When you think coding, you think serious. We envision rows of cubicles, with workers hunched over, typing away at their keyboards. Or we see a command center, with stats and updates being yelled back and forth as they monitor cyber security. Or maybe we think of a late-night shift, a steady blinking of stark green code against a black screen.
That’s a side of coding—but not the only side.
Coding is used to create serious projects, but it’s also used to create entertainment. From open-source PC games to your usual video games, they all run on code. This for-fun-code isn’t just a side hobby—the video game industry is booming. Coding jobs in this field often start out at $36 an hour and only go up from there.
Do you want to trade out your everyday job for something that is not only exciting, but pays well? Zenva Academy is here to help you do just that. Let’s find out more in this Zenva review!
What Is Zenva Academy?
Zenva is an Australian-based company, that wants to “help you discover the incredible things you can do with code.” They believe that “programing should be accessible to all” and currently have over 500,000 learners, and 200+ courses. While they touch many areas of coding, their main focus is on game-related coding, whether that is RPG, 3D modeling, or app creation. They want their students to learn programming skills, and create real-world projects.
How Does Zenva Work?
To start your coding adventure, you simply need to create a free account using your email, Facebook, or Google account. Once you do, you’ll be teleported to the course page, where you can jump right into which ever course catches your eye.
Once you click on a course, you’ll be able to learn more about it. All Zenva courses include several hours of video instruction, source codes and files you can download to code on, pdf note files, projects to use your skills, and certificates of completion which can be displayed on your resume. You can also watch lessons on the go—though videos can’t be downloaded on your computer for copyright reasons, they can be downloaded on your tablet.
Each course page will include specific information about that particular course. You can see reviews—what other users thought about the course—as well as any prior requirements. Scroll through the lessons to see what all you’ll learn, and get insight into some of the projects you’ll create.
The majority of Zenva’s courses are part of their all-access subscription, which costs $19.99/month, or $167.88/year if you choose to pay for it all at once.
Once you choose your plan, Zenva has a built-in tutorial that quickly shows you where to find everything in a course. It’s a simple layout—there’s a lesson syllabus that allows you to jump forward or backwards, as well as a files tab to download any notes or course files. Course Support is easily accessible, which joins you to a discussion thread with other students. All that’s left to do is to start your lesson, and start learning!
Lessons are divided into short 4-10-minute videos, that you can watch anywhere. You can turn on closed captions and adjust the playback speed, as well as enable an auto play feature that will automatically take you to the next lesson. You can also access the lesson notes and course files from the video screen, which saves you from having to jump between browser windows.
When you finish a course, you’ll earn a certificate of completion, including a pdf version which you can download and include with your resume. Zenva also offers an online verification tool, so your employer can login and see that you earned the certificate.
As you work through courses, Zenva tracks your progress, so you can easily jump back in at any time. It also shows how much progress you’ve made through all their courses in the catalog—encouraging you to finish all of them, just like all the quests in your favorite video game.
Types Of Courses On Zenva
Zenva offers a wide range of options for learning, which is great to create a personalized path—but can be easily confusing. Here’s a quick layout of the different options available, and how they each work.
Free Courses
Zenva offers 11 free courses, which include everything you would expect: the videos, the projects, the learning. They also include the certificate of completion with these free courses, which is something few other sites offer.
Individual Courses
These are the bread and butter of Zenva Academy. These include videos lessons, and each one focuses on one specific foundational skill. As you work through this course, you’ll build a project to put to use the skills you’ve learned, as well as earn an achievement. Once you purchase a course, you’ll always have access to it. However, it won’t fall under Zenva’s evergreen policy, which is their regular updates to material to ensure they reflect the most recent knowledge.
Bundles
A bundle is simple several courses purchased together. These are single-purchases, just as courses are, and have all the same features. However, they lack the guided order that curriculums have, and are less comprehensive than curriculums as well.
Curriculum
These are collections of courses curated by Zenva Academy. They center around one specific aspect of development, teaching you a full skill like “Multi-player Game Development.” Often named “mini-degrees” or “academy,” they are only available in Zenva’s all-access subscription account, which costs $167.88 per year, or 19.99 if paid monthly. Curriculums fall under the evergreen policy, and are constantly updated, with new videos added as need. They also include a guided process, so you have a personalized learning path.
Is Zenva Academy Legitimate?
The biggest question with a learning site is the quality of the instructors. The videos may be the highest production quality, and the site extremely easy to use—but if the instructors aren’t teaching you correctly, it’ll do you no good. Fortunately, Zenva instructors are some of the best. They are individually hand-picked and vetted to even work with the company; and once they create their course, it’s run through several quality-standard tests.
Zenva is serious about updating their courses as well. Many coding platforms regularly update in a way that changes their usage, so Zenva has a policy to keep up with these changes. Called the evergreen guarantee, this is their promise to ensure their content is updated, adding new videos or changing courses as needed.
As far as the legitimacy of the company, one of the best signs is how they treat their customers. Zenva has a large Help Center where users can search for any questions they may have, as well as an easily-available help center to mend any problems.
Is Zenva Cheap?
If you subscribe for an entire year, it costs $13.99/month, or $19.99/month if you wish to pay as you go. This is cheaper than most online learning sites, which often run from $25-$30/month. If you choose to subscribe to their all-access curriculums, and take only 4 courses a month, each course will end up costing you only $4.
Is Zenva Academy Good?
Ultimately, a learning site is only as good as its quality. Zenva shines in many respects here. Each course is made up of many videos, often with several hours of content, which shows that they are thorough. While their certificates may not be accredited, they still bring a unique attribute to your resume. In a newer technology field like coding, one of the best ways to prove your worth is by giving examples of your work—and the projects you create in each course can help you demonstrate your skill.
Zenva Alternatives
Zenva Vs Codecademy
If Zenva focuses on using code in creative ways, Codecademy wants to ensure you know the language of code. Its main focus is on coding languages, from HTLM to JavaScript. It offers hundreds of courses to choose from, and has the same monthly price ($19.99) as Zenva.
However, Codecademy doesn’t use any videos in its courses—all the learning is text based. Codecademy also has you learning coding in their own browser-based platform, which can be a blessing and a curse. While this keeps you from having to download the files and set up the coding environment, it also causes a “training wheels syndrome.” Because you never learn how to set up these environments, you won’t know how to run your code in the real world either. Zenva, however, includes the files for you to set up the environment yourself.
Zenva Vs Udacity
Udacity is another online site that focuses on technology-related skills. While coding is part of their curriculum, they also have a wider range of topics for users to learn. Because they are a larger platform, they offer more avenues of learning—from regular courses to Executive Nanodegrees that take 4-6 months to complete.
However, those courses come with a hefty price tag. An individual course can cost anywhere from $279-$3,000, and Nanodegrees cost $399 a month. This is far more than Zenva’s $19.99 a month! Udacity also does not offer any app or download features, so you can’t continue your learning on the go like you could with Zenva.
Conclusion: Zenva
Zenva may be a lesser-known company, but it is a jewel among sites. While their site is simple, their courses are thorough, hands-on, and earn certificates. They are decently priced, their instructors are well-vetted, and they regularly update their courses to reflect current practices. Whether you want to begin or level up your game-coding abilities, Zenva Academy is the perfect place to start your learning.
