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How was your experience with the following Coursera course?

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posted 9 years ago

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I'm looking at the course named Data Scientist's toolbox and evaluating whether to take it. So if you have already completed it could you tell how was the experience. Was the course really challenging or was it a breeze?

I see that it's one in the series of many interdependent courses. So any thoughts on that would also be helpful.

chris webster

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posted 9 years ago

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I haven't done this course, but I know it used to be the first part of their introduction to R programming (which I have done), so it's going to be pretty basic. I think it's mostly about how to install R and RStudio, and a basic intro to Github.

In any case, it's only supposed to require 1-4 hours per week for 4 weeks, so why don't you just try working through the first week's materials which are already available online? It doesn't cost anything but time, so what have you got to lose by trying it?

No more Blub for me, thank you, Vicar.

Ahsan Bagwan

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posted 9 years ago

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Thank you Chris for the information. Yes, indeed I figured out it is a very basic course. Took me hardly 2 hours to complete it.

Guillermo Ishi

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posted 9 years ago

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It is the first course in what Johns Hopkins calls their data science specialty. A fascinating and very timely subject! That particular course is trivial, but it gets harder quickly. A couple courses in and you'll be spending all your waking hours on it to pass.

BTW, this is somehow crosslinked into JavaRanch » Java Forums » Books » Bunkhouse Lounge, when it;s really in Meaningless Drivel. Get on it admins

chris webster

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posted 9 years ago

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Guillermo Ishi wrote:BTW, this is somehow crosslinked into JavaRanch » Java Forums » Books » Bunkhouse Lounge, when it;s really in Meaningless Drivel. Get on it admins

It's been added to the Bunkhouse Lounge because that's where we have discussed various other online courses.

No more Blub for me, thank you, Vicar.

Jeanne Boyarsky

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posted 9 years ago

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Ahsan Bagwan wrote:I'm looking at the course named Data Scientist's toolbox and evaluating whether to take it. So if you have already completed it could you tell how was the experience. Was the course really challenging or was it a breeze?

I considered taking it, saw the negative reviews and decided not to. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on it.

Guillermo Ishi wrote:BTW, this is somehow crosslinked into JavaRanch » Java Forums » Books » Bunkhouse Lounge, when it;s really in Meaningless Drivel. Get on it admins

When a thread gets moved, the old location shows it for a bit so the original poster knows it has been moved. This is intentional.

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Guillermo Ishi

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posted 9 years ago

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Jeanne Boyarsky wrote:
I considered taking it, saw the negative reviews and decided not to. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on it.

Those reviews are wrong. Half the reviewers think it's a stand-alone course, which is is not. It is the first step in a long data science track consisting of several difficult courses. Maybe it should be incorporated in the first part of the second course. The other half don't get it either but just want to hate on something.

Here's the whole track
https://www.coursera.org/specialization/jhudatascience/1/courses

don't miss this
http://www.kaggle.com

Ahsan Bagwan

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posted 9 years ago

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Jeanne,

Like I mentioned it was pretty basic. The assignments consisted of trivial github questions. Essentially in one case I had to just fork a repository. Another thing I was asked to do was just creating a repo and modifying the readme.md. This is just off the top of my head.

As far as learning goes, there wasn't much of the satisfaction I sought. Maybe the other courses in the course track would do justice to taking up these courses. I might take the R Programming one if I find the time and inclination.

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