Level

I took the Level Set class (Level’s introductory program) in Boston as prep for grad school and it was fabulous. I had no statistics background and it definitely provided a strong foundation in statistics and also incorporated skills in Excel and a bit of SQL.

This is one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken in all my years as a student. The professor was an expert at teaching stats and data analysis and was really dedicated to her students’ success.

My undergraduate degree was in fine art so I hadn’t taken advanced math classes. This class was really difficult for me but not overwhelmingly so. Students who had taken stats years ago and were using this course as a refresher found it too easy. If you’ve taken statistics before, even if it was years ago, I would recommend  jumping into the Level Core bootcamp vs. the Level Set program.

I was able to take this course seriously because of its association with Northeastern University. I’ve tried other bootcamp type courses from small, independent companies, and maybe it’s just a personal thing, but if I don’t want to put an institution’s name on my resume, I have trouble motivating myself to work.

Anyway, I highly recommend Level Set for people looking to get into data analytics who lack a stats background.

This was one bizzare experience! This course is fairly new for the school, along with a teacher that just started teaching, along with a curriculum that tries to put too much into too short a period, along with a flawed method of pedagogy. 

I took this course because it was backed by Northeastern(or so I thought)? When I called them to ask about its location, the operator had to put me on hold and ask around before she got the right number to transfer(that's the first warning sign). They are so new that their own school doesnt know about them?

Then when I attended I found a STRENUOUS, DEMANDING, and RELENTLESS pace where they covered Statistics, and R and Machine Learning and SQL in about 5 months. Each of these subjects requires a semester or more by itself! I realize that this is a "bootcamp" but they should emphasize the basics more than advanced topics! Make people feel comfortable about the program instead of cramming as much material down your throat and seeing what sticks!

Now this course is at a fast pace but what makes it even worse is that they have no clue on how to teach this course. The instructor is a very nice guy and very patient but he just rambles on about this and that(he's totally new to teaching) and then surprise! Gives us a test. This course is non-accredited and yet they want you to take tests throughout the program. On top of the stress of this requirement, they will give you MASSIVE assignments for your projects. We had to learn an entirely new programming language called R and then within 3 weeks do a VERY difficult project about some bullshit baseball stat program called Stattleship. If I had 4 months worth of training I could've pulled it off but it was too much for me and most of the other students. 

This course gave me stomach upset and sleepless nights. I thought it was uncredited but apparently they want to "use your score" for the future when they do get accredited by Northeastern! What bullshit! They did put a lot of work into their online training materials but it was too much at one time! The instructor, again there was only one instructor, did not use the tools that we were supposed to learn because he was uncomfortable with them!! This guy would use the command line for just about everything when we had to use R studio, SQL workbench and more importantly Tableau! He didn't even teach Tableau because he knew nothing about it and then went on to slam it!!! Can you imagine being in a course where you are using one tool and the instructor is using another because he's scared of using what you're doing???!!!! 

OK. Some of the positives are that I did learn about data science to a certain extent. I did network with some of my fellow students. I was forced to deal with stress at an unbelievable level. These folks don't have any stats about job placement, or how many jobs are in the industry, or what the employment picture is in Boston. I did get some job assistance but not on PLACEMENT in the industry. They helped with my resume but not actually promoted it to people that were looking for data scientists? 

One thing they did which was interesting is that speakers came into class from time to time and gave speeches about their jobs..most were interesting. However, another failure of our meek and mild-mannered instructor is that he doesn't step up as a moderator. What shouldve been 45-55 minutes speech lasted an hour and half becuase he refused to interrupt the speaker. I think he was grateful for the time taken because he was exhausted from working during the day and didn't want to do this anymore? I rarely saw him prepare for class and he taught in a haphazard fashion? 

A teacher makes up 95% of the course....no matter how much hype that is given, if you have a medicore teacher then the whole course is a failure. I never saw any of the higher ups attend the course and we only had one substitute instructor who was a bit soft-spoken too...so not a very good teacher as well.

Teachers are good when they are loud! They need to take charge of the class and have a clear vision for what they are going to do for the next 4 hours! These folks are just stumbling around trying to leap from one subject to another. It's possible that this course may be revamped because they are on a learning curve. Their is nobody above 35 at this place and their lack of experience shows. They are getting their act together but for now I would hold on going to this school until a lot of deficiencies are straightened out?

When I first learned of Level, I was very excited by the idea of an in-person part-time course. But the limited information available on Level made me realize that Northeastern isn't quite ready to break into the bootcamp business. Here's why:

1) The biggest red flag is that there is no information on Levels website, especially when it comes to statistics about the success of Level grads. Mind you, the level set and leve core total around 13k+. 

-  Job placement rate, average starting salary, and salary increase is nowhere to be found on the website. Go to Thinkfuls website for example which boasts a 95% job placement rate and a 20k increase in salary. No I am not a Thinkful student - but I just want to point out that there are other bootcamps that provide these statistics and its alarming that Northeastern does not. And for a course on data, its rather ironic isnt it? 

- Level Set does not offer a schedule for its course other than it begins in the last week of January. No information about when the classes meet and for how long. 

-  My application was ignored. I applied and was invited to schedule an interview with provided time-slots. No one called. 

- The curriculum is 4 LINES. Yes, if you request a curriculum via their website for Level Set, you will receive an unusually short email for a $5000 course, 20/hrs a week

Moral of the story is - if youre interested in attending a bootcamp, make sure you know what you're paying for and make sure that information is upfront. 

I whole-heartedly recommend LEVEL to anyone who is looking to further their technical skills in regards to data analytics. You will learn a MASSIVE amount of information; I learned more in 8 weeks than I did in 3 years at my previous job!

A word of caution, do not sign up unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure you can commit atleast 50 hours/week to this program. If you plan to only attend the class, then I would not recommend signing up. You have to devote a good bit of your own time just to keep up with the pace; because the truth is, at one point or another, the classwork can and most likely will pile up on you. 

That being said, it is a wonderful program. You will meet A LOT people. Whether its through weekly guest lecutres or Career Day at the end of the program, LEVEL is an excellent way to rub shoulders with analytical-minded people across all industries. 

I found that Level Edu offered enough context to help me understand data analytics and tools better than I would've expected given the time commitment. After completing the program I felt confident in my ability to understand the best tool for the job and use it adequately. It also prepared me to understand the tools that require further preparation like advanced machine learning. It's important to understand the limitations of your knowledge, it's a part of feeling confident using the skills for data applications. I can't say that Level is for everyone because it requires a big commitment with an intense schedule, but it was 100% the best decision for me, personally, to move forward with a leap in data analytics.