stranger to figuring it out myself. But, this was different. They asked the questions as though they had taught it and I should know, but they didn't and I didn't. If I had paid money for this, by this point I would have been furious, rather than just annoyed. There was one question in particular, which wasn't actually that hard, but the wording of the question and the way the example was written made it very hard to understand what they wanted, and this was a "type it yourself" answer, so you couldn't guess it from context. At this point I'm about 10% of the way through the training, and extremely frustrated with the course. I'm considering going and finding one of the out-of-date or incomplete trainings from those other sites, just so I can learn it in a non-frustrating way, and then figure out myself what is wrong or which gaps I need to fill in myself. I'm not opposed to the system of lives, and I'm fine getting things wrong. But, I expect to get them wrong when I fail to absorb the material, or make the wrong assessment. Rather than because the question was designed to trick me or covered content I was not taught. I have not taken any other Hyperskill courses, so I don't know if this is typical or not. Unfortunately, my experience with this course has not encouraged me to find out. I'm going to attempt to complete it for now, but, if this pattern continues that may not happen. Also, a quick note on the pricing. $50 a month seems pretty high for a training where I'm seemingly expected to learn a bunch of it on my own. Committing for a full year to lower that to $30 a month isn't attractive if I don't have any other courses I'm interested in. If it took me 3-4 months to complete this training, that's $150-200. I could take 3-4 other courses on Kotlin on other sites for that cost, possibly more than that. If this course blew my mind I would pay that in a heartbeat. But, we're not even close to that. I'd be happy with feeling neutral about it at this point, but we're currently at frustrated, and rapidly approaching done with it. In summary, if you want to keep the questions you have, make sure they are worded in a way that is extremely understandable to a person who is learning the content. And, of course, teach that content before you ask the question. Theory sections are pretty short, which feels good until you realize you weren't taught everything you actually needed to know to proceed. EDIT (9/23/2024): As I've progressed through the course, these issues have dropped off a bit. It seems the first 10% of the course was the worst for this, and in the next 10% it still happened, but less frequently. The theory sections are well written in general, and you can learn a lot from this course. It's just very frustrating and feels like it's designed to trick you into losing lives early on. Though they have been updating the course, maybe the beginning just needs more updating. I have changed this from one star to three stars for now. I may revise it again if things change going forward.

Sie hatten sicher sehr viel Arbeit mit dem Programmieren dieser App und stellen sie auch kostenlos ein! Aber leider hört der Lernspass auf, wenn der Nutzer einen Fehler macht - keine Hilfe, einfach "Full stop" und dann auch nach einigen Verbesserungsversuchen - "Zeit ist abgelaufen". Das hat mir definitiv die Lust am Lernen genommen, Schade für ihre ansonsten viele gute Entwicklungsarbeit.

I recently started learning Python and at the beginning, it was going well but recently, the classes haven't been so explanatory. I was advised by my friend to find somewhere else to learn but I want you to know why.

It's a good learning platform, however there is a bunch of ambiguous questions with unclear answers or questions with wrong andwers in React js where there is said to remove the App.js file.

It's quite well organized. Although, there is zero teaching involved in it; the knowledge map is helpful in knowing about the skill required to tackle the projects. But, a monthly fee of US$ 50 is not worth. I think taking that 50$ somewhere else would be a better option.

I like it in general, but it is a pity that there is a daily limit

Hyperskill offers a comprehensive learning experience, going deep into each concept with sufficient detail to foster a deep understanding. This approach, while thorough, demands a significant time commitment. Ideally, a consistent hour and a half daily. While the price might seem steep, it aligns with the value gained, provided one can dedicate ample time. However, for those unable to invest the necessary hours, progress may feel slow, potentially resulting in minimal benefits relative to the cost. The platform's insistence on covering every concept through reading and practice, while beneficial for understanding, can impede swift learning and productivity. In contrast, my hiatus from the subscription revealed that alternate learning methods, such as independent readings and personal projects, yielded denser knowledge at a faster pace. A notable drawback is the absence of an effective mechanism to pause subscriptions. Work demands or unforeseen circumstances may disrupt the learning pace, making it challenging to justify the continuous investment, especially given the relatively high cost. In my experience, during breaks from Hyperskill, I found alternative avenues that allowed me to acquire knowledge more efficiently. While the web editor supports solving exercises in IntelliJ, a more direct integration with popular version control platforms like Github or GitLab would enhance the learning experience. This would streamline the process of versioning exercises. The free plan is generally not worth the time, as its restrictive limits can be tedious and irritating, with better free alternatives available. Hyperskill provides a thorough educational journey, but its rigidity in pacing, subscription management, and exercise versioning could be refined to better accommodate varied learning styles and circumstances.