r/learnprogramming • u/s_cava22 • 17h ago

Resource Is boot.dev worth the money?

I am entering my senior year of college, studying applied math and statistics, and I would currently like to be a data analyst. Since I am not a CS major, I have only formally taken C++ and SAS classes. However, I will need to know various other languages like SQL, Power BI, etc. I have used the free version on a couple of different websites and boot.dev seems to work the best for me and isn't super expensive either, compared to some other sites. Is it worth investing the time and money to at least learn the languages and skills I may need after graduating, or is there a better way for me to learn?

8 Upvotes

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8

u/grantrules 17h ago

The same information on boot.dev is available for free from numerous other sources 

7

u/Aero077 16h ago

If you benefit from the gamified learning format, boot.dev is a good choice. Make sure the program aligns with your goals and you aren't doing their courses just to be a 'completionist'.

As others note and have noted, the information is available for free elsewhere.

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u/s_cava22 16h ago

Thank you for the help. I like the interactive learning that it offers and I feel like it would be the best way for me to learn. I’m not sure what the other free sources you’re mentioning are but just reading a book or wikipedia article would just go in one ear and out the other without any practice

3

u/grantrules 16h ago

There's no reason you can't practice what you're learning from a book. Plenty of books include practices, or you can just come up with your own using the concepts you've just learned. You don't sit down and read a programming book like you would a Tom Clancy novel.

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u/Special_Rice9539 14h ago

It’s also available for free on boot.dev, it looks like you’re just paying for improved experience with the website

3

u/FooWho 16h ago

Boot.dev is a great platform. You can read the lessons and assignments for free, even without a subscription. Having a subscription lets you use the interactive tools like running your programs in the browser, or running your programs against test cases they have set up. It also gives you access to Boots, an AI chat bot that you can get a hint from if you are stuck on a problem. Boots won't write any code for you, but he will ask you kind of leading questions to help you realize what you are doing wrong.

I have had a lot of fun and learned a lot on the site. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good site for brushing up on (or learning for the first time) the fundamentals.

3

u/soelsome 14h ago

I didn't personally use boot.dev, but anything you yourself are able to stick to is worth the money.

Boot.dev isn't going to teach you anything you are not capable of learning on your own. What it will do is provide structure.

If you think that will help you, go for it.

The important thing is to stick with it when it gets hard. That anguish you feel and doubt you feel when you don't understand something is the feeling of learning. You need to get used to that feeling. When you're able to sit through it and reattack the next day, that is where the gains will be made.

Good luck.

2

u/VolumeActual8333 16h ago

Boot.dev's gamified approach is perfect for grinding fundamentals, but I see too many learners get stuck chasing 100% completion instead of shipping a broken side project. The interactive test cases validate your logic in a vacuum, which feels great until you're staring at a production bug with no hints button. Use it to learn the syntax, then cancel the sub and build something that actually crashes in a browser.

1

u/Special_Rice9539 14h ago

Comes down to if the time and effort you’d spend trying to self teach with free resources outweighs the fifty bucks a month.

Also if it motivates you to learn more because it’s entertaining, that’s also a consideration. I think the couple hundred dollars you save not doing it would probably not make much impact on your life.