avatarThe PyCoach

Summary

A programmer outlines their top five essential paid subscriptions that offer long-term value for their career.

Abstract

The article discusses the importance of certain paid subscriptions for programmers, emphasizing that while subscriptions can be costly over time, some are indispensable for a programming career. The author recommends investing in a domain name and hosting service to establish an online presence, a password manager for secure credential storage, an online course subscription for continuous learning, an eBook subscription for access to a wide range of literature, and premium programming guides/articles for in-depth knowledge on niche topics. These subscriptions are presented as affordable investments, with the author providing specific service recommendations and personal insights into their benefits.

Opinions

  • The author initially disliked subscription services due to their long-term costs but recognizes the value in certain programming-related subscriptions.
  • A personal website is considered essential for showcasing work and building a brand, with WordPress as a suggested tool for non-coders.
  • Securing a domain name early is advised to prevent others from taking preferred names, with a preference for .com domains over other extensions.
  • Password managers are seen as crucial for securely managing credentials, with 1PassWord highlighted for its developer-friendly features.
  • Online course subscriptions are preferred over individual course purchases for flexibility and cost-effectiveness, allowing access to a variety of content and the ability to sample different courses.
  • An eBook subscription service like Scribd is recommended for its extensive library of programming and professional development books at a fraction of the cost of purchasing individually.
  • The author highly values Medium as a source for premium programming articles, noting the platform's diverse range of content on advanced and niche topics, and encourages readers to support writers by using their referral link to subscribe.

My Top 5 Paid Subscriptions I’ll Never Cancel as a Programmer

If you can afford Netflix, you can afford most of these subscriptions.

Image by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels

Nowadays everything is turned into a subscription. Books, movies, audiobooks, you name it!

I used to dislike subscription services. They seem cheap at first sight, but become very expensive in the long run. However, there are some subscriptions that are worth every penny especially if you’re into programming.

Here are my top 5 paid subscriptions that I’ll never cancel as a programmer.

1. Domain Name and Hosting Subscription

Whether you’re into web development or not, you need to have a website!

Even if you’ve just started to learn how to code, one day in the future, you will need a website to showcase your work portfolio, personal brand, startup, or business.

A website isn’t expensive and you don’t even need to know how to code to create one, but use WordPress.

To have a website you mainly need two things: a domain name and hosting. None of them are more expensive than a Netflix subscription, but if you’re unsure whether it’s too soon to have a website, I’ll strongly recommend you to at least buy a domain name.

Why? Because someone else might register your name before you do it! Here’s how a domain name looks.

https://your-name.com/

If someone else takes your company name, or full name first, you’ll have to come up with another name or forget about the .com and settle for .io, .ai, .xyx, etc. Yuck!

You can get a domain name and hosting on Namecheap, Hostinger, etc (if you choose Hostinger, add the coupon code “desbloquear” to get a discount)

2. Password Manager

As programmers, we should never save our logging credentials, API keys, or wifi password on a notepad.

Anyone can get access to a notepad! This is why we need a password manager to safely secure and manage all our passwords.

Yes, you can hardcode secret keys or find a workaround but this is sometimes impractical, so it’s better to get a password manager.

Some password managers like 1PassWord even count with developer tools. This option simplifies and secures your development workflows. It aims to securely generate, manage and access SSH keys, API tokens, and other secrets for technical workflows (it seems to be in beta mode for now).

1PassWord

3. Online Course Subscription

When was the last time you spent money on an online course you’ve never watched?

Maybe the course was too advanced or the instructor was too boring, so you couldn’t continue watching the lectures and end up wasting money.

If that happened once to you, you should consider taking a course subscription. With a course subscription, you can jump around courses, learn a lot of things at a cheap price, learn specific topics without paying for the whole course and get the best stuff from different courses.

Next time, instead of wasting time reading students’ reviews, and watching “honest course reviews” from YouTubers, get a course subscription to see yourself how good/bad a course is.

Most MOOCs offer subscriptions nowadays, in this article I compare their prices and talk more about them.

4. eBook Subscription

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’ve recommended tons of books to learn Python and data science.

The thing is, you’d spend a lot of money if you buy them all. This isn’t a big deal if you want to get a physical copy, but if you’re thinking of buying an ebook, I’d strongly recommend you get an ebook subscription service like Scribd.

Scribd is known as the Netflix of ebooks.

If you search “Python” on Scribd you’d find some good books to learn Python. Of course, you won’t find every book you can think of on Scribd (just as you won’t find any movie you like on Netflix), but I’ve found good content there overall.

Besides programming, on Scribd, you can find books about entrepreneurship, technology, and more topics that can help in your career.

5. Premium Programming Guides/Articles

Without a doubt, my favorite subscription as a programmer is this blogging platform (Medium). Here you can find thousands of premium articles and guides about programming, data science, etc.

Yes, I know you can find lots of coding tutorials on YouTube, but, speaking from experience, on YouTube you won’t always find all the tutorials you’re looking for.

This is especially true when it comes to advanced topics or topics with a small niche. Why? Simple, YouTubers usually create content that maximizes their earnings and reach.

In contrast, you’ll find any tutorial you can think of in the form of a guide simply because it’s easier to produce written content, so not only content creators but even programmers can write an article.

Of course, no one writes guides for free, so these programmers/writers get a portion of the subscription. To join this blogging platform you can use my link.

If you want to support me as a writer/programmer, consider signing up to become a Medium member by clicking here. It’s $5 a month (If you sign up using my link, I’ll earn a small commission with no extra cost to you)

Data Science
Programming
Python
Technology
Education
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