Metis

Doing Metis was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. The time/financial commitment is tough to swallow for anyone! That said, it’s one of the best decisions I ever made, as Metis paid off in every way you could imagine.

Several peers have captured the benefits of Metis here, so I’ll try to avoid repeating them and focus on what stood out to me personally …

The obvious doubt about a bootcamp was, “Why pay thousands of dollars?? I can learn all this online.” But Metis provided so many intangibles - career support, alumni network, mentorship from instructors, friendship from diverse peers - that you can’t get from an online course. Not to mention improving your chances to get a job. Prior to Metis, I tried to transition from academia to industry, but with zero success; I couldn...

I graduated from the Seattle Fall cohort (the second cohort in Seattle) in December. I come from a pure math background, and I'm a recent Ph.D. grad who was pretty nervous about going into data science.

Metis is everything I wanted out of a bootcamp. The project based curriculum works really well, especially since the topics of projects 2-5 are entirely self directed. It's easy to get excited about learning this stuff when you're applying it to a topic you really care about. That also makes it easier to pick yourself up when you fall -- and you'll fall a lot.

The lectures are an excellent introduction to the material, too. I had the opportunity of both learning from the Fall 17 instructors and TAing for the Winter 18 instructors, and all four of them were awesome.

Some quick wa...

I attended the Fall 2017 bootcamp in Chicago. Prior to attending, I had done a good amount of research on ways I could get my foot in the door for a data scientist position. After speaking with Nathan Vermeiren (Program Manager at Metis), those who have hired from Metis, and alumni who have attended, I decided to go for it. (And I'm glad I did!)

Metis really exceeded my expectations. The quality of instructors, career support, and students created such a great environment for those wanting to transition into data science. The technical and non-technical skills needed to succeed as a data scientist are covered in depth at Metis through many opportunities that included: building end-to-end projects with relevant industry tools, presenting results to different audiences, attending netwo...

Before coming to Metis I was a Product Manager for a small consulting company. I was always programming on the side, and found myself at odds with sending people to do all the fun programming challenges I'd create. After working with a team on building a recommendation engine for news articles and seeing the capacity of machine learning and artificial intelligence to impact a business, I decided to make the head first dive into Data Science. I wanted to see how far I can get without needing a PhD. After doing months of searching colleges for Masters/PhD programs, bootcamps, and internships, I eventually boiled down the list to a few bootcamps. It needed to fit certain criteria. I wanted a rapid education, application/project focused, great career support, and something with clear outcom...

Prior to attending Metis I worked as Geophysicist for an Oil and Gas service company. Metis gave me an opportunity to transition into a new career and develop a wide range of new skills.
I can’t speak positively enough about the instructors who taught my cohort in Seattle (Roberto and Alice). Their preparation and dedication to clearly deliver all the material and continuously provide constructive feedback was impressive. You complete five projects over the course, these projects are guided and reviewed by the instructors (Senior Data Scientists). This lends a real-world rigor to your projects.

I found the curriculum to be very good, and while job hunting I find I am prepared to answer almost all questions posed during data science interviews. I also feel confident in my implementa...

Metis was an amazing experience that I am so, so grateful for. Some key points:

-The teachers are great--always there to help but don't hold your hand, they make sure you learn the materical and aren't afraid to push you if they think you can be pushed. They also do a great job of getting to know the students.

-The curriculum was ideal for me--very project based so you're always applying what you're learning. All projects are done individually and culiminate in oral presentations which is really helpful in the job search--you're capable of speaking about them and know the ins and outs of everything that was done. Also, you get to pick topics you're interested in so it's always exciting. If you would prefer something that was more lecture based, Metis might not be the program for ...

I attended the Fall 2017 bootcamp in Chicago. From the beginning, Metis was very helpful to me. I live in the DC area and the NYC cohort was full, but they helped me come out to Chicago so that I could still participate. They were very helpful (Nathan Vermeiren) with my housing search and all of my other out-of-town needs. I ended up staying right next to the Metis office which worked out great. It was actually helpful for me to be away from home because I didn't have any of my usual distractions/duties to do, so I recommend going out of town. The only downside to going out of town was that Metis was not as connected in the DC area. Metis did continue to support me fully in the job search until I obtained employment and I had no trouble contacting the DC Metis alums who were quite he...

Pros:
- Metis gives you all the tools for success
- They spend time helping you develop the soft skills necessary to excel in your career (project presentations, public speaking, working in a team, communication)
- They touch base on industry skills that aren't always used in an academic setting (git, open-source programming languages)
- They scratch the surface of many topics -- some might see this as a flaw and make someone a 'jack of all trades, master of none' but Metis provides you all the tools to get started in a specific topic domain -- it's up to the student to really exploit the resources that they provide.
- Job support and alumni network is incredible. After graduating, all alumni from all cohorts from the other campuses are connected and this provides a great network o...

I was cautiously optimistic when starting Metis. I had heard of these bootcamps but didn't know too much. I chose to the pull the trigger because some close and trusted friends had completed similar bootcamps and encouraged me to go for it. Metis blew my expectations out of the water. I loved it. Each project folded in a new mathematical machine learning skill with a pragmatic programming skill. I learned a ton, the instructors were wonderful, and everyone involved was a ton of fun. The program was definitely intense. Don't expect to have any life outside of Metis. But it's only three months and if data science is where you want to be then it's totally worth it.

Metis fosters a collaborative cohort style of learning in which students get practical experience of the data science work flow. Students manage a shared git repository, do independent research projects to present, and finish and present 5 data science projects covering ETL, linear regression, supervised and unsupervised learning, NLP, and more.

Prior to April 2017, I had a bachelors degree in cultural anthropology and no professional work experience. I graduated college in 2015 and spent a couple years "figuring it out", taking every MOOC under the sun and teaching myself how to program. Somewhere in those two years between college and Metis I decided I wanted to pursue data science and pushed full speed ahead on self education. I loved the free online resources out there, but ever...

About a year ago, I was in your position. I was reading reviews about data science bootcamps and weighing my options. At the time, I was a full-time lawyer (no formal STEM background), watching MOOCs in the evenings and teaching myself python on the weekends. I attended Metis in Chicago during the spring of 2017. Within a month of graduating, I was recruited by a growing startup. Since then, I have been prototyping new tools, working with engineers, and enjoying the tech industry. This transition would have been impossible without Metis, its encouraging staff, its supportive instructors, and the genuine connections I made through Metis.

Having worked in my new profession for the past 6 months, I have a different perspective and new appreciation for my experience at Metis. The curr...

I was part of the first cohort in Seattle and came in with an advanced degree in neuroscience with bench science experience (no coding!). Do the prework and do not procrastinate on that! My programming skills weren't as strong as the rest of my cohort and I likely spent more time on the prework as well as weekly HWs. The curriculum is standardized across campuses and the instructors prepare quite a bit to bring the material to life. I didn't even mind when we ran into technical difficulties when code failed or during installation days because it's a peek into real-life debugging (eg digging through a stack trace) and troubleshooting.

With the bootcamp being project-focused, you are allowed to be as creative as you want. You will learn to fail fast and to love (or accept) the MVP. Bet...

Before: I had a bachelors in engineering and a law degree. I had worked in a number of different fields and didn't find a job that was fulfilling. I wanted to work on machine learning and NLP, and a bootcamp seemed like the fastest way to get there. From my research Metis seemed to be at exactly the right level for me. I didn't have an applied math Phd, but had a good amount of technical experience and math abilities that I wanted to take further.

Application: I had plenty of background in calculus, stats, and linear algebra, and some python experience. The application was challenging and multi-faceted, requiring math, coding skills, and some product sense/presentation skills as well. Looking back, it was important to have a competitive admissions process, as it allowed us to establi...

The number of skills gained through the cohort is immense and had a lot of depth in the teachings.
The support was great and the instructors were available and approachable at every step.
The goal defined for every project was clear and the tasks, though initially seemed unattainable, were being met with a lot of support and individuality.
The soft skills required for sustaining in the industry were focused immensely.

I took the d3.js course with Mollie Petit and I have to say that Mollie was a great instructor. She was really helpful and positive throughout the course and provided a lot of resources for additional learning. I learned a lot both about data science as well as the practical application of d3.js.

The only thing I wish was different was that we could have a bit more time and/or the class was more spread out so as to allow for a slower learning pace.

Overall the course was great and I would highly recommend the class for anyone interested in data science or d3.js specifically.

After several years of working as an analyst at various tech companies, I decided to explore the world of data science because I didn't feel that I was being challenged in my daily responsibilities and didn't have sufficient guided opportunities to learn more advanced techniques on the job. This began with preparatory MOOCs to build my Python skills followed by more in-depth courses or 'specialization' tracks that focused on data science. While I found plenty of worthwhile material online, staying engaged and motivated in the virtual setting was surprisingly difficult. Some classes were too easy and others too hard, and it's not that efficient posting on message boards whenever you have a question. I think most people would agree that in person education is more fulfilling.

I researc...

The Data Scienct Bootcamp is the most rewarding learning experience I've ever had. Super knowledgeable and patient instructors to guide us through each step of process. Amazing career advisor providing practical and professional career advice. I was struggling a lot in the beginning, overwhelmed by the large amount of learning materials we were exposed to. But it turned out to be fine. It's hard to believe that so much can be learnt in a short 3-month period, but it's true and it can be done. Metis is where I found myself consistently pushing my limit, learning more new stuff, and becoming better at learning, which is a key skill for data scientists.

Prior to enrolling in Metis I was a PhD candidate in a subject matter that is generally not seen as related to data science. While I was confident in my statistics background I had only coded sparingly and was completely new to machine learning concepts. On a whim I decided it was time to leave academia and stumbled upon data science as a career option. After debating whether or not to enroll in a bootcamp or teach myself the curriciulum I quickly found Metis and decided to apply, was accepted, and enrolled soon thereafter.

Having received a PhD I was no stranger to learning and was happy to discover that the Metis program design and curriculum was exactly what I was looking for. It was the perfect combination of fun, knowledge, and rigor. Given that the course is only 12 weeks the p...

Before: Psychology major with eclectic work experience for the six years since I'd graduated. Decided I didn't have enough concrete skills/experience to land a job that would be challenging and interesting enough, and I didn't trust myself to learn on my own. Decided on a bootcamp because of the structure and network it would provide, and considered data science because it seemed more niche than coding.

Application: I wasn't set on attending Metis, but when the application was harder than I expected, I was determined to get in. With virtually zero coding experience, I had to learn everything on the spot, and honestly that application was the most empowering weekend of my life. And I got in. Whoo!

Prework: I worked right up until the bootcamp started, so it was challenging to finis...

I came into the data science field with my previous job as a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry. Lacking knowledge of the data science field, I started off with the" Introduction to Data Science" course, which I thought was a great primer to the topics of the field. By taking the course, I was able to have a top-down overview of the field, which gave me the confidence to deepen my understanding by enrolling in the 12-week bootcamp.

I had really enjoyed the admission manager's straightforward talk with me about the potential career opportunities and the job market for data science. One of the reasons why I had chosen this program was because he was frank and honest about career prospects. At no point did I feel any pressure to enroll.

The curriculum was pretty intens...