NYC Data Science Academy

Great course so far! 4 weeks in and we've learned version control with Git, mapping in CartoDB, visualizations with D3, and machine learning, stats, and programming in R.

We've also gotten to network with Data Scientists at Google and Enigma and we'll be featured on Interview Jet in a few weeks!

Smart students and interesting projects are generating many strong portfolios for students. I don't think think any will have trouble finding a job when this is all over.

 

NYC Data Science Academy is a great choice for anyone looking for a bootcamp.  They look for students who have a science / engineering/ math background, but they don't require a PhD (though scholarships are easier to get for PhDs).  This school really distinguishes itself partly because of the emphasis on R.  People skilled in R command the highest salaries - and for a reason.  It is the gold standard for data manipulation and for all the most cutting edge algorithms.  I looked all over for a program that taught R (as well as Python) and NYC Data Science Academy is the only one I found!  Bootcamps are 12-weeks long and cover everything a data scientist needs to know to be up and running upon graduation, included R, Python, Hadoop, Raspberry, and much much more.  Vivian Zhang, the primary teacher and founder, is a great data scientiest, statistician, programmner and teacher.  She's also a great person.  Much of the emphasis is on preparing people to get jobs in data science and there is a lot of support in recruiting - including relationships with  firms Vivian has done corporate training for and partnerships with several recruiting firms.

I took this bootcamp mainly due to a referral from a friend and colleague from work. I had a background in working with R but had never really worked with python or ML. My schooling is in Engineering and have been exposed a bit to ML and programming, but have neve really delved deep into it. 


The Good: 


I though the availability of the TA’s and their responses were amazing. You essentially have infinite time you can schedule with them and their responses re always great. If you asked a question they didn’t have an immediate response to, they would even go back do research and follow up through email and personally cater to your questions, it was great!


The best parts of the course were the python and R modules, they do a great job at explaining these and help you get started right away. The advanced modules on ML were hit and miss and found that I definitely needed to re-inforce after with more studying.


The career guidance and the career network is amazing, at the time of writing I have not yet been actively pursuing a job (just graduated), but am already finding a ton of support. 


The guidance you can get from Vivian (the bootcamp founder) is great, she’s always actively trying to get you the best offers and career guidance and you can notice that she really wants her students to succeed.


The projects are well structured, and I really loved them. They are designed to make you progressively get into designing a full blown ML project and though they were great. 


The Bad:


Many of the office hours, live lectures and additional support are only offered from 9-5, even for the part-time online version of the bootcamp, this makes it difficult for working professionals to actually benefit from this. It would be nice if some of these were offered after 5pm so that we could attend.


As you get more advanced and specialized, not all the TA’s can really help you, for example I had questions about CNN’s and LLM’s that the TA’s couldn’t really help with until they hired an expert (sometime later) that really knew the topics. The help on all the basic programming stuff is great though. 


I thought the SQL and Git modules were a bit lackluster and need more development, however, I also didn’t take the Data Engineering part (I decided to take the data science curriculum), so perhaps they’re better explained in the Data Engineering part and are only supposed to be a gentle intro for the Data Science curriculum. 


Some TA’s give better lectures than others, at the time I took the course the best and most comprehensive lectures (especially for the math heavy bits) I thought were given by Luke. The other TA’s did not give great lectures and found were difficult to follow. This mostly applies only to the advanced ML lectures were the math really played a big role. For the basic programming parts, all of the lectures were great, as a matter of fact I found Alex to be a great lecturer for these parts. 


Overall:


I found this experience great, for me it was much better than just taking a course online from coursera or other platforms since here you actually have deadlines and classmates that you can interact with and they help keep you honest and push you towards actually finishing. That part was important to me as a working professional since I always found it hard to motivate myself to actively separate some time to studying ML on my own, but this course gave me all the correct motivation in all the best ways. 


If you’re looking for a smooth introduction to ML and can’t find the motivation to go it on your own, this bootcamp is the best. 


I will definitely need to study more after graduating to snag a job, but that comes with any bootcamp, and the post graduation services here are great as well. 

It is one my best investments taking Data Science Bootcamp at NYC Data Science Academy. I am from advanced quantitative background, and at NYC Data Science Academy, I was able to acquire and structure knowledge in Machine Learning. Vivian and her team doing great job continuously updating and introducing skills into the program to make the graduates marketable in the industry. One of main aspects of the NYC Data Science Academy is that you can always count on them in job assistance and expertise anyone needed to keep up  with the industry. They always got your back and are ready to help you. I strongly recommend anyone who wants to join the industry regardless the background take the Bootcamp in Machine Learning. If you devote your time to studies you will be well prepared to do a great job in the industry. I personally after graduation because of their assistance got a six figure job at a consulting company. I am positive any graduate of NYC Data Science Academy can do even better.

If you're looking for a fast-track to becoming a competitive data scientist, NYC Data Science Academy is the place to be. Their 12-week data science bootcamp offers a well-rounded curriculum taught in a systematic and intensive manner, covering everything from Python and R to statistics and machine learning.


The program is designed to equip students with real-world data science skills that will enable them to make a huge impact in any company they work for. I had the opportunity to work on industry-level data challenges, which allowed me to build my portfolio and enhance my job readiness. What sets NYC Data Science Academy apart from other data science programs is their networking opportunities, which allow students to meet with top-company recruiters and hiring managers..


In short, NYC Data Science Academy is worth every penny. Their program is selective, with most students holding advanced degrees before the camp, making for a strong and talented team that will support you throughout your data science journey. The professionalism, diligence, and confidence of the instructors in empowering students to become top data scientists in the job market are truly remarkable.

 The productivity of all the students including myself is one of the most remarkable things about my NYC Data Science Academy experience. The environment of top tier professors, hands on teaching assistants and extensive resources to learn from is inevitably going to prepare you well for a data science career if you are willing to put in the effort.  You learn a wide array of tools and gain very good insight about the field itself.  They're very proactive when it comes to helping you with your job search. 

Tony is a great insctuctor and makes basic Python concepts very accessible. My background going into this course was primarily in SQL, but I felt that the necessary Python concepts were covered quite well in the first session.

The course provides an overview of the various uses and popular packages in Python and each week focuses on one area. I would recommend getting as much practice as possible early on with basic concepts like for and while loops, as this will prepare you best for the later weeks.

I enrolled in this course with some working knowledge of machine learning, but no prior experience with neural nets or coding in Python. I thought this course was a great introduction to the topic, especially given that we were able to preview the instructor's forthcoming textbook on deep learning. Being able to go back and forth between the book and the lecture notes, and walk through the code together as a class, was really useful for solidifying newer concepts. The instructor was really approachable and friendly, and was good at drawing from various strengths that were present from other participants in the class. A great course, I enjoyed it. Would recommend to anyone who wants to get a high level intro to deep learning in a more structured setting than just an online course. 

Attending NYC Data Science Academy is one of the most important and accurate decisions I have made in my life. The academy provides strong training on statistical and machine learning theory. Coupled with 3 real-world problem solving projects and 1 business-oriented capstone project, I gained hands-on insight on how data science address business demands.

With software engineering background, I always want to relate my software knowledge to solve business problem. I believe the training at NYC Data Science Academy help me step forward my career path closer to what I want to achieve.

I wish I can attend NYC Data Science Academy at a much earlier date.