What I Learned from Accomplishing a Professional Certificate Online

Online education is a big thing right now and is expected to grow a lot. Needless to say that corona and lockdown measures have boosted this field, but the numbers were there even before corona hit. With a market size of 187.877 billion in 2019, it is expected to rise to ~320 bn in 2025.

This year, I’ve accomplished an online course that claims to make the participants ready to take a role in Data Science, and I want to share my experience with you.

The course was named IBM Data Science Professional Certificate. All the learning material is made and curated by the company IBM. The hosting platform is Coursera, which manages your access and keeps track of your progress. Coursera will also take care of billing. So, in short, the content is made by IBM and the hosting by Coursera.

Structure of the course

The Course consists of 9 modules, which each can be done separately if you don’t want to take the whole curriculum. Every module is divided into weeks, which each holds content, tasks for practicing, and quizzes. At the end of every module, you have to accomplish a final assignment.

The content will mainly be video, but there is also some literature to study. The videos can be in the interview style with experts from the field, but the central part is tutorial videos where you have a voice overlay over graphical explanations.

The practice parts consist of programming tasks you have to accomplish for yourself. They provide a structure and the solutions, but you will have to create some code for yourself.

The final assignment is typically a more significant task where you have to create self-responsible. This may be answering questions in text form, but mostly it is writing code and running it to produce a specific output.

A noteworthy fact is that all final assignments are peer-reviewed. There is no teacher who will give you a mark. You will have to upload your solution, and one of your fellow course participants can grade you based on specific criteria. To pass the final assignment, you have to get a grade from a fellow participant, and you will have to grade the work of another course participant.

I have to admit that I was a little bit confused by this system in the first place. By now, I think it is more valuable than being graded by a teacher: Grading other course participants while you are doing the same assignment sharpens your eye for the work style and how it can be approached. In business, you will also have to work with others and their input for your projects, so this concept is already somehow team-focused. I do like it because it also values your responsibility.

Quality of the material

The overall quality of the course material is excellent. The videos are informative and well-structured. Audio and Video quality is high-standard and works well on different platforms like laptops or smartphones.

The practice tasks are excellent prepared and commented on, so you are never left with no clue how to approach a specific task. You are also guided in accessing and using several open-source tools to make your work easier. When it comes to explaining in a tutorial style, the material can truly compete with formal education. I had to attend courses at my university that were prepared worse than what it is served in this course.

The effort and the schedule

As mentioned, there are nine different modules, which each are divided into several weeks of work. Every week consists of content, practice, and quiz. Although it sometimes differs, every week is worth about 5 to 10 hours of actual work needed.

What I especially like is the graduation of learning material. The videos are mostly between 5 and 15 minutes each, and literature would be no more than several pages. The quizzes and practice work is separated into sub-tasks, so it’s easier for you to take a break and come back to it later.

This flexibility fits perfectly when you have to perform a day job and support your family. Every 15 minutes you can free yourself can be used to accomplish something in the course. In a matter of weeks, you will achieve results even if you have a tight schedule in your everyday life.

The learning curve

The learning curve is steep. You can start with literally no experience in this field, and after completing this course, you will have a personal data science project in your portfolio. I do like the mandatory assignments and projects you have to accomplish to finish a module. This forces you to get your hands dirty with the knowledge you just acquired. Doing something by yourself is way different from watching another person doing it and much more worthy when it comes to internalizing knowledge.

The price point

You will have access to all the course material, templates, and lessons for free. If you want to take the tests and get your credentials and certificates, you will have to pay a monthly fee to Coursera as the service provider and host for the course.

At the time I took the course, the subscription fee was 39$ a month. It will automatically add another month if you don’t cancel it. When you get the final certificate, the subscription will end automatically. You have control over the total costs as you can set the schedule for how fast you are going through the course. I was enrolled for seven months till I got the final certificate, which has cost me 273$ in total. As I was working full-time and had to take care of my family, I needed this time. I am sure you can do this course in a lot less time if you want to, and therefore get this certificate for less money.

The aspect that a company has curated this course

All learning material is created and provided by IBM. They indeed favor their open-source tools, and you are required to subscribe to some free plans on their systems to accomplish several tasks. For example, during the course, you will use WATSON studio a lot. Some lessons cover how to build projects in this ecosystem and how to use it.

Although they lay heavy emphasis on their tools and the WATSON ecosystem, it never felt salesy or like an advertisement. All tasks could be accomplished with free tools. I do not really mind that IBM focuses on its own ecosystem as they had crafted all this material in the first place. Companies are just filling a void created by a public education system that puts a hefty price tag on higher education.

Job fitness as it is a professional certificate

I don’t quite know if you are fit for taking a company role after acquiring this certificate, primarily if you didn’t work in Computer Science before. If you are hireable will solely depend on the company and their specific HR needs.

I want to de-emphasize this hiring point and underline another point that I think is more critical: The certificate will surely give you the ability to help yourself. You know a lot of tools, resources, and terms to ask the right questions. You may say that, by taking this course, you know what you don’t know. This is a real advantage because you have the power to find answers and solutions for yourself when facing a problem.

Also, the course empowers you to take on Data Science projects on your own. You have the chance to build yourself a portfolio over time to show off to a potential employer while working in your old job.

You may not be hireable right away, but you indeed have a significant advantage over total newbies, which will undoubtedly make you more attractive than potential employers.

Can it replace formal education?

Finishing this whole course left me with a mixed feeling. Although IBM colors the entire class, I did learn very much which I can use outside the IBM ecosystem. It enabled me to take on Data Science projects by myself.

So yes, when it comes to the lessons' quality, it can compete with formal education. On the other hand, the course lacks a general understanding of a field that will be provided if you take a master's course at university. Formal education is better to provide soft skills and general knowledge to prepare you for the industry.

In my mind, an online course at this time being can only be an addition to an existing education program. To be fair, though, I finished this course in seven months part-time, whereas a master's program would cost me at least two years.

Personal experience — is it worth it?

I definitely would recommend this course. It is an excellent start for people who have no experience to make you ready for further education and work in this field. Not only that you learn to ask the right questions, but you will also have your first self-accomplished project in your portfolio to show off.

The quality is excellent with a reasonable price tag attached, and the support works, too. The flexible schedule lets you take your speed and finally decides on how much you have to spend in total for this course.

I definitely think the course is worth the effort.

Final thoughts

So yes, I would definitely recommend taking online courses. Certainly, this won’t be my last one as I think it is a great addition to expand your knowledge and get to know with some new tools.

If you are interested in Data Science, IBM Data Science Professional Certificate would be a great start. Don’t worry about the price tag. As mentioned, you can access the material for free, so you can get to know the field and the course setting without risk.

Best Wishes