This program teaches the foundational concepts, theory, and techniques you need to know to become an effective data scientist. Participants will analyze various datasets, built a handful of applications, and applied machine learning algorithms in meaningful ways to get real results. Along the way, participants learn the best practices and computational techniques used by professional data scientists. Finally, participants learn to acquire data that is openly accessible on the Internet by working with APIs and parse XML and JSON data build a relational database.
The Data Science Fundamentals program is designed to prepare students to function as a Data Analyst, Data Scientist, and Data Engineer. Students are eligible for an optional externship with a local employer after successful course completion.
Program Objectives
After completing this program, learners will be able to:
- Get up and running with a Python data science environment
- Understand the essentials of Python 3, including object-oriented programming
- Employ the basics of the data science process and what each step entails
- Build a simple (yet powerful) recommendation engine for Airbnb listings
- Find high-quality data sources and how to scrape websites if no existing dataset is available
- Work with APIs programmatically, including (but not limited to) the Foursquare API
- Employ strategies for parsing JSON and XML into a structured form
- Build data models and work with database schemas
- Understand the basics of relational databases with SQLite and how to use an ORM to interface with them in Python
- Employ best practices of data validation, including common data quality checks
- Query data in a database, including joining data tables and aggregating data
- Understand the fundamentals of exploratory data analysis
- Find and handle missing or malformed data
- Understand the importance of creating reproducible analyses and how to share them effectively
Ready to Work (RTW) Job and Externship Placement Services
If you enroll and successfully complete this program you will have guaranteed access to our Ready to Work (RTW) Job and Externship Placement Services at no additional cost. Ready to Work (RTW) provides comprehensive career support services including: resume building, employer outreach, and individualized placement guidance.
Our RTW Job Placement Recruiters actively work with employers to place students in local employment opportunities on a daily basis.
However, if you choose the
RTW Externship Placement (as opposed to Job Placement), please note the following requirements:
- Drug Screen and Background Checks are Required: Must be completed prior to externship placement.
- Weekday Externship Availability Required: You must be available Monday through Friday, between 7am - 5pm for a minimum of 4 hours per day. You may attend 2, 3, 4 or 5 days per week.
- Evening and Weekend Externships Are NOT Available: Except for certain Pharmacy Technician externship placements which may have evening and weekend opportunities.
- Externship Must be Completed On-Site at the Employer Facility - Remote Externships Are Not Available: Except for certain limited remote Medical Billing & Coding (MBC) externships which may be completed remotely.
*Please Note: You do not have to participate in the Ready to Work (RTW) Job or Externship Placement process to pursue national certifications that may be available once you successfully complete your program.