Metis - CLOSED

I enjoyed my experience at Metis immensely. I believe the quality of instruction from instructors was high, the dedication from classmates to learning was fierce, and the support in the job hunt has been helpful. We had two instructors, one with a math... Read More background and one with a CS background which was helpful in giving two different perspectives to the same problem. They worked hard to personalize the curriculum to our cohorts needs and wants and always made themselves available to us. Our cohort came from a variety of different backgrounds; Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Business, and the Arts. This again provided many different perspectives and areas for us to dive into with our projects. Our career advisor worked with us through out the program to help prepare us for the job hunt with workshops on things like resume/linkedin prep, technical interview prep, etc. He continues to help us by making connections to companies and has gotten my foot in the door at several different companies in the few weeks the program has been over.

My favorite aspect of this program is the fact that the curriculum is centered around 5 projects we complete. Class lessons are given and we immediate apply the concepts learned to fully polished projects that can help build your portfolio of data science projects on your github. My least favorite aspect of the program was that I felt like we covered too much material and we didnt become masters of any one area. It is a high ask to become a master of anything in 12 weeks, but I feel there was an opportunity to cover less material and dive deeper on the things we did learn.

Overall, I am very happy that I attended and I feel like I got a lot of value from the program. I would not hesitate to recommend this program to anyone who has a cursory understanding of python and statistics. It will not take you from 0 to 100, but I think this program is great for those that want to go from 30 to 80.

I began my search to build skills towards data science without any real knowledge of what specific subjects or topics I needed to understand in the field, other than knowing a programming language such as Python. I researched various programs that offered... Read More a variety of courses but noticed that Metis was purely dedicated to data science. I looked over the courses (and accompanied curriculum) provided by Metis and was initially stuck between taking the Introduction to Data Science, or the Beginner Python & Math courses. I reached out to the team at Metis, and had an informative and helpful conversation with Amy Ramnath, and ultimately decided that the Beginner Python & Math course best suited my needs as a beginner looking to get his feet wet.

I took flight on my journey through the 6-week online Beginner Python & Math course from May 21st to June 27th twice a week, 3-hours per lecture, with Garrett Hoffman and Roberto Reif. Both Garrett and Roberto were fantastic teachers who are passionate about the subject matter, and whom make themselves available to assist students in answering questions or providing professional suggestions and recommendations towards student goals. There is copious material to cover and review throughout the 6-week course to get you rolling in the right direction, and as with any educational course, personal time allocated to studying and practicing outside of normal lecture hours should be anticipated and expected. Although the course material was dense, I feel much more confident and comfortable knowing that I've been provided a breadth of information and knowledge to establish a foundation to build on using Python and Jupyter notebook along with NumPy, Pandas, and Matpotlib packages, and understanding what subjects and topics in math (Linear Algebra, Calculus, Probability, and Statistics) are common to data science. A nice perk of the online course is that the lecture sessions were recorded, and could be reviewed at my own convenience if I were unable to attend lecture or needed to review material again.

Overall, this was an exceptional course that has provided me with more insight into understanding what baseline subjects I need to understand to begin working towards my goal of starting a data science career.

I had my doubts about Metis at first, but those disappeared pretty quickly once I started the program. The support I received in terms of mentorship, career counseling, and networking made it absolutely worth it.

Metis will find a way to challenge you,... Read More regardless of your background. I've seen experienced developers, academics, and even recent graduates find jobs in data science through the program. With the help of Metis, I built out a portfolio of projects addressing REAL challenges using REAL data, and I met a lot of brilliant people in the data science community.

One thing to note: transitioning into data science is not easy at all. Whether you choose to go through a bootcamp, a MS/PhD program, or self-study, it will be an uphill battle no matter what. But having gone through Metis, I felt so much more prepared to enter the field and so much more confident in my abilities.

Doing Metis was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. The time/financial commitment is tough to swallow for anyone! That said, it’s one of the best decisions I ever made, as Metis paid off in every way you could imagine.

Several peers have captured... Read More the benefits of Metis here, so I’ll try to avoid repeating them and focus on what stood out to me personally …

The obvious doubt about a bootcamp was, “Why pay thousands of dollars?? I can learn all this online.” But Metis provided so many intangibles - career support, alumni network, mentorship from instructors, friendship from diverse peers - that you can’t get from an online course. Not to mention improving your chances to get a job. Prior to Metis, I tried to transition from academia to industry, but with zero success; I couldn’t get a single tech company to even consider me. Within 2 months after finishing Metis, though, I received multiple job offers and accepted one with a company that I’m thrilled to be at.

The project-based curriculum, with the guidance of experienced instructors, is the ideal way to learn. Aside from giving you a strong portfolio of material to use on the job market, the projects teach you to learn and apply new material quickly. In my first job after Metis, I was much more confident learning new tools because Metis had prepared me for the fast-paced learning you need to be a data scientist.

I can’t emphasize enough how committed the Metis instructors and staff are to students. They go above and beyond to not only teach you data science but provide mentorship, career support, and emotional support. The bootcamp and subsequent job search can be an emotional roller-coaster, so their support is instrumental.

Finally, one of my favorite things about Metis is that they don’t sugarcoat the challenges of the bootcamp or make grandiose, inflated claims about what the outcome will be. Getting a job in data science is very, very hard. Metis acknowledges it’s hard, doesn’t make any wild promises, but gives you every resource to succeed and remains committed to their alumni long after you graduate. They treat you like you’re part of their family.

My biggest piece of advice - think carefully about how you need to personalize the Metis experience to suit your needs. Everybody comes in with different backgrounds and life circumstances. There’s no single formula that works for everyone; when making decisions like picking projects, deciding when to start your job search, etc., you need to consider that what’s best for you. Whatever you choose, Metis staff are going to be there to help you through it.

I graduated from the Seattle Fall cohort (the second cohort in Seattle) in December. I come from a pure math background, and I'm a recent Ph.D. grad who was pretty nervous about going into data science.

Metis is everything I wanted out of a bootcamp. The... Read More project based curriculum works really well, especially since the topics of projects 2-5 are entirely self directed. It's easy to get excited about learning this stuff when you're applying it to a topic you really care about. That also makes it easier to pick yourself up when you fall -- and you'll fall a lot.

The lectures are an excellent introduction to the material, too. I had the opportunity of both learning from the Fall 17 instructors and TAing for the Winter 18 instructors, and all four of them were awesome.

Some quick warnings. Definitely do the prework. Definitely work ahead as much as possible -- everything sneaks up on you, from project MVPs to student investigations. This bootcamp is extremely intense -- I had to defend my Ph.D. in the middle of it, and that was the next thing to impossible. Don't do that. :P

Career resources are incredible, too. The job hunt is a long, demoralizing, frustrating process, and our career advisor made everything go so much more smoothly. I had no idea how much I was doing wrong, or making things harder for myself, when I was trying to figure out everything on my own.

The community of alumni is a great resource. My cohort actually had Thanksgiving together -- not every one will be that closely knit, but you'll definitely make friends and business contacts, and you have the whole network of Metis alums to draw on.

One small gap in the curriculum -- at least for me -- was some fundamental statistics stuff, especially related to experimental design and a/b testing. But the curriculum is evolving, and Seattle is still a young campus. Be forewarned, though, if your basic statistics is a little shaky like mine was, you might need to do some self-study in some areas.

If you can afford it (both in terms of time and money) then Metis will give back so much more than you put in. Highly recommended.

I attended the Fall 2017 bootcamp in Chicago. Prior to attending, I had done a good amount of research on ways I could get my foot in the door for a data scientist position. After speaking with Nathan Vermeiren (Program Manager at Metis), those who have... Read More hired from Metis, and alumni who have attended, I decided to go for it. (And I'm glad I did!)

Metis really exceeded my expectations. The quality of instructors, career support, and students created such a great environment for those wanting to transition into data science. The technical and non-technical skills needed to succeed as a data scientist are covered in depth at Metis through many opportunities that included: building end-to-end projects with relevant industry tools, presenting results to different audiences, attending networking events and career workshops, and interview prep and practice.

I highly recommend the bootcamp to those that are willing to devote their time and full attention. It’s not easy, but if you put in the work before, during, and after the bootcamp, it will be worth it!

Before coming to Metis I was a Product Manager for a small consulting company. I was always programming on the side, and found myself at odds with sending people to do all the fun programming challenges I'd create. After working with a team on building... Read More a recommendation engine for news articles and seeing the capacity of machine learning and artificial intelligence to impact a business, I decided to make the head first dive into Data Science. I wanted to see how far I can get without needing a PhD. After doing months of searching colleges for Masters/PhD programs, bootcamps, and internships, I eventually boiled down the list to a few bootcamps. It needed to fit certain criteria. I wanted a rapid education, application/project focused, great career support, and something with clear outcomes. The bootcamp was a perfect fit. After looking into a few bootcamps near me (NYC), Metis stood out from the rest. LinkedIn is flooded with graduates who are Data Scientists in the field, and the course curriculum looked rigorous enough to keep me occupied 24/7. I decided to pull the trigger and give it a go.

The course ended up being as difficult as you wanted it to be. If you're a motivated individual who enjoys pushing yourself to the edge, this is the place for you. Even if your not a highly motivated individual, nothing is quite like working with other people who are liked minded, share a deep interest in Data Science and are hell bent on getting their career started. Overall, expect to get swamped with work and feel as if your drowning in the glorious abyss of Data Science. It's computational gooeyness will seep into your dreams and nightmares, will fill your mind with statistics jokes, and suddenly everything will look like a distribution. All you will be able to do throughout the day is question whether or not something is a classification problem, how can you get the data for the problem, and can you make your very own Trump tweet bot. The answer is always yes for everything.

The course curriculum is a full survey of Data Science, and is difficult to take in all at once. You will be overwhelmed with the volume of information they give you, but it's overwhelming in the best way possible. They cover the absolute essentials of Machine Learning and Statistics, cover a wide base of algorithms and fill your technological tool kit. The curriculum even finds its uses after the course is over. As soon as your course is over, you will always have a solid reference for these algorithms and tools. It's perfect for when you're on the job hunt and need to study for the technical interviews. Even now that I have a job, I still find myself looking up things in the curriculum at least once every three weeks.

So, I'm getting sleepy and I don't feel like writing anymore. It's a great place, and you should go.

Prior to attending Metis I worked as Geophysicist for an Oil and Gas service company. Metis gave me an opportunity to transition into a new career and develop a wide range of new skills.
I can’t speak positively enough about the instructors who taught... Read More my cohort in Seattle (Roberto and Alice). Their preparation and dedication to clearly deliver all the material and continuously provide constructive feedback was impressive. You complete five projects over the course, these projects are guided and reviewed by the instructors (Senior Data Scientists). This lends a real-world rigor to your projects.

I found the curriculum to be very good, and while job hunting I find I am prepared to answer almost all questions posed during data science interviews. I also feel confident in my implementation and understanding of data science and machine learning techniques.

From what I have seen in the Seattle area, I would recommend planning to have at least three months following the bootcamp to job search. Which includes applying, interviewing, studying, working on personal projects, and networking. Joining the bootcamp also provides you with the Metis alumni network, which is very beneficial for the job hunt!

I was also impressed by the career advising provided by Metis. The Seattle career advisor Tiffany was very approachable and available to assist during all parts of the job hunt from job applications to offer negotiations and is a very valuable resource to you as a Metis graduate. The only negative thing I would say about Metis, is that because it is relatively new in the Seattle area it is not as well-known as its competitor Galvanize with recruiters (and it should be!). This will change with time as more cohorts enter the workforce in the Seattle area, and recruiters have been receptive to me explaining what the bootcamp is, and how it differs from its competitors.

The program is intense, and if you come in focused and maintain your pace throughout you learn an incredible amount, enter a data science community, and land a job as a data scientist. Worth the money and time! Little side note, I’m enjoying data science more than my previous career :).

Metis was an amazing experience that I am so, so grateful for. Some key points:

-The teachers are great--always there to help but don't hold your hand, they make sure you learn the materical and aren't afraid to push you if they think you can be pushed.... Read More They also do a great job of getting to know the students.

-The curriculum was ideal for me--very project based so you're always applying what you're learning. All projects are done individually and culiminate in oral presentations which is really helpful in the job search--you're capable of speaking about them and know the ins and outs of everything that was done. Also, you get to pick topics you're interested in so it's always exciting. If you would prefer something that was more lecture based, Metis might not be the program for you, but I also don't think a more lecture based approach is nearly as effective (just me though!)

- Job support is great--the job search is hard and you have to do a lot of work on your own, but the Metis alumni network is great resource and the Metis staff does very well to help you get your resume in shape and also helps you figure out how to best tap into your network and do the necessary outreach. It can certainly take a while for some people but Metis definitely gives you the skills to be a competitive applicant.

-The experience is intense--it's a lot of work and there might be times where you feel like you don't understand anything. But if you can handle that I could not recommend Metis highly enough. To me, it's the only data science bootcamp that allows you to do so many projects and really get you ready for the job market.

-I personally had great classmates, which made the experience even better. I'm under the impression a lot of cohorts have a lot of camraderie, which is so good for an experience like this.

Just a few tips if you're thinking about applying but aren't sure:

-brush up on linear algebra/calculus/probability and also python
-check out some online classes in data science--a ton on Udemy!
-reach out to alums on LinkedIn
-schedule a chat with admissions, they'll give you a good assessment of how ready you are

I attended the Fall 2017 bootcamp in Chicago. From the beginning, Metis was very helpful to me. I live in the DC area and the NYC cohort was full, but they helped me come out to Chicago so that I could still participate. They were very helpful (Nathan... Read More Vermeiren) with my housing search and all of my other out-of-town needs. I ended up staying right next to the Metis office which worked out great. It was actually helpful for me to be away from home because I didn't have any of my usual distractions/duties to do, so I recommend going out of town. The only downside to going out of town was that Metis was not as connected in the DC area. Metis did continue to support me fully in the job search until I obtained employment and I had no trouble contacting the DC Metis alums who were quite helpful.

The curriculum is great. They spend a small amount of time on many methods and tools used in data science. They are not simply choosing the tools that are 'always done'. I know our teachers went out of their way to have us use the most current tool for the job (like spark vs. hadoop) and/or the best tool for the job. Often they would show us several ways to do something and then we would choose the one that we liked best or were familiar with. One of the many things that make this bootcamp more valuable than sitting in your PJs on coursera, is the ability to ask them questions (more on this below). Another is that you will learn the method/tool and then USE it in a major project, not just a homework. This project will be something that you are proud of and can put on your resume. These projects are the reason I got job interviews. Not my PhD, or my peer reviewed publications, but my ML projects from Metis. The interviewers would ask far more questions about my metis projects and I was able to speak about the methods with confidence and authority because the project required me to know what I was doing.

The timing of the teaching is just right, in that they teach it to you the day before you need to start using it in your project. The best way to learn is to use it right away, and you will. Cloud computing/storage (AWS, Spark,hadoop) and databases (SQL, MongoDB) are other topics where it is valuable to have an in-person teacher. These are things that are difficult to get right when reading a forum because some things will be specific to your hardware or router. It would have taken me MUCH longer to figure out how to use AWS by myself.

Teachers are what makes the Metis experience. Our teachers were Zach Miller and David Ziganto. These 2 are truly great instructors and also great mentors. They are incredibly knowledgeable about all things Machine Learning and Python, and are so patient when you have questions. They also have many informative stories about their experiences when working in data science or interviewing data scientists for jobs. They taught us about what you do as a data scientist, and pitfalls to watch out for. One of the things that they manage to do is push you really hard and enforce difficult deadlines, but at the same time support you. They aren't going to give you answers (like any good teacher) but they will help you get out of being stuck on one thing for too long. They come and sit with us ALL day, every day and were never dismissive or impatient.

I have never had someone be so hard on me about presentations. They have incredibly high standards and it has taught me so much about something I thought I was already good at. I didn't fully understand why they wanted these 5-6 min presentations until I had my first interview and realized that a quick presentation is what you are doing every time you get an interview. It's literally interview prep, w/o labeling it that way. The career advisor Ashley Purdy was a big part of the presentation brigade and she helped me communicate complex things in a less technical way (which is very important for a data scientist). These three never let up on me for a single second and it was perfect.

I paid for bootcamp so that I could get better and that means I need to be pushed into a place(s) where I am not comfortable. I can do comfortable projects on my own. Full disclosure: I did not always succeed when they encouraged me to do things that were harder and that was ok. They were there for me when I failed and helpful about what I could do to deal with it. I know that's not always the case (it's completely possible to fail bootcamp if you are underperforming consistently), but because I choose something that was less 'safe' for me, they took this into consideration, and made sure that I was mentally/emotionally ok.

Ashley Purdy (career advisor) pushed me to do things that I never would have done in my search for jobs and online presence. Metis required me to write a blog, which has earned me more than one interview, and I now enjoy writing posts. Our teachers have even promoted my posts via linked in and data science weekly. Ashley also showed me how to cold call people on linked in and just talk to them about their job (informational interview). This was very scary and really paid off, as one of the people I spoke with got my resume in front of the right people which led to me obtaining the job I wanted! She is there when I have questions about salary negotiation or whether a recruiter is just spamming me. There were also some great presenters that came to talk about what they do at company X as a data scientist. The Metis alumni is a great community and will really help to build your data science contacts.

Metis’ career advisor (Ashley in Chicago) is one of the main reasons I chose Metis over some other bootcamps. Metis is very invested in whether you are able to obtain a job that you love. They don’t just present you to a few employers and say ‘bye’; they continue to make sure that you are structuring your days and applying to places that will be a good fit for you. It was always very clear that they were not just trying to get me to take any job so that they could check a box. In fact, they encouraged me to hold out for what I want rather than take the first thing I was offered.

Zach, David, Ashley and Nathan are also just really great people. They have a great sense of humor and are fun to be around. We had plenty of good laughs together (students+staff) and I know I had a great time while also being stressed out. This is why I always say, it's like grad school (in fast-forward) w/o the emotional abuse. lol

Students were another important part of the bootcamp. Every student was highly motivated and smart. We hall had various areas of expertise and I liked learning from them. It's very much a feeling of 'we're all in this together' and even when I wanted to slack off, I was inspired by them to continue to bring my 'A game' because they operated at such a high level. They were an important part of the high standards that Metis and our teachers set.

This bootcamp is intense. If you have been through a PhD program, it's kinda like the night before you have to send your abstract/poster to the conference committee and you all stay up all night together working on it. Except that's every day for 12 weeks. You will want to spend your weekends on your projects, and come home pretty late (not everyone does this, but I did). So, be prepared for that level of work. It's completely worth it, but not possible for everyone. There's a reason they call it a bootcamp...

What I wish I had known before I attended Metis:
I wish I had completed the Andrew Ng Machine Learning course and homework (as much as possible) on coursera. It would have helped me really sink my teeth into the math to have a little more preparation. Also, learn as much Pandas as you can. Pandas is life for data exploration.

In sum, I highly recommend the Metis bootcamp to people who can devote the time. I obtained 2 very good job offers, in writing, within 2 months of the graduation date. I now have a job that is exciting and am ready to connect you to my network once you graduate from Metis!