Let's be honest; marketing gimmicks of the last decade aren't applicable today. Books are getting older, and the entire ecosystem is changing - and in these times, keeping your skill-set on point is extremely important. Today, I introduce you to one of your greatest assets by means of a Pluralsight Review!
If that sounds boring, let me tell you that Pluralsight has a free account as well. Which means that with Pluralsight free account, you can explore the platform and experience it for yourself.
Those of you who know me or have interacted with me know that I am quite an online course connoisseur. Right from my MBA days I have given extreme importance to self education beyond the classroom. I used to learn from all kinds of courses out there, where ever they were, if they were relevant to me.
We as MBAs do neglect hard skills mostly. And its really on the judgement day, the day of your placements, you come to know that someone with extreme skill in Analytics got that dream profile. Or that someone with really solid startup experience got picked up by that conglomerate.
Its not coincidence at all. Recruiters dig hustlers and self-motivated people! Some of you might dis online course and think how unimportant that certificate would be. Well, its not about the certificate, its about your intent behind getting it.
Now, I’m assuming I’ll have two types of readers here today;
"Is Pluralsight worth the money?" and "Pluralsight? What's that?"
Wherever you lie - this article will be your one-stop introduction to, maybe, the world's most popular learning platform. Through a series of questions, and Pluralsight Reviews I'll start exploring the platform and take you through the nitty-gritty features it offers for your bucks!
What is Pluralsight?
Pluralsight or Plural Sight is an online education platform which hosts courses and learning material for students and professionals from several fields. The courses are taught by people from diverse backgrounds and often are affiliated with well-known companies.
Pluralsight was founded by Aaron Skonnard, Keith Brown, Fritz Onion, and Bill Williams in 2004. Although it was just a classroom training platform for business training only then, it has grown out to be much more since then. The platform shifted to online video-based courses in 2007 and transformed itself from a training facility to an education giant.
Pluralsight Review: Is Pluralsight worth the money?
Whether you’re an MBA aspirant looking forward to exploring the domain or a professional who has just set foot in the real world – you’d like to refresh your skills every now and then. It’s times like that where Pluralsight, one of the best learning platforms, can come in handy.
Why do I say that?
Let’s say you’re just stepping into the world of marketing - what tools would you first like to see in your arsenal? Let me jump here and offer you a disclaimer; MS Excel and Tableau are things of the past - you’re in the digital era. They are must-haves, and not points of differentiation.
You’ll need the likes of AI, Data Science, and most importantly, Digital Marketing to boost you up the ranks.
Luckily, a vetted learning platform like Pluralsight, which has been in the industry since 2004, offers thorough learning material for everyone’s growth. Unlike many other learning platforms, Pluralsight isn’t focused on trendy topics, but you’d find a good mix of everything. Especially the three domains I’ve mentioned up there.
The likes of Digital Marketing will give you the edge you've been looking for in your career. Add in the power of our classic marketing skills along with the digital skills you’ve acquired, that’s a force to be reckoned with.
This is where Pluralsight comes to your rescue - simple yet efficient courses to get you up to speed!
Look at that - just a search for digital marketing, and there are lots of results here. It’s better if you personally go through the options, see the curriculum, and the reviews – to see if it’s worthy of your time.
Before you read further! Create a FREE Pluralsight Account
Not many know that you can create a FREE Pluralsight account. Therefore, go and create a free account and then come back to explore your account with me. So go ahead and create a free Pluralsight account.
But again, you might be questioning yourself, is Pluralsight premium worth it?
I think you'd appreciate it if I showed a course on my Pluralsight premium review and showed you around. Let's do that next!
Not a beginner? Um, not a professional either? Or, somewhere in between?
Pluralsight doesn't have courses spread across the platform - they're organized by skill-level and expertise. Ranging from amateur to extremely professional courses, their curriculum is on point for real-world practical knowledge, which is crucial for us marketing peeps!
Have a look at the courses section.
Courses are divided by two main types - either they're part of a path, or they're individual courses. Well, my Pluralsight review wouldn't be complete without explaining their critical benefits to you.
What are the paths in Pluralsight?
Paths are specialized courses that are combined and make sense in their order. For example, the Bringing Data Science to the Business pathway has three courses with varying expertise.
It's benefits like these which really make me appreciate Pluralsight. Often, I come across differences like Pluralsight vs. Udemy. Sure, Udemy is yet another good learning platform, but the sole difference between the two is the quality of the courses, the slick UI, and real-world tests and exercises which Pluralsight offers to its students.
"Did I hear that, right?" - Yes, Pluralsight also offers you to give tests and exercises for the courses you're taking. These tests will test you on the knowledge you've gained from the course itself.
Let's say an instructor's been talking about keyword stemming and keyword proximity (some buzzwords from Digital Marketing) - how are you going to self-assess yourself?
Through these fantastic tests - let's try one ourselves in the next section. Next section? I want to upscale things a bit here.
As an MBA graduate, there's unlimited growth in the field, and all you have to do is keep up. Today's highlight is the inclusion of Data Science and Machine Learning for marketing peeps. Doesn't make sense?
The wonders of Data Science and Pluralsight
That was one weaponized sentence I just dropped up there - but let me explain it to you.
Since we've shifted to digital marketing - you have to harness the real power of data and the Internet. The data you'll be getting from running a day's worth of campaign - that's enough to make you go bonkers. How do you go about handling it?
Even if you're interested in essential insights, it's fields like Data Science and ML which are your next step. Evolution's coming people, accept the change - Pluralsight seems to have all the courses for you to ramp up your knowledge.
Let's finally have a look at the course, its exercise section, and the resources you get by taking part in a single session.
Before you read further! Create a FREE Pluralsight Account
Not many know that you can create a FREE Pluralsight account. Therefore, go and create a free account and then come back to explore your account with me. So go ahead and create a free Pluralsight account.
Pluralsight Course Review: Representing, Processing, and Preparing Data
This path is from Microsoft itself, the tech giant behind Windows. Through this path on Data Science Literacy, let me show you the courses which are available to you.
Here's the most important benefit you'll be having - the course division via expertise. What did I tell you? This Pluralsight review was going to change things around for for you learn online!
Let's open one up and see what's the content available to us and answer the million-dollar question: "Is Pluralsight worth the money?"
Here, I’ve opened the first course up for our Pluralsight premium review (yes, it's part of their premium courses).
Anyways, you can see what's available to you from the get-go, courtesy of the brilliant UI. The course content is available to you right below the video section, along with a description and transcript for you to thoroughly understand the course.
Right after that, you have the Pluralsight exercises section.
You can easily download it on your system and view it in your leisure time. This reminds me of another feature - Pluralsight isn't just on the web; you can download it on any of your operating systems and their applications operate just the same.
Pluralsight definitely seems to be worth your money - but don't be hasty, our Pluralsight review isn't over yet, and I'm going to give you more reasons to make your choice.
Here's the table of contents of the course we've just analyzed for starters. Simply click a video, and you'll be able to launch an in-web player.
The UI is quite user-friendly here. You can simply toggle the contents menu off if you’d like and continue with your video.
Is the list genuinely endless? Not really, but the next feature will be the hook and sinker you've been waiting for.
What's it about? Let's say you feel you're an intermediate skilled person when it comes to expressing your marketing knowledge. But how can you be sure about that? Through a self-assessment test to identify where you stand.
This is the same path I opened up before - but see what's on the right. "Check Now" - a way to check your Data Science literacy. This should give you a rough idea of where you stand and help you understand what part of the course or path you should jump to.
The unique feature of Pluralsight is its IQ assessments. Won't you want to check what's your current level of proficiency in that particular topic? Just take and IQ assessment and get to know. IQ assessments are divided into two main categories on Pluralsight:
- Skill IQ
- Role IQ
What are they? I'll discuss that in the next section - for now, let's move on.
If you do go ahead with the assessment, you’ll be presented by some pointers you should take note of.
Off the hook, I can see these things:
- You have 20 questions to prove your skill
- You have limited time to answer these questions
- You get one free try to fix your score!
Not sure if you actually know what’s covered in an assessment? Why leave it to your imagination - Pluralsight got you covered and have mentioned a small table of content for the IQ test itself.
Similarly, my Pluralsight review won't be complete without mentioning Pluralsight Iris - the AI-enhanced digital assessment maestro!
Pluralsight Iris: Assess your marketing skills!
Pluralsight has one other feature down their sleeves - it's the AI that just scored your marketing skills. The world of marketing revolves around several different domains, and we need specialized knowledge. But, finding that in time and in the right order is quite hard.
Say hello to - Pluralsight Iris
Iris keeps track of your progress, evaluates your skill, and recommends courses that are the right fit for you. Now's the time I explain skill IQ and role IQ to you.
What is Role IQ and Skills IQ?
The Role IQ will help you assess yourself in terms of skills which an MBA student must have. On the other hand, the Skills IQ will only test you against a particular skill. let's say you're specialized in a skill that's quite unique - something like "Inbound Marketing" - then your skill IQ will be your expertise in that skill.
Everything from the questions to your final score is made by Iris. It's a fantastic feature that there's no human intervention behind the assessments, and it's all automated. Mind me if I try to add in one other skill here for us marketers - Artificial Intelligence or AI!
It's evident - bots and AI is taking over. For digital marketers, it's also a new evolution of the field as you'll see how all steps of a marketing campaign are helped by AI, and your role becomes slightly more technical. Not to blow your horns here, but this is the next step.
In the end - we're all striving to achieve that big bonus or get enrolled in esteemed business schools. That's completely fine, and that's one other reason why Pluralsight gives out certificates for you to reference in your resumes and LinkedIn profiles.
So, a sweet answer to your questions, "Does Pluralsight give certificates?" would be - yes!
This is a major plus if you’re just about to enroll in a business school or if you are already in one. Now just like I mentioned above and I have been mentioning in so many other of my blog posts. Certificates mean everything because they show the intent to work and progress.
However, if you show a certificate and don't back it up with knowledge, then it won't be of any good. Therefore, if you do an online course with good heart, faith and intentions, you will definitely be doing well and all the certificates will be valuable.
Certifications and courses can help you increase your score before the final assessment. Luckily, you’ll have many chances to improve your analysis, writing, and learning research strategies if you do go through the courses on Pluralsight or any where else.
Is Pluralsight Free for Students? Checkout their Free trials!
As a student, though, we're often short on funds. In such times, you might’ve wondered:
Is Pluralsight free for students?
Although Pluralsight isn’t free for students, they do offer a free trial for students to go through. Simply sign up, and you can access their trial package which provides you access to the entire platform for a quick evaluation.
Before you read further! Create a FREE Pluralsight Account
Not many know that you can create a FREE Pluralsight account. Therefore, go and create a free account and then come back to explore your account with me. So go ahead and create a free Pluralsight account.
The next logical question would be, how long is Pluralsight free trial?
You’ll have ten days to evaluate Pluralsight free account and enroll in whatever course you’d like to check. This is a great opportunity if you’d like to be sure about the courses or paths which have been on your checklist.
Though like I said before, their #FreeApril campaign going on. You still have days to access the platform and enjoy their courses at no cost! All 6,000+ courses are available for the entirety of April and you won’t be needing a premium membership or their trial version.
Keeping the features and benefits in mind, the question "how much is Pluralsight per month" does pop up. And it's quite alright too. Just one final topic to discuss to conclude our Pluralsight review. Here's it:
Currently, it’s available for 29$ per month (excluding the FreeApril promotional offers). This is a bit high, especially for students. However, the gains are definitely going to balance out the pricing point of things.
Conclusion: Pluralsight Pros and Cons
It’s time I conclude our Pluralsight review. I hope it should have given you a rough idea as to what Pluralsight is like and whether it fits your needs or not. Let’s summarize the features we’ve studied above and see if we can pull in some pros and cons.
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
Pluralsight is definitely and extremely 'classy' online learning platform that doesn't assume the current skill of the learner. Courses are basis your level of expertise. Also, I always suggest that if you are trying out a subscription based course, always enroll for it monthly, at least for the first month. This is no matter how big a price benefit you may be getting on paying yearly. You really need a small investment to test out a course. Don't over pay!
That's it for today, folks. I'll end this by emphasizing on keeping up with the trends yet again. When there's fantastic content available, why not make use of it and boost our professional careers? Now's the time marketers!
