How I Chose My Masters Degree for Breaking into Data Science

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks for watching everyone! This is the video I mention about how to choose between a Masters, Bootcamp, or Certificate program: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2qpm6qwgKuDq68&ab_channel=KenJee

[@abhishekdandona8014]

Hi Ken Jee, I need your advice on my matter. I am thinking of doing MSc Data Science from UK in Jan 2022, and I have offer from a mediocre university. Problem is I am already working as a data analyst/scientist and I am looking to learn new skills (Deep learning, Big Data tools). Do you think doing a masters is the right move?

[@DataProfessor]

That was a great video, Master Ken! Glad you’ve decided to go with DePaul which sets the first event in the domino effect that led you to posting your first video on KZbin 😊

[@KenJee_ds]

I think it really worked out! We never would have met without this choice!

[@shreyasramani1437]

I loved the fact that you went to DePaul and started this channel. I'm planning to apply for a masters in DS myself, I've learned a lot about sports analytics on this channel, and I'm hoping to start a channel myself one day :)

[@KenJee_ds]

Awesome 😆

[@dipanpatel6454]

Thank you for being a great mentor Master Master Ken, your advice is constantly helping me alot

[@KenJee_ds]

Thank you for watching my videos! Happy to hear they have been helpful!

[@piyushzope10]

Thank you for the information Ken... It will help me to take the decision in the future...

[@KenJee_ds]

Glad to hear Piyush!

[@kyleinseok]

Hi Ken, Great decision-making process. That's how I am going to decide whether to go to grad school or industry.

[@KenJee_ds]

Glad to hear Kyle! Thanks for watching!

[@user20517]

Hi Ken, Thank you so much! I started learning data science 2 years back. but I lost the motivation. Now after following your channel, and watching the inspirational videos and great advice i feel confident to move forward, i am seeking career transition into data science, and you are motivating and helping me to stay on track.

[@KenJee_ds]

Glad to hear the videos have been motivating! Thank you for watching Ahmad!

[@bianchialex]

Side comment you made that I find really interesting. That the education was similar everywhere you went but the students were all different. Part of the reason I want to go to a master's program or top company is to surround myself with different people than my upper middle tier college (Seton Hall). Would love to see a video talking about that it even interview you on the topic.

[@KenJee_ds]

Will try to do an interview on the topic!! I'm sure I will be interviewing you one day as well, so you can tell us all about it haha

[@jimaids]

haha... Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" comes to mind. I'm mighty glad the decision you made seems to be working pretty fine. You keep some of us going, Ken. Keep being awesome.

[@KenJee_ds]

I find that they almost always do! No way to know what could have happened if I did something else!

[@wilsonman8661]

It was most enlightening that a lot of the decision pruning was purely practical (ie: no BCS requirement; missed a deadline and didn't want to wait another year). Good reminder that we don't live in a perfect world; we live in this one. (... Also, on behalf of the entire community, please accept our humblest apologies for our dire transgressions, Master Master Kenneth Jee.)

[@KenJee_ds]

I found practicality super important! Glad someone appreciated my master joke 😆

[@muhammadhashir7949]

Fliping practice is nice. Thanks for showing this and now I will also try this because I also get confused between two things a tone of times.

[@KenJee_ds]

I hope it helps you!

[@chacmool2581]

Why didn't you choose a master's in Applied Statistics? I just put in an application for a grad certificate in Applied Stats yesterday. The choice of school was made for me by these factors; 1. No GRE required 2. No recs required 3. Three intakes a year so no waiting till next year 4. Non-exirbitant tuition (under $1,000 per credit) 5. On-line program

[@KenJee_ds]

Honestly, My math wasn't as strong. I was also very interested in developing my cs skills if I wanted to build a company. Masters in applied stats is a good route though too

[@musicalrea5433]

Both fun and informative video 👍👍Thank you Ken

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks for watching!!!

[@Techfitlab]

Brilliant Video Ken!

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks!!

[@Epipedobatideo]

When I was starting my Ph.D. in Computational Biology, I discovered Data Science. Now I'm slowly changing my focus to it. CompBio uses many disciplines and concepts in common with DS, which was a very satisfying discovery when I started to read about DS. I think it's very nice to be called Master, but man, Doctor Weiss sounds *SO evil scientist* that I couldn't help myself when choosing my path. It's just what I wanted since I was 4 LOL But seriously, although I'm just migrating but not there yet, it seems to me that many (or most) areas that include programming and statistics will have a good match in DS.

[@KenJee_ds]

Haha Doctor Weiss does have a pretty nice ring to it!

[@byoutekinaeiyuu]

Haha, very true about flipping the coin :) I was thinking about doing an extra degree in CS, but it takes a lot of time and after I checked the syllabus... many of the courses in the degree cover material I am not at all interested in and will not really be useful in the career I want.

[@KenJee_ds]

That is a very important consideration!!

[@happyllama4153]

I was watching your videos to get more information about Data Science but i fell in love with you 🥺😳

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks for watching my videos! I'm flattered!

[@mattRRgraham1996]

Your editing skills have really improved since the start of your channel! This was a really well done video. I'd love to know more about how you do it since I'm considering starting a channel of my own. You have an interesting story and it's cool to see how far this channel has progressed. 100k is coming up! See you in the next vid! (okay so I was going to insert a peace emoji there at the end of my comment but the menu bar on my macbook's keyboard doesn't seem to want to work today....damn.)

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks Matthew!!! I started doing a lot more film study of youtubers I like to watch and have been trying to implement some of the things that they do! I also try to improve one thing each video so that over time each production is a learning experience. I hope this helps! ☮

[@muhammadhashir7949]

We wanna see Ken starting a startup.Let's give it a shot ken. And hopefully I will become the vice president of it when it will become a larger company. Haha. Just kidding. By the way your quality of videos is awsome, keep it up

[@KenJee_ds]

One day! I plan to start a few more companies down the road!

[@justinhuang8034]

Man you're just reading my mind lately hahaha 😂 great video as always master master Ken

[@KenJee_ds]

Haha awesome Justin!!! Glad the masters videos are helpful!

[@WhyofAI]

Great video Ken!

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks Alex!

[@stephanieherrera2468]

Do you feel like the masters degree was worth it or could you have gotten where you are now without one? If you come from a technical background, is the MS worth the investment?

[@KenJee_ds]

If I was coming from a more technical background, I don't think I would have needed it. If I had the maturity to self study that I have now, I also wouldn't have gone down the masters route. At the time though, it was the right choice for me!

[@stephanieherrera2468]

@@KenJee_ds Thanks for your answer, Ken!

[@dallashutchinson3783]

Hey Ken, great video as always. Your videos have really helped guide me through my journey into data science. So I thank you for that! I'm actually applying to grad schools for next Fall and DePaul's Master's in DS is on the list!

[@KenJee_ds]

Awesome stuff!

[@ShaikAsad]

Congrats on 100K subs! Love your content.

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks Shaik!

[@rudyorre]

Quality video as usual!

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks Rudy!!

[@tejasphirke3436]

Congrats for 100k subscribers 🎊✨🔥

[@KenJee_ds]

Thank you my friend!

[@sid4752]

Is it better to do a Master's in CS (by taking good electives) rather than in Data Science? Also, does location (San Jose State) or name( Georgia Tech) matter more if you've just graduated?

[@KenJee_ds]

There is no better or worse in my opinion. It all really depends on what you want to get out of it. The things that will be the biggest differentiator for job success will be projects, internships, and networking. Hopefully, you can do all of these things regardless of where you go. I haven't found name to really matter much, school network (internal job board) may have some impact though. For example, if you want to work on the west coast, it may make sense to do a program that people from that area would have heard of. I hope this helps!

[@Hizbullla]

3:12 The hell is this person coding? Skynet's Terminator OS? Not a single Stackoverflow window in sight.

[@KenJee_ds]

Are they coding Skynet, or are they a terminator from Skynet coding?

[@shikhardixit5792]

@@KenJee_ds That's Keanu from The Matrix 4 I'm pretty sure on that.

[@АркадийСыновец-ж5у]

He is simply writing stackoverflow answer to his IDE then copy and paste it

[@robertdante2210]

matrix

[@shapeshiftingpanda]

hey Ken, I noticed from your linkedin that you're based in honolulu. how do you like it there (pros? cons?) and how is the local data science job market?

[@KenJee_ds]

I really like it so far! It is a big change from Chicago (where I was until just a few months ago). I work remote, so I don't really have a good feel for the local market unfortunately! Food is excellent, weather is good, and the people are friendly. Can't ask for much more!

[@abdallahsiyabi4784]

@@KenJee_ds Hi Ken, for an International student from the Middle East, Chicago seems quite unsafe. I read that crime was historically high in 2020 :/. You studied there and I think you teach now? I don't intend to party or socialize much in the next two years (mostly study / network etc.)

[@madhunil]

Hey Ken, Love your videos, they are extremely informative. Currently I am on episode 4 of your Data Science project from scratch series.😄 Can you please share your opinion on the below question, it will be really helpful. How is the Master's in Data Science program at Northeastern University, Boston?

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks for watching the series Madhunil! This whole video is about how I can't vet indiviual programs because I have only taken one myself haha. I recommend watching the end because I talk about how you can figure out if a program is right for you. I hope this helps!

[@Ian-vh2vv]

Did you know anyone who did their MS in DS at DePaul? I have a friend who is in that program and he said it's worth it but I was wondering if you knew anyone who did the program. I'm really considering doing a Master's in DS since I'm graduating with a BS in Finance from a B+ level school and I feel like I'll need an MS to get a good job in the field (I have bad ADHD and I'm not great at teaching myself things so I don't think the self-taught route is for me). Did you know anyone who did that program? How was their post grad job placement? Do you think the CS program was better?

[@KenJee_ds]

I have a few friends that did it! The placement was decent for them, but they did a bunch of internships (how I met them). I think that other programs in the area (Northwestern), probably have better placement in general though. I liked the CS program because I was allowed to take all the courses the DS kids took as well as the computer science ones!

[@devonpeters9458]

Thanks for the video. I’m curious, do you see any benefit to getting an MBA and an MS in DS? I have a scholarship that will pay for most of both, but I’m also 35 and hesitant to go back to school for that long. If so, would you suggest one before the other? If not, could I still break in to some of the more technical roles with an MBA?

[@KenJee_ds]

If it is a dual program and it doesn't take much longer than a normal MBA I think it could make sense. It really depends on what you want to do afterwards! If you wanted to go into data science, I would do that first. If you wanted to focus on management, I would probably do the MBA first. Could be difficult to break into the purely technical roles with the MBA I think

[@devonpeters9458]

@@KenJee_ds great. Thank you! I appreciate the feedback

[@anaskhalid8078]

Do I have to be a software developer or a data analyst first to break into data science? or can it be done directly through a masters program or certifications ?

[@KenJee_ds]

It can be done, but it is extremely difficult. I think the swe or analyst route is a lot more attainable. I would explore what the exit positions are from some of these degrees, that might give you a better idea about the probability of that happening is.

[@GamingBoy84]

I think your commerce background IS important as it created one of the biggest filters in your decision making, that is, which school doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science? I would think that the requirements in Data Science are lower, is that correct?

[@KenJee_ds]

Totally fair! Yes, requirements for most data science programs are lower

[@axa3547]

I tried studying ml on my own there is lot of gaps in my education masters is essential in this field period

[@abdallahsiyabi4784]

Hi Ken, What do you think of DePaul's current MSc DS program? It seems more like its predecessor Predictive Analysis. I just saw that you teach there so I am like 100% more motivated to apply. :) :) Also what are the best US schools for MSc in DS for towards a path to PhD? Thank you chief.

[@KenJee_ds]

I actually didn't teach in that program. The class I taught was for the design school to help them understand the data space better. I think the depaul program is fine, I actually did my Masters in Computer Science there. If you went to DePaul, I would probably recommend going that route instead as you have more freedom to choose classes. I'm not too familiar with the US schools that are best, however I have had some friends have success with the Northwestern * UVA programs. I hope this helps!

[@abdallahsiyabi4784]

@@KenJee_ds Thank you Ken. Such tips are precious. I'll keep recommending your channel for more views and subs. :)

[@AndrewMoMoney]

0:00 - 0:28 david blaine MIND FREAK

[@KenJee_ds]

I think it was Chris Angel

[@lucasfernandes3107]

Hello Ken! Thanks for the content! I recently moved from Brazil to Saint Charles (about 1h from Chicago) so as to stay with my wife and thought that pursuing a masters, instead of only self learning, could give me an edge when looking for a job here. I graduated in Industrial Engineering and am pursuing a masters in data science, preferably in the Chicago area. Is pursuing a masters a good idea given that I do not currently have a diploma that local employers would recognize? How much does the prestige of the university matter for professional outcome? What is, in your opinion, best for professional outcome? An online but more prestigious degree or an on site but less prestigious degree? In Brazil there is prejudice against online learning. What are your thoughts on University of Illinois at Chicago and Illinois Institute of Technology in general, but also regarding their Business Analytics and Data Science masters ? Given that I have what I believe could be considered a "technical background" what do you believe would be important in a masters in data science? Hard or soft skills? How was your experience at DePaul? Quality of classes and professional outcome wise. Sorry for this avalanche of questions. Hope you can answer them as I believe it would be of great help. Thank you!

[@KenJee_ds]

Hi Lucas - I think that a masters would make sense for your situation. The most important thing you can do in a degree like that is build project experience and get an internship. I think that any school would really allow you to do that if you were going to school full time. Generally, I don't think it matters much online vs not online (especially post covid). I also don't think that the school name matters much for this discipline. On the other hand, some schools may have better alumni networks which is something to consider. I would look more at the coursework than anything else for determining which to choose. I think hard and soft skills are both important. I would argue that soft skills would be more important for landing your first role. I had a good experience at DePaul! I think their programs are really good. I also had some friends do their masters at Northwestern and had good experiences! I hope this helps!

[@chinmaygondhalekar2591]

Master Master Ken🙏

[@KenJee_ds]

😉

[@Mellowyellow8888]

Personally I would not do a data science master degree.. there is no consistency between programs.. if one were to do a stats or CS degree as you go to different schools much of the curriculum is very similar.. electives might be different..

[@KenJee_ds]

Thanks for the input!

[@sid4752]

So it's better to do a Master's in CS (by taking good electives) rather than in Data Science? Also, does location (San Jose State) or name( Georgia Tech) matter more if you've just graduated?

[@Mellowyellow8888]

@@sid4752 I know of 2 people from my own industry contacts that I have chatted with while networking that have given me their honest opinion on their respective MS data science experience in 2 different schools. Granted to preface these two are both scientists to begin with and have Masters in a hard science program prior. One went to University of Houston and the other I believe is OKlahoma State (could be Oklahoma University.. I forget).. both had regrets with their programs... as there were good classes but quite a few bad classes because the quality of teaching and subjects weren't quite up to expectations... That said.. you probably need to ask around on linkedin for graduates of SJS and GT.. I've seen alot of people get into GT recently.. but I do not know how good it is beyond the published "rankings"

[@harshparikh7898]

Hey Ken Love your videos bro Can you suggest schools that give weightage to Sports analytics in their curriculum?

[@KenJee_ds]

There are very few, but I think Boston College and MIT have it in their coursework

[@RanTao-s1o]

Hi, Ken. I have noticed that some master programs in Data science require students to finish a research project, while others only require students to finish a capstone project. If you are hiring a new grad, do you think students with some research experience is preferable?

[@KenJee_ds]

I think research experience looks very good! It is probably more similar to real work experience than some of the other options!

[@RanTao-s1o]

@@KenJee_ds Why? Because data scientists or machine learning engineers need to do some research in their work? Or abilities they acquire from their research experience can help them thrive in their future work?

[@mahakbachani8532]

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR SUCH VIDEOS!!! I really love them and they make me feel happy and become a data scientist more and more 🥰!! I’m a school student with programming background...we have learnt python pandas, numpy, pyplot as well as MySQL course at school...we have also learnt about computer networks. Next year I plan on to do bachelors in DS(4 years) and then masters in DS (1 year)...although there is one fear that I have which is that I DO NOT COME FROM A MATH BACKGROUND (I am ready to learn it tho)...do you think this could be an issue???

[@KenJee_ds]

Thank you so much for watching!! I wouldn't worry too much about the math. I think it is important, but it can definitely be learned. My math wasn't very strong to begin with (I got a D in the last calc course I took), but I made it work somehow!

[@mahakbachani8532]

@@KenJee_ds Thank you!! you just made my dayyy!!

[@Rumil_]

Funny, A big reason I chose the school I'm in now was also because I didn't want to take the GRE lol.

[@KenJee_ds]

It is a major consideration!!

[@shyamss2338]

I am planning to start my masters in busienss analytics during fall 2021. What would my course of plan be right now? What should I start with first? Programming or maths or excel or reporting tools??

[@lakshyaagrawal5094]

Heyy, thankyou for your guidance. It's really helps a lot. Sorry it's a little lengthy, but it's important for us, so please read @Ken Jee Also, as you see, there's a significant number of your followers from India, so like it's really difficult for us to check which college is best in different countries like US, UK, Germany, which are already quite advanced in this field and will be really beneficial for us if we study there, so can you suggest and help us what to do or how to go about it. I really wanna study in Germany, but you know, money is always an issue for an international student, so a little bit of guidance in that too please.

[@KenJee_ds]

I will try to make a video closer to this topic in about 2 weeks! I highly recommend contacting people who have graduated from the degrees to get their honest feedback. I find that is the best source for this type of information!

[@sameerasalih773]

Can MS in Computer Science with Data Analytics helps me to go into the Data scientist path?

[@KenJee_ds]

I think it could, but if you got a data analyst job instead that would probably be as good or better

[@athinsyg7871]

Can you become a data scientist without going to college?

[@KenJee_ds]

I think it is possible, but it would be very difficult. You would have to do something very impressive on kaggle or via your personal projects. I hope this helps!

[@srikanthrachakulla5488]

Tech gig website listed your channel as " 5 KZbin channels every Data Scientist and ML engineer should subscribe to"

[@KenJee_ds]

Awesome! I hope you have been enjoying the content!

[@justinqi3815]

Hi Ken, what are your thoughts on Masters of Business Analytics program? I’m currently considering that over a Masters of Data Science due to it being more “applicable” to the corporate world.

[@KenJee_ds]

I really think it depends what you're trying to get out of it and what they are teaching! I would ask a few of the alumni what they thought of it!

[@shyamss2338]

Would appreciate any information on this topic..

[@muhammadhashir7949]

How many internships you did and have you did any co ops if yes then which is best?

[@KenJee_ds]

I had 1 internship in grad school, but I was working mostly full time at my current job while in grad school as well!

[@aditipatil7377]

I was wondering, why not UI Chicago or IIT Chicago ? Btw, great video as usual ! Short and simple, just the right amount of everything :)

[@KenJee_ds]

At the time, their programs required an undergrad in CS which I didn't have haha

[@shindepratibha31]

Hi there. I have bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and master's degree in Mechatronics. Currently, I am in UK and looking for an opportunity in Data Science. I am getting an offer to do MSc in Computer Science from Swansea University. With my interest in Data Science and educational background, is it worth doing MSc in Computer Science?

[@KenJee_ds]

I think a bootcamp or a dedicated online course of study would be sufficient for making the transition in. I don't see a need to go back for you unless you really want to and the degree is inexpensive

[@anthony8977]

Can I become a data scientist without a CS or Data science degree ? I do not have any related background and considering to change my career. I am teaching myself the skills to become a data scientist but honestly I cannot pursue another degree because I cannot afford it.

[@KenJee_ds]

Yes, you absolutely can! I recommend working on projects and building out a portfolio as much as possible

[@anthony8977]

Thanks Ken. You let me see hope again. I am still learning the fundamental but will definately bear your advice in mind.

[@shrutijain1628]

Can you also make video about data analyst roadmap and all 💯

[@KenJee_ds]

I will try to do a collaboration for that!

[@shrutijain1628]

@@KenJee_ds thank you ❤️💯

[@sththapa416]

Wow man, 100k congrats man you deserve more than millions of milestone❤️❤️

[@KenJee_ds]

Thank you my friend!

[@aungthuhein007]

How do you go 150k in debt when even the biggest and most expensive universities cost maybe 60k for a masters degree? What?!

[@KenJee_ds]

I did two haha and had most of my living expenses covered as well. In hindsight, not the best decision

[@aungthuhein007]

@@KenJee_ds I see. I'm planning to get one as an international student and your videos have been extremely helpful! Thanks a whole ton! Also, what if I could only personally afford 20k max out of pocket? Is taking on a 35k student loan a possibility or is it just out of the question? I would of course be working an internship or something when I get there. These are some big numbers for me to be talking about like this, let alone 150k. That's why I feel a little less confident right now. Sorry if I sound stupid. Thanks for the reply, Ken.

[@kamikahzadi281]

I think by cs master we would be better at coding rather than data science master Is it true?

[@KenJee_ds]

I found that to be the case

[@JimRohn-u8c]

Do you have a video on how to prepare for a master in CS? My background is in chemistry so I’ve never taken any CS classes.

[@KenJee_ds]

I do not, I generally recommend just getting familiar with python as much as you can. Also, I woudl do the kaggle micro courses!

[@shyamss2338]

Can you talk about master of science in business analytics??

[@KenJee_ds]

I really don't have too much experience with those! I would ask @AlexTheAnalyst!

[@shrutijain1628]

Heyy I have got an idea like you can do a Q/A video like you can post in youtube community tab and in linkdin to ask them to give questions and you can make a video out of it 💯✌️ just a suggestion ☺️

[@KenJee_ds]

I'm actually doing a live stream Q&A for hitting 100k subscribers! I made a community post about it, but will be doing a twitter post to get questions too!

[@shrutijain1628]

@@KenJee_ds yess thank you ❤️💯

[@muhammadhashir7949]

I think universitty of waterloo is best for getting a fang job in bay

[@KenJee_ds]

Good to know!

[@Mellowyellow8888]

I second that comment.. as a former grad.. in hard sciences though.. I've I've seen much of my friends whom are CS, computer engineers and math majors highly recruited back in the 2000s..

[@shyamss2338]

What are the requirements to get into university of Waterloo?? Like gpa, gre and work experience??

[@HimanshuYadav-nt9zp]

What about an international student, who would want to get into data science and in the US job market, would diploma certificate from canada will help since its budget friendly too??

[@KenJee_ds]

That seems like a reasonable option to me! I don't know much about the degrees in Canada though!

[@shrutijain1628]

Heyy I have seen in linkdin this #66daysofdata with Ken jee can you explain me what does that means?🙂

[@KenJee_ds]

I explain everything in this video :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4mvn5WafbKZbtk&ab_channel=KenJee

[@shrutijain1628]

@@KenJee_ds thank you ❤️

[@ToFrostyyy]

DePaul Gang rise up

[@KenJee_ds]

💯

[@MubashirullahD]

What's with the crazy caption face?

[@KenJee_ds]

Just experimenting a little haha

[@JJDK485]

One like for you for only being handsome 😂😂😂