Not a long time MOOCs have been around so, many of the top programmers did not use them at all when they began programming to get where they are now, but... they've certainly tried peeking at at least some of them to see and figure out what they are and how they work and etc.
So do you think using them would be a good choice? Although I'm not a proficient programmer at all, I feel like most MOOCs do only carry business goals and pay very little attention to the quality of their products. (Yes I've programmed simultaneously and I've tried to choose the best ones by reading reviews and suggestions and etc.) And even if they do, they get too time-consuming to watch. It might be that industrialization of education is a dream in the first place. Or maybe you have a special personal approach using them that keeps their disadvantages to a minimum? E.g maybe you just buy them and refer to them in case of need... Anyway, your precious points of views on this subject are appreciated (in advance).
With all the free YouTube content available on programming subjects, I would have a hard time paying for a MOOC class. I suppose it serves its purpose. A colleague of mine enjoys them. I don't. I think it's a personal preference and based on your learning style. My style is: "I want to do X. How do I do that in this language?" Then I go find the answer.
Mark
I think they're a fairly good way to get started and have some structure.
I feel that, perhaps biassedly, that the core way should be to build stuff and look up what you don't understand (not just bugs, also how/why things work). But maybe this should start at the intermediate level.
But there is a lot to learn in this field, and it can be daunting when getting started. I think MOOC can provide good guidance and structure, no worse than books, possibly better.
There are better and worse ones of course, but that goes for any information source.