The Student Room Group

ICE Cambridge Data Science career accelerator

Hi

I am considering applying for this. Anyone got any experience of it?

I have 20 years software development experience and a Physics degree from 1996 (my maths is pretty rusty).

Anyone doing/done the course?

What are your views on the content - I am looking for Python coding and plenty of prsctical stats, machine learning etc which is relevant to industry.

Has anyone got a data science job afterwards ? How was the course viewed in your application and how relevant was it.

Thank you
Original post by 99zardoz
Hi
I am considering applying for this. Anyone got any experience of it?
I have 20 years software development experience and a Physics degree from 1996 (my maths is pretty rusty).
Anyone doing/done the course?
What are your views on the content - I am looking for Python coding and plenty of prsctical stats, machine learning etc which is relevant to industry.
Has anyone got a data science job afterwards ? How was the course viewed in your application and how relevant was it.
Thank you

I suspect this is the first, perhaps second year of this course, so there won't be many alumni resources to draw on. it seems to be drawing on a diverse set of staff, which means that there is an amount of confidence int he academic community about its rigour. You do have to work just as hard on the ICE courses as you do of full time Cam courses, so don't under-estimate it. I'd get in contact with them and ask them questions directly.
Reply 2
Original post by threeportdrift
I suspect this is the first, perhaps second year of this course, so there won't be many alumni resources to draw on. it seems to be drawing on a diverse set of staff, which means that there is an amount of confidence int he academic community about its rigour. You do have to work just as hard on the ICE courses as you do of full time Cam courses, so don't under-estimate it. I'd get in contact with them and ask them questions directly.

Thanks. With Cambridge I agree one would think they wouldn't put their name on a low value qualification. The fees are quite steep...for another 5k I could do the full masters in DS at Essex or Goldsmiths which are the other options I am considering. Then again thats 12 - 18 months at least with minimal/low income vs 20 weeks on the ICE course. Is a masters worth that...food for thought.
Original post by 99zardoz
Thanks. With Cambridge I agree one would think they wouldn't put their name on a low value qualification. The fees are quite steep...for another 5k I could do the full masters in DS at Essex or Goldsmiths which are the other options I am considering. Then again thats 12 - 18 months at least with minimal/low income vs 20 weeks on the ICE course. Is a masters worth that...food for thought.

Have they got a short course you could do over a weekend or similar, which would give you a feel for the place, the way they operate and perhaps one or two of the lecturers. I think one of the problems with these courses is the title. It's like Finance for Non-Financial Managers - I maybe don't want to highlight the fact I did the course because I am not really a financial manager. Do you want to do a course called 'career accelerator' when you are already 20 years in, versus a Masters which is a very accepted way to change direction or boost/demonstrate professional skills?
Reply 4
Original post by threeportdrift
Have they got a short course you could do over a weekend or similar, which would give you a feel for the place, the way they operate and perhaps one or two of the lecturers. I think one of the problems with these courses is the title. It's like Finance for Non-Financial Managers - I maybe don't want to highlight the fact I did the course because I am not really a financial manager. Do you want to do a course called 'career accelerator' when you are already 20 years in, versus a Masters which is a very accepted way to change direction or boost/demonstrate professional skills?

Good idea but unfortunately they don't have any relevant weekend courses until January. My current job has just ended so I have a golden opportunity to start a course in Sept/Oct which I would like to take advantage of.
I don't think the career accelerator title is a major issue as although Data Science is adjacent to Software Development its a different thing. I have some relevant skills but would stand little chance of getting a Data Science job with what I have now, and my career is in need of change/acceleration in all honesty.
They charge a lot for this because of the University of Cambridge brand name, but they don't actually give you any degree at the end, so I'm not sure you get to fully realise the value of that brand name. I wouldn't do it unless they have some kind of agreement with partner companies to help you get a data science job with them.
There's been two cohorts I think. It takes about 6-8h/week to go through the material so far, at the most. The material is a bit disorganised and the course leader doesn't have any real experience of applying data science in a business context, so some of the activities are academic. There were a couple of technical inaccuracies in the course materials but I guess those would be ironed out by the next cohort. The first module doesn't really prepare for a career in data science but the second was better better. The industry experts are very knowledgeable but not involved in teaching. The FourthRev support is good, but what's the point of having good support when there are technical inaccuracies in the course materials. Overall I don't think it's worth the money. I should have done Imperials DS course instead, its got the same content at less than half the price and a great brand name.
Reply 7
Original post by Anonymous
There's been two cohorts I think. It takes about 6-8h/week to go through the material so far, at the most. The material is a bit disorganised and the course leader doesn't have any real experience of applying data science in a business context, so some of the activities are academic. There were a couple of technical inaccuracies in the course materials but I guess those would be ironed out by the next cohort. The first module doesn't really prepare for a career in data science but the second was better better. The industry experts are very knowledgeable but not involved in teaching. The FourthRev support is good, but what's the point of having good support when there are technical inaccuracies in the course materials. Overall I don't think it's worth the money. I should have done Imperials DS course instead, its got the same content at less than half the price and a great brand name.

Thank you for your honest reply. Its very helpful.
Reply 8
Original post by Anonymous
There's been two cohorts I think. It takes about 6-8h/week to go through the material so far, at the most. The material is a bit disorganised and the course leader doesn't have any real experience of applying data science in a business context, so some of the activities are academic. There were a couple of technical inaccuracies in the course materials but I guess those would be ironed out by the next cohort. The first module doesn't really prepare for a career in data science but the second was better better. The industry experts are very knowledgeable but not involved in teaching. The FourthRev support is good, but what's the point of having good support when there are technical inaccuracies in the course materials. Overall I don't think it's worth the money. I should have done Imperials DS course instead, its got the same content at less than half the price and a great brand name.


I am coming from a software dev/data analyst background so I don't know data science , machine learning, Python etc. Does the course cover enough of this to get a first job in data science in your view ?
It seems very focused on the soft skills, interfacing with the business, legal, ethical etc which is good but you need the tech. skills too I would ima
Original post by 99zardoz
I am coming from a software dev/data analyst background so I don't know data science , machine learning, Python etc. Does the course cover enough of this to get a first job in data science in your view ?
It seems very focused on the soft skills, interfacing with the business, legal, ethical etc which is good but you need the tech. skills too I would ima

There is a support package around soft skills, career planning, portfolio development etc. There is also weekly content on data science. So far the data science techniques are basic but useful, they can be applied to a business context readily. The learning activities are generally academic though so there's not much realistic practise.

I had some python skills but basic code is provided in python for each technique taught. It's not always production quality code in terms of it being scalable for multiple variables and multiple models. So I'm not sure how useful this code will be in a fast paced commercial environment.

The course is designed to place people into senior data science roles, which is what appealed to me. The tech industry isn't doing great right now. The experience I had with each module so far has been different, the second module on regression is better and more in depth. It could get better with each module. So it's too early to make definitive judgement.
Reply 10
Hi, can I ask what you decided?
One of the critical issues—the elephant in the room—is that academic courses do not necessarily provide real-life examples/experiences, hence a skill shortage. It's the same with degrees—it's all very well having one, but what's the point if you don't know how to use it in the real world or synthesize the information and apply it to your context? I strongly feel that soft skills cannot be overlooked - industry links, support, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity will help a business and cultivate a growth mindset - not necessarily a decent brand name on your certificate.
Reply 11
Original post by Anon2086
Hi, can I ask what you decided?
One of the critical issues—the elephant in the room—is that academic courses do not necessarily provide real-life examples/experiences, hence a skill shortage. It's the same with degrees—it's all very well having one, but what's the point if you don't know how to use it in the real world or synthesize the information and apply it to your context? I strongly feel that soft skills cannot be overlooked - industry links, support, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity will help a business and cultivate a growth mindset - not necessarily a decent brand name on your certificate.


I am signed up to a different career accelerator in Data Analytics at LSE. My concern with the Cambridge course was that it seemed to be aimed at developing the skills of experienced data scientists
Reply 12
Hi everyone! I've also been looking at both the Cambridge and LSE Career accelerators but in doing so I stumbled upon what appears to be the same thing but given by Imperial College, and at half the price! Price is a huge consideration for me so I am very interested in that programme. However, it seems very new and I haven't been able to find any reviews or discussions about it online. Anyone have any insights they could share? The deadline is tomorrow so it's quite urgent!
Original post by Maxmax24
Hi everyone! I've also been looking at both the Cambridge and LSE Career accelerators but in doing so I stumbled upon what appears to be the same thing but given by Imperial College, and at half the price! Price is a huge consideration for me so I am very interested in that programme. However, it seems very new and I haven't been able to find any reviews or discussions about it online. Anyone have any insights they could share? The deadline is tomorrow so it's quite urgent!

What did you go for?

Struggled to find anything similar from Imperial - was it this imperial bootcamp with HyperionDev? I had a demo with Manchester Uni who also work with Hyperion and it seemed very much a standardised / boilerplate format that had a good uni's name stamped on it.
Reply 14
Original post by euler_2.718
What did you go for?
Struggled to find anything similar from Imperial - was it this imperial bootcamp with HyperionDev? I had a demo with Manchester Uni who also work with Hyperion and it seemed very much a standardised / boilerplate format that had a good uni's name stamped on it.

Hey! Sorry, wasn't notified anyone had replied. I tried linking to the programme in my first message, but it didn't get approved because of "advertisement", which is obviously not what I was doing but I guess I get it. No, it's actually not the Bootcamp with HyperionDev, as that's really expensive as well, but it's the "Professional Certificate in Data Analytics" with Emeritus (obviously still expensive, but half the price). If you google it like that you should find it. It seems that it's the first presentation, so it's quite risky, but they held a 1-hour long presentation which can be found on YouTube, and I guess they "convinced" me. I'm putting it in quotes because I'm not fooling myself: I'm sure it'll still be very standardised, and given how much materiel is covered, it seems quite impossible to go into great depth on anything. However, I see it as a way of getting everything you need in a convenient package, put together by people who are supposed to know what's most important. And you get to use the good uni's name on your CV afterwards, as you also mentioned. It's apparently based on their "successful" Business Analytics course they used to have, so not entirely new material either. They also have a 15-day money-back guarantee from when the course starts, which is about 2 weeks from now. We shall see! If you're interested I have a referral link for 10% off the course. Wish I had someone to refer me when I enrolled 😅
Reply 15
Original post by euler_2.718
What did you go for?
Struggled to find anything similar from Imperial - was it this imperial bootcamp with HyperionDev? I had a demo with Manchester Uni who also work with Hyperion and it seemed very much a standardised / boilerplate format that had a good uni's name stamped on it.

Hey! So I just wrote a long reply but it got flagged for review again 🥲 Anyway, I went with the Imperial College Business School one, which is surprisingly the same length as the Imperial College HyperionDev one, but apparently isn't deemed a "bootcamp" and is also about half the price. I do find it slightly strange they'd have two very similar offerings, but this is a completely new course called "Professional Certificate in Data Analytics". If you google it with these words you should find it. They also held a 1-hour long online presentation of the course a few months ago, which can be found on YouTube. But I'm not fooling myself either: it's an online course given through a learning platform called Emeritus (based in the US, I think). However, you do get an all-in-one-package curated by people who are supposed to know what they're doing, and you get to use the good uni's name on your CV afterwards as you also mentioned. To me it was worth the money (definitely not over 7000 like the other though), and they have a money-back guarantee once the course starts so I figured that if it's really terrible I'd just use that.
Thanks for responding - it does look like a good option - I particularly like that they don't skip SQL as that is the core of being successful in analytics at any company that cares about data enough to organise it in an enterprise data model.

The course content is broad so think your intuition is spot on but your logic makes perfect sense - hope it goes well for you!

I signed up to the Cambridge DS accelerator last week so will see how that goes. I've got a lot of analytics experience as a Data Analyst and have been on and off the path to transitioning to Data Science for a few years.

In the last year I have had more opportunity at work to get hands on Data Science project experience, so this course should be a nice complement to that and help me 'accelerate' my sideways and then forward shift within my company.

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