Udacity Data Scientist Nanodegree Review 2024: Your Way to Learn Data Science

I have been engaged in the world of data science since 2010 when I started my MS in Management Sciences with research. 

I prepared a thesis by collecting primary data with the help of a questionnaire. Then, I analyzed it with SPSS and E-views. I also worked with STATA and R during my coursework and on various projects. 

I always wanted to explore data science and machine learning while I searched about Udacity and its programs.

I found them very interesting and along with nicely ranked courses. 

For all these reasons, I enrolled in the Data Science Nanodegree to explore more data science and machine learning.

As a graduate with Data Scientist Nanodegree, I am probably a little more well-versed than most to write this review.

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Overview

In this Udacity Data Scientist Nanodegree Review, I will take you through the entire course syllabus, its costing, prerequisites required for the course, and the pros and cons.

Seems excited! Let’s keep rolling.

Buckle up tight, as in the following sections; I’m going to explain these in detail.

As we know, Udacity is one of the top-rated online course academies.

And this might be the reason you are also considering it. Isn’t it?

They have several Data Sciences courses ranging from beginner, intermediate, to advance level.  

Here I will review the Data Scientist Nanodegree, a course designed to kickstart a data science career. 

I have added some insights to give you the required information to decide if this course is the right fit. 

 My experience of taking Udacity’s Data Scientist Nanodegree

When I enrolled, they asked me to make a study timetable. It helps to plan the routine. 

The next step was to set up project deadlines. This feature is useful when you are on a tight schedule and need to complete the course in time.

Then the course began with the introduction of instructors. The syllabus was well crafted; it covered all aspects of being a full-fledged industry-ready data scientist.

I will talk about the projects in the later section of this Udacity’s Data Scientist Nanodegree review.

Cost and Duration of Data Scientist Nanodegree

This course comes with a price tag of around $1199 (may vary a bit)

The package consists of 4 months of access to all services. Udacity expects us to spend at least 10 hours per week on the course in these four months. 

Now you have the option here to pay the complete price upfront or in monthly installments of $399/ month (4 months) 

In case you need more time to complete the Nanodegree, you can add one more month to the list with an extra payment of one month. 

I completed the course within four months. 

• Cost: $1199
• Duration: 4 months

As far as the price is a concern, in my opinion, the price is a bit high for a full-time student. Perhaps, it might not be the case for professionals.

Udacity provides a support team, own mentor, helps get a job and their partnerships with other companies can be an explanation for the price tag.

I hope you are finding this Udacity Data Scientist Nanodegree Review interesting!

Also Read: My Udacity Experience

Pre-requisites of the course

Firstly, this is an advanced level course.

Hence you are required to brush up on some of your concepts before getting in. Here’s the list:

Machine Learning – Brush up regression models, classification, decision trees, PCA and Clustering.

Python and SQL– Have experience in writing Python and SQL programming and should be comfortable with Terminal and Github.

Statistics – Basic understanding of statistics to effectively analyze data

Math – A bit of calculus and linear algebra is a must 

Data Wrangling – Data cleaning and transformations using pandas and Sklearn.

Projects completed in Data Scientist Nanodegree

Project 1 – Write a Data Science Blog Post :

The unique part of Udacity’s courses is the high-quality industry-driven project. The first project was to write a data blog based on research analysis. In response, the professional reviewers provide a good review and give value-added comments to improve the project’s quality.

 Project 2: Build Disaster Response Pipelines with Figure Eight:

 This project is unique and exciting because it includes all the aspects that a data scientist does in the real world. 

This project aims to deploy a text classification web app by using data provided by Figure Eight. This web app should classify texts concerning a disaster situation.

By entering a text in the app, a user could get the classification of that input text. 

This project provides a unique opportunity to learn and get your hands-on various data sciences processes under one umbrella.

 It involved ETL Extract, Transform and Load workflow, ML Machine Learning Workflow, and finally, deploying the web-app model. 

 Project 3: Design a Recommendation Engine with IBM

For this project, you will analyze the interactions users have with articles on the IBM Watson Studio platform and make recommendations about recent articles you think they will like. 

To determine which articles to show to each user, you will be performing a study of the data available on the IBM Watson Studio platform. 

You can create your account to become a part of their community and better understand their data by creating an account on the platform here. 

Also Read: Udacity Data Analyst Nanodegree review

 

Data Science Capstone Project

This project takes a central place in the learning Artificial Intelligence domain. 

It deals with a very complex task – the identification of the dog breed. 

The classification problem, such as classifying humans or dogs, is somewhat easy compared to classification problems that deal with identifying dog breed and the human race. 

The latter problem requires complex algorithms, careful analysis, and a massive amount of training data. The results of this project are encouraging because it identifies dog breeds correctly. 

These algorithms are also practical in other situations such as identifying human races, categorizing males, female or classifying humans like kids, young and older by utilizing corresponding data. 

Today, we use this project’s application in everyday life; security cameras might recognize the individuals and their background by just analyzing their faces. 

 

There are two optional projects in between. The first one is to “Optimize GitHub profile.” 

Earlier I did not have so many repositories, but after this project, I added the repositories and some projects to my GitHub profile.

The next one was about improving my LinkedIn profile. 

 Thoughts on other features of this Nanodegree

1. Mentorship

Throughout the course, a mentor provides support and guidance from the start of your Nanodegree program. 

It was a good experience, but I felt that it was a bit slow process. I had to text doubts to my mentor, and he replied to me in a day or two. I expect it to be a little faster.

2. Project reviews

Project reviews were excellent and provided an excellent review. It feels good when someone reviews your project and gives feedback on the code. 

3. Career services

The two of the most valuable career services Udacity provides are GitHub and LinkedIn profile reviews. Udacity also shares resumes with partner companies, that’s what they say, but I didn’t use this one.

Job Scenario

Currently, data scientists are one of the highest-paid professionals, and there is a considerable need for skilled and certified data scientists. 

As per Forbes, an average Data Scientist in America earns an annual salary of $120,931

Very few people can process the data successfully and derive valuable insights from it.

If you think you can be one of them, then don’t let your passion die.

Pros and Cons of Udacity’s Data Scientist Nanodegree

What I liked about Udacity

 I think they have high-quality content and instructors. Moreover, they have partnerships with the relevant big companies. 

This course is designed in collaboration with leading organizations like IBM, Kaggle, Starbuck, and Insight.

What I didn’t like about Udacity

There should be some exams to qualify for the Nanodegree; it shouldn’t be based only on projects.

Is Udacity Data Scientist Nanodegree Worth It?

Cost/Certificate Ratio

As of today, this nanodegree costs $1200(I got a reasonable offer, though). 

In today’s world, skills are valued more than certificates. If this course helps to master data science skills, which helps you land a job, then $1200 is worth payable. If you opt to pay a hefty amount only to get a certificate, I don’t think it is worth it. You can get a cheaper one from any other MOOC.

Conclusion: Do I recommend it to others?

Definitely, I would recommend this nanodegree to anyone interested in the data science field. However, beware, this is an advanced level program and requires intermediate knowledge of python and statistics.