What is a learning path and why does it beat single courses?
A learning path is a curated sequence of courses leading to a goal in the right order, like "become a data analyst". It solves the hardest problem of self-study: knowing what to learn, and in what order.
Self-study rarely fails on the material and often on the route: after the beginner course you do not know the logical next step, and the catalog gives no direction. Learning paths (also called tracks, skill paths, or career paths) fix that by bundling courses in a thought-out sequence, from basics to portfolio project, with assessments along the way.
Platforms fill it in differently. Codecademy has career paths toward roles like front-end developer; DataCamp builds tracks per data role and language; Pluralsight pairs paths with skill assessments so you enter at the right level and your progress is measurable; Coursera bundles university courses into specializations and professional certificates; Udacity's Nanodegrees add human project review.
The payoff is double: you learn in the right order (no holes in the foundation) and you see progress toward an end goal, which makes finishing easier. The trap: a path is a route map, not a conveyor belt. Skip parts you already know; the assessments exist for exactly that.