Which Udacity Nanodegree Program Is Right For You?

David Silver
Udacity Inc
Published in
5 min readAug 16, 2017

Are you trying to decide which Udacity Nanodegree Program you should enroll in? Here’s an all-in-one guide to help you determine which program is best for you.

Android Basics

Partner: Google
Lead Instructors: Katherine Kuan, Chris Lei
Difficulty: Beginner
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: User Interface + User Input + Multiscreen Apps + Networking + Data Storage
Prerequisites: None!
Cost: $199 / month
Best For: Aspiring Android Developers with no programming experience.

Android Developer

Partner: Google
Lead Instructor: James Williams, Reto Meier
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 8 months
Syllabus: Developing Android Apps + Advanced Android App Development + Gradle for Android and Java + Material Design for Android Developers + Capstone Project
Prerequisites: Java, git, GitHub
Cost: $999 upfront OR $199/month
Best For: Intermediate programmers who want to become Android specialists.

Artificial Intelligence

Partners: IBM Watson, Amazon Alexa, DiDi Chuxing, Affectiva
Lead Instructor: Sebastian Thrun, Peter Norvig
Difficulty: Advanced
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: Foundations of AI + Deep Learning and Applications + Computer Vision + Natural Language Processing + Voice User Interfaces
Prerequisites: Python, basic linear algebra, calculus, and probability
Cost: $1600
Best For: Engineers who want to apply AI tools across an array of domains, from computer vision to natural language processing to voice interfaces.

Become an iOS Developer

Partners: AT&T, Lyft, Google
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: UIKit Fundamentals + iOS Networking with Swift + iOS Persistence and Core Data + How to Make an iOS App
Prerequisites: macOS 10.12 or OS X 10.11.5
Cost: $199 / month
Best For:
Beginners who want to launch their iOS developer careers.

Business Analyst

Partners: Alteryx, Tableau
Lead Instructor: Patrick Nussbaumer
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 160 hours
Syllabus: Problem Solving with Advanced Analytics + Creating an Analytical Dataset + Segmentation and Clustering + Data Visualization in Tableau + Classification Models + A/B Testing for Business Analysts + Time Series Forecasting
Prerequisites: Basic statistics and spreadsheet skills, a Windows computer
Cost: $199 / month
Best For:
Aspiring data analysts who want to launch a career in data-driven decision-making and visualization, as opposed to programming.

Data Analyst

Partners: Facebook, Tableau
Lead Instructor: Caroline Buckey
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 260 hours
Syllabus: Descriptive Statistics + Intro to Data Analysis + Git and GitHub + Data Wrangling + MongoDB + Exploratory Data Analysis + Inferential Statistics + Intro to Machine Learning + Data Visualization in Tableau + Introduction to Python Programming
Prerequisites: None!
Cost: $199 / month
Best For:
Aspiring data scientists who want to launch a career in developing software to extract meaning from data.

Deep Learning Foundations

Lead Instructors: Ian Goodfellow, Andrew Trask, Mat Leonard
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: Introduction + Neural Networks + Convolutional Neural Networks + Recurrent Neural Networks + Generative Adversarial Networks
Prerequisites: Python, basic linear algebra and calculus
Best For:
Students excited by the potential for deep learning to change the world, and who additionally wish to earn guaranteed entry into Udacity’s Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, or Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree Programs (a special “perk” of the program for graduates!).

Digital Marketing

Partners: Facebook, Google, Hootsuite, HubSpot, MailChimp, Moz
Lead Instructor: Anke Audenaert
Time: 3 months
Syllabus: Marketing Fundamentals + Content Strategy + Social Media Marketing + Social Media Advertising through Facebook + Search Engine Optimization (SEO) + Search Engine Marketing with AdWords + Display Advertising + Email Marketing + Measure and Optimize with Google Analytics
Prerequisites: None!
Best For:
Hard workers seeking to launch or advance their digital marketing careers through real-world experience and multi-platform fluency.

Front-End Web Developer

Partners: AT&T, Google, GitHub, HackReactor
Lead Instructors: Mike Wales, Cameron Pittman
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: Intro to HTML and CSS + Responsive Web Design Fundamentals + Responsive Images + JavaScript Basics + Intro to jQuery + Object-Oriented JavaScript + HTML5 Canvas + Browser Rendering Optimization + Website Performance Optimization + Intro to AJAX + JavaScript Design Patterns + JavaScript Testing
Prerequisites: Basic computer programming
Cost: $199 / month
Best For:
New web developers who want to build a portfolio and get a job!

Full Stack Web Developer

Partners: Amazon Web Services, GitHub, AT&T, Google
Lead Instructors: Mike Wales, Karl Krueger
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: Programming Foundations with Python + Responsive Web Design Fundamentals + Intro to HTML and CSS + Responsive Images + Intro to Relational Databases + Authentication & Authorization: OAuth + Full Stack Foundations + Intro to AJAX + JavaScript Design Patterns + Configuring Linux Web Servers + Linux Command Line Basics
Prerequisites: Python and git
Cost: $199 / month
Best For:
Developers who want to learn to build web applications from end-to-end.

Intro to Programming

Lead Instructor: Andy Brown
Difficulty:
Beginner
Time: 5 months
Syllabus: Learn to Code + Make a Stylish Webpage + Python Programming Foundations + Object-Oriented Programming with Python + Explore Programming Career Options + Experience a Career Path
Prerequisites: None!
Cost: $399
Best For:
Beginners looking for an accessible approach to coding.

Machine Learning Engineer

Partner: Kaggle
Lead Instructors:
Apran Chakraborty, David Joyner, Luis Serrano
Difficulty:
Advanced
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: Machine Learning Foundations + Supervised Learning + Unsupervised Learning + Reinforcement Learning + Deep Learning + Capstone
Prerequisites: Intermediate Python, statistics, calculus, and linear algebra
Cost: $199 / month
Best For:
Engineers who want to build applications that learn from data.

React

Lead Instructors: Michael Jackson, Ryan Florence, Tyler McGinnis
Difficulty:
Intermediate
Time: 4 months
Syllabus: React Fundamentals + React & Redux + React Native
Prerequisites: HTML, JavaScript, Git
Cost: $499
Best For:
Front-end engineers who want to master the web’s hottest framework. React is the highest-paid sub-field of web development!

Robotics

Partners: Bosch, Electric Movement, iRobot, Kuka, Lockheed Martin, MegaBots, Uber ATG, X
Lead Instructor:
Ryan Keenan
Difficulty:
Advanced
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: ROS Essentials, Kinematics, Perception, Controls, Deep Learning for Robotics
Prerequisites: Intermediate Python, calculus, linear algebra, and statistics
Cost: $2400
Best For:
Makers who dream of building machines that impact everything from agriculture to manufacturing to security to healthcare.

Self-Driving Car Engineer

Partners: Mercedes-Benz, NVIDIA, Uber ATG
Lead Instructor:
David Silver (that’s me!)
Difficulty:
Advanced
Time: 9 months
Syllabus: Deep Learning + Computer Vision + Sensor Fusion + Localization + Path Planning + Control + System Integration
Prerequisites: Intermediate Python, calculus, linear algebra, and statistics
Cost: $2400
Best For:
Engineers who want to join technology’s hottest field and revolutionize how we live.

VR Developer

Partners: Google VR, Vive, Upload, Unity, Samsung
Lead Instructor:
Christian Plagemann
Difficulty:
Advanced
Time: 6 months
Syllabus: Unity + C# + Google Cardboard + Ergonomics + User Testing + Interface Design + Mobile Performance + High-Immersion Unity + High-Immersion Unreal
Prerequisites: None!
Cost: $1200
Best For:
People who want to build new worlds. VR is the most in-demand skill for freelance developers!

--

--