In this blog post I aim to state my thoughts on using DataCamp as a learning platform for data science and programming languages.
This article will be more in depth then the section on DataCamp in my 6 tools to learn data science for students blog post, though if you are interested, that is worth a read too (covers a range of different tools that are useful for learning data science).
What is DataCamp?
DataCamp is an online learning platform for programming with a focus on handling ‘data’. It is a good platform to look at using if you are wanting to get into a career in data science or even if you are just interested in doing this as a hobbyist.
What can you do on DataCamp?
Courses
There are so many courses on DataCamp (a total of 436 as this is being written). A lot of these courses are in the three main data handling languages – R, Python and SQL, but there are also lots in other programming and scripting languages if you want a wider skill set. There is even a ~4 hour course for data analysis in Excel. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find at least one course you are interested in trying.
For beginners it is a great platform and lots of their courses start you from basics. For more intermediate programmers there is more advanced content that you will be able to learn from. For experts it is always worth solidifying your knowledge and making sure you know everything that you think you do. There are quizzes and assessments to check your level of knowledge and understanding.
Projects
The projects section contains scenarios that are created to be more like ‘real world’ situations where you may need to use your data analysis skills. These give you a workspace and you solve/use your skills to fulfil the listed project requirements. Some of these projects can also be unguided which means they are open ended and up to you to come up with your own solution too. If you do get stuck, there are live code-along videos, showing an instructor finding one of the many solutions that are possible.
Skill Tracks
Skill tracks in DataCamp are small selections of courses. Each of these covers a specific ‘skill’ which may be useful for data science, for example there is a ‘Python Fundamentals’ path which covers the fundamentals of Python. In fact, just in the Python section, there is over 100 hours of learning curated just for you. These are a great way to find your way through the large selection of courses – since it can be hard to know where to start, and it means that you should always have the required knowledge base for each section.
Career Tracks
Career tracks in DataCamp are much more general curated selections of courses which should set you up for a specific career. These are much longer than the skill paths but will give you much more knowledge. One example of these is ‘Machine Learning Scientist with Python’ (93 hours) which will give you the ‘essential skills for landing a job as a machine learning scientist’. Another example is ‘Quantative Analyst with R’ (65 hours) – if you know what career area you want then these are worth following as it will give you a pre-prepared route to proficiency.
DataCamp App
The DataCamp app is useful, but is slightly different to the website. It has different tracks which differ from the career tracks and skill paths found when learning through the DataCamp website. There are 3 different pathways, one for Python, one for SQL and one for R. By following one of these pathways it should set you up with a beginner knowledge of the language and a few essentials for starting at data science. Just doing one of these pathways is likely not enough to get you started with a career in data science, however it will be enough for you to start learning programming (and data-science) and also give you time to realise if you actually enjoy it enough to do it as a job.
In my opinion it may be worth starting with the app and if you decide that you want to keep going – it is worth switching to the website just for the entire experience.
Cost
DataCamp have only two different personal plans. They also have business plans but that isn’t the target audience of this blog post so I won’t cover them directly in this post. You can view the plans on the DataCamp Pricing page. Since I looked at this in 2021 (it is now 2023), the prices have decreased massively and the plans have been simplified (there used to be three different personal plans).
The first plan is a free plan which allows you to trial DataCamp and work out whether it is a form of learning that would appeal to you. This gives you access to the first chapter of all courses but you need to upgrade to get certificates. You also get access to some of the projects – but not all of them. Also included in the free plan are three free workspaces.
The paid plan is for those people who want to get access to everything – it is the ‘Premium Plan’. This costs $25/mo but it seems as if it is on discount a lot of the time so make sure to look for a discount or wait it out (currently for me it is at $12.42). This gives you full access to the content library (inclusive of all Projects, Certificates and courses). Additional workspaces are not included in this plan unfortunately – this comes in a specific plan made for workspaces.
These prices seem to vary day by day but the given values should give a ballpark figure. In my opinion these values are only slightly expensive. When you compare it to higher education it is actually on the low end. For example, I pay £9,250 a year for education in the UK (I am swimming in tonnes of student debt). DataCamp is less then £250/year. If you are confident that Data Science or programming is a career you want then it is a worthwhile investment. I’d advise spending a little time reading free information of the internet on this career path to help you make this decision before you spend money.
Can you get a certificate?
Yes and they each have a unique ID and URL which allows you to display them easily on your LinkedIn account if you want. Each individual course you complete comes with its own digital certificate that you can view.
They also have proper certification which is industry recognised and marked by real human beings. These come included in the Premium path and come in two levels, associate or professional. At some point I may pay for Premium again to trial this feature – it’ₛ on my todo list ;).
3 Free Months for Students
With the GitHub Developer pack, you can get 3 months free of DataCamp standard plan, which gives you access to lots of learning for free. If you use this, it can give you an idea of whether you want to continue subscribing to the platform.
Concluding Remarks
DataCamp is a great platform for learning data science, and I have spent many hours improving my coding and data science skills with it. For someone starting at a beginner or intermediate level, it is definitely worth the cost as the content library that it gives you access to is massive.
I love the projects section as it gives you ‘real world’ experience, using the skills you have learnt so far and applying them to a real world data set. The career tracks are also very useful and make it easy for me to navigate through the many different courses.
I’d certainly advise you to take a look at it for yourself – and would recommend it to anyone who is taking an active interest in learning Data Science!