Correlation One

My experience in the Correlation-One DS4A/Empowerment training fellowship was amazing. To give context on my background, I have two graduate degrees and attended two universities that are consistently ranked in the top-5 university programs in the world. I also have several years of management experience at Fortune-100 companies and despite these credentials, I have found it near impossible to find work in the technology sector. Part of the reason (I believe) is that technology firms are historically underrepresented by BIPOC/LBGTQ+/Veterans/Women. In fact, this is the problem Correlation-One aims to solve. The other reason for not finding meaningful work in the technology sector was my lack of data analytic skills. I have always been a consumer of analytics --BUT-- I was never a producer of data or analytics. And while some professionals may never need to be data producers (i.e., someone that captures, wangles, and publishes meaningful data insights), Correlation-One believes that for the aforementioned underrepresented groups this is a critical skillset needed to get into tech-forward companies and excel at those companies. I agree.

The genius behind this data science training is that you, the learner, will never have to rely on just one vocational sector. Data science and analytics impacts just about everything, from healthcare to equity trading to solving the COVID-19 crisis. And the best part about attaining this knowledge is that you can use these skills for the rest of your life. You can work for a company. You can become a consultant. You can do one-off, ad-hoc projects. There is literally no limit to what you can do once you become a data scientist or analyst. As for me, simply mentioning on my LinkedIn profile that I was accepted into the DS4A program generated a lot of conversations with recruiters from top-tier, household name technology companies... before I even matriculated from the program! That is the opportunity that comes with being a fellow in the Correlation-One program.

About the program: You do not need to know how to code prior to admission. You will go through a pre-foundational Python course (that you must complete successfully) prior to moving to the focus of the program, data analytics. During the pre-foundational Python program the instructors literally lead you by the hand to make sure you understand what you are learning. They want you to succeed. I have been a part of "weed-out" academic programs and this is not one of them. This is an "all-in" program where everyone from the co-founders to the TA's to the mentors want you to succeed. That said, some of my peers did not make it out of the pre-foundational tier, possibly due to other priorities or being overwhelmed. I do not know why some did not move forward to the second tier of the program but I would argue that it has nothing to do with "smarts." The admission rate is less than 5% so all that were admitted have the skills to succeed.

The second tier of the program is where the magic happens. You learn so much in the first couple of weeks (data cleaning, data wrangling, analysis and interpretation, visualizations, etc...) and it is extremely satisfying. You work on real-world problems and the skills you learn can be applied immediately. All of this learning is ultimately displayed in a team project that you will submit toward the end of the program. You will apply everything you've learned in a project of your team's choosing and you will present it to your class section. But, the course is not just all code and analytics. There's music! Lot's of good music. And there are speakers from industry to talk to you and will connect with you on social media. As I mentioned previously, everyone associated with Correlation-One (partners, speakers, mentors, lecturers, staff) from soup-to-nuts *wants* to see you succeed in this program. In fact, the partners are paying for your education --and-- will offer you employment if your skills and professional background fits their needs. 

So, what is my negative feedback? None. I have been fortunate to attend some of the best universities in the world and I can honestly say that DS4A has been my best academic experience. I even shock myself when I say that but it's true. Prior to being admitted to DS4A, I researched other data science programs but for some of those programs cost was a barrier and for other programs the quality of the curriculum was questionable. Correlation-One is a fully, vertically integrated training fellowship and the team has thought of everything; they teach you the fundamentals, they take a deep dive into data science and analytics, they have their own job portal for graduates with jobs from the underwriters of the program, you keep the learning materials forever, you have access to the recorded lectures forever, you build a strong cohort of like-minded data scientist in every vertical imaginable, you obtain a verified certificate upon graduation, and they keep in touch with you even after you've completed the course. There are many more benefits but I am running out of space to write.

Bottom line, I was blown away with what is offered to fellows of Correlation-One and it is my belief that no other data science program can match their offering. I am so happy that I found Correlation-One and applied. And I am even happier that they have accepted me into their community. Read less

It is fairly intense, especially if you don't have a programming background. However, they offer a free pre-course for Python if your results indicate you should improve that. 
I loved that there was a big focus on business insights not forgetting the technical part (mainly with pandas and SQL). I think they have a really clear vision of what the market is asking for a Data Scientist and that's what you'll get in this course!. Besides, you'll be working and learning with people of diverse ages, ethnicities, nationalities, educational/professional backgrounds, etc. Plus a really inclusive and friendly environment with the best music within sessions B) Read less

I feel extremely lucky to part of the family of this world class organizion,  as a Data Science student. Throughout my stay with DS4A, I have acquired highly demanded skills and knowlege in the in ever growing Data Science field. The abundance of resources I gained from their world class instructors, mentors, TA's  and classmates was beyong what I have ever emagined. It's just a great blessing to be around with people with endless generosity and willingness to help.  I hope eveyone that's keen to learn gets the valuable opportunity to be part of these wondeful project. Read less

I don't know where to start. Even though I am a Master's student in Analytics it was extremely difficult for me to secure an internship let alone a full-time entry role. Honestly, I have applied for more than 1000 entry-level and internship opportunities and was not even selected for an interview before DS4A. My story got changed after I joined the DS4A program which helped me learn the most important skills in the data science market, to do multiple portfolio projects that I showed cased during my interviews, to curate my resume in a way employers are motivated to invite me for interviews, to have confidence on myself and most importantly to network with amazing people who looks like me.  Folks, this is not just a Bootcamp, it's a community where everyone is valued, respected, heard, and loved! Thank you DS4A for helping me secure a fully remote paid internship even before I completed the program which is going to be a full-time position after 3 months of the internship period. I am still getting flooded with interview requests because of the portfolio projects I have done with the skills I gathered from the program! Good luck to everyone in the program!!  Read less

In my experience, DS4A strengthened and generated a lot of growth of my previous knowledge in Data Science. The TAs provide constant support for the development of the curriculum and the practice of the weekly exercises. Definitely, this course opened my doors to the data science job market and I am very grateful for it. Read less

DS4A gave me all the tools to star from zero in the Data Science world. The teachers, the curriculum, the hands-on and the networking perfectly fit to make you love this field.  The course was from September to November of 2020, and all the online dynamic was very well orchestrated by the Correlation-One team. Thanks to all the support from the T.As, the teachers and the classmates, I managed to finally find my passion in life. This course was a real life changer. Read less

I attended DS4A from may to august on 2020. It was an amazing experience. It's not only that instructors have profound foundations on the technical concepts and its applications, or the passion for teaching they have; but also each class is design to help you understand from practice very useful concepts in analytics (that, at least in my case, I've used everyday from then). 

Sure, sometimes the bootcamp might be demanding. But all those difficulties are rewarded. And all of that without even taking into account the network of other graduates, with whom you could expand further what have been learnt, or with whom you could find new opportunities to apply the new knowledge. Read less

 I attented DS4A Colombia May-August 2020. The experience and learning were exceptional. All courses were 100% hands-on as they were done interactively in a jupyter notebook and we had workshops every week to reinforce each course. The teachers are real experts on the field, more often than not focused on teaching the concepts for correctly doing data science over the code itself. 
Amazing experience, great course.  Read less

Overall Experience:
Very positive. I spent several weeks surrounded by incredibly smart, talented, kind & generous peers. Specific to my experience of being a mid-career professional, I really enjoyed the opportunity to be around a lot of young professionals for mutual mentorship. I found that I had a lot to offer by way to my life experience, and I gained a lot from the young professionals in return!

It's a demanding program -- and depending on your skill level at the time of acceptance-- you may need to put in a significant amount of effort and work to see success. Try to be honest with yourself about whether or not you have the free time in your life at the moment to devote to reskilling. Depending on the week, I was devoting 30+hours to DS4A work (either study, extended cases, or working on my group project) outside of the Saturdays. Not every week was so intense, but some were. 

Instructors:
Knowledgeable, patient, kind, encouraging, compassionate --all the things needed to help a student succeed. 

Curriculum:
While new to data science, I have a background in instructional design (both K-12 and adult learning). The design of this program is strong with particular attention to the extended cases which I would call brilliantly done. The material spirals and builds. I can absolutely see the scaffolding. It's really nice that lectures are recorded and I have gone back and reviewed them.

If you do not have a background in data science or programming (this was me), the curriculum will likely be very demanding and at times frustrating. You don't have to get through it alone - there's lots of people to help you - but there is some degree of suffering required and this is a very natural and normal part of the learning process. Particularly if you are midcareer and have been successful in the past, this might be the first time in a very long time when you experience failure over and over again - that's a normal and expected part of this.  I would recommend going into this understanding it will be difficult, you may be confused a lot, you may question yourself/your skills/your abilities and need to curb the temptation to compare yourself and your journey to others. You will have to dig deep, commit to the process, and ask for help.  You'll get through it.

Job Assistance:

I think this depends on what you expect job assistance to look like. If you are looking for significant help here - like resume review sessions, interview coaching, or something that looks and feels like an actual, formally structured program /curriculum around job seeking and job placement, etc. --this was not provided to the first cohort. Maybe they'll have that in the future I'm not sure. You should inquire about what's available to you at the time of your admittance. 

What was included in my experience was a jobs board on airtable and  employer information sessions where reps from various employers would give presentations during weekday evenings. Depending on your time zone, it might be in the middle of the day or later evening for you. That's the thing about this program that's cool and also challenging is its a national program PST to EST so there isn't going to be a perfect time things take place.

It's very personal whether or not you'll find that match with an employer partner.  There are so many factors, so I won't be able to comment about the likelihood of your being able to do that. I can, however, try to explain what some of those factors might be. Some factors that can influence finding a match between the employer partners, a role, and you: where you live, if you are flexible to relocate,  if you want a remote vs office job, your educational background, industry interests, personal values. 

I was unable to relocate for a position and was a bit picker in what I was looking for (people analytics) because I wanted to build on the career I established in people operations/HR. I also don't have an advanced degree, so I spent effort myself to find and apply to roles of interest at employers that have cultures and organizational histories most closely aligned to my values. Ultimately, I did not find a role at an employer partner for this very first position after the program. But, my experience may not be yours. You might be interested in the employer partners and find a match with them.  That said, I think you would benefit from taking your job search into your own hands and especially if you are mid-career leveraging your existing network and expanding your network through the people you can meet in this program. 

While more indirect, one of the best things coming out of this program related to job assistance was my group project & the group project deliverables. It's perhaps unexpected to list that or talk about that as a job assistance offering rather than as part of the curriculum but the project deliverables were CLUTCH for my job search specifically. 


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DS4A Colombia was a 13 week (in it's first edition) formation course. It covers several topics from exploratory data analysis, relational DB,  feature engineering, regression interpretation,  Dashboard making and deploy and even some introductory notions of Machine Learning. The quality of the course is superb, the material is well designed, the instructor is superb and charismatic, sessions are engaging. 
I highly recommend this course.  Read less

DS4A Colombia is one of the best academic experiences I've had, not only because of the great professor (Natesh) but also because of all the practical and theoretical experience I've gathered throughout the course. This knowledge have opened a lot of doors for me, in the working area and academics area and have open my mind. I totally recommend every course given by correlation-one and take the most of them.  Read less

When I started Correlation One's DS4A Colombia, I was transitioning from a career in Industrial Maintenance, nowadays I have a job as Data Analyst for a Multinational which helps companies in their digital transformation, and a huge part of it was thanks to DS4A. It teaches you the skills on which you build on in order to become attractive in the Data Analytics market, additionally, during the course, you get high quality materials and lectures that make learning not only fruitful, but also enjoyable, which is a great plus. You also face a challenge which is common in the Data Science field such as working in a Project for a company, which basically renders you fit to face the pressure and challenges of the market!
DS4A is a literally a life changing experience! I successfully transitioned my career thanks to it and now I reap the benefits from it! Read less

 A course with all the necessary knowledge to learn about data science. The course was very productive and participatory with the teachers and classmates in the development of the classwork and the final work. An excellent experience that combines theory and practice to solve real problems. There was excellent support from the assistants to achieve a better understanding of the concepts seen in class and how to approach the work. A great academic and professional experience!  Read less

I'm working a lot of time in Data warehouse design and building but I was really new to the full Data Science world. It was an amazing experience: great teachers, excellent methodology, a lot of really smart classmates each one having an special knowledge. A really high education level and people quality (teachers, staff and classmates). I learned a lot in the course not only from teachers but also from classmates.  We built a complete solution, end to end, so we are in conditions to create and deploy in production environments.

Thanks a lot. I would like continue learning with Correlation One. Read less

Very good overall Data Science Course focused on giving the general panorama and explaining basic and intermediate topics related to Data Science practices. Professor Natesh was great at explaining concepts online, and it was quite an interesting methodology given the fact that the course was made 100% online. Read less

DS4A is fantastic! I was at this course in 2019 and were an excellent experience based on foundation and practices to learn data science. I applied the knowledge in my work and the data processes improved. Professors as Natesh Pillay are mentors and inspiration for teaching. 

Case studies are based on real data and they have a business context where data science methods are selected based on business challenges. You are motivated all time because you are learning and understanding what you apply the data science correctly.  

I feel that DS4A was the major opportunity to supplement my skills and my career as a solutions architect. Today, I work as a machine learning technical lead where DS4A's knowledge has been crucial for developing my job activities.  Read less

This course was an amazing experience with very high standards, beginning with Professor Natesh that is a wonderful teacher and very inspiring with a great way to communicate deep concepts in an easy manner, the course was a structure in a very proficient style, the use case model it is an excellent combination between the theoretical and practical application of the data science 

At a personal level, this course help me to make a very deep refresh of my professional background because Data Science has evolved to a massive pace that always is vital to keep updated and advancing in this field 

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 This was an awesome experience, I would highly recommend to apply to this program, especially for people from Colombia, this is the perfect opportunity for Data enthusiasts to learn more about the Data world. I am very grateful with the Teacher Assistants and the whole Correlation One Staff, but specially Professor Natesh. After this experience, I have improved my technical and communication skills for Data projects.  Read less