11 Best Pluralsight Courses 2024

A selection of Pluralsight courses for careers in development, data, IT, AI.

The American writer Alvin Toffler once said that the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.

Learning is like a journey, so keep going and never stop. These days, you can choose from a myriad of different learning tools. There are also many opportunities to connect with a global learning community. Pluralsight offers all that. We will discuss this platform and 11 of the best Pluralsight courses and learning paths in this post.

Pluralsight Courses – Overview

Pluralsight (view website) is a Utah-based e-learning platform that offers more than 7000 courses for those seeking a career in a technology-driven industry or work environment. It offers a wide array of courses that are curated by accomplished professionals and reviewed by competent experts. Pluralsight courses are offered in the following categories:

Mission – Pluralsight’s aims and objectives are best understood through the words of its leadership: “Pluralsight’s mission is to democratize technology skills. We are driven by the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to develop the technology skills of tomorrow and create progress through technology.”

Audience – A majority of Pluralsight users want to master modern technological skills and are usually college students, recent graduates or young professionals. Pluralsight students can sign up as individuals or get the required training via their employing corporations.

Features – Known for its interactivity, most Pluralsight courses are designed to create a personalized learning experience, giving students control over the learning process. Interactive activities can take the form of self-paced projects, skill challenges, or tests. Discussions and interactive learning sessions are also part of the Pluralsight package. 

Learning paths – Another feature is the concept of ‘Learning Paths’. These are a series of related Pluralsight courses that, if taken in the correct sequence, will prepare you for a certain career path. Therefore, rather than choosing a number of individual courses Pluralsight students can opt for a learning path, making their decision much easier. 

Costs – For personal use, the pricing is fairly affordable according to frequent users. Pluralsight offers monthly and yearly subscriptions priced at $29/month and $229/year. Purchasing any of these will give you access to its entire library of on-demand learning material, course forums, and assessment material. Free trial: Visit website.

Premium – One may decide to go Premium at the cost of $499/year. This bundle includes access to professional certification practice exams, customized interactive learning opportunities and projects on which they can work to improve their skills.

Best Pluralsight Courses 2024

Python Big Picture	Javascript	Machine Learning
Save 11% Annual Plans	Save 11% Annual Plans	Save 11% Annual Plans
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*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Read the full disclosure at the end of this post.

We want to highlight 5 of the best Pluralsight courses that we believe might be helpful for our readership. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the first one. 

1. Python: The Big Picture

Python is a programming language that enjoys great popularity among young coding enthusiasts. This high-level programming language is fairly easy to learn and one that has found widespread application in various fields, from web development to data science.

The main goal of this course is to provide learners with a complete, holistic overview of the Python world. Before diving into the actual syntax and code, students are guided about what this language entails and all its salient features. Its major industrial applications are also discussed, which are essential to know if you are not clear about your career path.

People who are interested in improving their skills portfolio and eager to learn a language that is used in nearly every programming-based job may start with this Pluralsight course.

Category: Development | Instructor: Jason Olson
Level: Beginner | Duration: 1h 05 | User Review: ★★★★☆
Info: View course. Or try with free 10-day trial.

2. JavaScript: Getting Started

JavaScript is all about creating web pages and online applications. Enrolling in this Pluralsight course will set you on the web developer path. 

This entry-level course does not require any pre-requisite knowledge in programming. Compared to the Python course mentioned above, this one is more hands-on. It gets straight into introducing the language and coding. You will be walked through real-life applications of JS and taught the coding basics: operators, functions, code flow, etc. 

Ultimately, you will create your own functional web page, which is pretty amazing to do in a foundational course like this. Nothing better than a sense of accomplishment, right? 

This is one of the best Pluralsight courses to get started with Javascript and is suitable for those who wish to test a few languages first before committing to one in-depth.

Category: Software Development | Instructor: Mark Zamoyta
Level: Beginner | Duration: 3h 56 | User Review: ★★★★★
Website: View Course. Or try any Pluralsight courses with free 10-day trial.

3. Ethical Hacking: Understand Ethical Hacking

‘Ethical hacker’ is the cool name given to any professional responsible for protecting an entity against ill-willed hackers. These people are a core part of most companies as safeguarding sensitive data is a huge part of minimizing business risks. 

This beginner-level course has 7+ hours of material. Its main objective is to teach you how to think like a professional ethical hacker, welcoming you into its complex realm. This is done through a comprehensive overview of all aspects of ethical hacking; its basic concepts, categories, tools, and controls.

The ways malicious hackers carry out their schemes are also discussed in this Pluralsight course to help learners understand what they will be up against.

An attractive feature of this course is that it also has preparation material for the Certified Ethical Hacker Exam. If gaining a professional certification is a part of your plan, this is one of the best Pluralsight courses to help you reach this goal.

Category: Cyber Security | Instructor: Dale Meredith
Level: Beginner | Duration: 7h 37 | User Review: ★★★★★
Price: View Course. Get Pluralsight courses with free 10-day trial.

4. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: The Big Picture

A good website is characterized by organized content, eye-catching design, and interactivity. These three major qualities are each controlled by one of these programming languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The instructor of this Pluralsight course aims to teach students how these three are used in conjunction to develop a coherent online web application. Starting with a general introduction to web development and its importance, this course goes on to individually focus on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript turn by turn.

In the last section, students are also shown a clear direction to take if they wish to continue learning about these languages.

Young professionals who are interested in mastering the art of web app development should consider taking this course. In a world dominated by the internet, you can find a variety of jobs in a wide range of industries using the skills learned in this class.

Category: Web Design | Instructor: Barry Luijbregts
Level: Beginner | Duration: 1h 28 | User Review: ★★★★★
Info: View Course. Get any Pluralsight courses with free 10-day trial.

5. Understanding Machine Learning

There is no doubt that the art of machine learning is one of the most in-demand these days. It is a direct application of AI which is widely used in a multitude of real-world applications including photo/speech recognition, security systems or virtual assistants.

The ‘Understanding Machine Learning’ course is centered on introducing ML to those with no prior knowledge of it. It will take you through its background and utility to provide an overview of its technical aspects.

The working of a simple machine learning model will be demonstrated. You will get to understand how it trains itself using real data and input from developers. The R programming language is also part of the course content, which is a popular platform for writing ML algorithms.

You will find this Pluralsight course interesting if you are looking to become an ML engineer or are generally passionate about AI. Below, we also talk about the ML learning path.

Category: Development | Instructor: David Chappell
Level: Beginner | Duration: 43min | User Review: ★★★★☆
Info: View course. Try the best Pluralsight courses with a free trial.

Best Pluralsight Learning Paths 2024

Apart from specialized courses, there are Pluralsight learning paths. These paths consist of several Pluralsight courses designed by experts. The Java learning path, for example, has 13 courses. You can earn a professional certificate upon completion of each path. Below we suggest the 6 best Pluralsight learning paths to inspire you.

Python	Machine Learning Literacy	Becoming a Business Analyst
Annual Plans. 11% Off	Annual Plans. 11% Off	Annual Plans. 11% Off
Learning Path	Learning Path	Learning Path
View Website	View Website	View Website

6. Security Fundamentals

The Pluralsight courses we suggested are mostly focused on programming and development, but that is not enough in today’s world. Another important part of the job is to ensure the safety of your applications and data.

The ‘Security Fundamentals’ learning path on Pluralsight is for youngsters who want to be data security professionals. This 6-course pack is divided up equally into three parts of 2 courses each. The beginner level covers the basics such as the types of security threats and attacks, as well as some important tools used in professional practice.

The intermediate level focuses on teaching students about setting up an impenetrable security infrastructure while catering to stakeholder demands. Last but not least, the advanced level’s content is based on the implementation of some core risk management and prevention tools such as cryptography.

This path is designed to prepare pupils for the CompTIA Security+ examination, which is great to boast on your CV and can definitely help you land a high-profile job.

Category: Web Security | Instructor: Christopher Rees
Level: Beginner to Intermediate | Pluralsight Courses: 6
Subscription: $29/month. $299/year. Get your free trial. View course path.

7. Python

Remember the Python course we suggested above? It is the first of the eleven Pluralsight courses of the ‘Python’ learning path. 

Building upon your basic understanding of programming, this learning path has an in-depth curriculum on coding in Python. A unique feature of this learning path is that it has two interactive courses at the beginner level, which contain self-guided and auto-checked coding challenges that help students strengthen their basics.

At the intermediate level, you will be participating in a Pluralsight project. As part of this activity, you will have to develop a website using Python. 

Finally, there are a couple of courses for advanced coding topics which will assist you in transitioning into higher level Python courses. 

The career paths open to you after completing this Python series are virtually unlimited: software engineer, web developer, data scientist, etc.

Category: Development| Instructor:  Jason Olson, Austin Bingham
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced | Pluralsight Courses: 11
Plans: $29/month. $299/year. Claim a free trial. View course path.

8. Machine Learning Literacy

Machine Learning is arguably one of the hottest trends in computer technology. Soon, this industry is likely to boom and training oneself in it now will probably lead to handsome dividends.

Choosing this Pluralsight learning path is no joke, the instructors mean business. You are required to have preliminary knowledge of data analytics and a strong basis in statistics. It gets straight into the technicalities right from the first course, so be prepared.

At first, the instructors discuss in detail the common workflows adapted for ML models and how the input data is conditioned. Then you will be taught how to engineer an ML model and what factors constitute its design. Finally, the practical ends of an ML model, its implementation is explored.

Overall, this Pluralsight learning path is an A-Z overview of what ML engineers do in their projects. Consider it a simulation of your future job!

Category: Web Security | Instructor: Mohammed Osman, Janani Ravi
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced | Pluralsight Courses: 5
Subscription: $29/month. $299/year. Get free trial. View course path

9. Web Application Security

Another learning path focused on security, the only difference is that this one revolves around online applications. Web applications are as much susceptible to security risks as offline systems and this 14-course learning path will teach you all about it.

The beginner level has foundation courses for online security essentials such as HTTPS and browser security. The intermediate part, the longest one with 8 Pluralsight courses, is an interesting one. It is built upon the OWASP Top 10 web application risks and teaches ways to mitigate these potential risks.

The advanced part has courses on secure account management and cryptography, which are widely utilized techniques by web security professionals.

One factor to consider before opting for this learning path is that it requires a deep understanding of programming beforehand. Hence, you might want to brush up on your programming skills first. Nevertheless, this is one of the best Pluralsight learning paths suitable for professionals interested in a career in cybersecurity and web development.

Category: Web Security
Instructors: Lars Klint, Troy Hunt, Scott Helme and others
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced | Pluralsight Courses: 14
Plans: $29/month. $299/year. Free trial. View course path

10. Fundamentals of Virtualization

Our next learning suggestion is neither related to coding nor security, rather it is about the remarkably utilitarian technology of virtualization. If you are passionate about finding efficient solutions for industrialists and think of yourself as tech-savvy, enrolling for this learning path can be your calling.

The first course is, as usual, dedicated to bringing you up to the mark regarding this technology. The intermediate level encompasses three courses, one for each of server virtualization, storage virtualization, and network virtualization. These three constitute the most common types of Virtual Machines, making it a comprehensive learning opportunity.

A special bit at the end is its advanced level course: ‘Virtualization in the Real World’. It comprises of actual demonstrations of interactions in the virtualization world and how they can be converted to a public cloud. 

Future virtualization experts and enthusiasts, this can be a good starting point for you.

Category: VR | Instructor: David Davis
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced | Pluralsight Courses: 5

11. Becoming a Business Analyst

The ‘Becoming a Business Analyst’ learning path is a learning opportunity for those who are looking to step into the BA industry but lack basic know-how of its operational nuances. The courses are structured in a way that they build upon your personal qualities and teach you how to focus them in the right direction.

The first of five courses, ‘So You Want to be A Business Analyst’, rounds up the eventful life of a business analyst. Then as you advance in this series, it goes on to teach you how to deal with its challenges while keeping everyone satisfied.

A distinctive feature of this learning path is that it integrates topics about ‘Technical Business Analysis’ and ‘IT’ as well, which are specialized sub-fields of their own. It ends on an encouraging note by helping you see what lies ahead once you are finished with this learning path.

Category: Web Security
Instructor: Casey Ayers, Heather Mylan-Mains, Michael Krasowski
Level: Entry-level to Advanced | Pluralsight Courses: 5
Subscription: $29/month. $299/year. Trial available. View learning path.

Reading Tip: For those interested in career tracks, we have compiled lists of the best data science courses, data analytics courses, and AI courses.

Pluralsight Courses – Pros & Cons

Pluralsight is steadily growing and becoming popular very fast. This is due to its features, content quality and learning experience. Like any other platform, Pluralsight also has its disadvantages. Below I would like to summarize the most obvious pros and cons.

Alternative providers: Here are great alternatives if you are looking for a second or third choice. Udacity Nanodegrees | LinkedIn courses | Udemy courses | Coursera | Code School

Summary

Let’s wrap up and summarize our overview of the best Pluralsight courses. Well, we are living in an unprecedented age, one that is marked by a perpetual sense of transience, a never-ending change. The 21^st century is nothing like the pre-internet era when life was slow and steady, even sluggish in the eyes of today’s youth.

Opportunities – The advent of modern technologies has indeed opened up avenues we never knew of before. Young people are making careers out of skills no one could have imagined a generation ago. On the negative side, those failing to catch up are struggling for professional identity, and on rare occasions, even find themselves ousted from the mainstream market.

Challenges – This new way of living has brought its own challenges and we need to adapt to it. Be it business, education, manufacturing, computers, you name it; taking up the challenge is the only way ahead.

Research – No single learning platform suits everyone. There are many online learning platforms and sites available. It depends on you, your skills and your learning needs to customize the best option for you. Take time and do deep research. You are the best judge and finally, you have to decide, which one fulfills your needs.

Use trials – It is generally recommended to take free trials before buying any subscriptions and Pluralsight offers it for 10 days. Another added advantage of this platform is doubt sessions, which is a very uncommon feature among other e-learning platforms. Try any Pluralsight courses with free 10-day trial here.

A few final words about what to consider before considering your Pluralsight subscription. This website is renowned for its quality of content and structure. 

Verdict – In our opinion, Pluralsight courses and learning paths are structured to make its users feel as comfortable as possible. You will be provided help on where to start, have a huge variety of learning resources to choose from, and have the opportunity to mold your Pluralsight courses according to your schedule and speed.

Finally, being in the virtual presence of like-minded people and getting a chance to discuss issues with them can surely prove beneficial. 

What are the best Pluralsight courses and paths in your opinion? Please comment below.

In last, always remember the words of a famous author, Anthony J. D’Angelo. He said, “Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow”. Best of luck, future technical leaders!

Further reading: What is Big Data? – Wikipedia | What is AI? – Alan Turing

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