Boot.dev Reviews 39

This platform does a well enough job teaching the concepts of back-end programming in various languages. But what sets it apart from others is how it encourages users to explore their own approach to solutions in the guided projects. You'll also finish the back-end track with a capstone project of your choosing, which is also a great way to bolster your portfolio.

I have been using Boot.dev for about a year now, since I got a free month as part of Humble Bundle Choice. I paid for a full year and even though I'm already working in software engineering it was a really fun experience, helping cover some things I wanted to learn (Golang, RAG, agentic AI).
Overall I find the content really interesting (with the whole fantasy theme) and I'm always looking forward to new courses.

Subscribed for a year and learned how to code in go and python from nothing. Great courses, great discourse via discord. Loved it so much I subscribed for another year. Props to the BD team.

I’ve tried various other online learning platforms, and Boot.dev is by far the most comprehensive, cohesive, and engaging of all the online learning platforms for learning Backend development.

The courses in the learning paths are well organized, starting with fundamental programming concepts using Python as a starting language, and then moving on to deeper, language-agnostic programming concepts (OOP, functional programming, DSA, etc).

Scattered throughout the learning paths are guided projects that help to strengthen your understanding of the concepts as you build various applications from scratch. The curriculum also includes places for personal projects and a larger capstone that are done all on your own. This emphasis on practical application through projects really helps to build practical competency and avoid “tutorial hell”.

Their integration of AI into the platform is also very well done. It has context of the various lessons and projects and uses the Socratic Method to help you work your way to the answers instead of giving you answers outright. You can also converse with it after lessons are complete to have a more in depth conversation and really dig into the nuance of the topic until you are satisfied.

And don’t sleep on the gamification aspects that are included. The XP, levels, ranks, items, boss battles, competition leagues, and training grounds (AI generated challenges) make it so much fun to continue learning.

And to top it all off, there is a wonderful, active Discord community where you can socialize with other students, get feedback on your projects, share suggestions for the platform, and get help at all hours of the day or night.

Definitely recommend the platform if you are looking to get into Backend development!

I've found boot.dev to be a better learning program than anything I've tried. The curriculum does do hand-holding for the beginning concepts, and there are considerable challenges as one continues. I've been in the information technology sector for well over a decade, but I've been working in some kind of software development or scripting for most of my life. I have many certifications and two bachelor's degrees, but working at boot.dev has finally given me the confidence to level up my career. In other learning environments, I struggle to understand the significance of the piece of paper at the end, as I am always aware of folks who coasted through or overly relied on other people to do their work for them in group projects and the like. If someone achieved an arch mage rank in boot.dev I am very confident they have learned something, despite having AI tools and many other tools available.

I also want to mention the Discord community, where I have found Kindred spirits.

One last thing, my annual subscription is coming up for renewal. I received multiple emails letting me know this and to cancel if I'm not using their service. I appreciate this. It might be the first time I've paid for a service that wasn't based on a business model of customers not using their products, having forgotten they subscribed to something.

I've been a self taught programmer for about 12 years now starting at a very young age by watching lots of programming content on YouTube, writing simple toy programs, and reading lots of programming books. Boot.dev has been the best platform for tying all the bits and pieces of knowledge I've gained over the years together to really understand why things are the way they are. I especially enjoyed the go servers and clients courses as it relates to network architecture and how to set up a modern web program for success and performance. In addition, the http server from scratch course was a huge aha moment for me to really understand how the internet works and really made me realize how and why http is the core of internet transfer. I've subscribed annually for the past 3 years and finished almost 80% of the curriculum. I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to further their programming education in a meaningful, informative, and fun way

Outstanding experience. I've learned enough using boot.dev to impress my boss who's been a software architect for several decades and contribute meaningfully to several software implementations. Forget YouTube and udemy and anywhere else, if you want to learn to be a developer (not just syntax and code regurgitation) boot.dev is all you need.

I think this site fills a huge gap that was in courses over the internet: backend. There were already some sites but they seldom had a focus on backend and this one focuses on it heavily which is great.

I really like the way exercises are done and felt like i was actually understanding and learning things, not just at a shallow level as it had happened to me before with other courses (both free and paid).

In general, the content is up to date and shows what you need for it, and the price is great at least where I’m from (there’s affordability according to the country). I’m very happy with my subscription

Good place to learn programming

I think its a great course. Has helped me get over the fear of learning to code and made me go from knowing the basics of loops and variables to having tools I've made in production for a local business. It works

My 2025 new years resolution was to learn how to code. I had attempted in the past but wasn't successful. I really connected with this platform and the skills I learned allowed me to switch careers last September. I love this platform and I am so happy I found it

Boot.dev is a very comprehensive gamified tutorial perfect for self taught and professionals who just want to take a peek at Golang and for refresher lessons.

Some lessons aren't perfect but they shouldn't be too "hand holdy" either.

If someone's going to learn a backend Golang course, I would recommend them boot dot dev

A general critique is it's difficulty, and it's fair to say so when compard to mindlessly watching video tutorials, which is the easiest kind of "course" there is.

Boot.dev is purposefully hard because it tries to teach, not just throw information at you in hopes of you learning something. Actual learning is like this in basically every field there is, so it's no surprise it can come off as "unfair", but I do think people should try and give it a second chance if they left because they thought it was hard and stressful.

Tl;dr: I'd recommend this platform for learning to anyone.

300+ hours on boot dev and still looking forward to every new course. It is the perfect balance of difficult and repeating to keep u in a flow state. U are always challenged. Also the Training Grounds is very good for repeating past knowledge.

I found boot.dev maddening about half the time. Each unit would start slowly and just as you'd start to feel like you were learning something the difficulty would ramp up insanely quickly and the explanations would all but disappear. It's like if someone spent forty short lessons explaining what wood and nails are and then told you to build a split level family home with a four car garage. For example, at one particularly difficult juncture the directions said to not only write some code but also to "run a bunch of tests" to see if it was working. Up to that point we'd been exposed to maybe a paragraph worth of explanation as to how to run any kind of test. I had no idea how to build a bunch of tests and when they didn't work I had no idea if the problem was my original code or my tests. I don't need to pay that kind of money so I can hop on YouTube to learn how to do what I'm supposedly being taught by the course. I could have done that for free.

Most maddening of all was the near-complete lack of English language skills demonstrated by whoever designs the courses. I would frequently find myself stuck and banging my head against the wall while becoming overly dependent on the AI assistant only to discover that my confusion had nothing to do with coding and everything to do with the half assed directions. I cannot explain how frustrating it is to spend hours upon hours trying to solve a coding problem only to realize "Oh! THAT'S what they were asking us to do?"

Fundamentally I left the experience being able to do a lot of individual tasks but having no real sense of the big picture. I can make for loops, if statements, etc. like a champ but at the end of the day I still have no idea what one uses those things to accomplish. I completed the entire Python course and still have no idea what one would actually do with Python. They have projects built into the course but they all come with some disclaimer that you shouldn't really use what you've done for any practical purpose and/or they wrote half the code for you behind the scenes. I never got the sense that I'd done something useful or complete. Nothing about what I learned made me think of using Python to build any kind of project on my own. I feel like I was taught how to rebuild a carburetor without knowing or learning what a car is.

One of the best learning platform for backend programming. Very interactive and addictive learning experience. Highly recommended.

Fell in love with the platform

Absolute W 🔥, for learning Python!