Nice list of Data Science Bootcamp Programs – Posted by Ikechukwu Okonkwo

Thank you Ikechukwu Okonkwo for creating the original post.

The Brussels Data Science Community is setting up a 12 week Boot Camp, if you want to participate follow this link.

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Data Science Bootcamp Programs – Full TIme, Part Time and Online

I’ve gotten a lot of inquires on options to move into Data science. This is my attempt to answer that question. If I excluded any programs from this, please feel free to ping me. You’ll see that there are quite a few options and you need to find the best fit based on your profile. This list does not include any university programs.

Everyone seems to reference the quote from Google Economist Hal Varian “Being a statistician is the sexiest job of the 21st century” and the McKinsey report about the shortage in Data Science talent.

Here we go…

Full Time

Zipfian Academy : This is not a 0-60 school. It’s more like 40-80. They are currently about to graduate their second cohort.

Notes : Of all the Data Science bootcamps, Zipfian has the most ambitious curriculum. Graduates from the first cohort are currently working in Data Scientist roles across the Bay Area. I’m currently part of the second cohort
Location : San Francisco, CA
Requirement : Familiar with programming, statistics and math. Quantitative background
Duration : 12 weeks

Update : Since the initial post went up a few months ago, Zipfian Academy has added two more programs

Data Engineering 12 – week Immersive : This follows the same format as the Data Science Immersive. The first cohort for this program will start January 2015

Notes : This follows the same format as the Data Science Immersive
Location : San Francisco, CA
Requirement : Quantitative / Software Engineering background
Duration : 12 weeks

Data Fellows 6 – week Fellowship : The first cohort for the fellows program will start Summer 2014

Notes : This program is free for accepted fellows
Location : San Francisco, CA
Requirement : Significant Data Science Skills, Quantitative background
Duration : 6 weeks

Also see a recent google hangout explaining these new programs : Zipfian Academy Data Fellows Program – Information Session

Insight Data Science : Accepts only PhDs or PostDocs. They have completed 5 cohorts in Palo Alto and are opening up a new class in New York this summer. From their website, it does look like they have almost perfect placement. It is project based self directed learning, so if you need some hand holding or you’re not already very familiar with the material this may not be the program for you

Notes : No Fees, pays Stipend
Location : Palo Alto, CA / New York, NY
Requirement : PhD / PostDoc
Duration : 6 weeks

Insight Data Engineering : They’ll enroll the first cohort this summer. Bootcamp will focus on the data engineering track. It is project based self directed learning, so if you need some hand holding or you’re not already very familiar with the material this may not be the program for you

Notes : No Fees
Location : Palo Alto, CA
Requirement : strong background in math, science and software engineering
Duration : 6 weeks

The Data Incubator : Accepts only STEM PhDs or PostDocs. The first class is starting summer 2014.

Notes : No Fees
Location : New York, NY
Requirement : PhD / PostDoc
Duration : 6 weeks

Data Science Retreat : Follows the same format as Zipfian but is based in Europe

Notes : Curriculum is mostly in R, though they support other languages (python, clojure, julia ). They have tiered pricing for the class, so you can pay for which tier meets your needs
Location : Berlin
Requirement : Experience with programming, databases, R, Python
Duration : 12 weeks

Data Science For Social Good : hosted by the University of Chicago. The students work with non-profits, federal agencies and local governments on projects that have a social impact

Notes : they focus on civic projects or projects with social impact
Location : Chicago, IL
Requirement : It looks like they target academics (undergraduate and graduate students)
Duration : 12 weeks

Metis Data Science Bootcamp : This looks like its modeled after the Zipfian program from a duration / structure / curriculum stand point. It is owned by Kaplan which also recently acquired Dev Bootcamp. Looks like the big .edu players are trying to make a play for the tech bootcamp space

Notes : It enrolls the first cohort Fall 2014
Location : New York, NY
Requirement : Familiarity with Statistics and Programming
Duration : 12 weeks

Data Science Europe Bootcamp : This looks like its modeled after the Insight program. Select a small group of very smart people with advanced degrees and help them get ready for Data Science roles in 6 weeks.

Notes : It enrolls the first cohort January 2015. Also if you don’t receive an offer for a quantitative job with 6 months of completing the course, you’ll receive a full refund on tuition paid
Location : Dublin, Ireland
Requirement : Quantitative Degree, Programming knowledge and Statistics background. It looks like they prefer graduate students and Post Docs but are open to applications from undergrads.
Duration : 6 weeks

Science to Data Science : They accept only PhDs / Post Docs or those close to completing their PhD studies. We are seeing more bootcamps adopt this model.

Notes : It enrolls the first cohort August 2014. There is a small registration fee for the course otherwise the program is free for participants
Location : London, UK
Requirement : PhD / Post Doc
Duration : 5 weeks

NYC Data Science Academy : This looks like its also modeled after the Zipfian 12 week immersive. Another option for non-postdocs on the east coast looking to make the transition to Data Science

Notes : It enrolls the first cohort February 2015. Just looking at the curriculum, it appears well thought out and seems to cover a lot of breadth. They focus on R and Python and spend significant amounts of the course time covering both ecosystems.
Location : Manhattan, NY
Requirement : Looks like they prefer people with STEM advanced degrees or equivalent experience in a Quantitative discipline or programming
Duration : 12 weeks

Microsoft Research Data Science Summer School : targets upper level undergraduate students attending college in the New York area. Program instructors are research scientists from Microsoft Research

Notes : Each student receives a stipend and a laptop
Location : New York, NY
Requirement : upper level undergraduate students interesting in continuing to graduate school in computer science or related field or breaking into Data Science
Duration : 8 weeks

Part Time

General Assembly – Data Science : San Francisco / New York. Part time program over 11 weeks (2 evenings a week)
Hackbright – Data Science San Francisco. Full Stack Data Science class over one weekend
District Data Labs : Washington DC. Data workshops and project based courses on weekends
Persontyle : London, UK. Offering R based Data Science short classes
Data Science Dojo : Silicon Valley, CA / Seattle, WA / Austin, TX. Offering data science talks, tutorials and hands on workshops and are looking to build a data science community
AmpCamp : This is run by UC Berkeley AMPLab. Over two days, attendees learn how to solve big data problems using tools from the Berkeley Data Analytics Stack. The event is also live streamed and archived on YouTube
DataInquest : Silicon Valley, CA. They organize hands on tutorials / training on big data technologies. They offer three different courses and cover quite a variety of the latest technologies. Session run on weekends
NextML
BitBootCamp

Online
If you have enough time and patience to work through problems yourself, some of these resources will get you started with Data Science.

These bootcamps are popping up and thriving because there is currently an imbalance between demand and supply of Data Science talent and the acceptance rates at some of full time bootcamps are anywhere from 1 in 20 to 1 in 40

p.s : I need to stress that with any of the programs listed above, you need to do your due diligence and ask the tough questions to find out if it’s a good fit for you. You probably want to be on the look out for programs that are not transparent about their placement.

Update 1 – 05/14 : Added the new Zipfian programs, Persontyle
Update 2 – 07/14 : Added Metis, Data Science Europe, Science to Data Science
Update 3 – 08/14 : Added Data Science Dojo
Update 4 – 10/14 : Added AMPLab

Update 5 – 11/14 : Added Coursera/UIUC, Udacity Data Analyst Nanodegree, Thinkful, DataInquest

Update 6 – 12/14 : Added NYC Data Science Academy
Update 7 – 01/15 : Added Next.ML, Bitbootcamp, DataQuest