NYC Data Science Academy

I recently graduated from NYC Data Science Academy in March of 2020. Before I began my cohort, my background was in finance and was a novice in the data science/coding world. Though challenging and difficult at times the staff, instructors, and the TA's really helped me to push myself and assisted me to complete the program. 

The curriculum not only covers coding and data science but the individual & group projects, presentations, and the helpful feedback is very advantageous in the real world. Also, I really appreciated how NYCDCA went what of their way in little things that can make a big difference such as: head shots, resume reviews, interview preps, strategy in job hunting etc...They did an excellent job of covering all topics and encompassing everything that comes with either career change or building up your current career. 

From my experience, I only have positive things to say about the staff, instructors, curriculum, job support, and the community at NYC Data Science Academy and highly recommend NYCDSA to anyone who is interested in data science.  Read less

This bootcamp helped me go from code illiterate to code proficient. The curriculum at NYCDSA is amazing. Trying to become an expert at anything in 3-months is nearly impossible, but NYCDSA does a pretty dang good job of presenting all salient data science topics and pairing these with four major projects that help to solidify your understanding. I was incredibly pleased with the quality of instruction and the expertise of the teachers. It felt like the instructors truly cared about my development and reception of the material. The career services team has been very very helpful. Like many things, you get out what you put in. I highly recommend this bootcamp, but if you do decide to attend make sure to complete the prework, devote 100% of your time to it (i.e. don't work at the same time), and put your all into each project. The four major projects (R Shiny, Python Web Scraping, Machine Learning, and Capstone) are important in how you market yourself post-bootcamp and were fundamental in giving me the confidence to say that "I am on my way towards becoming a great data scientist". Listening to lectures and understanding concepts can only take you so far, so make sure to befriend stack overflow, your instructors, and your keyboard as much as possible. Best of luck in your studies! Read less

I graduated from the NYC Data Science Academy in September 2019. Though I lived in Austin, TX - home of many data science schools -, after vetting the success of past graduates and the credentials of the instructors at the Academy, I made the decision to temporarily move to New  York to attend this school. 
The requirements and coursework was very intimidating, but certainly appropriate given the requirements to be an effective data scientist. The typical student spent at least 12 hours a day at the classroom to meet homework and project deadlines, but those hours were well-spent. Even though the difficulty in the material ramped up, the quality of the students' projects and in-class discussions definitely became much more substantive and impressive. The devotion of the students definitely rubbed off on each other, but the expertise of the instructors definitely helped foster that growth as well. It is also worth mentioning that the close alumni network also played a part in student growth.
Beyond the hard skills learned (Git, Docker, SQL, Python, R, ML, etc ), the program required a lot of soft-skill development as well. Between developing effective presentation skills for our projects, and collaborating with our peers, teaching assistants and instructors, you truly learn what it means to become a data scientist amongst data scientists.
It is also worth mentioning that they play a big role in your professional development as well. They devote a lot of time to your resume building, interview preparation, and student networking, and, personally,  I found the alumni presentations they prepared were some of the most insightful presentations I've had.
If you are serious about becoming a data scientist, you go to this school.  Read less

I graduated from NYC Data Science Academy in September 2019. I was recommended by a friend of this bootcamp, as he told me that I will be able to learn a full spectrum of skills needed to enter a data-related job. Having almost finished my Master in Statistics, I wasn’t sure about the tools needed in the industry, because the master program focuses very much on theory but not on the practical tools.  Hence, I was very glad to be introduced to a toolkit of data science skills, those of which will be very applicable to any data science/engineer jobs in the future. One thing I really liked about the program was its intensity. I understood that students coming to this bootcamp came from different backgrounds, some of which might find it a bit challenging. For someone who has background in statistics and a little bit of computer science, the pace was very good because I could learn a lot of things within 12 weeks, bombarded by one project after another. I really liked the instructors here, especially Luke Lin and Zeyu Zhang, as they were so knowledgeable and patient. I also made many friends here, especially for someone who just moved to New York City.  Read less

NYC Data Science Academy’s program covers more material than any other leading bootcamp. Curriculum is created with long-term professional development in mind, while at the same time being incredibly “up-to-date” with all the latest developments in the industry. Thanks to the things above, bootcamp positions students for immediate success right after the completion of the program, while keeping on serving their career in the long run. In other words, NYC Data Science Academy’s curriculum includes some extra components, which are essential for getting a job at the top companies in the industry (e.g. FAANG). 
In addition to the core of the program, NYC Data Science Academy also offers practical and extensive preparatory material (already included in the price of the bootcamp). Thanks to these materials students are capable of building a strong foundational knowledge of the core material, and as a result, have a much easier time during the program.
One of the greatest advantages of NYC Data Science Academy’s bootcamp is the group of extraordinarily supportive teaching assistants. Since 100% of teaching assistants are former bootcamp students, they possess a unique understanding of anything that current students are going through at any given moment. 
Another pivotal part of the program is its amazing collective of instructors, most of whom possess advanced degrees and multiple years of industry experience. No other place creates such a remarkable mix of academic and industry knowledge that allows students to not only learn how to code but to understand the underlying principles of the scientific and business processes. 
Last but not least, is the selection of projects that students have a chance to complete during the bootcamp. These projects not only allow students to apply newly-learned coding techniques but also push them to solve “real-life” problems and to create industry-specific practical solutions. Bootcamp has a healthy mix of individual and group projects, which gives students a chance to work with different kinds of dynamics, and most importantly to learn from fellow students. 
Overall, the unique selection of material, amazing teaching and supporting staff, along with the ability to be among a diverse group of people with all sorts of professional backgrounds is what distinguishes NYC Data Science Academy from the rest.
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Before thinking about any kind of bootcamp, my background was in finance and I wanted to brush up on coding skills and my statistics knowledge. Once I decided I wanted to explore careers in data, I spent an insane amount of hours researching and talking people. I was scared to leave my job without any guarantee of getting a new job. Ultimately, I chose NYCDSA, and looking back, I am very grateful that I did. The people that I talked to from admissions were friendly, informative, and helpful. They were empathetic about the fact that this was a big step and they were not pushy or sales-y at all, which was very refreshing compared to some of the other bootcamps. During the bootcamp, the instructors and TAs were very invested in the students. They helped me think through project ideas, review concepts, fix a bug, and all of the above. I came out of the bootcamp with Python, R, and SQL skills along with a portfolio of projects that I wasn't embarrassed to talk about in interviews. The hard part of networking, interviewing, and studying for a new job doesn't go away - but NYCDSA gave me the tools and the job support to feel confident that I can do it. I've learned so much more in the 3 months than in the one year I tried self-studying for a career pivot. I've also met a great group of friends and people while doing so. Even with COVID, which forced our cohort to go online for the last 2-3 weeks, I was able to get a handful of data scientist and data analyst interviews.   I went in with the goal of making a successful career pivot and they've helped me accomplish exactly that as I accepted an offer at a new firm which I'm very excited about.  Read less

I have nothing but positive things to say about the instructors, curriculum, job support, and community at NYC Data Science Academy! 

From day 1 I felt welcome and part of an extended family. While the curriculum is incredibly challenging; the instructors, classmates, and even alumni are ALWAYS there to help guide you through it. 

Like most things in life, you will get what you put in. If you work hard and embrace the collaborative community NYCDSA has built, you will be incredibly well-positioned for success in the Data Science industry.

I secured a role as a Data Analyst at FanDuel Sportsbook 2.5 months after graduating from the program. We have now hired another NYCDSA graduate and will be looking to continue to build this pipeline in the future!

Thank you NYC Data Science Academy for changing my life.  Read less

 I picked NYCDSA because it offered the most comprehensive curriculum. Surely, the amount of content introduced was overwhelming especially in the second half of the bootcamp but with unwavering dedication and commitment, which was pretty ubiquitous and contagious in the bootcamp, the workload was just about manageable. I would describe myself as having a relatively strong quantitative background as I have a PhD in physics (though my knowledge of statistics and coding in general is abysmal), the coursework was still challenging. I would also confidently say that the coursework is taught in a way to be conceptually accessible by all. The bootcamp teaches two popular languages (Python and R, some SQL) as well as the core concepts of machine learning. The machine learning topics are taught with a good mix of qualitative and quantitative reasoning. The students are required to do four intense projects along with many exams and homework. Overall, the bootcamp sets up the students well for future success-- it gives us the foundation necessary to continue to grow as data scientists. The job support is unexpectedly great. The bootcamp works with us personally to become competitive candidates for the job market and also actively makes work connections for us. The instructors are beyond amazing as they rise above expectations always. They make you feel that they are truly responsible for your understanding of the topics and they are very open to feedback (in fact, they actively look for it). In hindsight, as a more experienced data scientist and knowing that there is only 12 weeks, I wish that we had focused purely on Python and SQL, and spent more time on coding challenges, algorithms, case studies, AB testing and big data techniques. There were duplicate content taught as we switched between Python and R though for some this may be good because repetition of topics with a different spin can help with better understanding and retention. And despite saying I wish we focused purely on Python, working with R and having the knowledge to use R Shiny was what ultimately made me more attractive as a candidate since I was able to showcase my work as an app. All this back and forth rambling probably just means that 12 weeks is very short and given that the field of data science is growing so quickly, it's really hard to gauge what exactly and what amount to master. Given this situation, if I turned back time and had to decide all over again where to invest my 12 weeks of time, I would without any doubt pick NYCDSA. With their expertise, receptiveness, hustle and attitude of wanting to do what's best for us, I truly believe that any student there will be in good hands.  Read less

I was in one of the online bootcamp cohorts. Before I registered for the bootcamp, I just finished my graduate school in a biomedical related major. I liked doing data analysis, but I quickly found out that there was a gap between what I knew and what the industry wanted. Therefore, I decided to choose a bootcamp to ramp up my technical skills. I decided to join NYC Data Science Academy because it offered a very competitive curriculum that included Python, R, SQL, Spark, Hadoop and Hive. The projects we did, which includes Rshiny app, web scraping, machine learning, and a final capstone project, are a good portfolio that students can present to potential employers and those skills can be directly applied to work. 

 It was hard to keep up as I was also doing a full time job while attending the online bootcamp. NYCDSA provided many service to keep students on track. One of the service I like the most is the TA assistance. I was paired with a TA and we met regularly to go over my progress and the questions I had. My TA was also a NYCDSA student before and was working in the industry as data scientist. Therefore, he not only knew what my struggles were on the course work, and he also taught me a lot of practical experience that was using in the industry.    Read less

I took the 2019 summer bootcamp at the Academy, and chose it over other bootcamps based on the excellent reviews and ratings. I was not disappointed. Aiko, Luke, Alex, Drace and Michael were terrific teachers, and taught us Python, R and Machine Learning from scratch. The bootcamp is three months long, but because there is a lot of material to cover, it is incredibly fast paced. The material was however covered in a thorough and accessible manner. The Academy also does a nice job of preparing us ahead of time for the volume of work to come, by having the students do a lot of prework before the first day of class. In addition we get excellent and detailed course notes (which I refer to all the time). Overall it was a fantastic experience, and I strongly recommend it to anyone looking to build their skills in data science. Read less

I chose NYCDSA because of its focus on data science applications in both R and Python and because of the quality of the faculty. The program lived up to every expectation. I came from a quantitative background, but the program did an excellent job of providing material so that it was accessible to people with a less quant heavy background, while also allowing people with a quant background to take a deeper dive. I was looking to switch from finance to a data science role, and this program helped me bridge the gap. The program is intense but deeply gratifying. Read less

The Deep Learning course at NYC Data Science Academy provides a solid introduction to the fundamentals and application of the suite of deep learning models. The instructor, Dr Jon Krohn (DPhil, Oxon), has a talent for teaching deep learning in an accessible, conceptual manner and for demonstrating the wide range of applications that benefit from these neural network architectures. The course content covers the basics of neural networks from the basis of neurons, activation functions to shallow / dense layers and to more advanced models including convolutional neural networks (CNNs), long short-term memory (LSTMs), auto-encoders, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning. Course readings are taken from the recently published Deep Learning Illustrated book, co-authored by the instructor. There is heavy emphasis on coding using TensorFlow 2.0 and Keras in Jupyter Notebooks along with an introductory lesson on PyTorch. Dr Krohn has a very extensive code repository featuring a myriad of deep learning architectures. The lessons guide us through model code line by line, gradually building up in model complexity across the weeks. Dr Krohn discusses model tuning and addresses common model fitting pitfalls including preventing over-fitting and exploding / vanishing gradients. By the end of the course, the students are able to showcase projects fitting several advanced architectures including CNNs, RNNs and LSTMs to interesting datasets for image recognition, speech recognition and natural language processing. This course is highly recommended if you are looking for a comprehensive and stimulating face-to-face introduction to one of the most revolutionary methodologies in machine learning today.

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I took Jon Krohn’s deep learning course in the fall/winter of 2019.

Jon is that rare communicator with the aptitude to succinctly explain rigorous and complex topics in a digestible fashion. His course is an ambitious undertaking, but Jon makes the subject matter as accessible as it’s likely to be. After the course, you’ll not only possess a foundational understanding of neural nets, but also Jon’s compilation of resources for your continued self-experimentation. Jon’s approachability as an instructor, his unabashed love of this cutting-edge science, and his genuine interest in seeing his students advance their understanding could not place you in better hands.

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I have more than 15 years of experience working in supply chain and I took the bootcamp with the idea of updating my data analysis skills and obviously also learn about machine learning, clustering, algorithms, etc. and I can say that it was totally worth it. The material, explanations and projects are really very interesting and challenging.

The main reason I choose this school was because it was the most professional one, most of the teachers had been there for a long time and they don't switch instructors in the middle of the cohort as most other schools.

A normal day is, usually, theory for about 3 hours in the morning and then practice and homeworks in the afternoon.

The part that I liked more is that the school really support the students in making sure we learn but also are able to create a very friendly and collaborative environment. I made really great friends!!

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The reason I picked this Bootcamp over the other's was that after talking to the admission office they seem to be really serious about what they were teaching and the people they admit to their program. In my case, I was looking for a challenging environment where I could develop my programming skills and learn new skills in the data science world and the academy helped me achieve what I was looking for and much more.

The academy instructors are very well prepared and passionate about what they do. The only downside is that given only 12 weeks is hard to understand every single thing they are teaching, for example, one day you are learning Random Forest and the next day you are learning something different. But something that they planned really well and is really helpful is that since you are learning Machine Learning in R and Python when switching to the other language the theory remains the same only the code changed, so in a way, you are reviewing theory twice.

The whole experience was incredible, the people that attended my cohort were very smart people coming from different backgrounds like finance, physics, business, engineering, to name a few and from top universities like Harvard, Oxford, Cornell and also different countries which made the whole experience much more interesting. What I enjoyed the most was that working with these different people made you look at data from very different perspectives and in result have a richer analysis of a simple dataset.

After the Bootcamp feel ready to start looking for a data science job, I was already in a quantitive field but this program has really helped me gain that confidence I needed to have a career change.

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NYC Data Science Academy was my first choice because of my interest in data science, and their reputation as the best data science program. They did not disappoint.

As a recently separated veteran with a master's degree in physics, I was looking for a way to renew my credentials for employment in the technology sector. A friend of mine told me about his successful full-stack engineering boot camp experience and subsequent employment, so I began doing some research. I did not know what data science was, at the time, but I read about it on Course Report, and it seemed like a perfect fit for me, so I signed up. 

NYCDSA is exactly as advertised: an intensive program on data science methodology aimed at students from a wide variety of backgrounds. With my background in physics, math, and C++ and Java coding, I felt that the Python and R syntax taught at NYCDSA was not too difficult. Other students were less prepared but often did okay anyhow. The course began with Python and R syntax for handling and visualizing data, and then continued with machine learning methods in both languages as well. SQL and Docker were also covered, but rather briefly. At the end of the course, deep learning and Tensorflow were introduced, as well as Spark and Hadoop. I would have preferred that more time be dedicated to those topics, but this is a three-month boot camp, so time is limited. Nevertheless, given the allotted time, I feel that I have achieved an incredible amount, and I'm very happy with my experience. Boot camp is not cheap in either time or money, but this one was well worth both. I intend to continue building on the knowledge, experience, portfolio, and network that I have accumulated at NYCDSA as a professional data scientist.

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I needed the shortest path to pivot from a research position in physics to a career in data science.  I considered grad school, but I have a family, and I need to be there for my kids during their developmental years.  NYC Data Science Academy offered an effective restructuring of skills over the course of three months.  Not only did I learn skills in data sctructures, statistics, coding, and machine learning, but I also learned skills necessary in the job-hunting process.  The support that was given to me during my time at NYCDSA was instrumental in receiving a job offer from a well-stablished company in financial services.

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Enrolling in the NYCDSA is easily one of the best decisions I have made, not only in my professional career but also in my life.  Being of a statistics background, I knew that programming knowledge was critical when trying to utilize math to solve real-world problems. During my undergraduate years, virtually everything I did mathematically was done by hand. This was a massive constraint because although one may be capable of solving a problem correctly by hand, it is difficult to truly understand how to it is used in the real-world without any true form of automation. After a lot of research into graduate schools, bootcamps, and program offerings with a Data Science focus, I decided to go with NYCDSA based on the consensus of positive reviews I received. During my time there, I was refreshed on advanced statistics, learned a plethora of programming languages that I now feel very comfortable using to build large-scale projects, and even developed my presentation skills tremendously since every project had to be presented in front of a class that included a panel of highly-skilled Data Scientist. Consequently, this helped me feel confident throughout my entire interview process and land my dream job in Data Science. They say hindsight is 20-20, and although I couldn't have said that I was sure this was going to be the outcome coming into the program, I can say now that it was easily one of the most pivotal decisions I have ever made in my entire life.

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I did some research on data science online (Course report and switchup) before I made a decision.  I chose NYCDSA because they covered both Python and R, their instructors are knowledgeable and professional, and comprehensive curriculum. Especially I have to use both R and Python in my work, so I think knowing both languages will open more opportunities when looking for a job.

NYC Data Science Academy did a great job of helping me acquire the necessary skills in Data Science before, during, and after the bootcamp. The pre-bootcamp materials helped me get familiar with the essential R/Python coding skills and speeded up the learning curve during the bootcamp. I highly recommend whoever wants to join a bootcamp should get prepare before the bootcamp, and NYCDSA does a great job in providing necessary materials in R/Python coding.

During the bootcamp, the course work is very intensive. Although I already have coding experience and mathematical background, I still need to spend at least 12 hrs a day to study and finish homework and projects.  However, the instructors and TAs are doing their best to ensure everyone can get the most out of the courses.  As a remote student, I can't meet them in person, and they are still very responsive through messages or video meetings. During the bootcamp, I finished four projects to showcase my skills. One of them is solving the real business problem from the company, which is valuable when I was looking for a job. The academy also teaches you how to express your projects during the interview.

They have a robust professional network and hold a hiring event one week after each cohort. You will have the opportunity to expand your network and show your skills to various companies that are looking for data scientists or data analysts. They also dedicated to supporting you find a great job. Vivian did a fantastic job helping me with my interview processes and giving me valuable feedback.

Overall, I have a very positive experience with NYCDSA. I was suspicious if a bootcamp can make me transit into a data scientist when I looked for a data scientist bootcamp. However, I found a great job a month after I finished the bootcamp. This program is worth the hard work I put. I am glad that I made this decision a half year ago. 

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I graduated at the end of March(Cohort 16).
Before having the bootcamp, I have no coding or computer science related background. I thought I would fail and not able to get into the industry.
However, after I took the bootcamp, I learned a lot of coding and Data Science related skills, and this academy has changed my life.
While I was in the Bootcamp, I made a lot of friends and everyone including staff are so kind.
After graduating from the program, NYCDSA still provides the best career support and connection to help every one of us to get a job.
They really care about every one of the students, and this makes me feel like a home.
The feeling here is irreplaceable, and this is one of the important things an academy should have.

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