Data Science Retreat

The Data Science Retreat was for me a Career Accelerator that allowed me to acquire skills, not only in data science, but also in the tools that are related to it, such as AWS, docker, Spark and so on. It also gave me the opportunity to go through the full cycle of realising a personal project of mine, which you can see at http://www.techcontroversy.com .
This allowed me to make the move from experienced Software Developer to Machine Learning Engineer, a role that I am know fulfilling In a Berlin unicorn company.

Before DSR, I worked as a software engineer for ten years, and after finished my master in robotics, I fell in love with machine learning, so I decided to study and work in this field of science, so I studied some MOOC courses one of these courses is Machine Learning of Andrew NG, the best course in machine learning, and after that I started for looking for something like a master but with more practical side than theoretical side, and with less time, because I think studying a master is a waste of time and money, so I checked some boot camps about data science in Europe, and starting asking old alumni of these boot camps, is the money and the effort worth it to study these kinds of new masters, so DSR was the winner because most of the alumni that studied there told me a very good re...

Pros - great balance between taught practical, theoretical and self driven project work. Well organized and cheap compared to US bootcamps. The Berlin tech-scene provides a fantastic backdrop for DSR, with regular world class data science and machine learning meetups. Experienced and enthuastic teachers.

Cons - perhaps lacking a bit of really basic stuff - but this is picked up eventually (ie .bashrc, unix commands, Python virtualenvs). All of these are now part of my normal workflow so them not being taught doesn't mean you won't learn them, it will just take longer.

Thank you very much for the great Data Science class. My instructor, Naumaan Nayyar, made it natural and easy to learn from his experience. Our class was always fascinatingly, dynamic and understandable. I cannot wait to make my knowledge practical and to start my career in the Data Science field.

As some background, I got into Data Science after a computer error resulted in my undergraduate senior seminar being Machine Learning and Big Data for Finance and Economics at Columbia University. While having absolutely no Comp-Sci background, I voiced no protest and took the course believing "it could be fun". By the end, I was in love with Data Science and promptly decided to switch careers paths immediately.

While I loved the subject, I had profound reservations with the course itself. Its math/statistics intensive approach was alienating, and lacked conceptual explanation. Our home works were to copy code using perfectly clean datasets (spoiler alert: 90% of data science is cleaning and mining data) and left me unprepared to deal with the messy [insert profanity] that are Censu...

For a few weeks, I researched and applied to a few data science bootcamps worldwide. Some bootcamps focused heavily on statistics, which I found later on, are not true ML bootcamps. These are based on using statistical techniques to gain insights from data. Other bootcamps were too simple, and focused on SQL. However, I was after ML and artificial intelligence (A.I.), and that’s what I found at DSR.

Data Science Retreat covers a comprehensive, very intensive and practical training on using the most recent advances in the tools required to becoming a data scientist, machine learning engineer, and a very good understanding of big data handling (data engineering, distributed systems).

The instruction style is perfect; the instructors describe the main idea and let you struggle in fin...

A refreshing experience that pushes you to explore further data science and create an ambitious portfolio project. You will undoubtly get a job at the end of the course.

During the bootcamp I personally felt the switch from learner to skilled practitioner, and it gave me great confidence in my abilities as a data scientist. I enjoyed the informal atmosphere and collaboration with my peer learners.

The pros:

- Small batches (8 to 10 participants), proper selection of participants

- DSR covers what online courses don't cover. Assuming you come well prepared (already know python and machine learning), it will boost your skills and make you employable

- Most teachers are extremely skilled and really know their area. Some might not be able to follow though, so expect to spend ...

Pros -
- I find the screening and selection process quite intensive. So, everyone attending data science retreat are more or less in an intermediate or advanced level. So, you learn a lot from your batch mates.
- Lecturers are experts in their respective field
- The regularly updated syllabus me
- Smaller batch size, in my batch it was 7
- Attracting practising data scientists to sharpen their skills ( had a batchmate, who was working as a data scientist in a company)
- Supportive staff, spacious place to work and discuss

Not sure pro or con-
- Pressure to come up with data product with value for a project portfolio.

Cons -
- Meerkat method? am still thinking whether it was used or not

I attended batch 8 of DSR - it was a great experience. The mentors and teachers are fantastic and greatly accelerate the learning curve. The curriculum is excellent and covered all the job interview questions I was asked - demo day had some great employers, and there is good support to help you find jobs.

It is however not for everyone - you are not spoonfed tutorials about how to do everything - you are given tools and methods to allow you to implement things, so this requires a lot of independent work - however, this means you can move fast and get a lot out of it.

Highly recommended if you are very motivated and want to learn as fast as possible and start a career as a data scientist.