Is DataCamp Good for Learning Data Science or not in 2021?

“Is DataCamp Good for Learning Data Science?” This is the common question many data science enthusiasts have. Right…? That’s why in this article, I am gonna clear your all doubts regarding DataCamp. This article is my analysis of what is good and bad in DataCamp for data science learners. And Is DataCamp Good for Learning Data Science or not?

I hope this article will help you to decide whether you should go and buy DataCamp or not. So, without any further ado, let’s get started-

Is DataCamp Good for Learning Data Science?

What is DataCamp?

DataCamp is an online learning platform specially dedicated to data science. It is based on self-paced learning and has interactive courses, projects, and practice assignments in various programming languages such as Python, R, Sheets, SQL, and Shell.

DataCamp is founded by Belgian data scientists Jonathan Cornelissen, Martijn Theuwissen, and Dieter De Mesmaeker in 2014.

Now let’s cover the most important question that is- Is DataCamp Good for Learning Data Science?

Is DataCamp Worth it or not?

According to my experience, DataCamp is good for beginners and Intermediate Data Science learners. Why…? because DataCamp is fully dedicated to data science learners and has 344 interactive courses, 51 skill tracks, 14 career tracks, projects, and practice assignments.

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Now you might be thinking what are skills tracks and career tracks?

Right…?

So, let’s see in the next section-

Mode of Learning

In most online learning platforms, we don’t know how to begin, what to learn first, etc. But DataCamp makes this task easier. DataCamp designed various Career Tracks and Skills Tracks so that you will not get confused. These career tracks and skill tracks are nothing but a career path that will guide you on what to learn next.

Sounds interesting, right…?

Now you might be thinking what is the difference between the Career track and the Skill track. So, let’s understand what is Career Track and Skill Track-

Career Tracks-

As I mentioned earlier that DataCamp has 14 career tracks for each role such as Data Scientist with Python, Data Scientist with R, Data Analyst with Python, etc. You can choose three programming languages from R, Python, and SQL.

As you can see in the below image-

Each career track has some set of courses. For example in Data Scientist with Python Career track, there are 29 courses and start with basic skills to advanced skills-

So if you are a complete beginner with no idea what to learn first, then career tracks will definitely help you in the correct direction of learning. I believe that DataCamp’s Career Tracks are one of the most cost-effective online training programs for learning data science with Python, R, or SQL.

Now let’s see what are skill tracks and how they are different from career tracks.

Skill Tracks-

DataCamp has 52 Skill tracks and is designed to gain some specific skills such as Data Visualization, Statistics, etc. Skill Tracks are approximately similar to career tracks but with different intent. In the skill track, you will get a sequence of courses with hands-on-keyboard exercises to master a specific skill set such as Text Mining, Data Manipulation, Data Visualization, etc.

Courses-

Along with career tracks and skill tracks, DataCamp has 345+ courses. Datacamp provides video-based courses. You have to finish the video lecture and then you can move to the exercises. Datacamp also provides a mobile application so that you can learn anytime and anywhere from your smartphone.

Now let’s see what topics are covered in DataCamp?

Topics Covered

Datacamp covers the following topics–

• Data Engineering.
• Programming
• Importing & Cleaning Data
• Data Manipulation
• Data Visualization
• Probability & Statistics

And Datacamp covers the following technologies–

• R
• Python
• SQL
• Git
• Shell
• Spreadsheets
• Theory
• Scala
• Tableau
• Excel
• Power BI

Now you knew what will you learn and how will you learn in DataCamp?

Right…?

Now the next question you might have is-

How much does DataCamp Cost?

So, let’s understand the plan and pricing of DataCamp. DataCamp has a subscription-based model and provides 3 three plans for individuals-

1. Free
2. Standard
3. Premium

In the free plan, you will get access to the first chapter of all courses, seven projects, three practical challenges, and one skill assessment. The free plan is quite limited and not very useful.

The standard plan offers 335+ courses, 14 career tracks, unlimited skill assessments, and practice challenges, and much more. For the Standard plan, you have to pay $12/month.

In the Premium plan, you have to pay $33/month and you will get everything that is included in Standard Plan plus 80+ projects, Tableau, Power BI, and Oracle content, and priority support.

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The next question you might have is-

What are the Instructors of DataCamp?

DataCamp has approx 250+ Instructors. Some of them are staff based in DataCamp and some of them are from universities like Newcastle University, University of Washington, etc.

There are some instructors who are experts, founders, or co-founders of tech companies. So DataCamp has instructors from various fields so that you can experience different styles of learning.

So you knew about all the basic details of DataCamp. Now, let’s see-

How to Start Learning DataScience in DataCamp?

When you SignUp in DataCamp and start using it, DataCamp will provide an introductory survey to know your initial preferences such as a selection of programming languages between- Python, R, and SQL. Something like this-

Python is one of the most popular programming languages for Data Science. Python is easy to understand language. Its syntax is easily readable. Even beginners can easily understand its syntax without any complications.

Python has a good amount of libraries and tools dedicated to data science. Python also has a huge community where data scientist can ask their queries.

R is another mostly used open-source programming language for data science. There are some interesting features in R that are not present in other programming languages. These features are useful for data science-related tasks.

R also has a software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It can provide many statistical models. With the help of R programming, you can plot a graph and perform other visualization-related tasks easily.

But if you are a beginner in data science, then I would recommend you to start with Python Programming.

If you are a complete beginner in programming and never write a single line of code, then I would suggest you start with the Introduction to Python course. This course will teach you the very basics such as types, variables, basic calculations, etc. Similarly, if you want to learn R or SQL, you can start with “Introduction to R”, and “Introduction to SQL” free courses.

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But if you have some previous programming knowledge, then you can take DataCamp’s skill assessment. This skill assessment will consider your current skill level and suggest courses accordingly.

When you complete the courses and tracks, you will receive a Certificate. Now the next question you might have is-

Are DataCamp certificates worth it?

There is no doubt that DataCamp is the reputed online learning platform for data science, but I believe no certificate is worth it until you have the skills to prove yourself.

Without the required skills, your certificate is just a piece of paper. So I would recommend you don’t join any program, training or course just for the certificate. If you can’t prove the skills listed on the certificate, then certificates can’t do anything.

DataCamp certificates are just a sign that you take initiative towards learning data science. But again you have to prove that you have gained the skills throughout learning from DataCamp.

If you ask about the “Is DataCamp Certificates credible?“, then I would say yes, they totally are.

So this is all about DataCamp learning and Certificates. Now let’s see about-

How is DataCamp Community?

Community plays an important role in clearing doubts. And Datacamp has its own community. Where you can discuss your doubts with other peers in the community.

In the Datacamp community, you can discuss with peers, along with this, there is a curated list of data science news and articles available from experts.

You can check the Datacamp community here. Datacamp community offers 24/7 support to the users.

Now I would like to tell you what I liked about DataCamp and what I don’t like?. So let’s start with-

What did I like About DataCamp?

DataCamp impressed me with the following reasons-

1. DataCamp Career path in form of Career Tracks and Skill Tracks- As a complete beginner, these tracks will definitely help you and save your searching time for a career path to become a data scientist or data analyst. These tracks listed various courses in a step-by-step manner so that you can easily complete one step and move further.
2. Experienced Instructors– All the instructors of DataCamp are industry experts and professors from worldwide universities. You will get a chance to learn from these experts.
3. Inbuilt Coding Console- DataCamp has an inbuilt console, where you can code and practice. This is the best thing, because most of us just watch the videos, shut down our system, and don’t implement what we have learned. But in DataCamp you can code whatever you learned.
4. Lots of practical projects– DataCamp has lots of practical projects. In the standard plan, you will get unlimited skill assessments, and practice challenges.
5. DataCamp app for mobile learning– The mobile application of DataCamp allows you to learn anytime and anywhere from your smartphone.

So these are the reasons why I like DataCamp, but there are few things which I didn’t like.

What I Didn’t Like in DataCamp?

These are the few important things you need to consider-

1. Less content in Free Plan- Datacamp offers the first chapter of each course free. Which I think insufficient. In order to complete the full course, you have to upgrade your account.
2. Too much of the code comes pre-written– If you want to learn without being given too many hints, then you will not like DataCamp. Because there is too much code pre-written and you have to do less hard work to complete the work.
3. No Accredited Certificate– Datacamp doesn’t offer official accreditation. They only provide a Statement of Accomplishment. So if you are looking for an official certificate, then it’s better to go with Coursera or edX.

Conclusion

DataCamp is an excellent platform for learning data science and analytics. It has beginner-friendly content, an intuitive code editor, Career and Skill Tracks to begin a data science journey even with no previous knowledge in data science.

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I hope this article has cleared your all doubts regarding DataCamp. If you have any doubt or questions, feel free to ask me in the comment section.

All the Best!

Enjoy Learning!

NOTE- Some of the links in the post are Affiliate Links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the course, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you😊.

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