Thinkful Data Science Review

Thinkful is a coding bootcamp that helps people transition into a job in technology. The bootcamp aims to promote innovation, empathy, accessibility, and a passion for student success in its offerings. Throughout the Thinkful program, students receive immersive instruction in their subject of choice and work with a community of students, instructors, and mentors to prepare for a job in technology.

In this Thinkful data science review article, we’ll discuss the syllabus, costs, and everything else you should know about the course. We’ll also cover the career support Thinkful offers to students, and how its alumni have fared after graduating.

Curriculum

Thinkful’s data science course offers 1-on-1 mentorship, access to a community of students and instructors, as well as professional guidance, to help students prepare for a career in the field. The course divides into four components:

• Analytics and Experimentation: At the start of the course, you’ll learn the basics of using Python to gather and present data, using SQL to query data and find out how to run your data analysis experiments.

• Machine Learning Supervised Learning: In this module, you’ll be introduced to machine learning, and cover everything from the basics such as decision trees, then move onto topics such as regression, classification, and random forests.

• Machine Learning Unsupervised Learning: In the third module of the course, you’ll learn about the second-largest branch of machine learning: unsupervised models. You’ll start with classic clustering algorithms, then move onto cutting-edge techniques such as neural networks and Natural Language Processing.

• Specializations: After mastering the fundamentals of data science, you’ll explore three specializations: advanced natural language processing, deep learning with Tensorflow and Keras, and Big Data and Spark. This module will allow you to deepen your understanding of how to work with different types of data and how to derive insights from data.

Throughout the course, students work on a series of projects designed to measure their competence over the skills taught in class. Each module ends with a capstone project that uses all of the skills taught in that module.

Career Support

Career support is a crucial part of Thinkful’s data science course. Throughout the course, students participate in one-on-one mentor sessions. Mentors act as personal guides, ready to answer any questions and offers personalized support during your learning experience. Students pair up with a career coach who works with them for six months to prepare them for the professional workforce.

Thinkful’s career services cover three main topics: networking, mastering a technical interview, and finding a job. Additionally, Thinkful can refer students to companies in its hiring network and help students craft connections with employers, which can assist students who are looking for a job. Thinkful’s teaching staff also includes of a series of industry experts who share their insights on finding a job in tech.

Location

All Thinkful courses are offered remotely, which means that the company has no in-person campuses. Thinkful’s online learning platform and flexible program are a good for people with limited time (less than 30 hours per week) to participate in a data science bootcamp.

Cost

Thinkful’s full-time data science program offers four methods students can use to pay for their tuition: Income Share Agreements, student loan through Ascent Funding, month-to-month payments, and an upfront payment.

The terms offered by these financing methods are as follows:

• Income Share Agreement: 15% of your monthly income for 36 months. Payments commence when you earn over $40,00 per year and stop when you reach the payment cap of $28,000, or after the term of the ISA expires. 
• Ascent Funding Loan: $142 / month (first six months) then $603 / month (36 months after)
• Month-to-Month Payment: $4,000 / month for the duration of the course.
• Upfront Payment: $18,500

All tuition options come with a tuition refund guarantee, and women and members of the US military (active or discharged) may be eligible for a scholarship to the program.

Outcomes

Thinkful is a member of the Council of Integrity in Results Reporting and submits outcomes data to the organization. According to its most recent filing for the H2 2018 Data Science Flex course, 80% of graduates were employed in-field within 180 days of completion. The median pay rate for graduates of the program was $75,000.

Admissions

Thinkful uses a five-step admissions process to select candidates for its data science program. These are the steps you’ll need to follow if you want to enroll in the program:

• Step 1: Submit an online written application
• Step 2: Prepare for a technical evaluation with three weeks of self-paced learning covering Python and statistics through a prep course
• Step 3: Meet with an admissions team member to discuss your application and find a program that’s best for you
• Step 4: Select a payment plan
• Step 5: Pass a live technical interview to show that you’re ready for the program.

The purpose of the interview is to test your capabilities and decide if you’re a good fit for the Thinkful flex program. After the technical interview, Thinkful will extend successful candidates an offer to participate in its data science program.

Conclusion

Throughout the online course, students gain experience in the core disciplines of data science and machine learning, covering everything from data analytics to building decision trees. The course also offers several career support services, such as access to a career coach, which helps students prepare for the labor market.

Thinkful also offers courses in product management, full stack development/software engineering, and more. If you’re thinking of entering a career in data science, you should check this Thinkful review to help you decide if Thinkful’s data science program is for you!