After graduation I caught the attention of Teleperformance, an international company that offers business process outsourcing and consulting. They were looking for data analysts when I sent them my CV and they asked me to do a test assignment. Luckily, I had already done a similar project for Practicum, so I aced the task quite easily. They liked it and offered me a position there. And I said, ‘Yeah, why not?' I saw it as a first step to get more skills.

I was looking for the best place to learn more techniques and widen my knowledge, especially in deep learning. I chose this course as it can mediate the gap between academia and industry. This was exactly what I was looking for. I don’t have professional experience and the course gave me great background so I can bring a lot to the table in addition to my research background.

I joined Practicum, having a little experience in languages such as C, C++ and C#. The first thought I had on the course was that the working platform was great. I had already tried some other platforms, but I usually felt really bad with them. On the contrary with this one, I really had a good feeling. Theory was really clearly explained and exercises well structured. Without going long, only in the first month, I had learned the basics of Python and Pandas library. And just a bit later I found myself working on projects, being able to organize databases with thousand of records on my own. It was something absolutely amazing.

I went trough Data Preprocessing, Exploratory data analysis (this one super interesting, helped me to learn to draw stunning graphics with data), statistical data analysis and SQL in few months. After that, started the Data Science part. What I loved most about this one is the possibility to create machine learning algorithms and models. I had never thought, to get in such a short time to be able to do something like this.

Those were my experiences about the program, platform and lessons but Practicum is not only that, they have a platform to communicate among students where you can get help from tutors, support team and managers if you have any sort of problems. They are always there, ready to support you in continuing studying and helping you to be successful in the programm. A really big thanks to the entire team!

As a student of Practicum Data Science course, I feel it made a lot of contribution, even though I am at the beginning of the way. It is exciting to have a large number of projects, to have an intense but flexible schedule, to see your own development by doing projects after learning with theory and practices, and to feel yourself in the real IT life cycle. Thanks to the whole team.

Before attending Practicum I did not come a technical back nor a math background. I had been looking at bootcamps for some time and came across Practicum. After researching each of the different curriculums I decided that Data science is the one I was most interested in. Short after I started the full program I discovered a passion for data science I didn’t know that I had.

The coursework was beyond expectations. They didn’t assume you had knowledge of all the math behind algorithms and they didn’t use terminology that only professional mathematicians would know. The only skills you need to bring to this course are problem solving and googling. If you can do that effectively then you will make it through this course.

During the program they offer coursework to prepare for applying for jobs. They do not put you in contact with employers directly but they do show you great way to contact them yourself. The amount of job support you get is good for the price of the course and great when you consider they don’t have any ISAs or anything like that. In conclusion, if you are looking for a detailed bootcamp with great support from a big name in data science, you should try Practicum.

Frankly, I was not sure I would enjoy learning on my own but Practicum’s structure has allowed me to finally grasp things I have seen in other courses and Youtube videos but never really understood. I think there are 4 reasons why: the focus on hands-on practice, the content, support, and deadlines.

As a student, you have to constantly test your knowledge through small tasks and after each module, do projects that look holistically at what was learned so far. The content is non-intimidating (love the cute illustrations!) and simple to understand. No fancy words! The focus is on helping grasp the concept.

There is a lot of support from Practicum’s tutors and community manager but also from other students. Somehow I feel like we are part of a group trying to achieve something together despite working individually, helping each other when needed and celebrating each other’s win.

Finally, having a plan of action is great. Practicum facilitates this through a mix of realistic soft and hard deadlines to help you stay on track. Now, I can’t see myself ever taking an in-person bootcamp as I remember how often things would go over my head and I didn’t have the space and time to grasp a concept before moving on.