Is Udacity Data Science Nanodegree Worth It in 2024?

Do you have a question, “Is Udacity Data Science Nanodegree Worth it?” If yes, this review will clear your doubts. In this review, I will share all details regarding Udacity Data Science Nanodegree. So give your few minutes and get your answer to this question- Is Udacity Data Science Nanodegree Worth It?

Now without any further ado, let’s get started-

Is Udacity Data Science Nanodegree Worth It?

The Udacity Data Science Nanodegree is worth it for those who have previously learned SQL, Python, Machine Learning, and statistics, and now want to advance their skills.

Udacity Data Science Nanodegree is not worth it for those who are beginners in Data Science. If you are a beginner with no prior knowledge of Python, SQL, Machine Learning, and Statistics, I would not recommend this Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

To understand the course material, you should have an understanding of Python, SQL, Machine Learning, and Statistics. Because Udacity Data Science Nanodegree is an advanced-level program.

I am a Ph.D. scholar and my research topic is related to Data Science. I had previous knowledge of SQL, Python, Machine Learning, and statistics. That’s why I enrolled in this program.

Check 60% off Discount-> Udacity Data Science Nanodegree [Use the code BACK2SKILLS]

Before discussing the course content and projects of Udacity Data Science Nanodegree, I would like to mention a brief review summary of Udacity Data Science Nanodegree–

Personal Experience Review of Udacity Data Science Nanodegree Program

Aspect	Review
Program Overview	I enrolled in the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program, which provided me with a comprehensive learning experience in data science.
Curriculum	I learned various essential topics, including Python programming, data manipulation, machine learning, and data visualization. The curriculum was up-to-date and aligned with industry trends.
Learning Experience	Throughout the program, I experienced an engaging learning environment with video lectures, quizzes, and hands-on projects. The instructors explained complex concepts effectively, and I found the additional resources to be beneficial for deepening my understanding.
Projects and Assignments	The program included practical projects that allowed me to apply my skills to real-world data problems. The feedback and guidance from the instructors greatly enhanced my project outcomes.
Instructors and Support	The knowledgeable instructors were responsive to my questions, and though direct one-on-one interactions were limited, I received valuable support. The community aspect of the program also provided additional assistance and a platform for collaboration with fellow learners.
Pace and Flexibility	The self-paced nature of the program enabled me to study at my own convenience. However, it required self-discipline and effective time management to stay on track and complete the program within the recommended timeframe.
Certification and Recognition	Upon completing the Nanodegree program, I earned a recognized certification, which holds value in the industry and has enhanced my career prospects.
Is it worth the money?	Based on my experience, considering the quality of the content, practical projects, and industry recognition, I believe the program is definitely worth the investment.
Community and Networking	The program emphasized community interaction through forums and channels, fostering networking opportunities and providing a platform for knowledge sharing with other students.
What Could Be Improved?	While the program was overall enriching, I believe it would benefit from more in-depth coverage of advanced topics and increased opportunities for direct instructor interactions.
Overall Experience	My learning experience with the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program was invaluable. I acquired knowledge in key data science areas, worked on practical projects, and received support from instructors and the community. The program offers good value and a recognized certification, making it highly recommended for aspiring data scientists.

Check 60% off Discount-> Udacity Data Science Nanodegree [Use the code BACK2SKILLS]

Now, let’s see the content and projects of Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

Content and Projects of Udacity Data Science Nanodegree

When I enrolled in the Nanodegree program, this was the interface.

When I clicked on the “Program Home” button, a classroom window appeared. In the classroom window, there were syllabus and projects listed.

When I enrolled, there were two extra projects such as “Optimize your Github profile” and “Improve your Linkedin Profile”. But now, Udacity removed these two projects.

As of now, Udacity Data Science Nanodegree has 4 projects. These projects are the same as when I was learning.

The first project was-

Project 1- Write a Data Science Blog Post

In this project, I had to write a blog related to data science on any platform such as Medium. This project helped me to learn technical writing skills.

As a Data Scientist, it is essential to have good writing skills and this project is all about writing and communicating your message to the audience.

After completing the project, the Udacity reviewer reviewed the project and suggested improvements. This was the best part of the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

Project 2- Build Disaster Response Pipelines with Figure Eight

The second project was challenging as well as interesting for me. In this project, I had to build a Disaster Response Pipelines with Figure Eight.

Figure Eight is a platform that uses human intelligence to perform simple tasks eg. transcribing text or annotating images to train machine learning algorithms.

The main task of this project was to build a pipeline that categorizes emergency text messages based on the need communicated by the sender.

Based on my experience, It is better to have some previous knowledge of command-line arguments. And this project also required an intermediate level of python knowledge.

Project 3- Design a Recommendation Engine with IBM

To be honest, I found this project difficult. To complete this project, you must have an intermediate level of python knowledge and familiar with matrix algebra and matrix factorization in python scripts.

Udacity offered videos about these topics (Python, matrix algebra, and matrix factorization) but it is better to have some previous knowledge of these topics.

Project 4- Data Science Capstone Project

This was the final project of the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program.

Udacity gave me 5 options to choose the project on which I want to work. This is the projects list-

• Dog Breed Classification( Neural Networks)
• Starbucks( Customer Segmentation)
• Arvato Financial Services (Likely Supervised Learning)
• Spark for Big Data (Customer churn with PySpark)
• Any other project of your choice.

I choose Dog Breed Classification.

In the Dog Breed Classification project, I downloaded the dataset from Kaggle. You can also download the dataset from here.

After that, I converted all Images of dogs to number format using ‘OpenCV’.

And then I fed them into the Resnet50V2. Resnet50V2 is a special type of neural network and comes under the Transfer Learning technique. This helped me to identify the dog’s breed.

ResNet is basically used for various computer vision problems.

This project helped me to learn deep learning skills because deep learning is getting more popular than machine learning.

Now, I would like to mention the content covered in Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

Check 60% off Discount-> Udacity Data Science Nanodegree [Use the code BACK2SKILLS]

There were 4 courses in Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

Course 1- Solving Data Science Problems

The first course covered the basics of Data Science and its process. This course also covered Data Visualization. Data Visualization is an essential step in Data Science. You must know how to communicate with different stakeholders.

I also learned Data Wrangling. Data Wrangling is the process of cleaning the data. Then I learned how to analyze the data and how to apply different machine learning algorithms for certain data science problems.

This course widen my eyes and I learned everything about how to deal with data science problems.

Course 2- Software Engineering for Data Scientists

I was confused when I came to this course. I thought about why they are teaching software engineering. Then I came to know that Software engineering skills are essential for data scientists like creating unit tests and building classes.

In this course, I learned Object-Oriented Programming and Web Development. I learned Flask, Plotly, and the Bootstrap framework to create a web application.

Course 3- Data Engineering for Data Scientists

This course covered Data Engineering concepts, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing.

For me, completing this course was a little bit tough because I had no idea about ETL Pipelines, CSV, JSON, logs, APIs, and databases.

This course required a previous understanding of Machine learning. If you don’t have previous knowledge of machine learning, this course will be very tough for you.

Course 4- Experiment Design and Recommendations

This was another challenging course for me. This course covered advanced topics such as Experiment Design, Statistical Concerns of Experimentation, A/B Testing, Introduction to Recommendation Engines, and Matrix Factorization for Recommendations.

After completing this course, I learned various new things. I was unaware of these concepts before.

So, this is all about the Projects and Content of Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

Now, I would like to mention the Price and Duration of the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

Price and Duration of the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree

According to Udacity, the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program will take 4 months to complete if you spend 10 hours per week.

And for 4 months they cost around $1199. But Udacity offers two options- One is either pay the complete amount upfront or you can pay monthly installments of $399/month.

So this is according to Udacity, but here I would like to tell you how you can complete the full Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program in less time and how to get Udacity Data Science Nanodegree at a low cost.

How to get Udacity Data Science Nanodegree at a low cost?

Udacity Nanodegree Programs are very expensive compared to other courses. That is the reason, most people think about it before enrolling in the program.

Most of the time, Udacity runs some discounts. When I was planning to enroll, I waited for their discount. During the discount period, I got 75% on my Udacity Data Science Nanodegree.

To check about discounts, simply visit the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree. And you will see any current discounts on the page.

For eg, these days, they are proving “New Personalized Discounts”.

Click on the “New Personalized Discount” button. You will be redirected to the next page, where they will ask about 2 questions.

Answer these questions and press the “Submit Application” button. And you will receive the discount on the next page.

You need to copy the coupon code and paste this code at the time of payment. By doing this, you will get Udacity Data Science Nanodegree in less amount.

Now, I would like to mention the point which I liked about Udacity Data Science Nanodegree and what I didn’t like.

What did I like about Udacity Data Science Nanodegree?

• The first reason is the content of the program was up-to-date and combined with the latest trends and best practices.
• The projects gave me an idea or a step-by-step procedure on how to deal with the data to get the final output.
• I learned how to add GitHub repositories and projects.
• I learned from Google, Uber, and Starbucks technical people. That’s the reason Udacity is expensive. Because their instructors are from top companies.
• Another thing that I liked about this Udacity data science Nanodegree program is that they offer Technical mentor support.
• Throughout the data science Nanodegree program, I got technical mentor support. And the mentor guided me throughout the Nanodegree program.

What I Didn’t Like about Udacity Data Science Nanodegree?

• The worst thing, I found about the Udacity Nanodegree program is that, after completing the program, you will not access the course material. Which is quite frustrating. That’s why I recommend making notes during the course.
• Without having Python, SQL, machine learning, and statistical knowledge, It is difficult to complete.
• Udacity doesn’t have any IOS and android apps. So it is difficult to study Udacity’s website on mobile. 

My Personal Suggestion

Many people thought that after completing this Udacity Data Science Nanodegree, they can easily get a job as Data Scientist. No…It’s a big No.

This Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program will help you to gain advanced concepts in Data Science and teach you how to work on Data Science Projects.

But these projects are not enough to land in Data Science job. You have to make your portfolio stronger by working on more Data Science Challenges.

After completing this Nanodegree Program, don’t stop. Work on various advance level Data Science Projects.

Do I Suggest enrolling in the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program?

I would suggest the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program to only those who have previous knowledge in Machine Learning, Python, SQL, Statistics, calculus, and Linear Algebra.

I would not suggest beginners enroll in the Udacity Data Science Nanodegree program.

Check 60% off Discount-> Udacity Data Science Nanodegree [Use the code BACK2SKILLS]

What Should Beginners Do?

If you are a beginner, I would suggest you learn from these courses-

• Intro to Data Science– Udacity
• IBM Data Science Professional Certificate– Coursera
• Programming for Data Science with Python– Udacity
• Intro to Statistics– Udacity
• Data Visualization in Tableau– Udacity
• Data Scientist with Python– Datacamp

My Rating to Udacity Data Scientist Nanodegree

Conclusion

I hope this Udacity Data Scientist Nanodegree Review has answered this question- Is Udacity Data Science Nanodegree Worth It?

If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to ask me in the comment section.

All the Best!

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Though of the Day…

‘ It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.’

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