Is Dataquest Worth It?

When Vik Paruchuri decided to relocate from Boston to the Bay Area, he knew the apartment search would be difficult. "I realised that a lot of finding an apartment comes down to timing," he explained. A single minute can mean the difference between obtaining and losing your dream apartment.

To stay ahead of the competition, Vik enlisted the assistance of a real estate agent who could notify him of any property that matched his preferences to a T on a daily basis.

Vik, a machine learning engineer and the founder of data skills learning platform Dataquest, automated the apartment search by creating a real estate agent who never sleeps: a chatbot.

Data Science Is Practical

The most valuable resource on the planet is no longer oil; it is data. However, data, like oil, has little market value when it is untapped. To put it another way, its worth grows with use.

Enter data scientists, the most prolific data users who use their skills in data refinement and analysis to solve real-world problems. At the time, Vik's issue was the stressful process of house hunting. With his data science knowledge, he followed a four-step process that involved scraping Craigslist listings 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The chatbot was the end result.

"I found a great apartment in San Francisco using this bot for more than I hoped to pay, but less than I thought a one-bedroom [apartment] in SF would end up costing," he explained. "It also took me a lot less time than I had anticipated."

More specifically, it only took him one week to find a place that met all of his personal criteria, including neighbourhood and proximity to public transportation.

What Makes Dataquest Worth It? Hear from Dataquest Students

The moral of the story is simple: it pays to be knowledgeable about data.

This is the message that Dataquest hopes to instil in its students. Thousands of Dataquest students have followed in Vik's footsteps, graduating with a portfolio of data science projects that clearly demonstrate the skills they learned at Dataquest.

Having said that, the majority received more than a portfolio.

According to the 2020 Dataquest Outcomes Report, 90% of Dataquest students went on to work in data-related fields after finishing their training. Others were able to find work.

Dataquest Prepares You for a Job

When Victoria enrolled in Dataquest's data science courses, she wasn't actively looking for work. She simply wanted to gain a better understanding of data analysis, a field she was interested in while pursuing a bachelor's degree in neuroscience.

The irony of Victoria's story is that Dataquest prepared her for a job before she even applied for one.

"I worked through the Dataquest projects." "I went through the lesson paths and kept up with the new content as [Dataquest] updated the platform during the year or so that I was a subscriber," Victoria explained. "Eventually, I stated on LinkedIn that I was available to recruiters."

A recruiter message, an interview, a redirect to her GitHub with a summary of the Dataquest guided projects she completed, and a week. That was all it took for Victoria to land a job as a data analyst at a publishing company, a position she has held for the past two years.

"That's the power of a data science education, and that's the power of a Dataquest education," Victoria explained. "This job came to me."

Finding the Best Markets to Advertise in is a Dataquest Guided Project Highlight.
"The [company] was very enthusiastic about [the project]," Victoria said, describing how the hiring manager was particularly interested in one of Dataquest's guided projects. "I would absolutely highlight that project as being particularly applicable to real-world data analytics and data science applications out in the wild."

The project's premise is straightforward. To begin, imagine yourself as a data scientist for an e-learning company specialising in technical courses. Now, tell me which two markets you should advertise in to get the most traction with customers.

You will be working on target market analysis for the project, which is a process that assists data analysts in determining which groups of people the company should be speaking to. To complete the task, you must apply the skills you learned in Dataquest's Statistics Fundamentals in R course in a business context.

Dataquest fosters the development of relevant data science skills.

Francisco enrolled in Dataquest four years ago to learn how to better use Excel for data analysis. Nonetheless, the skills he developed during his training continue to be useful in his career.

Francisco, a former human resource analyst, now works as a senior data scientist for an online health insurance company. "Most of my work consists of putting machine learning models into production," he explained.

Francisco's path to his current position was not without bumps. Having said that, he emphasised that the importance of data skills cannot be overstated.

"Because Guatemala is not the most cutting-edge country, I began by looking at companies that might have large amounts of data," he explained, referring to his post-Dataquest job search experience. "I found some interesting companies, but their websites didn't have any job openings."

As a result, Francisco applied for any job he could find and let his data skills speak for themselves. "I'd get an interview for a marketing job, and then I'd talk about what I could do with data to help the company."

It was effective.

As the year came to a close, Francisco landed his first data scientist position, paving the way for his future in the field.

"Dataquest strikes a balance between being too easy and being so difficult that you get discouraged," Francisco said. "I definitely continue to use the skills I learned at Dataquest." "I use those abilities on a daily basis."

Dataquest Provides Affordably Priced and Practical Data Science Training

Miguel needed 8,000 euros (approximately $9,800) to secure a spot in one of Berlin's most prestigious data science bootcamps. In the end, Miguel spent only €250 (approximately $300) to obtain the same education at Dataquest.

Miguel had applied for a scholarship at the Berlin-based bootcamp, only to be turned down and told that, while his profile was good, it was not exceptional. "When I read that last line, I thought, 'Okay, this is when I'm going to show you I can do it on my own, without spending €8,000 at your school,'" he explained.

Miguel, determined to succeed, quit his job and enrolled in one of three Dataquest Career Paths: Data Scientist in Python. He didn't stop there, though. Miguel used every data science resource available to him, from blogs and YouTube tutorials to freelancing opportunities that were above his level of expertise.

"You shouldn't be concerned about that. 'Oh, it's too much for me, I can't do it,' you think at times. "However, just go for it," he advised. "That's how I believe people learn." Instead of spending your day reading, you should do [it]. It's important to read as well, but you also need to get your hands dirty."

Miguel began applying for data science jobs only halfway through his Dataquest training. "To my surprise, I received a lot of positive responses," he said, adding that he made it all the way to the final stage of the interview process for four different companies.

Miguel had landed a job as a data analyst for Berlin-based digital media specialist Plista by the end of it.

"[Dataquest] was extremely helpful," Miguel said. "Especially the projects, which enabled me to begin building a Github portfolio." And the community is fantastic. Dataquest's Slack [community] is fantastic. The guys there taught me a lot. There is always new information coming in."

"I also like the platform," he added. "There's this psychological thing where you always want to improve your score, percentage, and accomplishments..."

Miguel advanced to a big data analyst role in one of Europe's leading Internet TV providers after nearly two years as a data analyst.

According to Miguel, the moral of the story is that "you don't really need to spend $10,000 on a bootcamp." It can't be your only choice. Some believe, "It's my only option because I'll get the contacts and work with other people."

"You can also learn that online and still get a job."

Cost Highlights for Dataquest: Free and Paid Subscription Plans

Dataquest's Free Subscription Plan gives any data learner a head start. You can use this plan to learn from Dataquest's free courses and practise solving hundreds of practise problems.

When you're ready for more difficult challenges, upgrade to Dataquest's Premium Subscription Plan. Pay $49 per month or $399 annually to save $189. The Premium Plan grants you access to all of Dataquest's data science courses and guided projects, both of which have proven popular among former Dataquest students.

The Verdict: Being a Dataquest student pays off.

Building their data skills with Dataquest paved the way for Victoria, Francisco, and Miguel to land their current jobs. Dataquest remains an accessible choice for data learners, offering practical and realistic training as well as affordable learning plans.

Take our word for it, but don't take our word for it. Let's take a look at the numbers.

Alumni Outcomes at Dataquest

Dataquest collected data from 656 learners in 2020 to gain a better understanding of how Dataquest training impacted their lives. The results were encouraging.

According to the 2020 Dataquest reviews, 97 percent of respondents would recommend the platform to anyone seeking career advancement. This is an improvement over the 2019 Dataquest reviews.

Ninety percent of them have moved into jobs that require data skills, and 91 percent have seen a positive return on their investment. This includes a $30,000 per year median salary increase for those who reported a salary change after Dataquest.

Almost all students, 97 percent, achieved their objectives in less than a year after joining Dataquest.

Data Learning Is Usable

Data science is a hands-on discipline. So it stands to reason that it should be learned through the practical application of data science skills and theories.

Dataquest excels in this area by designing learning paths that are firmly based on exposing students to real datasets and encouraging them to build real-world projects from start to finish. Of course, there's the added benefit of advancing to data science and analytics jobs.

So, are you ready to start working on your data science project? Or do you want to get a head start in your data career? You might be able to do both with Dataquest.