I’m on the last couple weeks of my data analytics course and it is unbelievable how fast time flew by. The first week is still vividly ingrained in my brain, desperately trying to understand how to use brackets and parentheses in Python and re-introducing myself to statistics. And here I am, working on my final project, running the last mile to the finish line.
Deciding on doing a data analytics course
My background is public policy and climate science, both are research-heavy topics. I have a long experience doing qualitative research and writing papers in my academic and professional life. For the longest time, I avoided quantitative research because maths and I don’t get along too well. It’s giving high school trauma and that’s not my vibe.
Fast forward to present, with my current job as a Product Specialist, I decided to up-skill and be more technical. I knew data analytics was skill worth learning as I interact with code, reports, and engagement analytics a lot.
Learning experience
In October, I enrolled in a 3-months data analytics course with an institution based in Barcelona, Spain. It is the only one that fits all my requirements: part-time, virtual live classes, and affordable. Of course, the most important is their curriculum, career services support, and learning path for aspiring data analysts. The classes were short compared to other bootcamps, 3 hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and 6 hours on Saturdays.
The first 2 weeks was rough, too much information and too fast. It’s like watching a movie at 5x speed and in a foreign language. I was completely lost and it didn’t help that I got covid and was traveling. ChatGPT was the best learning assistant there is.
With a lot of after-hours practice, it got better albeit sometimes frustrating. I can’t remember the time when everything clicked for me, probably when I wrote lines of code without relying on ChatGPT.
I learned a lot but I am not expert yet. I still need to work my 10,000 hours, so to speak. This has been an amazing start though.
Is it worth it?
Many LinkedIn influencers have said that bootcamps are not enough anymore to land a job. And I can understand this. Based on this experience, concepts are taught extremely fast and there are details that are skipped. Unlike in traditional universities, there is no standard to check if someone is learning well or using AI. There is also no assurance that you will get high-quality instructors.
However, not many people can take off work and do a 2-year Masters degree — although I’m thinking of doing this. It is important to acknowledge that it takes a lot of dedication, brain power, and time (and tears) to learn everything in a short period of time. I believe, the skills learned shouldn’t be dismissed solely from the way it was acquired.
The program was not perfect and there are things I hoped was better like, longer time practicing SQL as the 1 week is not enough. I also did not like we were not taught Tableau or PowerBI even though it was website. Tbh, 12 weeks part-time is too cramped and I hoped it was longer even just by 2 weeks.
So, is it worth it? For me, it is. With the caveat that practicing these new skills does not end after 3 months of bootcamp. Projects with real data and work experience are helpful. I use Dataquest to supplement my course and this enables me to review and absorb confusing concepts.
Now, how I actually transition to a data analytics career remains to be seen! I will try to keep a positive attitude and hope for the best. Fingers crossed!