Today’s world allows us to think freely beyond our degrees and our physical location. The internet allowed people from all over the world to access the same data, communicate with each other, and learn from each other. This explosion in technology made everything possible, made it possible for people to start a new career in their 30’s or 40’s, or even later; made it possible for students to attend school and take courses in other countries.
Although, having many choices is often a good thing because you can pick what works best for you, your abilities, and your situation. For example, if you consider getting a career in data science, you have more than one option to achieve that goal. If you’re still young, in high school, or younger, then getting a bachelor’s degree in computer science or any related field can be the kickstart you want.
But, if you’re older, already got a taste of work-life, and considering a career change, going back to school may not be your ideal choice – or even a choice. So, you’re often left with two options, either to get in a Bootcamp for a couple of months with some – and often a lot – of money, or you can buckle up, turn on your laptop and scour the internet for information.
These two options are valid and often can be done regardless of your physical location. But, one requires more money than the other, which is not always feasible. So, which way should you go? Is there a way that guarantees a job in the end? Which is easier? This article is going to answer these questions for you.
Option 1: Attending a Bootcamp
Let’s start things off with the option of attending a Bootcamp. That applies to either you attending the Bootcamp in person or online before and after the COVID era . The number of Bootcamps the teach anything tech-related has increased exponentially over the past decade. That increase in the number is the increase in the demand for programmers, developers, and data scientists.
Attending a Bootcamp can be a very tempting option, that is, if you have the finances for it. Right now, there are hundreds of companies offering data science-related Bootcamps, like, Flatiron, Le Wagon, GeneralAssembly, Thinkful, and much more. The tuition for these companies can vary from $9,500 to $17,900, with a commitment of up to 15~20 weeks.
Bootcamp Pros
- Attending a Bootcamp will provide you with the practical knowledge you need to know about data science.
- You can attend Bootcamps focusing on one specific topic or aspect of data science, like machine learning, artificial intelligence, or data analysis.
- There are Bootcamps with commitments as short as 3 months, which means it is a great option to changing Careers in a relatively short time.
- Attending a Bootcamp will help you start your portfolio with building projects and developing hands-on experiences.
- It’s a great option if you want to have friends to share the learning journey with you.
Bootcamp Cons
- The biggest con of Bootcamps, in my opinion, is how expensive it could get. With tuitions going as high as $18,000, many people can’t afford to attend a Bootcamp, even if they want you. Sometimes, some companies offer scholarships and discounted tuition, but that’s not always available.
- Almost all bootcamps promise job placements within a short time of completion on the first page of their websites, which causes people to gain some false hope. Because even if you successfully finish a Bootcamp, you can find difficulties in finding a job. After all, it all depends on the job market requirements and your portfolio.
- Since most Bootcamps focus on a specific topic or a specific aspect of a topic, they tend to overlook the basics of computation that you will need at some point in your career.
Option 2: Following your own pace (self-study)
The other option we are considering in this article is often the most common option and the option I took personally in learning Data Science, which is the self-study option. Self-studying is one of the advantages of the internet and the openness of the world. If you want to self-study something today – not necessarily a tech topic – you can find endless resources to do so online.
This is amazing because all you need to start learning something on your own is some passion, commencement, and – which is the tricky part – a stable internet connection, or at least a decent one. There are many options to learn data science online, from great sources like DataCamp, DataQuest, and some more general educational websites like Coursera and edX.
Self-study Pros
- Often, following the self-study choice is much cheaper – if not free – than attending a Bootcamp, making it a valid option for many people worldwide.
- When you do it on your own, you get complete control of your time. For example, when do you want to start, when you’d like to finish and how fast/ slow you want to tackle each aspect.
- When you study independently, you can go as deep or as shallow as you want on any topic.
- Learning data science on your own will teach you how to be independent and know how to look for information in the correct places.
- You will learn how to tackle any problem that faces you. Because you do it by yourself, you will develop a technique to deal with and solve problems efficiently.
Self-study Cons
- The hardest thing about self-study is the fact that you won’t have a structured road to follow. You will need to make your own curriculum or find one online and follow it through. This might not be the case if you took a free online self-paced course.
- Since you’re going on your own, then sometimes it’s easy to lose motivation and feel like you’re going through the journey alone, which may make things take longer than they should. However, you can overcome that by joining an online community and make friends along your journey.
- Unlike Bootcamps, you will need to choose the projects you work on and try to make them strong and valid to make the process of job hunting somewhat easier when it’s time.
Final thoughts
No matter what you want to do in life, there are many ways to reach that end. It falls completely on you to make a choice and stick with it to the end – or change it if you want. The same applies to if you want to switch careers and get into data science. Data science is a great field with endless opportunities and chances. It’s a field for many people with different passions.
But, getting into the field is not always simple. There are many ways to get into data science. For example, you can go to school with a focus on data science, you can attend one of the many Bootcamps available both online or in-person, or you browse the web and learn on your own.
All these options are valid, and your choice will depend on you as a person, your physical location, your goal, and how you want to achieve it. This article walked you through the two most picked choices: attending a Bootcamp or self-studying at your own pace. I want to leave you with that none of these options will a %100 guarantee a job position. But, if you work hard and build a good portfolio, you will land the job you want, regardless of the path you took to get there.