Ryan Swanstrom

New Data Science Certificate Program

Starting in the fall of 2012, the University of Washington will be offering a certificate in Data Science. The program has two sections: one located in Seattle and the other online. The certificate consists of three separate courses each lasting approximately 3 months. Thus the program can be completed in 9 months, and the cost is around $3000.

There are some information sessions later this summer. If you are in Seattle, there is an information session on July 19. If you are interested in the online program, a webinar is scheduled for August 29.

The program content looks quite good. Some of the topics to be covered include: hadoop, NoSQL, machine learning, statistics, graph algorithms, and more. If you are looking to become a data scientist, this just might be the program for you.

I also added this certificate program to my list of College’s offering data science degrees.

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13 responses to “New Data Science Certificate Program”

  1. Aidan Avatar
    Aidan

    Any person who would actually be a good data scientist could and should learn the content in these courses by himself. I understanding getting a degree if you’re doing research, but this is just $3000 paid towards degree inflation. I honestly hope no company pays attention to these degrees to save people thousands of dollars. Literally.

    Reply
    1. Ryan Swanstrom Avatar
      Ryan Swanstrom

      Aidan,
      Thanks for commenting. Yes, it would be possible for a person to learn all this information on his/her own. However, a structured program sometimes provides enough motivation for the person to actually do the learning. Also, the curriculum lays out the material to be learned.

      Reply
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  4. Sandeep Avatar
    Sandeep

    I think $3K for a program that will provide you with the structure to cover the basics is a good deal.
    Sure, you can learn the material on your own but one does need some structure – especially when starting down a new path..

    Reply
    1. Ryan Swanstrom Avatar
      Ryan Swanstrom

      Sandeep, I would agree with you. Thanks for commenting.

      Reply
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  6. Diana Teti Avatar
    Diana Teti

    From what I’ve read about becoming a data scientist, you need a background or a degree in math, statistics, computer science, etc. In the case of this course, is there any pre-requisite knowledge required ? I am an architect gearing my career towards energy management.

    Reply
    1. Ryan Swanstrom Avatar
      Ryan Swanstrom

      I am not sure about the prerequisites, but the information session is Aug. 29, so you could virtually attended that. http://www.pce.uw.edu/events.aspx?id=10504

      Reply
  7. Aboud Akhdir Avatar
    Aboud Akhdir

    Thanks Ryan for sharing this 🙂

    Reply
  8. Debolin Dhar Avatar
    Debolin Dhar

    Hi Ryan,

    I am having a degree in Computer Science, and is currently working on legacy systems for the past 4 years. Will a transition to Data Science be a good move for me ? Would an online certificate course on Data Science, such as being offered by UW or Syracuse University be enough for future prospects ?

    Reply
    1. Ryan Swanstrom Avatar
      Ryan Swanstrom

      Debolin,
      I cannot guarantee anything, but I would think a certificate from one of the places you mentioned should be enough to get you into a data science career. If McKinsey Global Institute is correct, there will be a huge shortage of data scientists. Thus, a certificate will definitely be a good thing.

      Ryan

      Reply
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