Data Science Career Track

IMPORTANT NOTE: Springboard will give me a $10 amazon card for this review, but these are my honest feelings.This is a review for the Springboard Data Science Track. I started this track shortly before finishing my Master's in Physics. I was looking at various job prospects and found that data science would be the best track for me in light of my interests and skills. I think the program does prepare you well, at least from the perspective that you feel like you have some grounding in data science before you start your first job/start the job application process. The bootcamp is more of a content aggregator, i.e. much of the content is pulled online or obtained for free. There are a few things that might possibly make it worth the money.1. They have a high-level understanding of what the necessary skills are, and how well versed you need to be in them. If you are like me, you find a lot of the advice online unhelpful: starting your job search by slogging through a 500-page book on the statistical theory behind machine learning models is probably not going to be that helpful. Therefore, having a guided hand through the learning process can be very valuable.2. They set you up with a mentor. I initially had mentor problems, but eventually I was set up with a mentor who worked great with me. The mentor can both give you encouragement and direction. Talking with them will help you "speak the language" so that you can communicate well during interviews. Finally, they know what projects will help you stand out/be helpful for your learning.3. They push you to setup a LinkedIn and push the job application process strongly in general. For someone who only ever did research in university, the prospect of making a LinkedIn, making a resume to send to companies, and showing up to interviews was an intimidating and opaque process (silly in retrospect, I know). Springboard will push you to get it all done.Obviously, the program is not perfect. The program is expensive, and results will vary by typical factors like motivation, talent, and plain old luck. My analysis of the community is that there is a group of people who struggle with the material, and, much more importantly, struggle to get the first job (I have no stats on this population, but they are very visible). This also contributes to the general atmosphere of uncertainty and desperation that, as you might imagine, plagues your cohort as they are scrambling to find jobs. Please take keep in mind that the program will not work by magic (finishing the program is not enough) and examine critically whether you fit the "target" of a new data scientist. That being said, I did land an amazing job shortly before finishing the program, well beyond my expectations! Given that, I can only criticize the program so harshly, as I see the final result of the program as being extremely good! Overall, Springboard worked extremely well for me, so I would give it a hearty (but cautious) recommendation.

Great course for beginners and those with some experience who needs a little boost.I was able to learn good amazing new skills and improve old ones.The course relatively flexible in terms of study time per week.Great support and from student advisor, cours mentor and career coach!

Attended data science career track and overall great curriculum and very nice mentor, however it can be all different since there are so many mentors and i did not like my first one

The coaches at Springboard are great and the course really helps you understand what employers are looking for.

If you are looking for a self-paced online study program for data science at an affordable cost, Springboard is the right pick for you! Springboard's 500+ hour online self-paced technical curriculum leans heavily on a combination of DataCamp coursework, online articles, and self-created exercises and materials to teach students the necessary skills to be a data science professional. Their technical coursework is supplemented by additional career and technical resources, including regular call opportunities with an industry expert to assist you in your projects and a career coaching team ready to help you dress up your resume and experience and tackle your job hunt. However, because there are no deadlines in this course (except for the 6-mo Course-End date) you really have to stay on top of yourself. There are no mechanisms built into the coursework for advisors or mentors to track your progress and help push you along, if needed, so you, like I, may find yourself getting behind on the material and ending up at risk of not completing by Course-End and losing access to the course without certification. But, if you are good at pacing yourself and staying committed over a long timeline, you will find Springboard is quite accommodating and flexible. They boast a 'mentorship' program, with weekly 1:1 calls with an industry expert that I found to more closely resembles a one-way 'human Google' relationship than a proper mentor relationship. The burden of creating value from the calls falls entirely on the student and the 'mentor' does not bring anything to the table. While they do a very good job of providing feedback and advise on specific questions and topics, when prompted, I feel like their mentor program could be so much better if the 'mentors' actually mentored the students actively. That said, they cultivate a nice community amongst the students via their Slack channels and weekly 'fireside discussions' where are optional live 'lectures' around some relevant topic. I found the Slack community to be quite helpful in guiding me through many obstacles I encountered, particularly a small group of student alums which frequent the channels and are eager to help. I also found the Career services and learning units to be very helpful and it changed my perspective on how to market myself and my skills to be more successful in my career. I anticipate using these resources and knowledge I gained there to help me in my career well beyond my 'first data science job'. I found Springboard's cost to be cheaper than most competitors and their job guarantee was a nice hook, and you get what you pay for. There's no live lectures or other resource that simulates a 'classroom' environment, and some of the materials are a bit outdated, but considering everything above, I think the value is very good overall.

I started out studying python on my own for 3-4 months before joining springboard. I was looking for structure and focused/relevant curriculum and I found those things in the program. Getting the best out of the mentor meetings were a bit difficult because I would have to have questions ready, and it is hard to have good questions when you dont know what you dont know. The projects and the skills learned were very relevant for my eventual interview process and offer. I wasn't able to use much of the career services and career coach meetings, but the little that I got was a bit useful here and there. Overall, the program was effective in getting me a really good offer for a job in the relevant field. 

I've gone through this Bootcamp (Springboard). If you would like to skip all reading and know the final verdict then -> it's a waste of money/time/effort. They will promise you everything in the beginning and hide the most important information. Then, will give you magical statistic numbers of their success during many years, but in the reality, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. If you failed to get the job before, there is a 99.999% chance you will fail after. Please do careful research before the final decision to join them. Look at their alumni and how much time they spend to land that first job. Do not listen to what they say. It is just marketing to get people like us (desperate for hope) to get on board and get our money. For those who want more information. Going a little dipper. The curriculum is outdated. A lot of mistakes/bugs. No one is willing to fix them even if you will spend your time reporting. Mentorship is a joke. Still, there is a smaaaaaall chance you could get a good one, but probably I was the unluckiest one. It was always not enough time to ask all relevant questions and get the answers. At the end of the Bootcamp, you are on your own to get that first job. People, please be aware that YOU CAN NOT GET THE JOB not because you do not have the right knowledge/skills but WORK-FIELD EXPERIENCE. Most companies do not give a sh... about your skills/certificates and other things as long as you could prove that you worked and applied that knowledge on a daily basis. Work experience is a key to your success. This Bootcamp IS NOT considered to be work experience. Do not be confused with that. Companies will be looking at you as a lier if you will put this resume as work experience (my own experience). So, be realistic to yourselves, and find a way to get a job. Otherwise, most likely you will be like me after, writing a similar review about your life mistakes with this Bootcamp.Thank your time and wish you the best.

I just finished the bootcamp, and will begin the job search through the program in a few days! It has been a difficult but worthwhile experience. For those with basic knowledge of coding (or none at all), I cannot recommend this program enough. Springboard provides an abundance of support and a well-devised curriculum. It's nerve racking deciding on the right bootcamp for you, but for those who need lots of support throughout the process, this one is for you.

My name is Nathan Walk and I am a physician, specifically a Pathologist. I used Springboard and feel the experience was extremely worthwhile. Their educational framework – the foundation that they start with and how the instruction is pieced together into a whole – is very well done. While I did not complete the program (yet we get lifetime access to course materials) and it played only a partial role in my eventual job, it certainly helped. I recommend the program without reservation (except, make time for it and plan – it is real work). I also believe the Career Services and material presented there is nearly worth the price of admission. No searching around for ‘elevator speeches or structure of a corporation. Springboard succinctly gives you what you need to be in the know.  Thanks for listening to one Doctor’s opinion.

I chose the Springboard Data Science Career Track because it had great reviews, a job offer guarantee, and it had the most in-depth training program with over 500 hours of training material and 14 projects including 3 capstone projects to share with potential employers.  They also provide significant career coaching which really helps with finding great jobs and getting interviews.  In my opinion, the most valuable part is the mentorship.  Springboard assigns a mentor that you meet with on a weekly basis.  My mentor is fantastic and helped me to get a job with his company.  The training is self-paced and all remote, so I was able to complete most of it while traveling the country in my RV.  The program is a bit expensive compared to some others, but all the benefits are definitely worth the cost especially considering that they will give you your money back if you don't get a job offer in the Data Science field.

I really enjoyed my time with Springboard.  I felt like I have learned a lot.  The support provided by mentors and career coaches was invaluable.  They were really flexible with course extensions, which was important for me as I was working full time while studying.

I am happy with my overall experience in this course. I received helpful and constructive feedback on all my assignments and capstone projects from the mentors. The slack community was really helpful in discussing any bottlenecks. The support team was always prompt in responding to my queries and concerns.

My journey started a year back when I first joined springboard. Because of my background (I have MBA, PhD and 4+ years of research experience) advisor suggested me to enroll in data scientist program even though I applied for data analyst track.  So, you will find a great support team here who will always have best interest of yours in mind right from the start. The program is not cheap but you get the full team working for you. Help is just an email away. So, after I got admitted to the program, I had to cancel my admission and it was very easy and hassle free. Later I decided to join the cohort again and was admitted without any trouble. Even though I had to change my cohort a couple of time, springboard team is very supportive and they will always respect your decision. So, I know it's expensive but program is not for money. You get support from experts in the industry. Before my interview, I needed an urgent guidance for my interview and was able to get timely help from a mentor. I shared with him job details and my resume and he provided me great tips for the interview. I am extremely happy that I joined the bootcamp. Only thing different I would suggest you to do is enroll early and start working on exercises. There are jobs out there and with the training and support from springboard, you will get the job in no time. 

My overall experience in the Data Science track was positive and satisfying. The team was so responsive and eager to help. I’ve received instant and constructive feedback on my assignments and enjoyed my time in this course. I highly recommend it.

I had been a software engineer for over 20 years, mostly backend and database.  I have always had an affinity towards data driven software.  I came across some reviews on various data science programs and machine learning programs but the course with Springboard had such strong reviews and awards for several years (I watched the school for about a year and a half before signing up).  The curriculum, project based structure and access to the schools staff and professional mentors is top notch.  I really enjoyed going through the course work and was able to bring my own projects in as my capstone projects which makes the learning more personal and beneficial as you also get the final solution to your projects as output.  Learning everything from classical machine learning (linear regression, ridge, random forest) to deep learning with neural networks (computer vision, nlp) as well as quality visualizations with python.

It was a correct decision to learn at the Data Science Career Track program at Springboard, as I finally started getting responses from employers.On one of the applications I was one step away from employment.This course helps boost your chances and compete with those who has formal specialized education, such as in computer science or data science.While a lack of formal experience through employment is still a problem, it is somewhat alleviated by the hands-on curriculum projects and the projects done after completing the course. In my feeling, completing this course gives you a credibility.There are three main components: career coaching by people experienced in technical recruiting, mentorship by data scientists working in industry, and well organized tutorial materials. In my opinion, it would be very hard for a self-learner to achieve such pace and quality of learning.Having to pay disciplines and ensures a good pace of learning.Not everyone gets a good mentor. My two advices here are: 1) change the mentor if he behaves like he is your boss and only demands, and you need to spend a lot of time just to think what questions are good and bad. This could be OK only in the beginning. 2) Stick to the one who is genuinely willing to help. Springboard allows to switch to another mentor, they have some long-term selection in place.Most career coaches are very helpful, you can meet with them roughly every week. Here my suggestion is to stay organized: write their suggestions and execute on the same day, because otherwise you will find it difficult to get back to it due to a lot of main technical learning which keeps piling up if you are not as organized.Make sure to agree with your family members: they will miss you a lot 6 to 9 months, because they will mostly see your back while you are sitting at the computer. The skills you get are worth it, but there is still a long job search ahead after graduation in most cases.Delve deeply into material, as there are four mock up interviews close to the end of the course.The best ways to prepare for Data Science course is to learn Python, Statistics, and SQL in advance, and try to craft a resume and LinkedIn profile.At the end, you learn how to extend your network, data analysis, and machine learning.Only basic familiarity with statistics and SQL, but there are many resources in the curriculum, which you can use for training, including after graduation.No exposure to cloud techniques, but you will become prepared to play with those on your own.Up to two breaks are allowed, up to 3 weeks each, which helps make it in time if you like to delve deeper or have a lack of prior experience.

The curriculum is excellently designed and does not require any programming or computer science experience for anyone to participate. I am a biologist and absolutely did not had any experience in data science. I took the Data Science prep course first, which taught me python programming in just 4 weeks. Then I enrolled on the Data Science Career Track. The course is expected to be completed in 6-9 months, so one has to be ready to invest at least 4 hours of time every day in learning. The best thing about the course is it teaches the entire curriculum using public resources, which include DataCamp, LinkedIn, Youtube, Harvard lessons and other useful public forums. This is great because you know after the course completion where to continue your learning and find resources related to a specific subject. Every unit has a number of mini-projects to practice that increase your confidence in your learning. 1 to 1 mentor calls every week is a great benefit, as you will be interacting with an industry expert to review your projects and they will help you to streamline your learning and choose a better career path. At the end of the course, you will be proficient in python programming, mastered in essential statistical concepts and you can independently work on data science projects. I strongly recommend anyone who is looking for a career in data science to opt this course, as every minute and penny is worth plus job guaranteed.

This was a great course for me as someone that wanted to pivot to a data science career. The mentor was the best part of the course.

I successfully completed springboard curriculum. It was lackluster and average as it was mostly based on other resources. Mentorship was the only worthy part of the program. Job search began where I always went above and beyond on the number of networking and jobs conditions. I also kept my own records for these applications and networks as well as log them in their own website. After 6 months, I opted for the job guarantee extension. I kept up my job guarantee. Then, couple of these to my knowledge I logged my requirements in; however, due to technical difficulties, it didn't show on their server. Let's keep in mind, I have records (emails for job applications and linked in for networks) of when I did those activities. Despite actually fulfilling these requirements, springboard basically said "oh you had technical difficulties/system glitch, that's too bad, our system if flawless, there are no issues, even though you have proof you applied to such and such job, we are going to ignore that and take this opportunity to make sure you don't qualify for job guarantee". Their job guarantee was only 6 months, I was able to keep that up for over a year. If you value your time and money, don't let the job guarantee be the factor why you choose this institution because they'll take any opportunity that arises to say that you messed up.

Just to provide some background, I’m a former teacher of 11 years, hoping to make a career transition in data science/analytics.  I just recently completed Springboard’s Data Science Career Track certification program, and here are my pros and cons.Pros:- Being paired with an expert mentor for the entire duration of the course is incredibly helpful. My mentor pushed me to go deeper beyond the curriculum and helped my projects really shine. - This is my preference, but I appreciate the self-paced online nature of the program, as opposed to live lectures. There are numerous case studies throughout the program that give you a guided opportunity to practice what you just learned, which is really helpful.- The two required capstone projects are great for your portfolio, and really help you see the data science life cycle from end to end.Cons:- The statistics curriculum is really lacking. Having no background in statistics, I found it hard to keep up with as they covered difficult topics superficially with speed. Part of the statistics curriculum is reading a book called “The Art of Statistics”. Unless you have prior background in statistics, this book is not easy to understand.- The program does its best to cover many common machine learning algorithms, but they don’t really go into detail on how the algorithms work. You’ll watch some pre-recorded online lectures from Harvard, but it’s hard to learn from a one-off lecture without really building the fundamentals of how basic algorithms work. I am just beginning my job search, so I cannot speak to the quality of the job support.  From what I understand, you meet with a career coach biweekly to help you with your job search.  To qualify for the job guarantee, you need to apply to 4 jobs per week and make 7 networking connections per week and do 2 informational interviews per month.  They definitely emphasize networking as the main way to get your first job, as opposed to cold applications.All in all, I definitely learned a lot from this program. If you are an independent learner and are OK with taking additional courses on statistics and ML after completion, I would definitely recommend this program.