I tried THREE WEEKS of Skillshare Classes: Skillshare Review

As a creator on youtube, I’m always trying to find new ways to improve videos, whether that be editing, script writing, b-roll, or even thumbnails. It’s a constant struggle of constantly one-uping yourself. I mean, my 1st videos weren’t good. And it’s only recently I feel like I’ve found my stride. So what did I use to learn new skills? Youtube. There’s so many fantastic tutorials out there, that the content is nearly limitless. So, why does Skillshare exist? A video platform where professionals can create classes, and users can pay a subscription to learn. If Youtube has limitless content, is something like Skillshare needed? That’s what we’ll be trying to find out with a little review.

Check out the amazon affiliate links to gear I use in my videos here:

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:35 How Skillshare works
4:28 How is it for Skillshare Teachers
5:42 Personal User Experience
10:18 Did I learn anything?
11:20 Skillshare Alternatives
12:46 Conclusions

Let’s talk about User Experience. I wanted to focus on improving skills I already had and develop a new skill as well. I started some classes on improving my YouTuber skills. Primarily for YouTube as a whole and thumbnails. Secondly, my fiance and I are moving in together next year. And she’s got a good eye for interior design and styling a room. I, on the other hand, thought these flashing colorful rainbow lights on my desk were cool. Yeah. I got a lot to learn, but I’d love to learn more about it so that I’m not a nuisance when we start planning out our space. So those were my goals.

The average Skillshare video is higher quality than the average youtube video. The audio and video presentation ranges from ok to excellent. YouTube on the other hand is filled with varied video and audio so quality of youtube content is a mixed bag. YouTube has more content but the quality is like rolling a die. You’re not guaranteed quality content if you click on a random video. Skillshare classes treat your time differently compared to YouTube. On YouTube, as a creator you have to force yourself to be entertaining, hook viewers at the start of the video to keep viewers watching, plug sponsors through the video, and ask everyone to like, leave a comment and subscribe.

But on Skillshare, the intros just get to the point of the subject right away, and thumbnails for classes are free of clickbait. So I’d say the quality of content on Skillshare is a filtered version of YouTube. The amount of content on Skillshare is less than on YouTube. If you filter a category by when a video was released on Skillshare you’ll find that there aren’t too many educational videos being released every single day. But if you do the same on YouTube. There’s a lot of filtering required. Overall, I felt that when using skillshare I learned things quicker than if I relied on only YouTube. Here’s an example. If you’re into videography and type in “How to color grade”. There’s plenty of videos on it from fantastic creators. But these videos are short, and they fill in small pieces of the puzzle. On Skillshare, I feel that type of scenario is less likely to happen, because you spend so much time learning from just one teacher, they usually fill in most of those missing gaps throughout the course. Okay, so after all that. I felt that at least for my video editing, and youtuber skills, it added new perspectives, tips and tools to my skillset, and the classes reminded me of things I forgot. As for the interior design thing? I can say I helped pick out things for our potential new space that met even her seal of approval and managed to even correct her on one of her picks.

Conclusion time. I do like Skillshare. BUT. I don’t know if it’s worth paying the price for it for everyone. I really suggest you take a look at all the content Skillshare offers, watch some of those free “introduction to the course” videos and see if you enjoy the teacher and the content. Then make sure there’s enough content for you before you sign up. While the content on the platform is nice, a 1 year subscription is $100, and I don’t know if everyone could find enough content they’re interested in to use the service and be interested for an entire year. I feel like the sweet spot for most people would be around half a year but if you did the monthly plan that’s already $120. I think the monthly cost is too high. If it was $10-$15 a month then I’d feel different. Personally, I like Skillshare, and think it will get better with time but I think at its current monthly price, many people would rather spend some extra time on YouTube to try and meet their educational needs than pay a pricey subscription.

[bingingwithbabishisamazing]

You are the best because you review the things people blindly recommend and tell people what the are actually like.

[tecwzrd]

As a self-taught graphic/video/web designer I learned most of what I know through YouTube. The difference IMO of the free YouTube videos vs SkillShare is that at least 60% of YouTube videos are too wordy and self-promoting or offer really specific tutorials on how to create one thing. SkillShare is usually straightforward, has clear goals to accomplish a few things in one category, and most have files to follow along with which is very helpful. I only do the yearly subscription and the $100 is well worth it IMO.

[FadeGrayOG]

Enough beating around the bush. Where's your Raid: Shadow Legends review?

[neogem]

Yeah, this video's thumbnail is better than some of the other recent videos so I would say the classes you took actually worked.

[MentourPilot]

Awesome! I really liked this video since I think it gives a measured and honest review of Skillshare. Great job!

[Killnaprimer]

I think usefulness of skillshare highly depends on the skill you are trying to learn. Tried learning blender there, and boy was it bad. Not a lot of lessons, half of them for outdated versions, and there were a lot of gaps in tutorials i saw. YouTube was way more helpfull.

Edit: Guess what? They KEPT CHARGING ME every month for almost a year after i cancelled my subscription, without sending any emails or anything.

[karljobst]

My time is valuable, having to spend hours searching for hit or miss tutorials on youtube would lose me much more money than a skillshare membership costs.

[bunga]

Got a skillshare ad before watching this

[peeweeallen]

Or:
Try the 7 day free trial, then keep getting the 2 month free subscriptions from Youtubers

[Azianshredder]

I used skillshare to learn basics on CubasePro, mixing, and mastering, and my god it was actually incredibly helpful. Professional recording software can be so daunting and overwhelming with all the tools they have available. Skillshare lifted the veil a bit and pretty much gave me a quick run down of all the utilities and how to properly use them.

Great video and great thumbnail!

[avinash_dhanraj]

Can we take a moment to appreciate how much effort Jimmy puts into creating these videos? He approaches them from an objective, frugal, and practical standpoint, not getting lost with all the high-priced fancy tech. He really helps me decide what to buy and where to spend my money. Youtubers like him are hard to come by and I'm happy I have you.

[AnhNguyen]

To avoid auto recuring membership charge, after your first payment (or any subscriptions), go to the membership cancel and cancel them. It will let you have access until the paid date, and you do not have to remember to cancel it. Choose the best deal, pay, cancel and enjoy the paid time. To make sure, read the terms first.

[akimlee]

I found your channel recently and I've been loving your content. Your honesty, you being frugal, your consideration for the average consumer, I think they all set you apart from the vast majority of tech content creators, and I hope your channel grows even more.

[EmyNN]

You're actually one YouTuber that does an actual review on those common but scarcely reviewed items. And when you're not doing that, you show a perspective from the common folk that appeals to me personally.
From the Raycons to the home/office video setup to the ridge wallet video (that led me to a wallet channel on YouTube), you've been a delight to watch.
Sub earned!👌🏾

[chrystalj]

I love Skillshare! I am on my second year now. I love to paint and it has classes for watercolor, gouache and acrylic. I also have taken some self help classes and learned to draw as well. For artists I think it’s great.

[FitnessCoachSergio]

I was fully expecting this to have an affiliate link and be one big ad like most other clickbait reviews. Kudos to you for being honest and transparent, your audience can tell when you are being authentic.

[ellenatkinson]

I did a 2 month trial on Skillshare because I've started doing digital art and I wanted to check out their classes on that subject. I did find their videos to be, on the whole, better quality than some of the videos I was watching on YouTube. However a huge portion of the classes available for digital illustration were for Procreate, which I don't use because I don't have an iPad. There were less videos available for Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator, which are what I use.

[BringMayFlowers]

I think there's something to be said about piecing the ideas of multiple people together, rather than just having a single teacher -- different people might have different ideas on what looks good in color grading, for instance, and it gives you more chance to develop your own style.

[itsmattaitken]

You've earned the YT traffic man, love your content.

[dangluong]

Awesome content! You're one of the few tech youtubers that actually reviews relevant stuffs and gives honest opinions about them, imo. Congrats for 100k subs, hope this channel will get 1M soon!