DataCamp

I hereby submit my heartfelt gratitude to the entire DataCamp Team for providing a wonderful online education and self-learning platform with plethora of courses having updated curriculum and experience content creators. Learning was never been so fun and easy. I could easily pick a track of my interest and rest all was taken care by DataCamp. The course content, video lectures, transcripts, practice and assessments including interim projects helped me gain the required skills in the domain. I feel confident now and am glad that could implement the acquired knowledge in my daily work profile. It really helped in gaining a place and repute in the organisation. Keep up the good work team and must attend for all Data enthusiasts. 

First I need to address the major complaint I have found when looking through reviews. I have not yet canceled my membership, but I have been made aware that when you cancel, it will cancel your current subscription, but continue to auto-renew. This is a very underhanded way to try and forcefully get extra subscription fees, which is a shame because they actually offer a pretty good product otherwise.

The other complaint I see a lot is about the courses being too easy, and in a lot of cases, I would agree. If I took the courses as presented, they usually would not be challenging. In the course, it gives you a lot of the code that it wants you to input with some fill-in-the-blank spots and tips. Now a lot of people probably don't consider this, but it isn't forcing you to use that code.

I usually delete most or all of this handout code, unless it is an exercise that I already have a thorough understanding of. This allows me to solidify my understanding, work on my own formatting and organization methods for the code, rather than just filling in some blanks, and get used to actually running the code with more general instructions and knowing what terms to use.

I am currently learning SQL and have used DataCamp to brush up on my Excel knowledge. I will say that the Excel courses were pretty bad in particular, not because of the content of the lessons, but because of a badly designed excel clone interface that can return an error when using left click to select a cell or array as a reference, forcing you to manually type cell references, which I personally never do in my practical applications. 

So far, I have been able to learn a decent amount through the SQL courses, and while I doubt it will actually be enough for a career, this is an interactive and engaging way to learn these programming languages in a way that makes it easy to pass the time and gives you feedback for your errors. The courses on here are honestly more interesting and engaging than the programming classes I took in high school as a part of a college program, and it makes it easier to understand the concepts. I feel like DataCamp is a good starting point, or a good way to brush up on skills, but will not get you to the same level as a college degree, which should be expected from the price. I paid $139 for a 1-year subscription and I would say that that is a pretty good value with how well my skills are developing. Once I complete everything there is for SQL, I plan to move on to Python.

Review:I highly recommend DataCamp subscription for Data Science learning journey. What makes DataCamp stand out  from the countless online resources and course providers is the depth in the content and structured courses to help both the beginners and professionals alike. You'll never be disappointed with the quality of the content, quantity of the courses and flexibility in switching between programming languages to learn the Data Science. Practice modules and guided projects are a plus, making the subscription a worth while. DataCamp has the potential to make a strong impact on your career. Do give it a try, it might even surprise you (in a good way) !
My Experience:
As a vivid learner, I have 38 certifications related to Data Science including IBM AI Engineer, and Nanodegree in Self Driving Cars. I still recommend DataCamp for learning, practicing and revising your data skills. When I started learning Data Science back in 2010, there were not much resources available, hence without much guidance I started learning every resource available in the internet. I wasted huge amount of time trying to find the right content, spent thousands of dollars to acquire the relevant knowledge. Because of DataCamp, you are fortunate enough to bypass the very same struggles, afford it at decent prices, and most importantly all resources are presented in a structured manner to shape you from being a novice to professional. Do give it a try, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Below is the detailed review on the DataCamp, throwing a limelight on the key aspects:
Pros:

1. Be a beginner or professional, you have 320+ courses tailored for your requirements. If you are a beginner, you have a wide range of introductory courses waiting for you. If you are a professional, you will love challenging courses like Deep Learning, NLP, and OpenCV. Some courses might even surprise you (in a good way) !
2. Instead of debating whether Python or R is the best language to learn Data Science, you can start the same tracks/courses in any language.
3. SQL is an integral part of learning for programmers and non-programmers (Business Analyst) alike. You can start your journey as Data Analyst completely focused on SQL language.
4. One of the most important skill for an data enthusiast is the ability to convey the data in a convincing yet beautiful data dashboards. You can start learning your visualization skills using the two most widely adapted software tools in the data industry: Power BI and Tableau.
5. Finished the skill track/career track as per your interest, well don't stop yet, there are ton's of practice modules to test your skills.
6. At present there are 79 projects (both guided and unguided) to build a strong portfolio to showcase, a count far greater than any certification provider will present you.
7. You may not find this in the DataCamp catalog, but yes they do provide Career services. You just has to pass their special certification to avail it.
8. The courses are categorized as both skill tracks (Data Science, Machine Learning, SQL, etc.) and career tracks (Data Analyst, Data Scientist, ML Engineer, etc.). Is it worth mentioning this point? Yes, when you are a beginner and do not know which course to begin with, these tracks saves the hassle of going through the entire catalog.
9. Unlike, 'learn by watching the videos' approach, DataCamp offers hands on practice, which is rare with most course providers. As they don't rely on video content much, updates are rolled out frequently, making the content up to date with the latest trends.
10. This is the most important and my favorite point of all, which is the reason I saved the best for the last. You do not have to take an education loan to acquire strong knowledge on Data Science. The DataCamp subscription won't cause you much, yet it has the potential to make a strong impact on your career. So what are you waiting for !!

Cons:
1. No one on one support. This is not something to stress on, unless you are a high school student trying some advanced courses.
2. No job guarantee. Come on, even universities can't promise you that.

My Profile for authenticity purpose: Name: Vamshi Krishna Prime
Portfolio Site: www.vamshi-krishna.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/vamshi-krishna-prime/
DataCamp Profile: https://datacamp.com/profile/vamshi-krishna-prime

 The SQL Skill Tracks offered are good learning resources, they currently offer courses using SQL Server and PostGreSQL. Topics are introduced with a quick 2-5 minute video and then the user gets to go practice the skills, often in a guided practice environment that provides useful feedback if you make a mistake. Site also offers projects where users can go use the skills they learned and a skills test that can help the user identify areas of weakness. 

Went through multiple skill tracks in a short period and gained a lot of confidence in my ability to write SQL queries. While the topics covered across the skill tracks were often similar (basics, aggregate functions, dates, nested q's, CTE's, window functions..), I actually found this very beneficial as it re-enforced the core concepts I needed to learn. Plus, you learn something different from each course, so you're learning different ways to use those core concepts.

I have enjoyed all SQL offerings from DataCamp so far and I will be continuing my education on the site with a focus on Python next. I have only just started, but it's the same style learning experiences with a lot more course and track offerings, and I am feel like I am learning Python already. 

First of all thank you DataCamp for the awesome content you guys have curated for the learners like me. Previously, I have been in to a lot of confusion about where to start my data analytics journey. I have also joined a paid course but their content is not that much of quality that a novice learner can digest. After a rigorous research, I stumbled upon DataCamp and after taking their free course, I immediately subscribed. One most important thing about DataCamp's content is that, they have created bite sized lectures and most importantly after every theory lecture there are plenty of exercises to do. I would say the ratio of theory and practical is 1:5.
For a beginner, who wants to pursue his/her career in data science or data engineering, DataCamp is a must thing to have.
Thanks!!!