Data Science 101 Prep
The Prep course aims to equip you with the required knowledge for the Data Science 101 course. It is not required so if you are already comfortable with python and git, then don't worry about completing this!
What: A self-directed course covering useful materials for the Course (e.g. Python, numpy, Git, etc.). Everything is 100% online and remote.
Scope: Python Programming, Python Engineering, numpy, the *nix command line, Git Basics, Jupyter
Who: Anyone who wants to start learning Data Science but has no prior knowledge or experience in Python
When: Totally on your own time
How:
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Learning materials: We will be using study materials provided by Dataquest, which teaches new concepts using interactive coding challenges
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Slack Q&A: Ask questions on Slack! Although this prep course is not officially included in the course itself, we will do our best to support you in case you've got questions.
Investment: $29 (Dataquest's Basic 1-month plan, which is paid directly to Dataquest)
We, DareData, are playing the role of facilitators much more than teachers for this course. The contents and materials that need to be learned here are very commonly taught concepts and can be learned on your own through many of the excellent online-only courses.
DataQuest is where the vast majority of your learning should take place while we provide some deadlines. There are 11 of you going through this together, help each other out!
DataQuest is organized into courses. Each of these courses is a self-contained unit that takes about 1.5 hours to complete. We have pre-selected 19 of them and for each of them assigned a week in which they should be done. Since the schedule is tight, you should do everything that you can in order to meet these deadlines but if you cannot, that is okay! These deadlines are suggestions to help you keep on track. If you fall a bit behind for whatever reason, do everything you can to get back on track!
- A laptop, internet connection, and a web browser
- The ability to pay $29 to Dataquest
Since we did not build the material ourselves and rely on Dataquest's courses instead, you will have to sign up with and pay Dataquest all on your own. For your subscription plan and the course dates to correspond with each other, you need to follow a few key steps.
Step 1: Subscribe to Dataquest's Basic Plan on or after October 1st 2019. We know that the payment date is very exact, this is only for your own goods as we are planning it to keep your investment as low as possible.
Step 2: Take the most advantage of your subscription plan! We pre-selected 19 courses that are crucial for you to pass the entrance exam and to succeed in the academy. If after having completed those and still having time, you are very much encouraged to go through the rest of the courses that come along with Dataquest's Basic plan!
Step 3: Cancel your subscription before October 31st 2019. All Dataquest's subscriptions renew automatically, so if you forget to do this, you will be BILLED AGAIN. Yes you read it correctly. BILLED. AGAIN. So you'd better mark it to your calendar!
As mentioned previously, this is our suggested schedule to help you keep track with your learning. That being said, feel free to skip certain topics you already knew. The other way around, take the time to study the materials that you are not comfortable with.
Below we listed the 19 learning units that you need to complete. We recommend you to give the highest priority to those first, and then if you still have time, feel free to go through the rest of the learning units.
- Programming in Python
- Variables and Data Types
- Lists and For Loops
- Conditional Statements
- Dictionaries and Frequency Tables
- Functions: Fundamentals
- Functions: Intermediate
- Project: Learn and Install Jupyter Notebook
- Guided Project: Profitable App Profiles for the App Store and Google Play Markets
- Exception raising: Materials to be provided
- Cleaning and Preparing Data in Python
- Object-Oriented Python
- Introduction to NumPy
- Boolean Indexing with NumPy
- Command line basics
- Challenge: Navigating the File System
- Introduction to Git
- Git Remotes
- Project: Git Installation and GitHub Integration
There is one slack rule to rule them all: DON'T BE SHY! ASK QUESTIONS PUBLICLY
We know and totally understand that it can be intimidating to ask a question in front of a bunch of other people that you don't even know. We've all been there and can empathize. However, the rewards of overcoming this fear and asking a question in a slack channel that everyone can see are too great to ignore. The benefits, among others are:
- You will get an answer faster. If 15 people see your question, you will get an answer faster than if 1 person does.
- You will get a better answer. If 15 people see your question, you're likely get a better than if 1 person does.
- You may make a friend. It increases the chances of interacting with an interesting person that you may not have met otherwise. These types of peers can increase your chances of success immensely.
Here we will talk about each of the channels available in our slack channel and how they should be used. This is super important because it dictates how important information will be organized. While it may seem annoying at the moment to have to remember where to post a question, the future you will GREATLY appreciate it when you are looking for where that one clever answer to that one question is. Furthermore, you'll be very grateful not to have a question about a completely unrelated subject right next to your brilliant one. Trust us, the extra effort is worth it!
If you have general questions about how dataquest works this is where you would ask them. For example: how do I track my progress in DataQuest? A question that you would not ask here is something very specific about one of the exercises.
This is where you ask any questions that are specific to the Python for Data Science: Fundamentals course
This is where you ask any questions that are specific to the Python for Data Science: Intermediate course
This is where you ask any questions that are specific to the Pandas and Numpy Fundamentals Course
This is where you ask any questions that are specific to the Command Line: Beginner Course
This is where you ask any questions that are specific to the Command Line: Intermediate Course
This is where you ask any questions that are specific to the Git and Version Control Course
Again, always ask in a slack channel and DO NOT DM an instructor! For your questions to be answered in the shortest possible time, provide us with enough context to be able to answer it. Among others, you can attach a screenshot or copy-paste formatted code together with your questions. If you, as a student, see a question that you know the answer to, do it! Answer it!
Everything is 100% remote and online!
The Prep course does not occur at any specific time, except for the live sessions. We only care about you completing all the materials scheduled for that week. Apart from that, you can learn at anywhere and anytime at your own pace.