Cambridge Spark Ltd

After a career break, I felt it was time to get upskilled to be able to re-join the market as my goal was to become a Data Scientist. I researched several Data Science courses and Bootcamps, and found the ADS at Cambridge Spark the best choice, with benefits... Read More such as: 1) It was relatively short (6 months over 10 full-time weekends); 2) Very experienced lectures & instructors (PhDs or having Data Science experience in top companies); 3) Not only focused in "academic" topics, therefore being directed to the real "market" / tools and techniques learnt are the ones currently used by most Data Science teams; 4) It is a presencial course, this way it is easier to get connected to people with same interest and skills; 5) It has a strong name in the Data Science world increasing the visibility of any CV; 6) The last part of the ADS course in a Capstone project, connecting what we learnt with real world problems, with an amazing support from a Cambridge Spark mentor who is assigned to us; 7) The price was very reasonable compared to others in the market. I have just completed the course and have no doubt that the knowledge and experience I got is priceless and that I am just one step away from my dream ;)

I think this is a well marketed program, with instructors who mean well and will try to help you if they can. However data science cannot be learnt in a simple bootcamp as you will probably know. This bootcamp is ideal for someone fluent in Python (you... Read More can't pick it up on the course no matter what you are told if you don't have the necessary experience ) and who understands ML concepts prior to the bootcamp. If you attend the bootcamp without both these pre-requisites you will not get what you need from the bootcamp. I would point to my batch where from a survey of linkedin profiles, there is only one from the batch of 37 that after 6 months succeeded in being employed as a Data scientist. You will however make friends on the course if attending in person. Don't take this review as gospel - do your research, ask former students on what they are doing now...there is a difference in one saying they learnt a lot or enjoyed the course and actually being employed.

Prior to this course I had been using python for building some very simple regression models and some basic data analysis. Now, after completing the course, I can confidently create many different types of machine learning models and my python programming... Read More is at a much more professional level. In addition I have learn't good data wrangling and analysis techniques and some other peripheral skills.

I found that the course took up a lot more of my time than I anticipated - I did try to get the most out each module but also, I assume that I had slightly less programming experience than the average participant. For the first half of the course I was regularly spending over 20 hours per week but as I got up to speed about half way through this reduced to about 15 hours, with an increase again for the final / capstone project. This is not necessarily a bad thing but just a warning to people who are the same skill level I was (I am a process engineer working in manufacturing and I had been using python for a couple of years on and off, self taught an graduated 10 years ago so I needed to brush up some maths skills also) that this course does require focus and probably will be your main out-of work project for the year if you are also working full time.

This was the best decision I made, In 9 months I was fully equipped to be a Data Scientist.Capstone project was my highlight of the course as you get to apply the knowledge acquired in real world cases.The course is very practical and support from other... Read More students and Cambridge Spark team is amazing.

I enrolled on the online version of this course, and enjoyed it very much. The standard and quality of content is excellent, and there are many challenging assignments to complete. I believe the content of the course is in line with the latest requirements... Read More in the industry. The best unique selling point of Cambridge Spark for me is their industry capstone project, which added huge value to my experience. I am now confident to apply for jobs.

Pros: well organized lecture; interesting practical tasks; getting basics knowledges on various topics and recommendation how to improve it further; opportunity to make a capstone project with industrial partners of Cambridge Sparks.
Cons(minor): low volume... Read More level on some modules.
Would be interesting to add some optional task for each module that students can solve if he/she has extra interest or time or default task was too easy.

The course covers a very broad set of topic, taught in a condensed, no-nonsense way.
This approach has the advantage of giving students the basics for most data science applications, so that it is possible to make an informed decision in the areas where... Read More one wants to specialise.
The good quality of the video and coding material helps a lot if wanting to go back and review things after the course.
As a beginner, I see it as a very good kick start in data science: I collected a huge wealth of knowledge in a short amount of time, I understood the areas I want to focus on, I have become able to run my own data science projects and, eventually, change my career path.
The Capstone project is a real added value to the learning process, and a good mention in my CV.

To attend to Cambridge Spark lessons has been an interesting opportunity to join a club of clever persons. Besides and the didactic material used in the courses has been showed extremely useful to overcome the exercises proposed in the platform that has... Read More also grown over the time, reaching an high level from technological view point as well. I am satisfied to attended and to reach my certificate in Machine Learning&AI, with Cambridge Spark.

Along with 37 others I gave up every other weekend from January to June 2019 and travelled to London to learn about data science in practice with Cambridge Spark’s Applied Data Science Bootcamp. I found the experience hugely enjoyable and rewarding. ... Read More

The course sets out to deliver a broad and challenging syllabus and there is homework between the weekend sessions. The other people I shared this experience with were highly talented and motivated. These elements combined to create a truly exhilarating experience.

We gained hands-on experiences with industry standard tools. We were lectured to by industry experts and academics. The python code we created in our homework assignments and projects was automatically assessed and scored by Cambridge Spark’s KATE platform. These combined to deliver a practical hands-on learning experience.

I would recommend this bootcamp to anyone looking to accelerate a career move into data science.

I decided to take part online bootcamp as i could not find good classroom courses for data science in Stockholm in 2018 ( Not sure of current situation). I will recommend to go for classroom course if you are in London as i am pretty sure it will be better... Read More to learn in person. But for those who can't here are the pro's and cons.

Pro:
1. Great content video library
2. Great set of assignments in each module to get you hand dirty with code and real world data set
3. Great support from the staff ( Christina ,Daniel , Kevin, Raoul & Zaneta ) and good community on slack
4. They are more than happy to listen to your feedback and improve on it. I have experienced them improve over last one year.
5. K.A.T.E is a great tool to evaluate your code and get feedback
5. Good support for the final capstone project
6. Support for resume review
7. Get to meet lot of great people on slack.

Cons:
I am nit picking here but here i go.
1. Some of the concepts can be explained more visually to help understand it.
2. Easy way to move the projects we did on their gitlab to our own github.

Overall i had i good experience and this course gave me a direction. Be sure that you will have to put lot of effort and sometime it could be hectic but it saves you from the vast ocean of information when you are not sure where to start and what to study.

Happy learning :)