Does Pluralsight Have Hands-On Labs?

Have you started to use Pluralsight, or you are a potential future user, and you want to know more about how their hands-on labs feature works? If this is the case, keep reading to get all the information you need about the Pluralsight Labs feature. Does Pluralsight have hands on labs?

Does Pluralsight Have Hands On Labs?

If you were not aware, Pluralsight is an online learning platform that specializes in topics related to tech and because of this is one of the best places to learn tech-related skills that can be used to boost your career.

A lot of the interactive courses on Pluralsight are associated with bigger companies and a lot of them also offer valuable certificates for fast skill assessments as well.

While there are plenty of bigger features on Pluralsight that are useful like the Skill IQ feature, other useful features like the labs function are overlooked, so let’s have a closer look to see how this feature works!

What Are Labs On Pluralsight?

The labs that are created on Pluralsight are designed to allow a practice that is hands-on, but in an environment provided by the company that is temporary, while also being secure. This makes it a perfect environment for putting hands-on learning experiences and the technology skills you have learned on Pluralsight to practice. (See also ‘Does Pluralsight Have An App? [What You Need To Know]‘)

Some of these labs on Pluralsight will provide you with challenges for skill development. These challenges on the Pluralsight labs will include some simple instructions which will make working through them as straightforward as possible while still being challenging.

These labs are live environments that have all been pre-configured specifically for Pluralsight. No matter what topic you are working with on Pluralsight, like software development, there is a good chance that you will be able to find labs on that topic.

Some of the most popular labs that can be found on Pluralsight include the Cloud labs, Developer labs, Security labs, Data labs, and the IT ops labs. Some of the main reasons why we love working with the labs on Pluralsight is because they are so cost-effective compared to similar services.

Pluralsight will be providing you with not just the credentials, but in these labs, you are getting a safe environment to use the credentials you are earning on Pluralsight. 

Unlike similar services that give you an environment to use necessary skills like the Pluralsight labs, the Pluralsight labs are instructive as well making them a great place to not just hone your critical skills but also touch up your tech talent if you may have forgotten any key steps.

They are also a great way to improve on Pluralsight skills you are not as thoroughly trained in as well, all in a secure and safe environment.

We also love how the Pluralsight labs are completely self-guided, the work will not be getting checked up on by anyone at Pluralsight, so if you have a busy schedule or not much flexibility, these labs will be able to twist to whenever you need them. (Check out ‘How Do Pluralsight Coupon Codes Work?‘)

However, there are also timed aspects to these labs which you can use to get credentials from the video courses. However, the overall timing for these labs is short, this makes them incredibly efficient instead of drawn out.

How To Use Labs On Pluralsight

The easiest way to access the labs function on Pluralsight is to get to it through the skills tab. You can also get to it using the labs library page on Pluralsight, however, if you open it this way, it will open on a new tab.

You can also find the labs on Pluralsight in the browser menu and this is a flyout menu, once you are on this menu, you can find labs under the Ways To Learn section. Furthermore, you can also get to the labs page by simply using the search bar on Pluralsight too.

There are also some specific path pages as well which will lead you to labs as well. If you have already started a lab and you want to regain access to it, you can do this on the home page where you can get back to it using the Continue Learning section.

Where To Find Labs On Pluralsight?

Before getting into how to use the labs feature on Pluralsight, we recommend that when you are working with the labs you use it on an incognito or a private tab. If you do this, then you can avoid any potential issues that will come with your main browser window automatically filling out certain sections.

Or any potential issues you could have with browser extensions that could impact how simple using the labs are. It is also worth pointing out that once the lab timer expires, none of the work you have done will be saved and the lab will be wiped and will cycle another lab, this saves you the time of doing it manually.

When you are in a lab on Pluralsight, you will likely notice the lab timer that is at the top left of the page on a standard setup. This timer will display how long the temporary environment created by your lab will last.

Once this timer runs out the environment created by the lab will reset and you will need to start the lab over. However, when the timer only has a short amount of time left, usually 5 minutes, you will be notified to take note of this so you have time to finish up any stray activities in the lab.

You will also have the option to extend the time by 10 minutes at this point as well, this will be recorded, but you have the option to do this up to 3 times, this will give you the option of an extra 30 minutes.

Next to the timer, there is also a progress bar that shows how long you have left in the lab in a more visual way.

The main display on the labs page on Pluralsight is the challenges and the tasks. These are the meat of the labs on Pluralsight and will give you the instructions on what you need to do.

You will find that the tasks you are given by the labs on Pluralsight will usually be numbered, and there are often instructions underneath that will guide you through the challenge and aid with working in the lab environment.

Next to the progress bar, you will find the accessibility controls are the navigation options. You can use the previous and the next buttons to get through the challenges in the lab, and you can also toggle display options as well as the light and dark display options.

At the top right of the lab page there is the lab info panel, this is the live environment of the lab.

For example, if you are working with cloud labs, you will want to select the open button to get to the provider environment on a different tab, in this case copy the credentials from the lab panel into the cloud provider environment.

And for a lab on a topic like security or IT Ops, you will simply select the open environment button. There is also the table of contents under this to show you the challenges labeled and an estimate of how long they will likely take.

Summary

Hopefully, this guide has given you the information needed on how to work with the labs on Pluralsight!