Dataquest

I had an easy semester so started wading into DS in my free time. I had no idea which direction to begin working towards though, so I took a chance on Dataquest. UI is smooth and simple, curriculum is pretty great at setting the ground work for several essential skills. I went in knowing no Python or SQL and not even a year later I'm writing scripts and doing basic database management at work. It's put me near the top of my Deep Learning class as well.

It's definitely not the only resource I use, but it's usually my first step when something new springs up at work or school. In less than a few days you can walk through pretty great intro/moderate/advanced notes and exercises that set you up for figuring things out on your own.

I'll probs renew at least one more year.

A lot of people will say you shouldn't pay for info that's free online, but DataQuest puts lessons and projects in one convenient location. It's worth paying for if you're a busy student or have even a part time job. Even at cost, it's way more affordable than almost all bootcamps.

My experience with Dataquest is phenomenal to say the least.  I enrolled at their Premium plan and I'm currently taking their Data Science Path.

I'm just two months into the program and I must say that I'm learning a lot.  Trust me when I say this because I have no technical background whatsoever (my training is in the social sciences).  I'm not going to convince you that their course offerings are beds of roses.  Quite the contrary, the lessons are tough as nails and you need to put in the hours and burn the midnight oil.

I have a confession to make. It takes me hours (sometimes days) to figure out a mission (they call exercises missions).  Like I said, I have no technical background that's why it's taking me a long time to figure things out.  After a month, I was kind of frustrated and was thinking of giving up.

Then I reached out to Dataquest support to tell them my concern.  24 hours later I got a heartfelt response that encourages me to stay the path and just continue with the course.

Dataquest has a solid team of experts who can help you out plus a Slack community that is more than willing to answer your every question.  So, I soldiered on (and still is soldiering on).

Unlike other online courses (yes, I tried other online courses, too!) in which majority of the tutorials are in video format (and that takes more time to do), I happen to like Dataquest's no BS, straight up teaching methodology.  They give you contents to read, explain exhaustively the learning material, and give you exercises to solve.  What else can you ask for?  They teach you, then they let you solve problems!

I got interested in Data Science many years ago even before it was called data science.  The challenge I had years ago was that there's no platform like Dataquest that will let me learn techniques according to my pace and available time.  I'm at my 40s and working for a digital marketing agency and I couldn't wait to apply what I'm learning to my company.