Insights, ideas, and stories

  • Student profile: Brian Denmeade

    Name: Brian Denmeade Location: Cary, NC Age: 46 Job title: IP support specialist “In my humble opinion, any resource that puts educational material within the reach of the average person, allowing that person to achieve a better tomorrow, is a very good thing indeed!” These are the words of Brian Denmeade,...

  • Student profile: Kieran McCarthy

    Name: Kieran McCarthy Location: Cork, Ireland Age: 24 Job title: Customer service “I actually love how easy it is to learn something new It’s as simple as finding what you like, clicking join, and drinking coffee while stuffing my brain with as much material as I can learn” This simple statement from...

  • Student profile: Adrian Gomez

    Name: Adrian Gomez Location: San Salvador, El Salvador Age: 24 Job title: Owner/founder of digital agency Adrian Gomez has been an overachiever since early childhood At an age when most kids are playing games, Adrian was already developing a love of business and technology He began teaching himself about...

  • Student profile: Kevin Hsu

    Name: Kevin Hsu Location: Hong Kong Age: 21 Job title: Full-time student It’s stressful to have to declare a major when you haven’t decided what you want to do with your life But that’s how colleges work so at some point during the sophomore or junior year, everyone who hasn’t already settled on a career...

  • From humble beginnings to a promising career path

    Yuto Morita’s life was very different just a few years ago, and he wasn’t feeling good about his future He struggled with traditional education and didn’t go to college “I’m not the type of person who can study,” Yuto explains After graduating high school, he worked blue-collar jobs in Tokyo on a...

  • Student profile: Tina Ferguson

    Name: Tina Ferguson Location: Plano, TX Age: 47 Job title: Business consultant Tina Ferguson has spent her career coaching other people and helping their businesses succeed, but she’s also smart enough to recognize when she’s the one who can learn something Tina’s consulting work focuses on helping...

  • Student profile: Rodrigo Tasca

    Name:  Rodrigo Tasca Location: Brooklyn, NY Age: 29 Job title: Video producer For much of his life, you’d have been more likely to find Rodrigo Tasca in a kitchen than behind a camera He worked in the hospitality industry at a top resort, at a catering company, and, most recently, as a private chef in New...

  • Student profile: Marco Almeida

    Name: Marco Aurelio Viana Almeida Location: João Pessoa, Brazil Age: 38 years Job title or function: Founder and CEO @ appscgcom What an amazing time to be alive, when a successful lawyer ditches his career to develop mobile apps! That’s just what Marco Aurelio Viana Almeida did, and he’s never looked...

  • Student profile: Marc Newhard

    Name: Marc Newhard Location: Denver, CO, USA Age: 33 Job title: Resident engineer level II A college degree is expensive, and not everyone has the means to pay for one or the stomach to go into debt for one That includes many individuals like Marc Newhard who are plenty smart and ambitious and deserve...

  • Student profile: Myla Twillie

    Name: Myla Twillie Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA Age: 39 Job title: Freelance writer, bartender Myla Twillie calls herself “a life student” because she’s been known to sign up for a class and then lose herself in learning for an extended period “Every time I start something in life, that’s my...

  • Student profile: Jason Kries

    Name: Jason Kries Location: Milford, NJ Age: 34 Job title: Educational technology coordinator/Technology integration specialist It’s always cool when Udemy students pay forward what they’ve learned in our marketplace to help others learn Jason Kries, a former classroom teacher himself, loves gaining new...

  • Student profile: Chris Backofen

    Name: Chris Backofen Location: New York Age: 28 Job title: CEO, CastCloud It was on the set of “The Wolf of Wall Street” that a new business idea hatched in the mind of Chris Backofen, but don’t worry -- his plans don’t involve stock fraud, and he’s not motivated by obscene amounts of money Rather,...