2018 is almost over and it has just flown by! It is a good time to reflect about what happened during this year. This was a great year for Random Nerd Tutorials and for us personally. In this article we’ll share the most important highlights on Random Nerd Tutorials throughout 2018.
During this Year…
During 2018 we’ve published a total of 62 new projects and tutorials which corresponds to more than one tutorial per week. This was one of our main goals for this year and it was successfully achieved.
The Random Nerd Tutorials blog received almost 6 million views! That’s almost the double of views we’ve received in 2017. We’re really happy with these results because it means that Random Nerd Tutorials keeps growing and helping more people making electronics projects.
We’ve published 38 new videos and received 950 000 views on YouTube this year. This is almost the same number of views of 2017. We didn’t dedicate as much time as we wanted to recording and editing new YouTube videos. That’s why it is growing slowly. One of our goals for the next year is to dedicate more time making video tutorials and growing our YouTube channel.
The most popular content in 2018 was undoubtedly ESP32. This is the subject that we’ve been dedicating more time to. One of the goals for this year was to build more tutorials about the ESP32.
We’ve published more than 20 projects about the ESP32 throughout this year. Check our compilation of 20+ ESP32 Projects and Tutorials.
For those of you who are interested in other topics, you can check the projects in the following links:
We’ve also published two projects with custom PCBs. These projects were very popular and they were featured on many websites about electronics. Here are the tutorials:
Most Popular Project
The most popular project in 2018 was the All-in-One ESP32 Weather Station Shield. In that project we show you how to build an all-in-one ESP32 weather station shield and display the sensor readings in a web server. We had a lot of good feedback from our readers and it was even featured on the front page of Hackaday.
Most Popular Video
The most popular video on YouTube was the ESP8266 Web Server with Arduino IDE. This video shows step-by-step how to build a web server to control outputs with the ESP8266. We explain in detail how the code works.
New Courses Released
During 2018 we’ve published three new courses and updated all our other courses.
Learn ESP32 with Arduino IDE
In March 2018, we’ve launched the “Learn ESP32 with Arduino IDE course“. A complete course to take the most out of the ESP32. Throughout the year we kept adding new projects and extra Units to that course.
This is our best selling course and we get a lot of great feedback from you about this course. We put a lot of effort creating this course, so we are really happy that our readers are following the course and enjoying it.
MicroPython Programming with ESP32 and ESP8266
The MicroPython Programming with ESP32 and ESP8266 is already available in beta version. This course explains how to program the ESP32 and ESP8266 with the MicroPython programming language. MicroPython doesn’t have as much support as Arduino IDE, but it is evolving. Additionally, MicroPython is a great way to get started with programming for beginners. Although we haven’t launched the course officially yet, you can get your beta version copy here. You’ll get free future updates.
Free Arduino Mini Course
At the beginning of the year, we’ve published the Arduino Mini Course. This is a free mini course for absolute beginners. You can get access to the course here. You just have to insert your email address to get started.
“20 Easy Raspberry Pi Projects” Book Launch
In April 17, our book “20 Easy Raspberry Pi Projects” was finally released in paperback version. The “20 Easy Raspberry Pi Projects” book is a beautifully designed compilation of 20 projects with the Raspberry Pi. We couldn’t be happier with the final result. The book looks great!
It was reviewed and laid out by professional editors, and printed in high quality paper in full color! Even the code is highlighted with vivid colors to make it easier to follow along.
We’ve recently got the news that the book will be published in Russian and Polish languages. That’s awesome!
New Dashboard to Access All Your RNT Courses
In November, we’ve launched a new dashboard on RNTLab.com to access all your RNT courses. Here are some of the advantages of the new dashboard:
- You can access all your courses in just one place;
- You’re always following the latest version of the course;
- You can visit the courses’ page to unlock access to our other courses;
- You can use the Forum at RNTLab.com to ask questions and interact with other members.
We’ve also created a shop on RNTLab with all our courses. This provides a better overview of the available courses and makes the checkout process even easier.
We’re still making some improvements on RNTLab.com. These improvements take a lot of time to test and implement, but we think we’re working on the right direction. If you have some suggestions for improvements just let us know.
Maker Advisor
We’ve launched Maker Advisor in October 2017. We think it would be interesting to provide an overview of what happened in 2018.
We’ve published 52 reviews on Maker Advisor and it has received approximately 620 000 views. Maker Advisor is growing and that’s great!
Most Popular Buying Guide
The most popular buying guide on Maker Advisor is the Best Raspberry Pi Starter Kit Buying guide. You can access all buying guides on Maker Advisor homepage.
Most Popular Review
This year, the most popular review on Maker Advisor was ANENG AN8002 Multimeter Review – Best Low Cost Multimeter? The ANENG AN8002 is a low cost auto-range multimeter with great specifications when compared with multimeters within its price range. It costs less than $20, and besides the standard measurements, it also measures frequency, duty cycle, and temperature. You can read the full review here.
If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to the Maker Advisor Newsletter to catch upcoming deals and read our reviews about tools and components for your electronics projects.
Wrapping Up
2018 was a great year! Random Nerd Tutorials and Maker Advisor websites are growing, which means that we’re helping more and more people with their electronics projects. We also have great feedback about our courses! We got a lot of new students this year.
We’ve accomplished most of the goals we had in mind for this year: publish one to two projects per week on Random Nerd Tutorials; publish a review on Maker Advisor once a week; complete and launch the “Learn ESP32 with Arduino IDE” course; launching the “20 Easy Raspberry Pi Projects” book; improve the user experience with our courses, and other small achievements.
More and more people are reaching us to get help with their electronics projects. We got a lot of emails and comments with questions every day. We try to answer all questions and help as much people as we can. However, sometimes it is impossible to answer all questions and requests. Sometimes, we forgot or simply don’t have enough time to answer some questions, and we apologize for that. The comments’ system we have at the moment works, but it is not ideal to manage a lot of comments that need an answer (which is the case) – we need to improve this.
One of our goals for this year was to dedicate more time making videos and growing our YouTube channel. However, we kept delaying that task for other more important ones. Next year, we really want to dedicate more time to YouTube.
Finally, we also would like to tell you about the most important highlights for us personally. Since I (Sara) was a kid, I dreamed about going to Disneyland to see my favorite characters and ride their awesome amusements.
In June, that dream became true when Rui surprised me with a trip to Disneyland Paris. I can’t describe how happy I felt! I truly loved the trip and it exceeded my expectations!
We would also like to tell you that we bought an apartment at the beginning of December. It’s currently being renovated so, we’ll be moving together in a couple of months. That also means that we’re going to build a new Lab to work on our electronics projects. We plan to make a complete tour of our new Lab when it’s ready!
Lastly, we would like to thank all our readers, subscribers and followers for supporting our work and making 2018 one of our best years!
Thank You!
Is there a project for a WiFi sniffer? So you can see how safe your sleeping environment is.
Hi.
We don’t have any tutorial about that subject.
Regards,
Sara
Congratulations for a successful year in the business and personal realm.
Happy New Year from USA.
Hi Jim.
Thank you so much!
Happy new year from Portugal. 🙂
Hi Rui great going. Happy to see what you have accomplished with Sara in a year. I am a reasonably advanced user of the ESP 8266 and 32, but still your tutorials always never fail to show a new thing about them. Wishing you most and more in the years to come !! Raghu / India
Hi.
Thank you for your kind words.
We’re glad that our tutorials are useful not only for beginners but also advanced users.
Happy new year! 🙂
Hi Rui and Sara.
First, Happy New Year! I am programming ESP8266 and ESP32 basic level. The course told me many new things. Thank you! Look forward to the Sequel.
Geri from Hungary.
Thank you!
I’m really glad that you’re learning with our courses!
Happy New Year! 🙂