BrainStation

I recently completed the BrainStation 5-weeks Data Analytics course online! Completely through Zoom! This course is a foundational overview of Data Analytics, where you learn to use tools such as Excel, MySql and Tableau. It doesn't go completely in-depth,... Read More so you're not quite an expert yet but it's a great start. Nevertheless, truly grateful for this experience as I'm looking forward to applying these skills to my background in post-secondary admissions and marketing.

The 5-weeks went by very quickly; and it was very manageable with work as the classes are in the evening. There is definitely a lot to learn and a lot to go through in a short amount of time, so do expect the need to do additional research and practice on the side to help grasp concepts. Completing the homework is also helpful; and self-learning is a necessary part of the course.

Instructor Ramin was knowledgeable, friendly and able to use real-life examples as a Data Analyst himself - I always find having experienced instructors is important! Tuition is a tad pricey for a short basic course, but you can contact their Advisors and ask about scholarships and financial aid.

Overall, I would recommend this course to those who are in data-driven roles and want to gain new and relevant software skills, in marketing and sales roles, wanting to become data analyst or even just curious about data!

This was my second course at Brainstation, and it was done 100% remote via Zoom.
I took a 5-week Bootcamp on data analytics instead of regular 10 weeks, thinking I will get to finish earlier and focus more on studying in that period of time. And I have... Read More to admit it kept me on my toes!

The course itself has major blocks: Excel, MySQL and Tableau. The first two classes were about working in Excel from basics to more advanced level, and it was ok. I understand that it was a necessity, and lots of students come with different levels of experience. Although I wish we either focused more on advanced Excel or covered that material within one class.
After that, we moved on to MySQL and I found that part of the course the most interesting and exciting. For the next 4 classes, we were learning basic as well as advanced commands in MySQL Workbench and participating in the class exercises. The last three classes were with Tableau, where I wish we had more assignments and tasks to do.

Somewhere in the middle, we were broken into teams to prepare for our Final projects. And that was the most important part of the class. While you get all the necessary knowledge with Brainstation to get started, a major part of learning comes from the work that you do outside of the class. I cannot even describe the amount of reading I had to do to solve one problem that was standing on our way. By putting extra time into learning I ended up feeling very confident in my knowledge and skills.

Now I understand that you don't always get to choose your teammates, but I got very lucky. My team was great, and we were working in sync until the end of the course. Communication was the key and I could clearly see the teams that had such a problem in their final presentations. By working together you can really create an amazing experience and enjoy the process.

Our instructor was Ramin Amin, who over the length of the course was very direct in his approach, and could explain the material very well. I have to admit that the level of support that he provided outside of the class was just great. Anytime I had a problem or a question, he would get back to me within a few hours with advice or a solution.

Overall I really enjoyed the course, it really helped me to step up and expand my knowledge. BrainStation really proved to be valuable in my career.

This was my third course at Brainstation, this time all online via zoom!

Design Thinking was a two-day intensive course where we learned the methodologies and framework of Design Thinking, completed exercises that felt true to the real world, and learned... Read More how to model sprints. As a designer, this was a really great opportunity to level up my skills and apply a structure to loose concepts floating around my brain. The course itself accommodated students from all levels of experiences and backgrounds, and I found the entire experience to be extremely collaborative and insightful.

Our instructor has been a facilitator of all things design (UX/UI/Design Thinking) for some time, and really showed domain expertise when we asked questions that applied to the real world. He was clear, detail oriented, and made the learning environment safe and collaborative. We got a lot of real world examples from him, and all the little details he shared made this entire course special, and more than simply reading a textbook.

Overall, I'm a big advocate for Brainstation's courses - they've proved to be extremely valuable in my career.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Data Science Certificate at BrainStation. Being online, I thought perhaps the course delivery might be less than exceptional but BrainStation has certainly lived up to all the hype. Not only was the learning experience invaluable,... Read More it was also delivered smoothly and in a manner that my learning feel like a priority.

My instructor was attentive and extremely knowledgable, and also was able to help me outside of class hours on questions and guidance for my final project. I highly recommend this course to anybody looking to expand their knowledge of Data Science and Machine Learning, and how it can be applied to their current role.

The course is a must-take if you want to learn about product management foundations. The curriculum covers almost all aspects of the topic with real-world applications and practices. The 2 instructors are from the industry and are currently practitioners... Read More of product management in leading companies.
The online learning experience exceeded my expectations. With more than 20 class mates, every course is interactive. We had group project, which forces to work collaborate and learn from one another. There were also games during sessions to make the experience more engaging.
You will need to dedicate at least 4 hours per week for the course, plus another 2-4 hours for readings and assignment/group project.
Overall, it's really a great course and I highly recommend it to newbies and those who want to revisit the PM foundations.

The brainstation Digital Marketing course was a great way for me to step up my digital marketing career. It covered all the key factors to get your start in a digital marketing career or to help you bring your digital skills from before back to life.... Read More

It was my first time doing an online course and was very impressed with how it all went with the Zoom classes and how smooth a group project was with it all being online.

Looking forward to taking more classes to ramp up my knowledge and career.

I started the Digital Marketing course with the idea that it would be tedious, but Day 1 of the course changed my thinking. I was pretty engaged once the instructor started the lesson and it had me doing my own reading after the first class.

After the... Read More course ended, I already started looking at other courses that Brainstation offers to see if anything else interests me.

• Each day has a lot of information, but not too much that it becomes overwhelming.
• Every time I had a question, I had the opportunity to ask it and have it answered throughly.
• Attending the course on Sunday allowed me to not change my work schedule at all.

I can't say I consider anything to be a con as of now. I have a pretty solid experience from the beginning to the end.

1. High quality instruction and excellent course format:
The most important criteria for me is the quality and experience of the instructor. Not only was our instructor Scott super knowledgeable and experienced but was also a great teacher. He broke down... Read More the concepts nicely and shared a lot of examples from his work life which made the application of all the marketing concepts very real and easier to appreciate.

Given the whole Covid situation, Brainstation’s Online Live format cannot be beat. You log in from the convenience of your home and the platform uses great collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack and their own Synapse platform which makes the learning experience very interactive and cohesive. I definitely miss that in the other online courses that are either not live or simply lack the maturity in terms of collaboration tools and software. Kudos to the Brainstation leadership team for their thought leadership and vision in launching this truly online and digital learning platform

2. Breadth of course and quality of content:

Digital marketing is a vast field and not an easy topic to cover within a 10-12 week part time learning format. This is another area where Brainstation did an excellent job. They organized Digital Marketing into 8 areas and covered all key channels such as SEO, SEM, social media and email marketing. It served as a great introduction and their slide content was great in terms of simplifying the concepts and quoting relevant examples from time to time.

3. Duration of course:

This is a key component of any online learning course. If a course goes on for too long and it feels like a drag causing you to lose interest, cut it too short and you feel like you did not get enough out of the course. I feel like Brainstation got this right at 10 week course duration. I feel like a 10-12 week duration is optimal at least for someone like me who wants to do many things and tends to lose interest easily.

4. Specialty focus on FB:

If you know even a little about Digital Marketing you know that FaceBook is the king of all digital marketing platforms and simply cannot be beat. Their acquisitions of IG and WhatsApp have only made them stronger. I love that Brainstation decided to make FB the focus social media platform and dedicates a significant portion of the course to helping understand FaceBook’s comprehensive advertising platform. I also realized that once I got a good understanding of FB, it got much easier to pick up any new social media marketing platform.

5. Sense of community and continued learning:

This was one of the most important differentiators for me. Although this was an online course, I felt very connected to the entire Brainstation community though every aspect of the course identification , admission and learning process. The Brainstation learning team has great advisors that are super responsive to your questions and do a great job of engaging you by including you in all the relevant collaboration and communication platforms. You make a lot of good connections with folks in the digital marketing world such as your instructor, teaching assistant, students, advisors and so on. It truly felt like a “campus” and you feel like you have graduated from a brick and mortar university with all the conveniences of an online set up.

I took BrainStation’s Digital Marketing Certificate course in 2020 to refresh my knowledge, and to upgrade my skills to be leading edge. As someone in branding and marketing, I like a fast-paced environment with lots to explore and learn about, so BrainStation’s... Read More course was perfect for me. The classes were 3 hours, once a week, during which I would digest the equivalent of 2 days of learning at a college. The more you make notes and pay attention, the more you’ll get out of the courses.

Pros: The professor and assistant are big industry pros, which is a make-or-breaker for whom I will invest time and money into learning from. I don’t want to simply learn from any old industry professional. They need to be top-tier so I can learn the tips, tricks, and tactics to get a leading edge. I got this during the course.

The learning system is fantastic: the education portal is easy to use and interactive, the overall ux is lovely, the staff use Slack to communicate, share ideas and inspiration, and answer any questions. It’s really the ideal way to upgrade skills and learn during COVID.

Cons: There were rarely any breaks during the 3 hours, which makes for discomfort by the end. The 20—min break-out sessions with other students were often awkward as there wasn’t enough instruction on how to work together, so we often would simply sit in silence and type until going back to class. These break-outs could be entirely removed and it wouldn’t have impacted me negatively.

I came into this course quite excited to expand my knowledge on product management. I currently work within a scrum team as a developer and I believed I would come out of this course with a greater perspective of the overall product process. I enjoyed... Read More all of the classes during this 10 week part-time program but if I were to choose a handful of topics we went over that were my favourite they would be learning how to define a value proposition, learning about Scrum and Kanban, how to build an MVP and how to build a roadmap for a product. Throughout this course, each of us created and presented on a product while having the opportunity to learn from each other and apply what we learned in the classroom. I was really impressed the products my peers created and I was also impressed by the feedback I received from our instructor, Stewart Rogers. Overall, I believe this course has been really beneficial to me and I can definitely take many of the ideas and lessons I learned to my day to day life as a developer. Stewart's experience in Product Management makes this class incredibly engaging. He was able to provide really great feedback and share stories and external resources to help articulate the course content further.