Ratings and Reviews for Introduction to Data Science in Python

Highly recommend taking this course to people with intermediate Python background. Especially, the assignments are great and very well prepared. Thank you!

I have mixed views about this course. The net result IS worthwhile and you definitely learn by being thrown in the deep end (this is not a softball "what's a for loop / Programming 101" type course.) First of all, be aware that the "estimated time of completion" for the assignments is low to put it very mildly: assignments that are estimated "90 minutes" may be more like eight to ten hours to complete (verified by many different course-takers, all of whom had extensive previous programming experience.) Do not take this course unless you can spend at least ten hours a week completing the assignments (unless you're already a prodigy in Python/Pandas -- but if so, why take this course?) Second of all, the lectures do not contain anywhere near all of the material you need to actually complete the assignments (the course creators even acknowledge this.) It took me a couple of assignments to realize this was so. It really made me think watching the lectures was a slight waste of time, so if you find yourself frustrated thinking you "missed something" because you don't know how to complete the assignment after viewing the lectures, you most likely _didn't_ miss anything: just expect to spend a lot of time Googling answers in order to find what you need. Third: the autograder here is really quirky. Once I got the hang of it and just reviewed the whole .py file generated to see where the problem was (versus just using the IPython window) it clicked pretty well, but I definitely spent a few hours flailing around trying to get my code to submit successfully. I hadn't had any issues with any other courses in this department. That being said: the skills learned are definitely "deep" and quantifiable and you get right into the thick of things after the first assignment. I'd venture to say that if you complete this entire 5 course sequence you'd probably have at least a passing knowledge of the subject matter for an interview in this field.

The course explores different ways to clear data using pandas. The assignments are challenging, since it is impossible to get to the solutions without going through lots of stackoverflow questions. The course also raises questions regarding the future of data and the problems behind the extensive use of pvalues, the p-hacking problem. Very interesting!

Excellent Course

I didn't utilize the discussion pages until the third week, but they are extremely helpful. The pseudo code that was sometimes given in those discussions was also helpful for learning the material because it revealed programming solutions that I was unaware of given my inexperience with the python language. My only real issue is that I wasn't expecting the self-learning for the end of week assignments, but it wasn't that bad. The in-video problems were nice, I would like to see more small, non-graded assignments to help practice the language and get a feeling for it.

This was an outstanding course. It was a great introduction to pandas, and also some good exposure to data science. The homework via jupiter notebook was a great way to practice the new skills, and the auto grader is informative and helpful about submission mistakes. The forum is very well maintained by the staff. Thanks U-mich!

Nice course to start with though it requires some basic knowledge of Python syntax given that it was pretty well balanced course. Good tutor and nice course content.

nice course

It takes more time than expected if you don't have any prior experience in Python but it is worth all the effort! Great course!

A well structured course with an extremely helpful and responsive teaching staff. I appreciate the fact that the course encourages students to do further research on approaches to answering the assignment questions.