Practicum by Yandex

I joined Practicum's data science track in January as an alpha tester, and have been accompanying them since the launch of alpha.
This program is one you actually enjoy. The materials are flavored with many humorous Easter eggs, the community managers... Read More are really responsive and care a lot about your experience, webinars on the material are done every sprint, and a 24/7 support is there for you if there's an issue.
In addition, every sprint (two weeks) includes a project, that you do on your on and then get it reviewed manually. This is a great opportunity to enhance your skills even beyond what the exercises offer. Heard of a new cool library and needed an excuse to actually try it out? Cool, now you've got one. In my opinion, these reviewed projects are the gem of this program.

I've been a student of the Web Developer Course at Practicum by Yandex since February and it's levelled my skills up beyond belief. I completed the Responsive Web Design Certificate at freeCodeCamp last year and found the lessons really helpful but it... Read More was so tough to transform what I'd learned into professional-looking websites based off a handful of user stories which is all you're given for the projects. On the Practicum course you're given professionally designed Figma files and design systems so you know exactly what you need to create.

Another thing, when I was studying the freeCodeCamp curriculum I felt like I was on my own. I know that have a community on Gitter and it's my fault that I didn't engage with it more but with Practicum it's different - you go through the course with a cohort and you have support from the Practicum team and your fellow students throughout. It's a different experience.

The course is broken down into two-week sprints and you get the chance to immediately put what you've learned into action with a realistic project. I just finished the Basic JavaScript and Working with the Browser course and can't wait for the next one!

The projects are absolutely the most important part of this program for me. They force you to go deep into the material instead of just skimming it and thinking you got it. You get feedback while submitting the projects, and asked to fix and/or explain... Read More anything that's unclear. They also face you with the kind of issues you run into while working in real life and make you solve them by yourself, while still offering help if you need it. I was able to start using the material we learned in the program in my actual work after the second project already.

I'm a beta tester for the Practicum by Yandex on the Data Scientist Track. The strengths of the program lie in their real-life data, real-industry data tasks and systematic curriculum. I like the way they stipulate the research question at the beginning... Read More of each lesson, then give a summary of how the lesson will help learners decipher that question via data analysis. The big question at the beginning will then be divided into smaller tasks with corresponding data analysis lessons. They wrap up the lesson by pointing out how the learner's progress has helped to answer the question and what the next steps are. I find this process very helpful and exciting since it makes me act as if I was a real data scientist. A special shout-out for the technical support team, teaching assistant and community managers for being so responsive, attentive and friendly (they always put a smiling icon after their explanation/message) to learners' theoretical questions as well as their challenges in coding or keeping up with the learning process. There were some points during the process I thought I could have given up had there not been their timely support and encouragement. There are two things I think the platform can improve to help learners excel more in their work: the use of English language and adding more theories. I am not a native English speaker, sometimes I found it difficult to understand what the instructions are on the platform since their English syntaxes sound unfamiliar to me. I also hope to get more theories on data science. Since it's still in its testing period, I believe the team will soon fix all these bumpy issues and the new generation of learners will have the best learning experience as they can!

I think the course works well for the knowledge it pertains to. I love the humor you include in all the pop up windows. It holds my attention and makes me want to continue. The instructions are very easy to follow and make it difficult to fail. What a... Read More wonderful course!

I feel like this course has been extremely beneficial for a fairly new coding student such as myself. The information was easy to retain mainly due to the in depth tasks and repetition throughout each chapter. It teaches at a pace that is easy to follow,... Read More it keeps my attention and focuses on solving real problems. Great job!

Before I found Practicum by Yandex, I tried to figure out HTML, CSS, and javascript all on my own. However, I never quite managed it; after about one hour of reading IT articles, my head was ready to explode from all the information. I got a basic understanding... Read More of the course after only a couple of classes because the explanations were very clear and conceivable. Online platform is a very handy way to learn. If I continue understanding the material without my head exploding, I will have no problem buying the paid part of the course.

I took the data analysis course and I enjoyed it a lot! The course is well designed and has excellent student support! Feedback is clear and straight to the point. The course contains more than enough practice! The online platform is a useful feature... Read More that also helps you get immediate feedback! There are also mentors who are currently employed professionals at Yandex and other IT companies. I highly recommend the course!

I thoroughly enjoyed Practicum by Yandex because the explanations were clear for any student of basically any level. It helps keep you motivated to learn and become better throughout the duration of the course. I've already completed a couple of projects... Read More now, and am quite thrilled with the results! Now I'm trying to apply my skills and advice I received during the course to my work. You learn by using an online platform where you can immediately see all your mistakes. I completed the data analysis course and overall see it as a promising and exciting career path.

I like that the course doesn't have an excessive amount of theory. You have a chance to practice your new skills immediately. I'd also like to mention that the pace of the course is perfect: not too fast, but also doesn't repeat the same material over... Read More and over again.