Do I need a Techdegree to have a chance at getting a developer job? Or will the pro plan be enough?

TL;DR: Yes, you can get a job without completing a techdegree.

First, I should point out that I am NOT speaking from personal experience, only on what I know/read on the web. A Treehouse techdegree is not going to open any doors for you simply by having a certificate of completion listed on your resume/CV. If you don't have a full-fledged computer science degree, then some short certificate course such as a techdegree is not really going to make any difference in most employer's eyes. Without a CS degree, your portfolio is your ticket to getting a developer job and that can be developed without any official certification.

The primary benefits of the techdegree vs the pro plan are:

1) A private slack channel only accessible by fellow techdegree students where you can ask specific questions regarding issues you are having with a project. Often, treehouse instructors will chime in on this channel as well so that is a good way to get feedback from an expert.

2) You get 12 projects to work on which can be the basis of your coding portofolio. These projects are reviewed by a fellow techdegree student who is further along in the program or, for a higher fee(400-500 US dollars), your projects can be reviewed by a subject matter expert (e.g. a current developer) who can provide insightful feedback. At the higher fee structure, you also get two 30 minute mentoring sessions per month with a subject matter expert.

James,

What the Techdegree offers is a lot more guidance through the learning process, a community of people working on the same projects at your same level of experience, and 12 projects that have been designed for your portfolio.

Ever been stuck in creating a webpage because you're learning HTML/CSS but don't quite have a mockup/target goal/design assets for what you're trying to stay focused on? Techdegree students get that guidance, so they can stay focused on what they'll have to do in a jr dev work environment.

Are you learning to code in a remote rural area where there's simply no one around that wants to talk about page load times or javascript control structures? Everyday in our slack channels, people are talking about what they're doing and helping each other out in a friendly way, and coordinators are there to fill in the holes in the conversations.

Not sure what framework or best practice or blog to use or follow? We'll do our best to let you know what's useful, what you can learn later, and what may not be worth exploring at this point in your development.

One of the best advantages to the Techdegree is the opportunity to review other people's projects. Once you've completed the third project in a Techdegree, we really try to welcome you to review submitted projects from other students that you yourself have completed. But why?

Peer review is designed to get you experience reading and communicating about code, as well as expose you to different approaches to the same coding problem you've already solved. Reading and debugging other people's code is just as important as writing it. Peer review really helps get you the confidence to jump into new code, debug and locate issues, and talk to your team about it in an effective manner. It takes as much practice as writing code, and students benefit a lot from it. They also write some seriously amazing reviews!

I hope that helps you understand some of what the Techdegree is all about. There's more, but I think these are really the main benefits. You don't need it to land a job in tech, but we think it really helps to get you ready.

Nicolas

Student Success Coordinator

Front End Web Development

Hi jrs0801,

Everyone get the same starter files and project ideas, but you have a lot of creative freedom in making it your own and taking it further.