DataQuest Vs Udacity 2020– Which One Is The Best & Why?

Data science is a result of the combined knowledge from the fields of mathematics, statistics, computer science, and information science.

There is no certain requirement apart from the basic knowledge of coding to become a data scientist, many people invest in online courses to gain a certificate and advance knowledge in the field so that they can land themselves a decent job. Dataquest and Udacity are platforms that offer online courses for individuals to gain more insight into the field of Data Sciences. So, Let's begin with the comparison between DataQuest Vs Udacity.

DataQuest Vs Udacity - Overview:

Although both are giants in the field of Data Sciences, I know that there is always a confusion between the two, as to which one to choose to gain better knowledge and finally land a job. Let me lay out the major differences between the two for you. I will help you by providing you with the differences and reviews to the best of my ability.

The major difference between the two can be that Udacity offers to learn for various fields as regards Dataquest which is only related to Data Sciences.

Dataquest Overview

Dataquest is an interaction-based learning platform that offers various courses related to the field of Data Science and carves our different employment pathways for individuals depending on the specific course they opt for. These include training in skill sets required to excel in the field as a data analyst, data scientist, or data engineer. All the content on Dataquest is produced all on their own which means you can expect a fixed, consistent teaching method and quality throughout. Each course is conveniently designed, so concepts grow in depth as you continue learning.

Therefore, you will never be asked to apply a concept you haven't been taught. The platform is continually upgraded and improved to ensure the courses are effective, up-to-date and efficient. The entire learning experience runs in your own personal browser which means you do not have to carry out any installations on a personal level. All topics are taught step by step which means that the introductory courses will teach you the fundamentals from scratch. Also, there are no due dates or submissions you have to meet, so you can learn data science at your own pace and whenever it is convenient for you.

The platform is very easy and handy to operate. With Dataquest, you'll spend most of your time learning through their in-browser and communication- based screen sharing. When you log on and start taking a course, typically the screen presents a new concept on the left side, and challenges you to apply that concept by writing code on the right. Before moving to the next screen, you have to submit your answer and you will get immediate feedback on the code you just wrote.

Dataquest has created a community of like-minded people. All Dataquest students have access to their student community. Here, the content creators, skilled mediators, and other students are always willing to help you understand everything there is to learn in data science. This community will be the one you turn to if you get stuck on some level, come across a platform issue, need help, or want to know how good your work on a project was. It is said that knowledge of big data has the power to change employment patterns, societies, and overall lives.

That's why Dataquest is looking at creating an efficient teaching platform by enhancing its reach to myriad communities and supervising an effective and profitable business. Dataquest has won awards for its highly acclaimed work and success rate.

Udacity Overview-

Just like Dataquest, Udacity is an online education availing platform with numerous courses that individuals can enroll in to get well acquainted with academics related to any specific field. The name Udacity is derived from the owner's objective and will of building a platform for inquisitive learners. The tagline the company propagates is to be "audacious for you, the student". While they started by focusing on offering university-style courses, it now deals with more vocational courses for working professionals. That's why the courses enlisted in the website are not restricted to one particular field, but they also have quite a vast range of courses related to the field of Data Science.

Udacity is of the opinion that their standard syllabus is created with guidance from the premier industry partners and not merely the syllabus prescribed, so you end up learning exactly what these exclusive industries are looking for. In Udacity you learn by doing with real-world projects and other hands-on exercises that lead to real skills mastery. Similar to Dataquest they have a self-paced learning scheme that is you learn whenever and wherever you want. You could finish graduation while studying part-time for a couple of hours a week.

All courses have been conveniently segregated into levels to meet the needs of a newcomer to an expert. Based on your previous knowledge about a subject you can select whether to do a beginner's course or go deep into the subject with the advanced courses. For certain courses, prerequisites for admission are mentioned. Some courses are free but the nano degree courses are all paid courses.

They give assistance at every level and you can approach their mentors anytime during the day and have your coding questions answered quickly so you can keep learning. Udacity has 100,000+ graduations which are continuously rising, they have 200+ Industry experts partnering with them to build their content and 100+ enterprise customers worldwide till date.

All the courses have been custom made according to the industry requirements and are created by taking into consideration the needs of major software companies such as Hack Reactor, Google, Salesforce Cloudera, Autodesk, Facebook, etc. Their employment needs are taken into account so that the chances of finding a job escalate by leaps. Thus, you can be assured that these courses provide you with the most updated industry information. Udacity has been popular amongst people as they have helped provide employment to individuals at respectable organizations and at high paying positions.

Various Schools of Udacity:

Udacity has branched out and enlisted various schools of different curriculums they run. Some of them are;

• School of Artificial intelligence
• School of Cloud Computing
• School of Car Engineers
• School of Autonomous Systems
• School of Business
• School of Data Science
• School of Programming

Udacity offers scholarship opportunities for various programs.

Selecting an online learning program can get slightly tricky. There are a lot of factors you need to look into before deciding which one suits your needs the best. Let me break down the basic differences in the programs of Data Science from Dataquest and Udacity.

There are certain basic things anyone who is looking for a course in Data Science from any of these platforms should know:

Both programs can be completed at one's own feasible pace. So eventually it will cost you how much every time you take to complete the course. The lesser the time you take, the lesser will you end up paying.

Dataquest Pricing Review

Dataquest charges a fee of $49/month. Both these amounts are without taking into consideration any kind of discount. These are the two basic plans; they also offer other premium plans for higher charges depending on the course you select.

Udacity Pricing Review

There is a massive cost difference for the same courses on the two platforms, while Udacity charges a fee of $399/month.

While both these platforms offer courses related to data sciences, Udacity does not provide an Interactive coding environment. For those who are unaware of this term, interactive programming refers to the procedure of writing parts of a program while it is already active. Thus, you can get immediate feedback of your work you just carried out. Udacity uses video lectures to teach, in addition to those, there are multiple-choice quizzes that pop up in between your learning experience to check how much you've understood and whether or not you are able to match the pace of the teachings.

Although Dataquest does not use any video lectures, they make use of text lessons along with interactive coding. This means you can complete the code exercises given to you right in your browser and get immediate feedback on what you've done. This hands-on experience may prove to be beneficial sometimes.

DataQuest Courses

On the other hand, Dataquest carves a career path for you as a Data Analyst in R, Data Analyst in Python, Data Scientist in Python and a Data Engineer. Some of the courses they offer are listed below.

• Python for Data Science: Fundamentals
• Learn the basics of Python programming and data science.
• Python for Data Science: Intermediate
• Pandas & NumPy Fundamentals
• Storytelling Through Data Visualization
• Learn advanced techniques for cleaning data in Python.
• Machine Learning Fundamentals
• Data Cleaning and Analysis
• Exploratory Data Visualization
• Data Cleaning in Python: Advanced

You can get access to the full list by using this link : https://www.dataquest.io/directory/

Udacity Courses

Udacity offers Nanodegree programs in Data sciences. Here is a list of a few courses apart from data sciences offered at Udacity.

• Introduction to Genetics for Beginners
• Intro to Programming in Java: Learning Java
• Introduction to Computer Science: Building a Search Engine
• Design of Computer Programs: Programming Principles
• Web Development: How to Build a Blog
• Game Development: Building High-Performance Web Applications
• Mobile Web Development: Building Mobile Web Experiences
• Introduction to Parallel Programming: Using CUDA to Harness the Power of GPUs
• Software Testing: How to Make Software Fail
• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: AI-Class
• Interactive Rendering: Introduction to 3D Computer Graphics
• Intro to Theoretical Computer Science: Dealing with Challenging Problems

You can find out which are the current ongoing data science programs at Udacity by going through this link https://www.udacity.com/school-of-data-science

Individuals enrolling in Udacity are required to have previous experience with coding. Udacity requires the candidate to have experience in SQL, Python, and statistics. People with no previous knowledge will not be able to cope considering the basics are not covered as a part of their curriculum.

For those of you who wish to opt for Dataquest, you do not need any kind of previous knowledge in coding. All you have to be acquainted with is with your high school level math. Dataquest teaches you everything from the beginning. Thus, even if it's your first time in the field of coding you need not worry, you will be able to start from scratch.

Both platforms offer projects for individuals to keep a check on how much of their academics is helping them practically and also so that they are able to eventually create a portfolio that will help them while applying to a job. With Udacity, all the projects are to be completed on your own personal computer locally. Udacity has a pre-defined classification system to review and access your projects. So whatever work you do on your project will be individually checked and reviewed so that you can better your work and avoid repeating similar mistakes in the upcoming projects.

Although Dataquest provides a more interactive based format for the project which does not require a personal setup, it does not offer any means through which your projects can be reviewed. None of the projects you carry out is personally reviewed or checked.

Both Udacity andDataquest offer their assistance when it comes to finding you a job, they also help you review your resume. The only major difference is that Udacity provides a one to one career guidance to every individual. So, the guidance provided is case-specific so the references you might get for getting a job may be specific and customized.

On the other hand, Dataquest has a career support cell which is made available through their Dataquest community and career-focused Community mediators. So, they help you with getting in touch with other people from the field so that you can interact with them and look out for jobs, but they would not be helping you one on one with the guidance.

The mentorship criteria and the one on one guidance are considered to be one of the major differences between the two platforms. Dataquest has an interactive online community where an individual can ask for support, encouragement and motivation from other students who are a part of the same course or had been a part of the course, data scientists who are experienced in their particular field, Dataquest community moderators, and the individuals who have been successful after their learning experience with Dataquest. This helps them keep in touch with similar people in the professions and can know about the happening around in the real world. A lot of doubts are said to be solved with such interactions. This also helps build contacts.

Udacity arranges for a personal mentor for each and every student who has enrolled in the data science course. The student is supposed to have weekly calls with their assigned mentor to let them know of their progress and clarify any difficulties or doubts. This helps keep a check on the student and the mentor can be in the loop constantly and can keep a tab of their progress. Due to this, the efficiency and motivation levels rise and when you know you are being monitored you are encouraged to work harder and towards perfection. This is a one on one guidance strategy designed to enhance the efficiency of the learning. This particular feature is not provided by Dataquest.

This is said to be a major reason why certain people prefer Udacity over Dataquest because they wish to be mentored personally. It is said to prove more efficient and beneficial.

The faculty and tutors in Dataquest are in-house. But reviews have it that students are very satisfied with the in-house instructors.

On the other hand, Udacity hires instructors who are professionals from the field. They have expert instructors that mostly come from the industry, such as Google. Due to this expert guidance, they are able to tell students what the exact technological need of the hour is so that they can cater to them and the organizations can get exactly what they are looking for.

.

Although Udacity used to issue certificates earlier, they have stopped issuing certificates now. Even if you are willing to pay, they won't be handing you over with a certificate for course completion.

Dataquest, on the other hand, provides all the students with a certificate at the end of the course which can be downloaded in a pdf format or added to your LinkedIn. This certificate can be attached to your resume while applying for a job. It will definitely prove to be advantageous.

G2 and Switch-up are two highly acclaimed platforms whose reviews are trusted worldwide. They are peer to peer review sites and can give you ratings and reviews about absolutely any software or program. Both Udacity and Dataquest are highly rated. While Udacity was rated 4.3/5, average on G2, it was rated 4.45/5 on Switch up.

On the other hand, G2 rates Dataquest as 4.7/5. Dataquest was rated as 4.9/5 by Switch up. Switch up also awarded Dataquest as the best data science learning platform for students for three years at a stretch. These readings only mean that Dataquest is getting better ratings and reviews from people using it and thus that is what is reflected on both G2 and Switch up.

To summarize, let me make it easy for you to understand using a table.

Dataquest Vs Udacity-My Honest Review-Which One is Winner?

So, if you are looking at learning more about Data Sciences courses or even if you want basic insights into the field of data sciences and if you don't want to resort to the conventional study methods, you should definitely try exploring both these options. With the increase in job opportunities in this field, it is a good option to learn new things and keep up with the changing times.

Quick Links

Customer Reviews

DataQuest Reviews & Testimonials

Udacity Reviews & Testimonials

FAQs

I've mentioned all the major differentiating points between the data science courses offered by Udacity and Dataquest. Yet, we should not forget that each one has its own list of perks and disadvantages. You need to analyze what works best for you and then take the decision.

To conclude, the major differencing factor that can be seen is the price and the one on one mentorship criteria. Udacity is slightly more expensive as compared to Dataquest but they do give your personal mentorship in the additional money. Both platforms have a range of plans to suit your needs. They offer monthly and yearly packages based on the course you are opting for.

Hopefully, the comparison between DataQuest Vs Udacity helpful in deciding which platform is best suited for you.