Edtech startup Treehouse turns to gamification to help fuel growth as it passes 35K users

After hitting $3.6 million in revenues and raising $7 million earlier this year, tech education startup Treehouse announced that it has passed 35,000 users and is launching a new points system to help users track their progress.

While gamification has lost its luster as a buzzword, Treehouse has seen quite a bit of success with its badge-based courses. The site, which offers everything from Android and iOS development guides to lessons on the principles of design, has seen its total user-base grow by 47 percent this year. Currently, 98 percent of Treehouse’s users are paying members.

Diving into the points system, Treehouse tells us it was created to “help students compare their progress with each other and also help them see where they’ve done the most learning.” You can see the points system in action on user profiles like this one.

While points could help the company juice its growth stats, Treehouse tells us its mission is grander; it envisions that points will eventually “help potential employers see quickly how skilled Treehouse users applying for jobs are.”

This concept isn’t far off from what Mozilla hopes its Webmaker Badges will become, and it makes quite a bit of sense, too. Alternatives to traditional, university-style education continue to emerge and appear to be growing at a rapid pace; as adoption grows and standards are set, services like Treehouse could help hiring companies measure the skill levels of potential employees.

Image credit: CARL COURT / Getty Images