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Are Data Science Bootcamps Worth It?

by kapil Mehta # Guest Blogger

In the recent years, data has a significant role play in our digital lives. Organisations are using their data to extract useful information, bulk of data undergoes through different mining processes so as to better understand and analyse market trends. For this purpose, small collections of data is not enough, bulk amount of data is needed that has a value.

Educational background in data science is a must for the job roles of data scientist, business analyst, data engineer, statistician, and data architect or data analyst. The path you go for will not only depend on your passion, but it will also depend on your area of expertise. A few must-have skills include: R or Python programming, data wrangling, data visualization, statistical analysis, business knowledge and machine learning expertise.

As technology is making its way progressively, the demand for data science experts is also increasing in almost every sector. Taking advantage of this demand, a new trend has emerged — Data Science Bootcamps.

Data science bootcamps focus on students with bachelor's degrees who excels in statistics and math. Bootcamps are a fast track way to move towards high income potentials. Educational background in computer science or physical science is preferable.

Three key elements of data science bootcamps

You must have heard applauses for data science bootcamps because they have raised the interest level and also for expanding access to it, the main concern that prevails in our mind is – are bootcamps worth it? Should we go for it, it if yes then how we can evaluate? After doing our research on people who've gone to such bootcamps, we can divide data science bootcamps into these three key components – learning style, cost, and outcomes.

How about we assess every one of the three key elements and discover what you should search for when taking your pick from a few best data science bootcamps:

1. Learning style

Data science bootcamps are famous for being precise, well-targeted, well-structured, hands-on, and fast-paced. The duration of bootcamps are short and you’re expected to keep up with the pace. Masters’ or Ph. D degree is a plus point for those who want to join a bootcamp because they already have programming and quantitative analytical skills.

You must be well aware of your skills and the kind of learning style that suits you the best before enrolling. If you think you will not be able to keep up with the fast-paced environment, then bootcamps are not for you.

2. Cost

If you want to start a career in the field of data science, you’re most probably looking for a job of data scientist. As a beginner, you might have concerns about affordability because you are not earning that much and that is absolutely understandable. And that’s where the competition begins among different data science bootcamps.

The cost depends on the institution that’s offering the bootcamp as well as on the faculty’s expertise and varies greatly. However, if compared to getting a master’s or Ph.D. degree, bootcamps are much more affordable and hence preferable.

3. Outcomes

Numerous bootcamp participants think they’re done with everything once they complete the course. But what happens after it, is a great deal. All things considered, if you can't get the boost you have been longing for or don’t get the job you wanted or realise that you hate your job, negative thoughts will definitely engulf you and this will make you question your decision for joining the bootcamp.

Ideally, you should choose a data science bootcamp that offers you support even after you've completed the curriculum.

The Value A Bootcamp Delivers

Let’s see what’s the worth that these bootcamps offer and furthermore, the reasons why individuals pick it.

If you compare a Master’s program and a data science bootcamp, then the latter one is moderately reasonable and offer a faster pathway to start a good career in this humming field. Additionally, short duration is also one of the factors why individuals settle for bootcamps.

Data Science Bootcamps

We are listing down some data science bootcamps (unfortunately we won’t be able to talk in detail about it as we will deviate from our main topic, we will surely write about it in a separate topic):

1. Texas A&M University

Cost: $7,900

Length: 26 weeks

Location: Texas and online

Curriculum: R, Python, SQL, Machine Learning

2. Wagner College

Cost: $7,900

Length: 26 weeks

Location: online

Subjects: PowerBI, Python, Machine learning, SQL

3. Springboard

Cost: $499 monthly or $7,500 annually

Length: 2-6 months (depends on your pace)

Location: Online

Subjects: Python, Machine learning, inferential statistics, data wrangling

4. Galvanize

Cost: $16,000

Length: 13 weeks (full time), 26 weeks (part-time)

Location: NYC, Boulder, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix

Subjects: Data wrangling, data visualization, Python, SQL , Hadoop, etc

5. Metis

Cost: $16,000

Length: 12 weeks (full time)

Location: NYC, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco

Subjects: data visualization, Big data, Machine learning, Jupyter

6. DataQuest

Cost: $29 ( basic monthly) or $49(premium monthly)

Length: 24 weeks

Location: NYC, Boulder, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix

Subjects: Python, R, data visualization, data analytics, SQL

7. Insight Data Science

Cost: Free

Length: 7 weeks (full-time)

Location: NYC, Boston, Seattle, Toronto, Silicon Valley, and online

Subjects: NA

8. The Dev Masters

Cost: $4,995 (project-based learning) , $6,995 ( mastering applied data science program), $3,500 (data science for professionals program)

Length: 16 weeks (full time)

Location: Los Angeles, Orange County, Santa Monica

Subjects: Machine Learning, NLP, Image processing, deep learning, big data

Will it be worth it?

This question stands still, will it worth it? As we have already discussed in this article, the outcomes of the data science bootcamps are solid. The only area that draws the concern is the 4-6 month commitment that a bootcamp requires. But it can also be neglected keeping in mind the benefits it has to offer.

Lastly, make sure you never stop learning because once you stop, it will be hard for you to chase the race.

Good luck!