Meet Jalil, a Udacity student who is the first graduate of our new Programming Foundations with Python course. Jalil is a web developer and lifelong learner working in Munich and taking online courses to advance his career! Below, Jalil answers a few questions and shares his story with us:
How did you hear about Udacity?
I was just finishing high school at a very old-school school in Bavaria, Germany and my frustration with that system and the underlying picture of humanity had reached a point where I thought a lot about education. I was very much into TED talks at the time and when Salman Khan gave his talk on Khan Academy I was on fire.
It made so much sense and was totally in line with my belief system that is rooted in the Bahai Faith: “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.”
I believe everyone has a huge potential and we just have to give everyone the time and resources they need to develop their skills. I listened to as many talks about education and the future of it as I could find. One of them was by Sebastian Thrun and his early experience with Udacity. After that I was very sure this is the way to go.
What courses have you taken?
Phew – a lot. My passion is web development so I have at least started most of the CS / web dev courses on Udacity. The coolest: Programming Foundations with Python, Interactive 3D Graphics, Mobile Web Development, HTML5 Game Development.
I had until very recently (shame on me) not finished a single course. My learning was very scattered all over the internet. For true learning though – as much as you have to go to into breadth – you have to focus to really grow. This is one of the biggest issues with online learning, I think – the internet is so wonderfully interconnected and interesting that focus is often difficult to achieve. You want to learn a thousand things and if you don’t take one step at a time and do too many things at once you miss your goals.
Now that Udacity offers an entirely new course experience, this has become a lot easier. Not only is money at stake to motivate one to focus (although I regard myself as intrinsically motivated – it sure does make a difference) – you also have amazing Coaches that help you through your challenges. I don’t want to be cheesy, but it is really great!
What’s your current profession?
I currently work as a developer and designer at a really cool local startup in Munich called PatientsBest – we’re trying to revolutionize the way people find doctors and on the way make healthcare a little more transparent and understandable.
Has your Udacity experience impacted your career?
Definitely. After school I tried the traditional education model twice – once in Information Design (a mix of design and programming – awesome topic!) and once in Educational Sciences. Both (each totally different) just didn’t compare to the online resources – the main disadvantage being up-to-dateness. I dropped out of each and would say that 90% of what I know and use professionally I’ve learned on the web – Udacity being a core piece of that.
What are your plans for the future?
To continue what I do at the moment: learning new things, and with that knowledge, making myself useful to others. Specifically, I really want to finish all the Udacity courses I’ve started as soon as possible!
Do you have any advice for other online learners?
- Don’t do too many things at once – it hurts to say no, but try to focus on a few things at a time!
- Use the forums – the experience is so much richer. 3. Opt in for the full course experience – if you’re like me, you’ll actually end up doing the necessary work.
If you’re inspired by Jalil’s story, you can learn with the same courses he’s taken! We recommend Programming Foundations with Python for anyone who’s interested in learning the fundamentals of object oriented programming, a must-have technique for software engineers. Sample a few lessons to get a feel for our highly engaging learn-by-doing philosophy!
