Data Science For All / Empowerment

Through the DS4A (Data Science for All) program I learned not only about how to process large data for informed decision-making but also had the chance to talk with top professionals who helped me build my communication and interview skills. I needed a shot, but the program gave me two. I recommend Correlation One to anyone looking to become a better data professional.

The DS4A Fall 2023 Cohort program was a wonderful opportunity where you can improve on your professional, technical, and presentation skills. The program also provided people the opportunity to connect with mentors who work in different companies. Highly recommend applying!

This program is amazing. Initially when I decided to participate,  I was a little apprehensive. I wasn't sure if I could keep up with other students, or if I'd be knowledgeable enough to complete challenges. The DS4A staff create a very welcoming and safe environment for everyone to challenge themselves, while giving you every opportunity possible to succeed. They are also very knowledgeable and have impressive backgrounds in data so you'll never be left alone without help. They also provide multiple opportunities to network with leading data professionals across multiple industries. Over the course of the program, I devoted a lot of my free time towards completing the program deliverables and training. Towards the end, I truly felt at the top of my game once interview request started to come in. The career coaching is also amazing, and I can't thank the DS4A staff enough. After more than 2 years interviewing for jobs on my own with little success, I finally landed an excellent data role at a major healthcare organization. I highly recommend the program to anyone serious about leveling up in their data career. 

The training, projects worked on and mentorship were all high quality. The projects worked on exposed me to how to tackle real-world data science work and mentorship is really great, I was mentored by an industry expert in data from a fortune 50 company. the experience shared were really great

I was very excited to join Correlation One, and given the acceptance rate (<5% of applicants are admitted into the program), I was starting to have dreams of a FAANG job, money bags, financial freedom, and I was just really excited.The actual team (teaching assistants, lecturers, organizational leaders) were all great. The music was always on point, the professional development topics were engaging, and the career assistance was very good as well.With THAT being said, be very, very careful before you accept admittance into this boot camp. As a data professional, the 5 hour long Saturdays were very long and hard, the content moved at a snail's pace, and even though they talk about "getting the bag" (in other words, getting a big salary), with the skills acquired from this boot camp alone, it is simply not enough to land a data science position. This is VERY important to know to manage your expectations about this boot camp.Also, it is important to know that this boot camp isn't with bureaucracy and some level of politicking. Everyone who is employed by C-1 will protect C-1's name, even to go so far as to not respond to messages when you raise your concerns. The group projects are something tangible you can speak about in an interview, but they are very luck of the draw. You'd have to great teammates (hopefully, some already understand statistics, machine learning, and data modeling), who are engaged, and should have a project that draws at least some interest. This was not the case for me at all -- I did have great teammates, but the level of data professional was very novice, and the topic that was selected for our project was very dull. I tried many times to convince my teammates to do a deeper dive into the data to find more interesting things to talk about, but it never amounted to anything. Our teaching assistant (TA) that we were assigned was relatively useless -- and I know that sounds harsh, but when you are given meaningless feedback that doesn't help you or your team (on both the project and assignments), you do not grow.The career information and career assistance was very good, but I wouldn't consider it great. There are partnerships that C1 has with some organizations, but when you apply on the C1 job dashboard (they'll tell you how exclusive their dashboard is), it seems like the job application sort of goes into a black hole -- I've worked with the career counselors (the best part of the program, in my opinion), to get my resume to a point that I should be getting interviews, but I didn't hear back from a single company I applied for through the C1 job board. Also, to make matters worse, there is someone in the organization whose main job is to screen resumes/applications before sending them out to job partners. This is problematic for so many reasons as they are not the one's doing the hiring, and knowing the fellows, there good be some level of favoritism.In short, my tl;dr is as follows:GOOD -- most of career assistance stuff, networking, PDBAD -- very slow and unengaging lectures, 5 hours of instruction (terrible pedagogy), may assist you in landing an entry-level analyst position, but you can forget about a data science position at FAANG. Also, some of the assigned mentors & TAs just weren't great, after speaking to many of my cohort members. The mentors could be something that separates C1 from other boot camps, and it was exciting to know that we would have mentors. Many mentors were unavailable, unhelpful, and just disrespectful of the fellows' timeOverall -- if you are looking for an entry-level position in data and don't know how to code in Python, this could be great for you. If you already have data experience, to me, this isn't worth your Saturdays.

I had the chance to be one of the students of the program in cohort 6th where I could learn about Data Science, Machine Learning, and Statistics. Was a really enriching experience for my personal and professional growth. The teachers were very professional and the help from the TAs was extremely important to achieve the objectives of the project assigned. I can't say it was easy but after almost 4 months, I still say that it was a really good course that open not just new job opportunities, also it gives you the opportunity to have a real case work related to data science, which is not easy to find. 

DS4A is an excellent program that provided me with core data analytics and visualization skills. It was very challenging and pushed me to my limits. The course was very fast-paced and many times I had trouble catching up with what was going on in class, but the TAs were amazing, and they went above and beyond to provide students with help in understanding the material and working on the extended cases. The bests parts of the program for me were the connections I made and collaborations I had with many wonderful and brilliant people passionate about data. Feeling like I was not alone in my struggles and the challenges I experienced whilst learning data science made all the difference. There were also career success coaching, mentorships and job search assistance provided for fellows, even though I personally did not take too much advantage of those opportunities as I was struggling to submit assignments on time and working on our group's final capstone project. Overall, I would highly recommend this program for those looking to get into data related careers and I am incredibly grateful to have received this opportunity to be part of DS4A cohort 3. 

DS4A Empowerment was a 17 week long dive into the realm of data science. I came from a software testing background and while I had very high level knowledge about some of the topics the instructors, TAs, course materials and capstone project all pushed me and taught me valuable lessons that helped me land a new role as a data scientist. I was able to learn and practice python, SQL, Tableau, statistics, other peoples experiences as data professional, online networking and more! Not only was the course top notch, I got to learn next to brilliant people who LOOKED LIKE ME! Black women, black men, Latinx, LGBTQ+! I am grateful for the opportunities this program has opened up for me. 

DS4A was a fulfilling learning experience that takes a holistic approach to teaching. In 16 short weeks we learned Python, machine learning concepts, statistics, SQL in addition to professional development skills such as resume building and interview prep. It was a truly enjoyable experience to learn along side a diverse set of like minded individuals with varying professional and educational experiences. I highly recommend this program!

I went into the DS4A program with a single entry computer science course under my belt. This course goes over a lot of data science topics that can put you on the way to an entry level job in the field. However it’s really up to the student to dive into the material and spend time studying it. The deadlines are known from day 1 but I often found myself working up to the deadlines because of how thick the material can be for a newcomer. Overall I felt I learned a lot about DS as a field, got support in applying, and love that they sent me job openings via email. After finishing the course I leveraged it to ask to work on a project with my company’s data science team. Four months later I am part of the data science team and my salary went up about 50%. I still feel like I have so much to learn but DS4A really put me on the path to believing I can do this. The people were very friendly, the group project difficulty varies depending on your team, and overall the vibes were good for a Saturday all day class. Would definitely recommend this to anyone interested 

DS4A was great for me. I was in Cohort 3 of empowerment and had only looked at code for the first time less than a month before starting. My background was in stuff like retail, customer service, and was currently full-time door dashing, yet the program was able to take me all the way through becoming comfortable with coding, the packages and programs I use in my new job, how to interpret data and other necessary things like that. Two months before finishing the program I got a job with one of the largest companies in the US doing data analysis for the product safety department. In addition to that, everyone in my group has landed jobs in the data industry since finishing the program.The coursework was a little light in the coding but taught you what you needed to know to continue to grow. I regularly refer back to the coursework for reminders on how I did a particular thing and still communicate with my group both on data problems and as personal connections. Our TA's were extremely enthusiastic and helped us in formulating our project and completing various aspects of it. Our mentors were great for guidance on entering the workforce and preparing for interviews. By the end my team had managed to have a working linear regression model with an interactive front end that allowed for predictions based on user inputs. The website was run with flask and hosted on heroku along with our Tableau dashboard. Considering none of our group came into the program with coding knowledge and six months later had managed that is pretty crazy to me.

I was accepted into the third cohort of DS4A - Empowerment and had a fantastic experience overall. Between the hands-on learning, the mentoring, and the true friendships that I had made through the program, I cannot recommend the program highly enough. You will learn all the tools that it takes to become a data analyst from passionate and talented instructors. 10/10.

This is an excellent program! I came in with some data analytics experience and DS4A really elevated my skillset and professionalism. The instruction is top-notch, the staff are extremely supportive, and the job assistance is way better than anything I had access to in college/grad school. The coursework is challenging, but very doable. I highly recommend it.

After obtaining my MBA with a concentration in Finance, I immediately started looking for data science boot camps and came across DS4A and Correlation One. After reading the mission statement, I knew I wanted to be a part of the movement! The program really opened my eyes to a world of possibilities that I never envisioned. It also did a tremendous job of improving my level of confidence in my data science abilities. A lot of the fellows frequently talked about imposter syndrome and ways to overcome it which has helped me greatly. I also gained a tremendous network of people that I can collaborate with on various projects and future opportunities. The instructors are extremely knowledgeable and helpful throughout the journey and I never felt as though I had nowhere to turn for assistance. The assignments are challenging, but overcoming them is what helps provide the courage and confidence to excel in any future roles. One of the highlights of the program was the focus on job assistance. The career training seminars and sessions were instrumental in several fellows' job searches as they prepared us for everything to include resume creation, interview preparation, salary negotiation, and working in the typical environment. I would highly recommend this program for all levels of experience. I guarantee you will find it useful and beneficial for any future roles in the data science arena. 

Boot camp. HORRIBLE. STAY AWAY. Even if you are accepted you still have to pass a test before they accept you. There is no help. 

DS4A is an amazing program that makes it possible for underrepresented groups to get started on a data science/analytics career. They provide awesome training through their extensive curriculum and provide you with the resources to succeed in the real world. You will create connections and gain experience that will be useful for years to come. I definitely recommend this program to everyone interested in data science. 

Prior to this program, the only python I knew was a snake. In no time, I had built enough confidence to work on a project with my data science skills. DS4A was my best  fellowship ever! The classes are well-structured and oh God! DS4A people are tremendously amazing!!! The Teaching Assistants, mentors and speakers were all really excellent. It was an intensive program, but the sessions were very lively and bubbly. I 1000% recommend especially to beginners. 

I am greatful to have attended DS4A. I was looking for a solid foundation in data science. It is fast paced but very rewarding. Participating in this program supported advancement in my career.

Correlation One offers an excellent combination of being purpose-driven and teaching methodology. As far as being purpose-driven, they are very sincere and passionate about making data science skills accessible to all, especially to communities that have been traditionally underserved. Natesh, one of the central driving forces of the program and the head instructor from Harvard, is one of the most inspirational instructors I have ever had. He is extremely down to earth so he makes the subject matter very accessible despite the subject matter being intimidating at times. He also builds a personal relationship with his students. Furthermore, he doesn't just teach hard, data-science skills; He also teaches life skills (e.g. how to overcome self doubt when learning). As far as the teaching methodology, it is excellent. Every DS4A day I full of lessons delivered into small digestible pieces that add up over time, so you never really feel like it's too much content at once. Furthermore, the lessons were sometimes divided into analytical and coding sessions, to help you isolate & drill certain skill sets that make you a good data scientist. Lastly, I'll say that the social value of this program was superb. I connected with my project teammates, becoming good friends along the way. The mentors were also very nice and helpful along with the guest lecturers--who were sometimes young professionals with very relatable personalities and experiences.Great program! I highly recommend this to anyone who is serious about building data science skills!

The program DS4A provides is life changing. It is a lot of work and one has to be committed to succeed. I am grateful for all the TAs and instructors.