Featured, Full Stack Web Developer, Student Success

Becoming A Developer

This Udacity graduate put everything on the line to pursue a new career. He discovered he had real ability, and found his new life direction!

Full Stack Web Developer - Udacity

Samuel Almeida is a natural planner. He loves the sense of purpose and direction he gets from setting a goal, and then achieving it. Since his childhood in Teófilo Otoni, Brazil, Samuel had a plan for his life. It began as just an idea, but as he got older, and pursued undergraduate and graduate studies, he became certain that he was heading towards a pharmaceutical career. When he landed his first job in the field, it felt like the realization of a dream that had been years in the making.

He started a job in drugs research in Belo Horizonte, and seemed firmly set on his path. But he was in for a surprise. Samuel discovered his job—and the pharmaceutical industry—didn’t suit him at all. He didn’t feel challenged by the projects he was working on, and he didn’t see any way to grow or develop. It was a tough thing to accept. He’d spent years of his life, and considerable expense, on preparing for a particular field. Now that he’d made it, the reality didn’t thrill him, and he wasn’t happy.

At that point, it didn’t occur to him that he could, or would, actually change careers, he just knew he needed to find something to re-energize himself.

Featured, Intersect 2018, Student Success

Community, Connection, and Student Success at Intersect 2018

Student Success - Udacity - Intersect 2018

Intersect 2018 was many things, but above all else, it was a celebration of our extraordinary students. Shiza Shahid perhaps summed it up best, when she tweeted these words after leaving the stage to a standing ovation following her keynote speech:

“The best education I receive is from conversations with people living lives entirely different from my own. Thank you Udacity, for the opportunity to speak at Udacity Intersect with your inspirational learners! May we all embrace the intention of becoming lifelong learners.”

Every second of the conference shone a light on our students—not just what they’ve achieved so far, but also what they’re going to accomplish next. Every conversation, from the most informal to the most professional, was pregnant with a sense of potential. The energy running through the halls, across the stages, up and down the stairs, was transformative—people were literally alive to the experience of being together, and feeling one another’s strength, and conviction.

Featured, Student Success

Building An App That Can Save Lives

Melinda Kostenszki and her team of Google Developer Scholarship recipients used their Udacity learning experience to build the BloodDroid app!

Udacity -BloodDroid -App That Can Save Lives

Melinda Kostenszki is a quintessential lifelong learner. Not only that, she has a knack for surrounding herself with other individuals who share similar traits. Lifelong learners are proactive. They don’t just wait for opportunities; they create success for themselves. They may suffer doubts about their own potential just like anyone; but then they push themselves to get the skills they need. Lifelong learners don’t fade away when faced with challenges, they remain the protagonists in their own life stories.

Above all else, they keep learning.

Melinda is part of a team of Hungarian students who earned Android Developer Nanodegree program scholarships through the Google Developer Scholarship initiative. As you’ll see, they are a relentless group of lifelong learners; so much so they didn’t even wait until graduation to put their newfound developer skills to the test. They pushed themselves beyond expectations, and created something spectacular as a result.

This is how they did it.

career change, Featured, Student Success

The Courage to Pursue Career Change

This Udacity student and mother of two found a passion for data science, enrolled in our Data Analyst Nanodegree program, and made a complete career change!

Anna Suszka - Career Change - Udacity

LIfelong learners come in all shapes and sizes, and from all corners of the earth. There are no age or experience limits to becoming one, and the only requirements are a passion for self-empowerment, and willingness to work towards your learning goals.

Anna Suszka is the epitome of a lifelong learner. She’d already built one great career, and could have easily rested on her laurels. Instead, she got really curious about another field, and opted to pursue her new passion. Once she’d made the decision, she didn’t waste any time. She enrolled in our Data Analyst Nanodegree program, and set about mastering the skills she’d need to build her new career.

Anna has done well in the program, and landed an exciting new role as a data analyst. This is an awesome accomplishment, and one rendered all the more remarkable by the fact that she made the leap while on maternity leave with her second child!

Android Developer Nanodegree program, career path, Featured, Student Success

You Can Do Magic: Discovering Your True Career Path

This Udacity graduate’s unconventional career path led to success as an Android Developer, and included three years as a world-traveling street performer!

You Can Do Magic - Udacity - Career Path

If I told you a student created their career out of magic, you might think I was speaking in metaphor, but with John Bono, it’s actually true! John’s parents both work in tech, and for many years he was absolutely sure that he didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. He spent a long time trying jobs in very different industries—the military, poetry, and, yes, magic—before finding the role that truly suited him…in tech! His journey will show you that even the most unorthodox of paths can ultimately lead to career success.

Featured, Lifelong Learning, Student Success, VR Developer Nanodegree program

Discovering VR in Kenya, With Udacity

This lifelong learner started in Kenya, graduated from Yale, and then she discovered Virtual Reality with Udacity!

Michelle Mboya - Udacity - Lifelong Learning - VR - 1

With Udacity’s Intersect 2018 conference fast approaching, everyone here is abuzz with this year’s theme: Lifelong Learning. So you can imagine our excitement when we spoke to Michelle Mboya, a student who described herself as a “chronic lifelong learner” within the first minutes of talking to her! Michelle is one of life’s “doers.” She is proactive in pursuing things that interest her, and relentless in learning new skills. As her experience will show you, this approach to learning opens up new opportunities and career paths, even when you’re still working out which path you want to take.

Featured, Lifelong Learning, Student Success

Practical Lifelong Learning

By learning new digital marketing skills, this Udacity student was able to break new career ground for herself … at her current company! Here’s why they created a new role, just for her.

Udacity - Practical Lifelong Learning - Digital Marketing

Meet Kat Halo. She works as a medical assistant in a prominent dermatology office; a career she was inspired to pursue after seeing the incredible care her father received throughout his battle with cancer. She loves the experience of supporting and caring for her patients, but she’s also been wrestling with a growing need for more creative fulfillment. Her partner works in marketing analytics, and she’s been curious about his projects. When her office started investing in some digital marketing efforts, she recognized an opportunity:

“I started paying close attention to how these new marketing initiatives were being conducted, and I continually found myself thinking, ‘I bet I could do this!’”

The marketing budget was already allocated to another provider, however, but that didn’t stop Kat. She decided to learn the skills on her own: