SPICED Academy

I did the fully remote Data Science bootcamp. The small class size of approx. 15 students as well as the full-time teaching staff made it a very focused and productive experience. Teachers were able to dedicate a lot of time to answering questions in one-on-one breakout rooms and I appreciated the remote learning structure. 

We would do a lesson all together and then work independently on our weekly project in smaller batches in breakout rooms that changed daily, allowing us to connect with our classmates and ask each other questions. We would complete the week with short presentations from each person about one aspect of their project. Week on week, we developed a portfolio of 10 projects plus our final project, which we worked on individually. 

The curriculum is Python-focused, spending only about a week on SQL, which is prominent in the job search. It covered many topics including machine learning (classification, regression, natural language processing, time series), data processing (NumPy, Pandas), data visualization (Matplotlib, Seaborn, Metabase dashboard), deep learning (recommender systems, image recognition), data pipelines (AWS S3, web scraping, APIs, MongoDB) and more. In a 12-week program, these topics are covered quickly so the course's documentation portal was a great online resource for reviewing topics, even after graduating. 

Career resources were good, covering basics like types of jobs, salary negotiation, CV writing etc. You have to take the initiative to set up one-on-one meetings with an assigned career advisor, which is a useful resource with specific input on your profile. Ultimately, relying on career services is not enough to result in a job. Applying a lot, networking, speaking with in-industry mentors via free external resources also needs to be part of the effort.

Overall, an excellent foundation, but like every bootcamp it requires independent study afterwards (especially in SQL) to gain proficiency. Career services offer a good boost to get started, but you have to keep going and networking on your own. 

I had a mostly disappointing experience at SPICED academy (spring 2022). 
What was disappointing:  
1. The quality of teaching and the level of experience of the teachers. Many classes were taught by bootcamp graduates who had themselves graduated the bootcamp and then started immediately teaching (—> no knowledge of industry or even the mathematical or statistical background of different methods). In these cases, you’d be better off watching youtube videos than going to classes since teachers could not answer questions and often gave incorrect answers (errors only caught by students who had a more rigorous background in the topic). Definitely not worth the price (which is higher than other bootcamps). Teachers as well as the staff were unresponsive to complaints.

2. Background of other students: the bootcamp is not selective in their intake of students and in reality has no requirements for students to prepare for the bootcamp. This makes the overall level of graduates lower than should be and a lot of the time in classes is spent on explaining very basic things that were in theory pre-required knowledge. 
What was good: 
1. The material is well put together and you have access to it after the bootcamp as well
2. Topics covered relevant for the job market.
3. Weekly projects push you to learn at a fast pace and give you good start to continue learning afterwards

I enjoyed being part of the Data Science Bootcamp at SPICED Academy. It was a great experience, and I have sharpened my coding skills in Data Science and learned many new ones along the way.
SPICED has brilliant instructors, who encouraged and challenged me to go beyond borders and find better coding solutions. Moreover,  the incredible staff at SPICED Academy, who helped me along the way.

I graduated Spiced Academy Data Science bootcamp. The bootcamp lasted 12 weeks and it tried to cover very broad scope of various Data Science topics. Some topics where covered in the curriculum much better than others, but it is really impossible to cover all well in this short time period. Data Analytics was introduced (still to become a professional Data Analyst one should consider better attending a specialised for Data Analytics bootcamp or to study this in autodidact mode), as well as Machine Learning. Also challenging and fascinating topics of Web Development with Python were introduced with Flask and Heroku.
I think I got a good base at the Spiced bootcamp in these areas to advance further after the bootcamp.
On the other hand the Data Engineering part of Data Science was not delivered well in my view and those who want to become Data Engineers working with cloud technologies should better take another path to this profession. Also Statistic part of Data Science was almost ignored in favour of programming part. Maybe the choice of making accents was wise, maybe not. Future will show.
I strongly appreciate the effort of Spiced to help with career development. Job finding assistant program is very nice indeed. 

I think the course is a really great intro into the world of programming and Javascript. 

I like the way the curriculmn is laid out, with every new lesson feeling a little more complex than the last. 

I like the exposure to two different frameworks: Vue and React, but I felt the job market asks more for React and Angular.

At times, the course can really challenge you which is a really good lesson to determine if this is something you want to do long term.  Those uncomfortable challenging moments will persist once you enter the job market...so really assess if this is something you want.

Some things the course doesn't offer that I've found to be important (reflections after entering the job market) is exposure to the git process when programming as a team or in groups.  I think this is really crucial to first days on the job, and will just take more time to learn. The course doesn't touch upon or discuss testing, which can really set yourself apart when looking for a job (often times the coding challenges ask for these).

Also keep in mind that after graduating this 12 week course, you will still be very very beginning and have a LOT more to learn on the job.

My experience at SPICED started out well - but as the course proceeded, I quickly recognized that the program didn't have the value I was hoping for. I wish the program was much more transparent upfront - otherwise I wouldn't have invested so much money into it This review isn't meant to be bitter - but more of a constructive critique. 

Generally, the staff were super nice. I thought David (the head instructor) was affable – However, after overhearing him mutter an insult under his breath about me (after asking a javascript question), it was alienating - it hurt - and it made me less comfortable talking with him – which is unfortunate, since I thought he was a nice guy.

The typical day consisted of a short presentation (30-45min) in the morning - followed by a task to complete. The proceeding 6 hours you were left on your own to actually learn the material - usually from youtube instructional videos & stack overlow. It reminded me of that quote from Good Will Hunting "“You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.”

I get it – a lot of the learning process is self teaching. But it’s also about inspiration from instructors – and further, being around motivated, smart peers.

More than half of my cohort left a few weeks in– instruction became bleak- sitting in a giant, empty room - watching instructional Youtube videos, alone. With an instructor I felt I couldn’t ask questions to – 100% demotivating.

I also get it. The program can’t be as selective as programs such as App Academy, Flatiron, Hack Reactor,etc. It’s new and it needs as many students as possible – so they’re not in the position of turning anyone away. This invariably leads to a bad mix of students.

Are there better programs out there, definitely. I’m hoping SPICED has grown up and revamped their course – it was a shame – the basic pieces were there. But the Instructors and Adminstrators should not be proud of what happened.

 

I have no idea where all these positive reviews are coming from. This was not the experience my colleagues and I had during this course. Most people, even those who weren't feeling as challenged as some of us were, felt that as much as the teacher was very knowledgeable, he was the opposite of supportive and helpful. If he didn't like you or was in a bad mood, nothing to do but try to figure out how to complete this course with the help of other students (unless you want to feel worse about yourself). Which is definitely not what 8,000€ should get you...

Beyond that, it was clear that the curriculum was not meant to be taught in 3 months. Most other places take 5-6 months, but it seems that the school wanted to tap into the 3-month visa crowd. The speed and difficulty (basically no gradual learning of very complex concepts) made most of us who had limited backgrounds feel constant frustration and confusion, and we left the course very insecure about our abilities.

Basically, if you have a CS degree, you'll do fine and be a bit challenged in this course. Anyone else, I suggest going to a more professional, longer course, where the well-being and success of the students is prized higher than the tuition price.

The rest of the staff and the actual location and facilities were great though.