Notices tagged with datacamp
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 28-May-2025 11:16:40 JST 
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
#DataCamp also has a small jobs section (data science / data analyst mostly). When I see one that posts the salary range, they're always quite a bit more than I have ever made in my life. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a single one where taking X number of DataCamp courses (or even some tracks and taking their proprietary skills certifications) would be enough to advance one to job candidate status. If I want more dollars than I know what to do with, I have to get data science work experience first. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 28-May-2025 10:58:22 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Again, when I talk about #DataCamp, it isn't to trash-talk them. I sincerely believe that if you go into it knowing what it is like, you can counteract the worst parts by setting your own plan and schedule. Use them as a tool, with YOU in control, not their track planning person. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 28-May-2025 10:53:41 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
So ... #DataCamp.
I decided to finish a couple of #RLang "tracks" before I refocus on the SQL and Python career tracks that I think will be most beneficial, and it has taken much, much longer than I expected.
R and many of its libraries are very inconsistent. But more importantly, few of their R-related courses start at the beginning and lay things out step-by-step. In fact, more than a year after I started with DataCamp was when I first ran into a course that did this. (It was amazing, and so far, I think I've encountered four of them. So finally, "aes" isn't some magic that I have to struggle to remember, it is the aesthetics of a graph / chart.)
So okay, when you take courses at your local community college, they set out the courses for each level based on levels. Learning C? There's an intro to C, followed by Intermediate C (which may be broken into multiple courses and using different names). There may also be an advanced C course. Most of them will have one or more prerequisites, so that you already understand the topics covered by those courses before you take the one you're interested in.
If you're taking the ACS (applied computer science ... may be computer information systems, management information systems, information systems management, information technology, or similar names) program, they'll have a list of which ones are required (which may have prerequisites).
Unfortunately, DataCamp isn't designed that way. It's rather haphazard, with three to fifteen four-hour courses arranged in one of around 30-40 "tracks" that mostly don't have prereqs arranged so that one has / acquires the underlying background before they take a course.
Other: DataCamp has a "pay per year" system which encourages people to take as many courses and tracks as they can and fails to encourage people to take time to do side projects using the skills their courses have covered. It may be good for them: We have X number of users, and most of them complete Y courses per year. It isn't good for their customer / students: No time to grab a few datasets, do some exploratory data analysis, then develop a hypothesis and go through the process to determine whether the dataset(s) support that hypothesis. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Sunday, 30-Mar-2025 14:12:51 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
So ... #DataCamp ... The most recent course was the most understandable course I've ever taken from them. This is #rlang + #tidyverse + #dplyr + #ggplot2 ... the guy didn't assume I knew anything, so he explained everything from the beginning. Also, the exercises expected one to put in everything. Exercises began with:
library(dplyr)
library(ggplot2)
and so on, so it wasn't mystery functions that just appear in the environment.
And that convinces me that the issues I'm having with their courses are mostly sourced in their educational methodologies.
Now, I don't want to scare anyone off from trying DC. But at this stage of my life, their methods don't work so well with my brain.
On the other hand, the #Google + #Coursera Cybersecurity program and the #IBM + Coursera Backend Development program seem to do the opposite. Because of their target markets, they assume students don't have much relevant background and they give lots of effort covering the most basic things in great detail.
Which is good, but in some cases, it is hard to pay attention to things I've known for over twenty years. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Mar-2025 10:18:46 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Back in my uni days, I took extra math courses, including statistics, and had to apply them to marketing questions. Maybe I'm retroactively overestimating my skill, because the current #datacamp course (hypothesis testing in R) is pretty consistently above and outside of my understanding level. I know this is decades later, but despite my continued efforts, it doesn't seem to be getting any clearer. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 02:23:41 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Brandon (bthall, but I don't know which #Fediverse instance is his current home) paid for me to have another year of #DataCamp. He recently asked me whether I thought he should get another year for himself as part of trying to move to a different organization's data analysis department.
Since he does that already in his present job, he may just need to spin up some personal projects that are similar to his work stuff, just using the desired technologies / languages / tools. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Sunday, 09-Feb-2025 13:25:07 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
#DataCamp recently added a new gamification competition feature, trying to get people to use it consistently. But in this week's competition, it looks like one could almost reach the top 10 by doing a single practice quiz (250 XP) each day. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Friday, 20-Dec-2024 12:16:37 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
I compared #DataCamp to #DataQuest https://www.dataquest.io/
I felt like DQ's teaching method would be much faster and less prone to "I just did this in the prior course, but I can't recall a bit of it". However, DQ has only ~70 courses (versus 300+ on DataCamp) and won't tell you how much it costs without first creating an account. (Quite a scumbag marketing tactic. I'm supposing it is used to persuade clueless investors that DC's growth is unending.) -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 15:47:57 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Anyway, Brandon ( @bthall ) was talking about the incomes that data scientists make, and some of those numbers are way more than I've ever been paid. So I accepted his offer to pay for #DataCamp. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 15:42:55 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
So let's start with #DataCamp. I first heard of them because of https://www.datacamp.com/blog/an-important-update-from-the-datacamp-board-of-directors [www datacamp com] / https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/datacamp-sexual-harassment-metoo-tech-startup [buzzfeednews com]
@bthall (Brandon) and I discussed it a little bit at the time.
I haven't heard anything else about sexual harassment or assaults, so I presume that people's behavior changed.
So a year or so ago, Brandon offered to pay for a year of DataCamp in order to help me prepare for a better job in the future. (Yes, I know I'm old, but I have no pension or other benefits from my previous jobs. I expect to have to work for the rest of my life.) I looked it over and they cover many different things that have been on my "learn this" list for years.
Examples include #R-lang and #Julia-lang, but they even have a single #Scala-lang course. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 15:20:28 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
There's another track where I've completed all the courses except one. If it turns out that tomorrow is the end, I'll try to see whether I can squeeze out four hours to complete it before they shut me down.
And I'll get additional "XP" gamification points and I'll hit 175 consecutive days (with an asterisk ... after I hit 125 or so, they awarded me two free days, which came in handy when the Internet service was down for a day and a half and again when power was out for most of an evening.)
I don't really care about gamification points, as I don't see any advantage to them. I'm sure #DataCamp is seeing some increased engagement and interaction, or they'd probably drop it.
What mattered to me was trying to keep pushing that consecutive days number higher. Not just so I could see it on the site. Also because I know that I have to do the coursework regularly (such as every day) if I want to see results. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Dec-2024 15:11:36 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
So the #DataCamp subscription ends tonight or tomorrow (not sure which). I rushed and completed the track (Associate Python Developer) I was working on, but ran out of time to complete the bigger version or take the exam that shows whether I know what I'm doing (I don't! I'll explain in later posts under #DataCamp )
https://gnusocial.jp/tag/datacamp (some socnet sites [such as Friendica instances] will also create local to their site copies of known hashtags ... so you should be able to go to the local tag URL and see this entire series) -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 15:29:37 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
This is probably not a #DataCamp exclusive, but I can't recall when it has happened before.
After several hours of doing coursework, you get a page that just won't finish loading (neither the 'run code' nor the 'submit assignment' buttons load). Typically, when that happens, just go to bed and reload in the morning. (Reloading doesn't help ... I suspect that the company has to reset something, which gets downloaded when someone resets overnight / early morning.)
And it is Monday night / Tuesday morning, so there's not the "urgent" necessity for their technicians to do infrastructure work overnight ... I honestly think a server gets "stuck" -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Monday, 09-Dec-2024 12:57:35 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
It's sort of important that you don't misunderstand me. I'm not really trashing #Datacamp here. I feel like DC can be a useful tool for you *if* you start out by looking at https://www.datacamp.com/certification and https://www.datacamp.com/tracks/skill and https://www.datacamp.com/tracks/career and https://www.datacamp.com/courses-all before you start, so you can chart out a learning plan that doesn't overload you with courses that may not contribute much to your overall goal. You do have a goal, right? -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Monday, 09-Dec-2024 12:51:03 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Still working on finishing the track on #DataCamp. But I wanted to add a little more to this.
It took me most of a year to discover this, but I struggled mightily with data analysis functions in #Python + #Numpy + #Pandas, in #R-lang, and in #Julia-lang. #SQL was much easier to comprehend. But I've recently had a few courses where they were covering pure Python, without the data analysis packages, and that is totally different.
Even though I've barely touched Python in the past 20 years or so, it feel familiar and almost everything we do feels "natural". With the data analysis / data science content, it feels like there are dozens of nearly identically-named functions and methods, each with its own special syntax and list of arguments to pass to it.
fleep(ugarit=1, dopongo='nezhir', neeq=['bijoc', 'umbagula'])
and
floop(nsommus=17, dubunoid=['nezhir', 5, 'immertel'], neeq=['bijoc', 'umbagula'])
are easily mixed up and I always (no, seriously always) pick the wrong one first.
I guess that's not a DataCamp issue, but more of a problem with the tools being covered.
But DataCamp's methods don't help with this much. Each one-hour chapter of each four-hour course is supposed to be a sequence of bite-sized tools that one learns to use and then remembers it when it comes up again later. Unfortunately, it quickly turns into a big ball of mud. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Sunday, 08-Dec-2024 03:52:20 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Okay, still working on #DataCamp, but the first thing I've learned is that I *really* do not benefit from watching videos as compared to reading books. I watch a video, then immediately go into the exercises needing notes in order to recall any part of what I just watched.
Since the data science functions being studied (in Julia-lang, R-lang, and Python + numpy + pandas) consist of dozens of similarly-named functions and methods, each with its own very different set of arguments, they're already hard to keep sorted in my head. The video method doesn't help with that.
Now, this may just be me. One of my friends ("S") says she doesn't read well enough to use books as her primary learning channel. But even she had to buy some books to help with her own video-based learning. There are reasons that in-person college / university learning programs also feature textbooks as a major part of their learning. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Thursday, 05-Dec-2024 12:17:52 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
I'll try to write up a post-mortem of my #DataCamp experience later this month, after my subscription ends. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 04:00:59 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
@lnxw37j1 Hopefully, @bthall won't misinterpret this. I am genuinely glad he got me a year of #DataCamp. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Sunday, 01-Dec-2024 03:14:07 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Less than two weeks left of #DataCamp. I have learned a lot, including:
* I'm not really a "watch video" learner. I'll see something and immediately after the video I cannot remember what to enter.
* Many DC courses feel a little rough. "Plot this against that" doesn't always mean this is X and that is Y. Further, a lot of times, the exercises go beyond the video lecture, so I look up Python | R-lang | Julia | SQL commands to achieve the requested results, but they're usually not the commands DC wants me to use.
* Often, the instructions in DC exercises are just big gray blocks to me. I don't read them because the level of detail is too high. IRL, there's generally a sort of introduction / summary and a conclusion summary that can inform the early work. This allows details to wait until required.
Probably next step is to get physical books to continue, renew, and expand my learning. -
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Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw37j1@gnusocial.jp)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Nov-2024 12:13:36 JST
Linux Walt (@lnxw37j1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}
Less than a month left of the #DataCamp subscription. I need to look at the "professional" tracks and pick something that I can accomplish in that time.
Lots not to like ... in many ways, their courses and especially their practice exercises look like they hired a couple of college kids to build them over a weekend, then posted them without having an editor look them over.
In multiple courses under the subjects of Python, SQL, Julia, and R-Lang, the exercises will mis-spell a language keyword or some library function / method that is widely used in Data Science. In a couple, the answer is already entered into the question ... just select the choice that matches what they've just showed.
In the "real world" projects, they tend to go beyond what the courses have covered. Yet, they're opinionated about which functions / methods are used (and sometimes even the order they're used in). So you do some research, find some functions that produce the exact desired results, and the project is rejected because your research didn't uncover the desired functions to use.
Now, there's lots to like, too. For example, despite having both R-lang and Julia (and Scala) on my to-learn list for years, this was my first hands-on experience with all three.
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