Im in the process of learning Python and what it is exactly…and i was given the link to datacamp to start my journey…and I’ve tried sooo hard but I just can not catch on…and I hate to say it but I feel like the context isn’t that great, everything seems all over the place and it’s just kind of deflating and discouraging…should I check something else out? Has anybody else had this experience???

I will be starting my MSBA this Fall and wanted to spend the next few months building my programming skills. I wanted to know if a data camp subscription (costs $75/year on sale) is the best way to do this. I will be a beginner with very limited exposure.

Additionally, how do I practice the skills I’ve built. I’ve heard about kaggle data sets but I don’t know how I can use them.

Any other suggestions about resources or tips in general are welcome.

Hey everyone, I'm looking for the most efficient way to learn Python, I'm torn between Codecademy and DataCamp as the main options. Do you think this comparison is accurate https://self-starters.com/datacamp-vs-codecademy/? I want to start a side project for data analysis written in Python but I don't want to change my career.

Can anyone share their experiences with either or both? I'm particularly interested in which one offers a more comprehensive and beginner-friendly approach to learning Python. Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help.

I don't know what subreddit is best for this post. Sorry if it's not this one.

So I'm a data analyst, not a data scientist. I just finished grad school (not data science) and I'm between jobs and about to move to a new city, so I've been taking the last few weeks to go through Datacamp's material fairly intensely (~4 hours a day) to upgrade my skills before I get my hopes and dreams crushed by the job market.

...

The first thing I noticed about Datacamp was that they did a lot of stuff for me. I'd open up an exercise and most of the code had been written already, with a couple of spaces with '____' where I should fill in the right answer. I thought this was really frustrating, because there was never any point in the process where they explained to me why we needed to perform whatever operation it was. I'm like 50 hours in, and I'm not sure I could do any of this without Datacamp's prompting. I think this is the worst part of the Datacamp curriculum. I feel that I'm paying Datacamp to teach me Python syntax and when to use it (not just how to use it), and I feel like I'm not learning either of those things.

Second, although Datacamp courses offer short video segments that putatively "teach" the course, the exercises were essentially big text boxes. Oftentimes the video and text would be somewhat out of sync, and sometimes it felt like entire sections had been omitted between text and video. This made watching the videos almost completely optional, and considering most of them are shorter than 5 min, there was never enough time to substantively introduce the material anyway.

Third, the exercises rarely feel practical. There are some nice real-world datasets used, but because of what I describe in my first paragraph, it's hard to actually interface with them. You're not really working with them yourself. Beyond that, it doesn't feel like Datacamp spends a lot of time trying to motivate the problem. Why do we need to take this approach, etc. There are often domain-specific considerations that influence how the problem may best be solved, and that stuff is completely omitted. This ends up meaning that these supposedly practical exercises end up anything but.

I had a really long paragraph here about how I dislike their two-part statistics course. TL;DR: I thought the treatment of linear regression was really shallow and incomplete (there's no mention of residuals at all, for example), and I thought leaving out multiple and logistic regression meant it didn't provide enough for students to actually learn how to work with data. I've never worked as a data scientist, but I understand that those two are important. They're already super useful as an analyst.

That's not to say that Datacamp is terrible. I really liked some of the data viz stuff they've got (Seaborn and Bokeh are awesome), and I think their first couple of intro to Python courses are helpful. I've heard great things about their R courses, as well. And Datacamp has got a great platform for what they're doing.

I'm certainly going to finish my month of Datacamp, but I don't think I'll be resubscribing. I know it's kind of a cheap shot, but I feel like I might subscribe to one of their competitor products in the hope that they can teach me more of the syntax and thought process behind this stuff. I'm disappointed to be paying somebody to teach me, only to have to Google what they're supposed to be teaching.

Hello guys I was able to complete the practical exam today on my 4th attemp (last one before restarting the process). I'm so happy, I feel obliged to retribute, since there were people that helped me through the comments, let me know if you have any questions.

Hello fellow Data engineers,

I hope you're well.

I want to know if datacamp it's still worth it in 2024. I know the basics of SQL, Snowflake, Mysql and Postgres, but I have many difficults with python, pandas and Pyspark. Do you commend Datacamp or do you know another website where you can really improve your skills with projects?

Thank you and have a nice week. :)

I ripped through the SQL courses recently and loved them. I feel like I learned a ton of great info and feel confident in my ability to code and gather data in SQL.

However, I’m wondering… are the Python courses as good? There are so many of them, so I’m wondering how helpful they are.

What do you think of the Python courses? Did they turn you into a skilled programmer?

I know people asks a lot about code learning platforms but I haven't found a good answer yet.
I'm a biologist and I want to learn coding mainly for data science and data analysis (ideally from basic stuff like graph making and statistics all the way up to transcriptomics); I would like to learn both R and Python.
So far by checking several posts and reviews, I have made a shortlist of platforms that seem to be good according to the community but I can't decide on which one to spend my money on (ofc ideally I don't want to pay more than one!). So if you were to choose among these platforms, which one would pick?
-Datacamp
-Codeacademy
-Dataquest
-Udemy
-Or should I just go free with Freecodecamp?
I know there won't be an ultimate answer but I want to gather more information before committing to a platform. Please let me know your opinions and experiences! Strong opinions are specially welcome!

This review is updated based on DataCamp 2021 (for those wondering if the website has changed).

My story with DataCamp started in the 2020 lockdown. We have received from our university a confirmation of joining a Datathon and at the same time, a free 6 months subscription.

My goal was to become a Data Scientist or Analyst, however, I was not sure how to do it.

An arabic proverb says, "if it's free, benefit from it". So I did exactly that. I started my "Data Scientist Track with Python", doubting whether it might be a highly valuable certificate to obtain.

The amount of hours required to finish the full track did not motivate me at the beginning, however, I kept pushing. Day after day, hour after hour.

I stayed on track with a minimal goal of one chapter per day on my bad days and one course or more per day on my good days. It was not easy, I cannot hide that. Some days, it would take me 2 hours to finish one chapter (procrastination) and some other days, I used to rage quit because of not being able to find the solution. However, as James Clear says in his book "The Atomic Habit", 1% of progress per day is better than 0. Because, compounding growth.

Fast forward a year from those days, I am a proud Data Analyst. I did two internships at Big4 companies (due to the skillset I acquired from DataCamp). So was it worth it? Hell yeah it was!

So, been learning some DE concepts (DW, Data Lakes, etc) But i really struggle with coding, and did some DataCamp free material, i really liked It Have any of you used the Premium version? Is It worth It?

Hello all programmers,

I am a cs student who is currently very interested in focusing on data science or data engineering and I came to ask for advice from people who are currently working on how I can continue learning. I was looking around and I saw that data camp is a good option, what do you think.

Edit: Do you know of any other better teaching platform?

Btw sorry if my english is bad I am not from an english speaking country :p

I have updated my initial blog on whether DataCamp is worth it or not.

I tried to answer as many frequently asked questions in a concise way. All my answers are based on my own reflection and research (the facts will be easy to identify, my opinions are also easy to identify).

The reader should keep in mind that DataCamp will not get you the job you want; it is an upskilling tool. Does it serve its purpose? Yes, it does. Is it an ultimate/free-pass tool to get a job? Absolutely not.

Please if you have any more questions you would like to be answered let me know. I wouldn't mind answering you directly on this post (and get inspiration to update the blog).

In summary:

I am a master of AI student who had 0 to basic coding experience in Python (Bachelors of Civil Engineering). I started learning on DataCamp the career track titled "Data Scientist Track With Python". It gave me a huge boost to start my career in data analysis and data science.

The next courses I am planning to take are in Data Engineering (It would boost my experience for the job).

Hello to everyone reading!!!

My name is Andrew I am 19 years old student.

Considering to start learning code and now I am picking the platform to start and stick with it at least a month to learn the basics of the basics.

Googled many websites like Udemy/Youtube/DataCamp/CodeAcademy/Brilliant

Udemy - Offer various videos and courses about many topics and good quality, but you do not have an option to interact with the code at the real time. I am writing down all I learned and then use PyCharm

YouTube - The same as Udemy, but in my opinion offer more basics quality video but its free.

DataCamp - I tried the free version of it. Until now it was an entertaining experience, But the trial ended and now it's 25bucks a month. Its offer a real time practice about what you learn and have good UX.

CodeAcademy - Used the paid option in the past. Lasted for a month(I think it's a problem in me and not the website). Plenty courses and topics to learn. Giving a good practice about what you learn even sometimes I googled things.

Brilliant - The best UX experience until now. But it's more about logical thinkings and less really coding. Should I consider it like secondary source?? (And that coming with paid subscription)?

WHAT TO PICK??? (OR I AM TOO MUCH TRYHARD ABOUT IT?)

Thanks to everyone helping me out!!!!!!

Hi all! I just started the associate data scientist with python career track and I think it was a great decision, so I want to share my initial experience and the resources I've found so far. Also, if anybody is taking that too, it'd be cool to share resources and ideas along the way.

My background is management and english is my second language so I may be taking a bit longer to grasp coding but overall I don't find the career track too challenging yet. I like that it gives me a lot of courses that can be taken sequentially, that way I can avoid the (huge) decision fatigue of having to pick and choose courses, books and projects along the way.

For context, I went straight to data science even though it's harder than data analysis for me because (1) it seems more intellectually and financially rewarding on the long run, (2) I don't think it's a good idea to make a lot of effort to get a data analyst job so I can make a lot of effort again to get a data science job, it's just overkill for me, and (3) because I think that, in the long-term, if I don't use it in my regular jobs, I'll still be able to do way better with masters or PhD research.

For data-related careers, to me, datacamp seems like the best option so far because the yearly subscription is not very expensive (monthly can be costly though), it's very interactive so I don't get bored (MOOCs are the death of me, I get so bored that I become restless and start doing something else), comes with suggested projects that will allow you to actually learn and to showcase your skills (a lot of those on the python track) and you can even get certified with no further cost.

I got the $1 for the first month promo so that was nice but honestly, if you're considering a data related career path seriously, I'd recommend you just pay the full year and get done with it, there are way worse options out there.

There are tons of online resources to supplement your learning, and a lot of them are free. I actually started with one I would recommend if you want to learn python interactively, https://pythonprinciples.com/purchase/, because they usually charge $29 but apparently they're giving it away for free these days.

I've found additional resources (lots of free stuff) on classcentral's best course guides for python and data science (there are guides for AI, machine learning, applied machine learning and calculus too), and on a few youtube channels: alex the analyst, sundas khalid, and python programmer. I haven't tried kaggle yet, but it seems like the go-to tool for getting started with project building. But keep in mind that I wouldn't sweat it with the additional resources at the beginning unless you need those to actually grasp the concepts or to drill them into your head with extensive practice.

Also, I just ask chatgpt for exercise answers, to correct my code, or even to explain solutions step by step if I struggle with something. It's been working wonders so far.

It seems like I'm promoting datacamp but honestly I'm just happy that I found learning materials that allow me to overcome procrastination and decision fatigue. So that's that, feel free to leave a question if you need a hand with something, good luck!

I learned about it recently and thought it looks good. I’m thinking to try and complete their ‘data science career track’ course which is ~90hrs. I just wanted to check if anyone thinks it’s a waste of time or if there are other better options.

I’m a PhD in neuroscience so I’m familiar with experimental design and statistics. My main goal is to become more fluent with python. Thanks

Just wondering if Datacamp is worth it.

I am nearly done with a second pass, this time with my daughter, on "Python Crash Course" as well as "Teach Your Kids To Code," both books by No Starch Press. With that said I have enjoyed the free classes on DataCamp, which has been a great way to reacquaint myself with things that I've learned in the books. I'm just not sure if it's worth the money, without really diving into the deeper learning that it claims to provide. I have done some youtube projects, mostly Sentdex, but the struct and "testing" has been a nice feature of DataCamp.

Anyone with some experience with the site or the company?

As the title suggests, there are a lot of good reviews on Datacamp, however, i've taken courses on edx before and they are amazing. There are a few from MIT and IBM etc.

for a beginner, what would you recommend and why?