How I Reached 30K+ Students on my Udemy Video Course
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Sure, standing out is both an art and a science.
But it’s also about persistence. Lots of it.
When I launched “Web Performance 101: Your Guide to Boost Your Web Apps” on Udemy, I never expected to reach over 30K students.
Yet, as I reflect on this journey, I can see it has been nothing short of transformative. Here’s how this adventure unfolded, packed with lessons and community power.
Back to 2019
I published my course in January 2022, but the groundwork was laid much earlier.
In 2019, my team assigned me a task to fix a performance problem in one of our web apps. At the time, I was scared. It felt like punishment.
Why?
I’d built a large part of the app but had no clue how to fix its issues. During the first three to four months, it ran smoothly. But adding new features — like inline editing for a data table — made it sluggish and slow to load. Our end-users were unhappy.
Armed with knowledge from Addy Osmani’s articles, I began my mission. But I struggled. The performance was so poor that even Lighthouse couldn’t run and generate any stats. It errored out due to long First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Time To Interactive (TTI).
However, I kept going. A few days later, improvements started showing up in Lighthouse Audits and Chrome DevTools performance analysis.
I’d done it!
After presenting this outcome and technical details regarding this performance-tuning journey, I received positive feedback from the team and stakeholders. This was very encouraging especially when they started calling me “our performance expert.” It gave me the confidence to continue, knowing that my efforts were making a tangible difference.
Another Challenge
Weeks later, a second web app, managed by other team members, ran into its own set of troubles.
The app seemed fine at first, but over long sessions, it became sluggish, slowing down and pausing frequently.
This time, curiosity got the better of me, not fear.
After some digging, I found the root cause: a memory leak. It took a while, but in the end, I resolved the issue. This not only boosted my self-confidence but also fueled my passion.
Momentum Began to Build
Over the next two years, I published articles with real-world case studies about identifying and fixing web performance.
In September 2021, I delivered my first public talk at the enterJs conference, diving into memory leaks. Then with the encouragement of an ex-boss, I started preparing my first video course.
It focused on run-time web performance, particularly memory leaks. I spent 120 hours writing, recording, and editing. A few months later, I added sections on other types of web performance, like rendering performance.
Community Engagement: The Heartbeat of Growth
No course, no matter how well-crafted, grows in isolation. Engagement fuels growth.
I actively shared free coupons, sought feedback, and emphasized that this was a shared journey.
Social media wasn’t just for promotion but also for sharing insights and sparking conversations. Every post contributed to growing a community of tech enthusiasts.
Overcoming Challenges: Persistence and Adaptation
Challenges arose. From algorithm updates that buried the course in search results to compete with larger, more established courses, the hurdles were many.
Persistence and adaptability were key.
I kept learning, experimenting, and revising content to keep it relevant.
The Ripple Effect: Beyond 30K Students
Reaching over 30K students, in January 2024, was a milestone.
But the real success lies in the community and the precious messages from people who found value in my content and trusted me to be their mentor and guide them in their careers.
Looking Ahead: A Journey That Continues
As I look to the future, my mission extends beyond numbers. It’s about fostering a space for learning and empowerment.
With the video editing skills I developed from producing about 100 videos and the confidence I earned from improving my communication and upgrading my YouTube studio, with some snazzy new gears, I embarked on a new adventure.
I created my second Udemy video course, published in April 2024, after months of hard work and pouring my passion for technology, storytelling, and video production into every minute.
The course is about Software Architecture: From Foundations to Cutting Edge. It covers practices and emerging challenges in software architecture, system design, and cloud computing.
I’m very proud of its quality and look forward to the ripple effect of my effort.
The journey I’ve undertaken has opened up a world of possibilities for me, and now it’s your turn.
How will you embrace the challenges and seize the opportunities ahead to create a meaningful, lasting impact?
Share your thoughts in the comment section. I’m all ears,
See you next time,
Rakia
Quote of the Day
"I think most people just make the mistake that it should be simple to design simple things. In reality, the effort required to design something is inversely proportional to the simplicity of the result."
- Roy Fielding, computer scientist and originator of the REST architectural style
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