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What do I do if I don’t have much coding knowledge?
Don’t worry, we don’t admit candidates purely on the back of their prior experience. We expect you to need support, and we’ll be there to provide it. If you are lacking some of the skills you need to progress through the course at an average pace, you will receive the guidance you need.
The first step is to start going through the recommended material and courses. This is a list of content that we believe will give you the introduction you need to the o various concepts that will be required throughout our Data Science course. If programming is not your strong suit, we recommend spending as much time on this as possible before starting the actual data science course.
Different learners start with different backgrounds. While coding knowledge is a prerequisite for joining the Data Science course, some learners might still need to brush-up on their Python skills in order to be able to move through the course at a good pace. To make it easier to do this, we have prepared a detailed Data Science Preparation Guide (also called the “pre-course”). You will find various topics that are useful for studying the Data Science course – go through them in parallel to the main course if you are not familiar with them yet. While it may take more time initially, in the long term, your progress will be much faster.
Data Science Preparation Guide link
Once the course starts, you should constantly evaluate (and discuss this with your peers, JTLs and STLSSTLs) whether there are any pre-course topics that are preventing you from progressing at the required pace. If you see that there are some pre-course topics that you lack knowledge in, it’s important that you schedule some time each day to develop those areas. This might mean that you initially progress at a slower pace than other learners, but in the long run you’ll benefit. So, set yourself realistic goals early on, and don’t get put off if others are progressing faster than you. It’s also important to remember that you are not alone - we select our groups so that there will be other people in your group that are at an equivalent level to you. You can reach out to these learners and arrange to go through the pre-course topics together. Learning together through discussion and the exchange of ideas will give you extra incentive and help optimise your results. Not only that, it will also be more fun. Finally keep in mind that the learners with more prior experience, the JTLs and the STLs will all be willing to help you too - use them as a resource!Finally, if you feel like you are really struggling and that the pre-course material is becoming a real problem, get in touch with either the education or the community team. We will be happy to have a 1-on-1 talk with you and discuss your concerns so that we can find a way for you to successfully progress with the course.