Chevron Left
Back to What is Data Science?

Learner Reviews & Feedback for What is Data Science? by IBM

4.7
stars
73,488 ratings

About the Course

Do you want to know why data science has been labeled the sexiest profession of the 21st century? After taking this course, you will be able to answer this question, understand what data science is and what data scientists do, and learn about career paths in the field. The art of uncovering insights and trends in data has been around since ancient times. The ancient Egyptians used census data to increase efficiency in tax collection and accurately predicted the Nile River's flooding every year. Since then, people have continued to use data to derive insights and predict outcomes. Recently, they have carved out a unique and distinct field for the work they do. This field is data science. In today's world, we use Data Science to find patterns in data and make meaningful, data-driven conclusions and predictions. This course is for everyone and teaches concepts like how data scientists use machine learning and deep learning and how companies apply data science in business. You will meet several data scientists, who will share their insights and experiences in data science. By taking this introductory course, you will begin your journey into this thriving field....

Top reviews

SB

Sep 9, 2019

Very learning experience, I am a beginner in DS, but the instructors in this course simplified the contents that made me I could easily understand, tools and materials were very helpful to start with.

AP

Jan 15, 2022

I throughly enjoyed the course and the fact that everything was explained thoroughly. I always enjoyed Dr. White's personal experience with Data Science as well as other Data Scientists point of view.

Filter by:

1 - 25 of 10,000 Reviews for What is Data Science?

By Kevin M

•

Mar 24, 2019

Very basic course, to be honest. The grading seemed to be dependent on memorizing exact quotes from videos. Looking forward to some of the more advanced courses in this series.

By Jianfei Z

•

Jan 10, 2019

Too much introduction. There is no need to spend so much time on it. People that take this course usually understand what is data science. they need to learn real knowledge, not spend the whole week on introduction.

By Aman J

•

Jan 5, 2019

Videos often have disjointed or unrelated elements. Final week quizzes and mid-video questions often have useless or otherwise unhelpful reading questions. An example from week three's final quiz, "True or False: The Untied States Economic Forecast is a publication by McKinsey University Press." The answer is false and is covered in the reading, but the question has absolutely nothing to do with data science.

By pooja s

•

Apr 19, 2019

Too basic.

If you live under a rock and have never heard of Data Science, a Data Scientist or any terms related to this industry then this is a wonderful course for you.

For everyone else, it is a total waste of time.

By Lauren J

•

Mar 22, 2019

This was a good introductory course, especially as someone with basically zero experience in the field. I've been struggling with where to begin (should I take a course on Python? R? What languages are even useful? WTF is cloud computing?) And this course gave me a good starting off point. That said, it wasn't technical AT ALL. It's really just a bunch of "fireside chats" with data scientists, talking about the languages they use, what concepts they're used for, what knowledge is necessary and what isn't, etc. If you're looking for a "roadmap" to continue learning on Coursera, this is it.

This is exactly what I feel the college experience gives students that online or self-taught learning lacks: context. AKA there are a billion courses on Python on Coursera, but none explain WHY I'm learning Python. This course does that. I'd recommend this course for anyone looking to start with data science from zero.

By Bradly R

•

Feb 21, 2019

Excellent quality content! It's a great introductory course that really gets you interested in Data Science. I would highly recommend it to anyone curious in learning about what Data Science is about.

By shubham b

•

Sep 10, 2019

Very learning experience, I am a beginner in DS, but the instructors in this course simplified the contents that made me I could easily understand, tools and materials were very helpful to start with.

By Parker D

•

Jul 18, 2018

I thought this course introduced the topic of data science very well. I think I have a much better idea how to describe data science and common terms associated with the field (like machine learning).

By Julian G

•

Jan 3, 2019

Very, very basic... completely useless and a waste of time. I feel like the only purpose of this course is to drag out the certification process so that it costs you more money...

By Mark L

•

Jan 26, 2019

This course is not consistent with someone who would sign up for an entire certificate. This course is more suitable as a recruitment tool for a certificate program. Watching these videos was an absolute waste of my time.

By Ritik s

•

May 12, 2020

Very learning experience, I am a beginner in DS, but the instructors in this course simplified the contents that made me I could easily understand, tools and materials were very helpful to start with.

By Mohit B

•

Jan 15, 2019

Should this even be a course? Like they just say things that anyone can find the first thing on google if search you data science.

By Meseret G

•

Jun 26, 2020

I throughly enjoyed the course and the fact that everything was explained thoroughly. I always enjoyed Dr. White's personal experience with Data Science as well as other Data Scientists point of view.

By frocchio@hotmail.it

•

Oct 31, 2018

Poor course overall, not much "meat". An introduction to the subject that could have been given in one hour of lessons.

By Steven L

•

Sep 10, 2018

The course seems poorly pieced together with videos from Big Data University - which is now known as Cognitive Class. There is mainly little coherence into what the course is trying to teach in all the videos. Readings were given on a rather low resolution image file - that makes it difficult to read and kinda 1990s feel. Is it that difficult to save the pdf in text or include a higher res image file?

Similar to the point that a data science report should indicate the details and affiliations of the person writing the report, many speakers in the videos apart from the two professors does not have any background information. Who are they? Where are they from? What background are they speaking from? All these are important context for learning.

I did learn something from the final assignment though. However, that was personal reflection and learning from peers. Thinking whether I should continue with this course.

By lianghui t

•

Jan 15, 2019

useless, wasting time

By Mahendra s

•

Sep 18, 2020

very useful. i liked and enjoyed the journey of learning in these five weeks. the instructor is very clear and taught very interestingly. Thanks to her. she looked poised and cheerful and professional

By Deleted A

•

May 12, 2019

Waste of time. Most of the material was "fluff" about data science. What was actually useful could have been accomplished with a 2-3 page pdf. Only finished it, because I'm taking it as part of the IBM specialization through my work. I REALLY hope the other courses are more useful and worth the time. Very disappointed in this course.

By Krishna V K

•

Feb 23, 2020

Terrific introduction to the Data Science course. Never expected but was extremely excited with the quality of content, speakers and a very honest attempt to making this course interesting.

Krishna

By Samid V

•

May 21, 2019

A very basic and shallow introduction to data science. Too much hand-holding and too much time spent discussions of little value. Ideal for someone who is very young and very new to the field., everyone else should avoid it.

By Faisal C

•

Oct 25, 2018

The course doesn't teaches anything except for explaining data science benefits and examples.

By Ahmad W

•

Aug 26, 2018

This cannot be considered as a course it tells some general info about the experience of some professors but nothing technical, of course it's useful but it's not really worth it

By Xhuljana M

•

Jul 1, 2019

I liked this course very much. The way it is organised to collect different data scientists opinions about the same topic, make it very valuable to the ones who are starting the road to Data Science.

By Konduru G

•

Jun 2, 2019

Very nice course and it has a piece of very nice information taught by professionals. The content is related to the practical application of concepts which increase interest in you to proceed further

By Chin-hung Y

•

May 23, 2019

Good for fundamental knowledge of data science and data scientists.

It is also inspiring for young people like me to get ready to step into the world of data science.

Great course