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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking by Google

4.7
stars
47,433 ratings

About the Course

This course is designed to provide a full overview of computer networking. We’ll cover everything from the fundamentals of modern networking technologies and protocols to an overview of the cloud to practical applications and network troubleshooting. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to: ● describe computer networks in terms of a five-layer model ● understand all of the standard protocols involved with TCP/IP communications ● grasp powerful network troubleshooting tools and techniques ● learn network services like DNS and DHCP that help make computer networks run ● understand cloud computing, everything as a service, and cloud storage...

Top reviews

DL

Feb 23, 2021

This course was amazing and helped me understand so much more about networking, things I never thought I would know or understand. Very fulfilling and I can't wait to use this knowledge going forward.

WW

Nov 8, 2020

Great overview of the technical aspects of networking that, once again, started from the very "I know nothing basics" and moved to more advanced topics at a rate that this beginner could keep up with.

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26 - 50 of 10,000 Reviews for The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking

By مازن م خ ا ١

Aug 1, 2020

i learned so much even after i took CCNA i had some vague points, but this course made thing clearer to me looking , it even made me interested to complete the whole google it support specialization .

By Edgar O

Apr 23, 2020

the only reason why i give it two stars is because, i wish there could be more interactive material as he is explaining lesson(s) there is SO MUCH THEORY that it is very difficult to remeber and to do notes on, making it very difficult to understand as there is no visuals of how it works just tons and tons of theory.

explanations are understandable and easy to go with.

but i really struggle with this course because i had to do a second research of what i was l learning so i could have an idea of how everything works. how IP addresses travel and so on, that without a visual at first it was super hard to comprehend. specially being a first timer.

if you could add some visual tutorials as they are explaining itll be better, to much 255.255.255.........

127.0.0............

to much going back and fourth abaout everything and no visuals.

By Matt

Jun 29, 2020

95% of all these videos was a person at a table just talking. This was the WORST way for this information to be explained. I'm into computers and want to learn IT because of the hands on nature of it, so to see video after video of just a person spouting acronym and definition after definition was painful. Every so often there would be a graphic, that would help, but other times the graphic was only partially explained, or by the time it came up it was nowhere near helpful. Again, you could use any visual method to get this information explained, and I hated every minute of this course. If the next one is anything like this I expect to drop Coursera altogether.

By Geoffrey S P

Jan 16, 2020

Learned more googling the subjects then from the course. At least one question on every test was a trick question and when you got something wrong, the only comment was 'this is incorrect please review this section of the course." Then the answer to the question was usually a single sentence lost in a lake of babbling. All in all it felt like I was either supposed to learn through failure or that asking the internet is going to be a regular thing in IT.

By Doug L

Feb 24, 2021

This course was amazing and helped me understand so much more about networking, things I never thought I would know or understand. Very fulfilling and I can't wait to use this knowledge going forward.

By SH K

Feb 19, 2021

This was really time-consuming but it was really worth learning. Although in the end, it seems to be very basic things, they would be essential through whatever you want to accomplish in the IT field.

By Wm. T W

Nov 9, 2020

Great overview of the technical aspects of networking that, once again, started from the very "I know nothing basics" and moved to more advanced topics at a rate that this beginner could keep up with.

By Jake D

May 7, 2018

Information overload that wasn't explained the best. There were points that made complete sense and then their were points that left me wondering if my IQ went down 10 points. Overall, I thought it was a good learning experience. The weakest part of the learning material was the binary conversation section. This was explained so bad that I don't even think Cisco would understand. Definitely use a different source for information outside of this course.

By Charles

Apr 8, 2020

I feel this course could have included so much more information, and benefited from more time spent explaining some of this stuff. It was unfortunately a lot of a guy just talking on screen, reading a teleprompter. It had some errors and over-generalizations, plus many of the exams were just simple drag and drop games that didn't really demonstrate our learned knowledge. I did come out of it learning new things, and already had a good solid basis in networking knowledge and maybe that's why I wasn't totally happy? Maybe someone with zero knowledge in networking would have found this more useful.

By Zachary F

Feb 27, 2020

learned a lot of definitions, they never actually tell you how to setup a network and their is little to no practicality

By Daniel R

Apr 3, 2020

I needed to look up youtube videos to understand what was being taught. A talking head is not a good teaching tool for this subject. There were so many abstract concepts and acronyms that were addressed, but not explained. I don't feel like this part of the course has equipped me properly, and now I will need to look elsewhere to learn the information I need.

By Dariia L

Jan 14, 2019

A lot of new and useful information!

By Austin L

Jul 18, 2018

Could greatly benefit from more a more developed visual component. Especially in Subnetting.

By Stephanie W

Jun 22, 2021

This course was more intensive than the first one, but felt a little more hands-on. I am excited to see how the next course goes. I do feel I learned quite a bit in this course and it was challenging.

By Ian I

Jun 12, 2018

Definitely teaches you the basic of networking that are needed to understand how it works as a whole. Would recommend anyone who is interested in learning about networking to enroll in this course.

By Yelognisse D

Feb 12, 2019

i learned a lot of things about this course , how computers are connecting to each other, and the real mechanism which happen inside the computers when two or more nodes is interconnectes

By aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Dec 8, 2018

This course is exceptional, so much modern day knowledge in IT.

By Jaiden L

Sep 27, 2019

The method of teaching in this course doesn't really lend itself to applied knowledge that can actually be utilized in the workforce. That's not to say that I didn't learn anything, but I agree with many commenters who feel like there should have been more visual aids instead of just someone speaking about terms off of a teleprompter. Also the tests and assignments could be better formatted instead of making you regurgitate acronyms and terms. The special plugins that were part of the assessments always seemed to have problems also.

By Jeremy P

May 28, 2019

Needs hands on set up. eg: setting up vpn

By Gregory S

May 19, 2020

The videos in this course are probably some of the worst out there, you are better off watching youtube videos on the subject and guessing on the quizzes. Week 2's graded assignment was more painful than when i broke my leg, It took me 12 attempts over 5 days to finally get the answers correct. Check the forum posts for the answers.

By Ian M

Aug 4, 2020

Holy cow! I have a Ph.D. and have taught coding for years. I never truly understood how networks... worked. I can tell I have only scratched the surface, but I'm stoked! I couldn't stop learning this stuff! Thanks for an amazing course!

The good: it's not easy! I didn't pass several of the tests the first several times I tried. I had to go back and learn more. Brush up and do some research online. Rather than dissuading me, it convinced me that what I was learning was "real" content. This isn't a fluff Coursera course. Thanks! It made me prouder when I did succeed! Also, the instructor is likable, which is huge in online learning. Not pompous. Not tangential. Just perfect.

What could be better -- hey, I'm a professor, so there is always room for improvement:

The scripts were good, but more visuals would be helpful. Also, more description of some of the vocabulary would be nice. Perhaps a glossary. Several of the test questions were ambiguous: one referred to fiber being laid to a "cabinet." Does this mean cabinet for utilities, server cabinet, the cabinet where my grandma keeps her wifi router?

Overall, awesome job, Google, and great work Coursera! Now that I work in online education at my university, promoting it broadly, I know that the competition is fierce from you guys. I think this is a good thing. Learning should be affordable and mobile.

Very impressed!

By D D

Mar 30, 2021

This course is a big step up in difficulty from the first course. They will throw a lot of terms and definitions at you all at once. That being said, the information is well-organized.

I passed this course in just over a week. All I did was watch the videos, and pause every time a new definition came up. I would copy the definition into a google document along with notes and screenshots of the visuals. I read over some of the supplemental reading out of curiosity, but most of it wasn't relevant to the quizzes.

If you come across a concept that you find difficult, just pause the video, and read the transcript carefully. Sometimes the choice of words are very specific, but could be misinterpreted. I read other reviews where people mention they had to learn the material elsewhere; but all of the questions on the quizzes are in fact covered by material in the videos.

Overall, it was very enjoyable. I love this material. It's clear the presenter is passionate about the material and it prevents the detailed/mundane concepts from becoming too boring. I only wish there were more interactive troubleshooting techniques (more labs), but I'm thinking the purpose of this course instead is just to give you a detailed technical overview of how networks work.

By Jennifer F

Jul 7, 2018

I wish this course had a more professional name-- all the courses in this series have cutesy unprofessional names and I don't like putting them on my resume like this.I feel like the spent more time writing puns for the lectures than they did on the actual material or the assignments. It's hard to follow the path the material is taking, it's extremely wordy (so it's easy to zone out before you get to the actual facts and info you need), the puns don't help (especially if you're struggling with learning disabilities or if English is not your first language), the rattling off of IP address after IP address becomes impossible to tease out the actual facts, and heaven forbid you have a little dyslexia. There aren't enough useful slides/diagrams/visual aids in the lectures. The quizzes (especially the interactive exercises) aren't helpful, and are slow or don't load properly, and when they do load, they're hard to use with a high magnification setting, and often the color choices aren't great if you're colorblind. The phrasing of the questions in the quizzes tested you more on whether or not you followed every lecture rather than the actual material. I honestly expected a lot better from Google and this course is not the same quality as other Coursera courses I've taken, and this course needs a lot of work before I'd suggest it to anyone. Less puns, more quality, please.

By Miljen A

Sep 25, 2020

While the first course was pointless, this one contained actual useful information... encapsulated in an excruciating avalanche of filler, time wasting intros, and the most obnoxious puns I've had the displeasure of being exposed to. And that's not even touching on the multiple tests and quizes that don't function correctly. If I had to rate my Coursera experience overall, I'd give it negative stars if possible. I'd absolutely demand my money back if there was anywhere else to get this information. Your service is an abomination, and you should all be ashamed of yourselves for contributing to its existence.

By Adude601

Jan 18, 2020

Terribly formatted and extremely glitchy, which is very ironic considering this is an IT course. Tech support simply does not respond to any inquiries, even if they are as desperate as "this quiz does not function". On one of them, I literally had to drag boxes (which were either blank or had the text practically in another box!) at complete random until the quiz accepted them. The lectures themselves are horrible. You will learn more by just looking up YouTube videos on the subject.