Professional Data Scientist
Well, according to the good people at DataCamp, I can call myself a Data Scientist!!
Today I received my certificate. I am delighted!
The certification process has three parts: First, you must pass three assessments. These were my scores:
| Assessment | Percentile |
|---|---|
| Data Analysis in SQL (PostgreSQL) | 99% |
| Statistics Fundamentals | 98% |
| Python Programming | 99% |
You then have to solve a Python coding challenge.
And finally, there is a case study with two sections:
- A Jupyter notebook with all the code, graphs, and modeling.
- A presentation to a non-technical stakeholder.
The case study takes place over a four-hour zoom call with a DataCamp data scientist.
A funny fact was that since he is based in Belgium, my 9 am CEST call was from 3 am to 7 am here in San Antonio. I had so much coffee to stay awake that Pieter, my interviewer, probably believed something was wrong with me. ;)
I am very grateful to DataCamp for creating this certification process! It gives people like me an opportunity to prove that we can do the work.
Earning this certificate caps 16 months of work. Below is a summary of the main milestones in my journey so far:
| Month | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Apr 2020 | Scrum Master and Product Owner Certification |
| May 2020 | Started taking DataCamp courses |
| Aug 2020 | Started HarvardX Professional Certificate in Data Science |
| Aug 2020 | Finished Python Fundamentals Skill Track |
| Oct 2020 | Finished Data Scientist with Python Career Track |
| Dec 2020 | Finished CS50 Intro to Computer Science |
| Feb 2021 | Finished Machine Learning Scientist with Python Career Track |
| May 2021 | Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer Certification |
| Jun 2021 | Machine Learning Accelerator Certification |
| Jul 2021 | Earned HarvardX Professional Certificate in Data Science |
| Jul 2021 | Finished SQL Fundamentals Skill Track |
| Jul 2021 | Finished Python Programming Skill Track |
| Aug 2021 | Finished Statistics Fundamentals Skill Track |
| Aug 2021 | Earned Professional Data Scientist Certification |
To date, I have completed 65 courses and earned 370,000+ XP points in DataCamp. There is considerable overlap in some career tracks. I can finish the Data Analyst, and Python Programmer career tracks with just a few more courses. I will do just that soon.
I also started reading the Deep Learning with Python book by François Chollet. It is a great book, very clearly explained. I am only at chapter 4 and have already reached the limit of my Keras knowledge. The field I chose is fantastic and full of knowledge and innovation. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to keep learning.
I am at the very beginning of my journey. Paraphrasing Socrates: ” the more you know, the more you realize you know nothing”.
I know nothing, but I can call myself Data Scientist!!
Level 1, but Data Scientist nonetheless.. :)