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"Seasoned" newcomers?

Dr_Dave_Shuey_88

Hey fam, I just joined and glad to be here. I'm 55, recently laid off and reinventing myself here on the advice of my career coach. I feel my comfort zone getting stretched so it's got to be the right thing. I've got hours and hours of material from two and a half careers to re-tool and re-fit and get in front of people. Wondering if there are other later-in-life instructors to share experience, strength and hope (going to look for existing threads too). Thanks for letting me share.

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Comments

Prof_Paul

Sorry … But You are VERY Late to the Party. Udemy is a Dying Platform … As are Online Courses … Income this Year Alone is down 30 to 50%!!!! AI is crushing this form of learning …

KarolyNyisztor

Hey @Dr_Dave_Shuey_88 ,
Welcome, and don’t listen to anyone who tries to discourage you. While online learning has been affected by AI to some extent, and Udemy may not be as profitable as it used to be, people who have something valuable to share and know how to present it can still find an audience and do well here.

Dr_Dave_Shuey_88

Thank you @KarolyNyisztor,

Your support and welcome mean a lot, and I also trust the advice of my executive coach who knows more than I do.

Col (Dr) Shabbar Shahid (Veteran)

@Dr_Dave_Shuey_88 . Weclome. It is never too late. I started at the age of 58. The more experience you have the more you can share. I would recommend that for a year or so don't bother about revenue, share your knowledge and experience and focus on quality.

Dr_Dave_Shuey_88

Thank you @Col (Dr) Shabbar Shahid (Veteran), I feel the same.

Agilemastery

@Dr_Dave_Shuey_88 Another welcome to you. And always remember the door is always open here. As you create and present your courses be ready to adapt to what works. And you will find this out if you keep an open mind. In my books you are still a "young buck," I joined Udemy 8 years ago at age 70 after many years in Corporate Canada. You have a lot of knowledge stored up in your head. There is a new generation that needs to hear it and hear about your experiences. As well, the peer reviewed studies tell us that online e-learning has slowed slightly but will continue to rise into the 2030's with more than a trillion dollars being earned. Keep @Col (Dr) Shabbar Shahid (Veteran) advice above fixed in your mind. Go for it. All the best!!

BrianJackson

@Dr_Dave_Shuey_88,

Welcome, and have fun.

I started publishing on Udemy 12 years ago, and I'm about to turn 68. Udemy is a good choice for older folk because it isn't too demanding, and you don't have to go to work. During these years, I've made exactly $238,212.44. I consider this pretty good revenue for a paying hobby. Not so good as a career replacement.

The first response to this thread was a bit harsh but true. Udemy is going through some tough times, and many instructors are suffering as a result. Allow me to explain.

Udemy revenue is carved into three sectors: marketplace, Personal Plan subscription and Udemy for Business (a subscription plan for businesses). The traditional marketplace is indeed dying. This includes all of my courses on writing, self-publishing and marketing. Students have been lured away from the marketplace by AI, the Personal Plan and other factors. Personal Plan subscriptions are Udemy's way of making money at the expense of their instructors. It pays virtually nothing to instructors, but given how hard Udemy is pushing it, they must be raking it in. So, if you really want to make money on Udemy, which it sounds like you do, you need to get your courses into Udemy for Business. To do this, your courses need to be business-related, and then some magic needs to occur (no one on this list has been able to explain the process) for your course to be selected for the Udemy for Business program by Udemy.

So, you're joining Udemy at a crazy time. Many instructors (primarily marketplace instructors) are quite upset about massive drops in revenue. For this reason, I wouldn't recommend targeting the marketplace with your courses. Try to get into UfB. I can't explain how. I only have one bad course that somehow made it into UfB. Unfortunately, others on this forum have been unable to explain the process either.

All the best, and there's plenty of information here on creating quality courses and marketing. Just ask.

—Brian

Dr_Dave_Shuey_88

Thank you Brian, the UfB thing was a major hook for me, maybe I'll stumble onto something that demystifies the process in my travels.

Dr_Dave_Shuey_88

Thank you @Agilemastery, I will!

FrankKane

FWIW, I'm about to turn 55 and am one of Udemy's top tech instructors. Experience can actually be an asset as a teacher.

It is tough for new instructors - regardless of age - to gain traction on Udemy these days. But if your goal is to hone your communication skills, hone your technical and professional skills in the process of teaching them, build your network, and build your reputation - that's certainly achievable!

SivakamiS2017

Welcome, @Dr_Dave_Shuey_88. Yes, there are quite a few of us here on the wrong (right) side of 50 !
I am 54, have been on Udemy since Q4 2017. It's my second career, had to quit the full time corporate one due to my mom's health.

Things have been a bit tough for EdTech lately, thats true… but don't let that dishearten you.
If you love what you do, and you do It well, there is always hope 🙂

krchome

Hi Brian,

I joined Udemy seven years ago, at the age of 60. I came with many years of industry experience in software engineering, together with extensive experience teaching adult learners at polytechnics and university.

My initial experience on Udemy was truly encouraging. Just before the onset of COVID-19, I published my first three courses, and the student enrolments exceeded all my expectations. Unfortunately, that success was short-lived.

From 2020 onwards, I witnessed a steady decline in enrolments and, consequently, in revenue. By 2024–25, I had published around ten courses, yet my overall earnings were lower than what I had achieved in 2020 with only three courses.

Things became even more difficult in 2026. I experienced what I can only describe as an unbelievable drop in course sales—less than 40% of the previous year's figures. For a long time, I simply could not understand what had happened. Only recently, through discussions in the instructor community, did I learn that the Personal Plan appears to have had a significant impact on many instructors' marketplace sales.

So, dear @Dr_Dave_Shuey_88 ,

I'd still like to warmly welcome you to the community. I simply felt the need to share my own journey in the hope that others might relate to it or offer their perspectives.

That said, everyone has their own path. Success often comes in unexpected ways, and what has happened to me does not necessarily predict what lies ahead for you. In my own case, I have two courses included in Udemy Business, yet the revenue share from them is barely more than pocket money, not to mention the earnings from my other courses outside the Business collection.

My advice is to remain optimistic, learn from the many successful instructors here, continue improving your courses, and give yourself every opportunity to succeed.

I sincerely wish you the very best on your Udemy journey.

KarleenH

I've been on Udemy since the end of 2016 and it's very difficult now, the revenue drops are severe. It's just one of many tools you can use to build an online education business, so don't be discouraged. Try all kinds of things to build an audience, online courses are one way to teach and learn, follow the current landscape and adapt to stay ahead. Udemy was really good before, but nothing lasts forever. Might still be good to get a course out and implement but keep expectations realistic and if it doesn't work try another way. The main thing you want to aim for is 1000 true fans, the more passionate and loyal to you the better.

RandyMinder

"Udemy may not be as profitable as it used to be" - Udemy was not profitably operating for most of its history, but it did cross into profitability recently, depending on the metric used. This was before being purchased by Coursera. And this only happened because they kept cutting instructor payouts.

RandyMinder

Hello Dave and welcome. I started in 2019 at the age of 60. I have made something north of $267K during that time. However, the last couple years are significantly less than what I used to earn because Udemy has been dying before being purchased by Coursera who is also dying.

The one thing I promised myself, when I got started, was that I would never get to the point where I needed Udemy income to pay the bills. It was (and still is) all hobby income. It would be very foolish to think you can support yourself on what you earn here unless your standard of living is very, very modest.

As long as you temper your expectations on what you think you will earn here, or if your goal is to improve your skills as an instructor and not care about what you earn, you will be ok. However, unless you strike a gold mine with a course, which has become extremely hard to do (because the marketplace is dying as well), you're probably looking at earning maybe a couple hundred $ per month, after a year or so. And this is assuming Coursera / Udemy still exist in its present form.

I have stopped creating new courses because all new courses end up in the marketplace and Coursera/Udemy do everything in their power to get students to purchase a subscription instead of individual courses. This is too bad too because I have a couple nice ideas for courses that haven't been done.

KarolyNyisztor

Sorry, I meant profitable for us as instructors.