This post is written by one of our guest writers James Mckenzie.

Are you considering a high paying job in the IT field? Now a days it's possible even without a college degree. What really matters is your skill set and level of expertise.

With just a few tests you can earn IT certifications which quickly lead to big salary jobs. Everything you need to know can be learned from Treehouse and Pluralsight.

I've personally used both websites and studied their courses. There a pros and cons to each but they serve a purpose. Trust me, if I went from unemployed and broke in 2017 to making 100k this year than you can too.

 Treehouse

I used Treehouse first because the consensus is that it's better for beginners. Its courses are not as advanced as Pluralsight. However the course material is still very good and challenging for anyone who's not already experienced with IT.

They focus more on teaching web and software development, with over 300 different courses to choose from. There's plenty of success stories from students who used their course achievements to find good employment. (Like me!)

Course Material - 9/10

Treehouse caters to beginners, it's courses are designed to be the entry level for the topic of your choice. Most students will start with Treehouse to learn the basics before transitioning over to Pluralsight for more advanced courses.

Everything is very up to date and the content library is updated weekly. I noticed Treehouse specializes in web code and programming. However with more than 290,000 students, they're successfully teaching many skills for any new career in IT.

I really enjoyed the achievement system which rewards you with badge and points after each course completion. It really does make it more motivating. Personally I preferred the website structure of Treehouse over Pluralsight because it's a slightly easier to to navigate.

You'll be surprised at how extensive and complete the courses are. There's also workshops to test your progress. The only reason I didn't give a ten out of ten rating is because you need still need Pluralsight for the more advanced courses.

Customer Service - 9/10

The customer support is very professional and I never had an issue with them. No phone support which is a major negative in my book. However the email support always responded to me within 24 hours. They're quick resolve problems but without phone support it's a nine out of ten.

Pricing - 10/10

Did you know the average cost of public college is 25k a year? The majority of jobs college graduates find don't even pay half of what the IT field does. So being able to learn a highly valuable skill set for only twenty-five dollars or twenty pounds a month on Treehouse is why I gave it a ten out of ten.

The first week is free, after the trial period is over with you can decide if it's something that you truly want to continue. Some people learn that IT is not for them, but I promise if you do stick with it you can change your employment for good.

If you're looking for a more in-depth review of Team Treehouse, you can find out whether TeamTreehouse is worth it by checking out our Treehouse review. Keep reading if you want to find out more about Pluralsight and compare the two.

Pluralsight

I used Pluralsight second and recommend it to anyone who's successfully completed their courses on Treehouse. It's the next step up. Imagine you've graduated from high school and now starting your major in college.

While the courses do start with a beginners introduction, the material is still very advanced. There are 5x times more courses on Pluralsight than Treehouse. So they focus on teaching everything including cyber securities and manufacturing.

If you're already an advanced user and have developed the fundamentals of your chosen IT skill set than it's time for you to try PS.

Course Material - 9/10

The courses are great and cover a wide variety of information. However the main complaint I noticed is that the material is not regularly updated. Technology changes quickly and with such a large content library not everything is getting attention.

One thing a lot of users like is the production quality and completeness of the courses. There's course completion checks to insure you're understanding the information as well. They even have an achievement system for completing courses to keep you motivated, similar to Treehouse's.

The course instructors are professors and teach at a level which requires you to already know what's going on. In a sense it's not beginner friendly if you don't already know what's happening. For those who do it's what you need to reach the next level and master your craft.

Customer Service - 8/10

The customer service is the biggest downfall of this company. The courses and pricing may be great, but the customer support simply is not. Luckily I never had any issues which required attention. However those who did reported a difficult experience.

It seems the company grew so quickly in 2017 that they couldn't keep up with the new amount of clients. Management has changed since 2018 and it looks like things have gotten much better now. There's phone support now, so most their old issues are now resolved

Pricing - 10/10

There's not much difference in cost between Pluralsight and its competitors. The price is just $29 a month, which is only four more dollars than Treehouse. Considering that the average cost of private college is 51k a year, Pluralsight is practically free in comparison.

There is a promotion currently for the first 10 days free, you can leave without penalty at anytime. This is good because if you find the courses are too advanced and you'll need to start the basics elsewhere like TH.

TAKE PLURALSIGHT'S SKILL IQ QUIZ TO FIND OUT IF IT IS FOR YOU

Find out if Pluralsight is the right option for you, and if so, what courses you should take using their completely free quiz. It takes less than 5 minutes!

Take the Quiz

If you'd like to find out more about Pluralsight and what they have to offer, you check out our Pluralsight review to see if it is worth it or not.

PluralSight vs TreeHouse

From my experience I cannot say that one is better than the other. They go hand in hand. You'll need Treehouse to learn the fundamentals of whatever topic you decide to learn. Afterwards you need Pluralsight to finish mastering that topic.

The course achievements you complete through both websites will serve as credentials on your resume. You'll be able to prove to an employer you are a self-taught and certified for your chosen IT employment position.

It took me most of 2017 to fully learn Python. It's one of the highest paying programming languages. After two months of searching for employment I landed a job in San Francisco, making 108k a year.

The best part is I can work remotely from home. If I did it you can too and there's no better day to get started than today!

Interested in what else is out there?

There's quite a few different online education platforms out there, you can see a quick comparison below to help you decide which one is right for you.