New Data Science Certificate Program

Why is this the top link on HN? There are already numerous courses available that will allow you to learn this stuff for free from very highly ranked universities, including Stanford [1] and CMU [2], among others. This will just teach you similar things while also taking your money and giving you a "certificate".<p>I guess if you want to enter a new field and you need to have some certifiable expertise, this <i>may</i> be a good option. That being said, if the field you plan on entering really does require some documented education, having this certificate will not even put you in the same playing field as those with actual degrees in the field, not to mention those with advanced degrees.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/ml" rel="nofollow">https://www.coursera.org/course/ml</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tom/10701_sp11/lectures.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tom/10701_sp11/lectures.shtml</a>

When I hear "Scientist" I tend to think "PhD level work." Graduate level work in math, Comp Sci and statistics is not something that can be readily compressed into a 9 month program without substantial prerequisites.<p>Are today's "data scientists" really just software devs who have specialized in digging around in data and using various data mining algorithms with only a superficial understanding of their inner workings?

"opportunism 101"<p>I love this explanation on quora btw. <a href="http://www.quora.com/Career-Advice/How-do-I-become-a-data-scientist" rel="nofollow">http://www.quora.com/Career-Advice/How-do-I-become-a-data-sc...</a>

Most likely Udacity will have all those classes for free within another year anyway, with the opportunity to get a certificate that's actually widely recognized. Not trying to knock the UW program, but going to college to learn CS just seems like it's going to become really unnecessary really fast.<p>It's funny, on the NYC subways the city has now put up ads warning kids against going to college, and telling them to call the hotline to ask if the college is credible before enrolling.

A more accurate headline: Get a Certificate in Data Science in 9 months.

Looking at the UW description of the program, it is assumed you are already a software engineer or statistician. This isn't for someone walking in off the street with no background in the subject.

If it wasn't offered under the auspices of UW, I would have thought it a scam...

"...the cost is around $3000" and the primary benefit seems to be you get to call yourself a "Data Scientist". There are tons of free resources online for "hadoop, NoSQL, machine learning, statistics, graph algorithms..".

You can actually become a data scientist in 9 seconds because the term has no meaning.

For a graduate certificate $3000 is actually quite pricey. At smaller Universities in Europe it is possible to earn a MSc in Business Intelligence &#38; Data Mining via distance for just €4000 (<a href="http://www.itb.ie/StudyatITB/bn518BID.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.itb.ie/StudyatITB/bn518BID.html</a>). Plus their focus almost exclusively on open source software such as RapidMiner.

I like UDub even tho I never went there (in fact i'm headed there right now) but I really hope they enforce the stated minimal program qualifications, i.e. applicants show aptitude in math, engineering, database design, programming, or the other thing slisted:<p><a href="http://www.pce.uw.edu/certificates/data-science/downtown-seattle-autumn-2012/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pce.uw.edu/certificates/data-science/downtown-sea...</a>

Nice, I should have spent some time doing this instead of working through Axler and Feller through my undergrad and grad school.<p>&#60;/sarcasm&#62;

What advantages in life does having a certificate yield? Would an employer really care if I had this certificate vs if I learned it on my own?