What does a Data Analytics bootcamp teach you?
We live in a time of great changes. With the digitalisation of the economy, so many jobs have been replaced by tech-oriented skills and this trend is only going to continue. In this climate, traditional education has become obsolete in the face of the needs and demands of tech companies and new ways of training like our Data Analytics bootcamp in Barcelona are appearing to fill the gap.
The idea of a coding bootcamp is still relatively recent. The first ones spontaneously appeared around 2013 in coworking spaces in New York, San Francisco, and Boston. However, you can now find coding bootcamps in almost all major cities around the world. Ubiqum started in Barcelona in 2016 as the first bootcamp in Europe to offer a Data Analytics program, thus our first cohort already has more than six years of professional experience!
A bootcamp is a specialised, accelerated and professional learning process that helps people change their professional career completely. They give you real-world experience working on high-demand. digital skills and knowledge, such as web and mobile application development and data analysis and machine learning.
In this article we’re going to focus on how our Data Analytics bootcamp in Barcelona works and inform you about the course and the doors it opens for you.
What is Data Science?
When we started at Ubiqum in 2016, the popular idea of Data Science was very new and today there is still some confusion. So let’s start then by clarifying some of the professional pathways within the world of Data Science. We can distinguish three overarching, complementary roles:
1. Data Engineer
First of all, we need the people who deal with data. For as long as there have been computers, there have been people who deal with data. In systems administration departments, there has always been a database administration team. But this job has become much more sophisticated in the last 20 years. This profile is still very technical and specialized in managing new products around database administration.
2. Data Scientist
Secondly, we need people who develop algorithms. These algorithms are very complex software programs and require a great deal of expertise. A Data Scientist, as described here, is a software engineer on steroids. This specialization requires between 10 and 15 years of work and possibly a PhD that focuses on the development of a new machine learning algorithm.
3. Business Data Analyst
Finally, we have the person who analyzes and leverages data to improve businesses. This is the profile we develop at Ubiqum with those on our intensive Data Analytics & Machine Learning program. Projections suggest that within 5 to 10 years, any senior executive in any company will need at least a basic understanding of these skills.
These three profiles all work towards three main activities: Data Analytics, Machine Learning, and Big Data. They store and organize large databases and develop complex computer programs to process the data. Once established, teams model and analyze the databases to obtain results that help in decision making and business improvement.
The Business Data Analyst
At Ubiqum we focus on the third profile, the Business Data Analyst. A BDA executes a process that consists of the following steps:
- Formulation of a hypothesis or business problem that data analysis will solve
- Creation, cleaning, preparation and pre-processing of a dataset
- Modeling of the problem using a Machine Learning algorithm
- Analysis of results and iteration between steps 2, 3, and 4 until satisfactory results are achieved — model training
- Converting the results into valid and executable conclusions for the business
This process can be applied to any problem in any sector and the skills we teach at Ubiqum are highly versatile and widely applicable.
Being a Business Data Analyst is a first step into the world of Data Science, and many of our students have moved their careers up to data-driven management positions.
Our Data Analytics bootcamp in Barcelona
At Ubiqum, we design our programs to follow a 100% hands-on methodology. Students work in an active learning environment on highly structured projects which build on each other throughout the data course.
We organize each project into tasks, mirroring the real working world, and each task includes the following elements:
Your task: An objective to accomplish through a deliverable.
Plan of attack: A detailed work procedure of how to do it.
Resources: In Ubiqum we don’t give the “theory” up front and all at once. Instead, we provide pieces of “theory” that the student needs only when they are relevant to solve a problem.
With these three elements, the students work in teams under the supervision of a mentor who guides the entire learning process.
During the course, the student will work on six increasingly complex projects that follow the process described above. At the end of the course, the student is perfectly qualified to start a career as a data analyst.
What does a mentor do at Ubiqum?
What a mentor never does is what we would all expect from a classic teacher: an Ubiqum mentor never lectures. Active, project-based learning requires our students to be constantly active, but not alone. The mentor makes sure that no student feels alone or lost at any time.
To achieve this, the mentor performs the following tasks on a daily basis:
1. Daily stand-up meeting
Mentors begin the day with a team meeting where they receive individualized feedback from each student about their current situation and progress in the project. Depending on the responses, they may organize individual or group meetings to break down issues and resolve doubts.
2. Spike meetings
When topics of a certain complexity appear in the course, mentors call a meeting to introduce and discuss the topic. Students are expected to actively participate in and contribute to these meetings.
3. One-to-one meetings
Students can access the mentor’s calendar and book 20-minute one-to-one meetings when needed.
4. Feedback
Mentors review each deliverable and give feedback for improvement until it meets the required quality standards.
Want to know more about our Data Analytics bootcamp in Barcelona?
We hope this brief information has helped you clarify what you can expect from our bootcamp and how it will help you develop in the world of Data Science.
For more information, fill out the form below and one of our career advisors will contact you with the complete syllabus and any further information you need.