UNC Charlotte now offers a Data Analytics Boot Camp, a 24-week skills-development program to teach the fundamental data science and analytics skills that are increasingly sought after in today’s data-driven digital economy. This program offering comes at a time when the projected investment in data science is at an all-time high, with the worldwide big data analytics market expected to reach $200 billion by 2020.
The Data Analytics Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte starts Feb. 6, 2018, and is designed to accommodate the schedules of working professionals, with two three-hour evening classes during the week (6:30 to 9:30 p.m.) and a four-hour class on Saturdays (10 a.m. to 2 pm). All courses will be held at UNC Charlotte Center City, located in Uptown Charlotte.
“Our continuing education programs help working adults upskill and accelerate their careers,” said Asher Haines, director of Continuing Education at UNC Charlotte. “Graduates of the Data Analytics Boot Camp, in particular, can look forward to a favorable job market in which employers today are looking for professionals with the skills to translate data into insights and business value.”
Mirsad Hadzikadic, executive director of the Data Science Initiative at UNC Charlotte, noted, “Last year, U.S. companies struggled to fill more than 800,000 jobs requiring some form of data analysis as a skill. The Data Analytics Boot Camp is a solution to closing this gap."
The curriculum will include instruction in high-demand technologies and frameworks, including Advanced Excel, Python, JavaScript (D3.js, Leaflet.js), HTML/CSS, API Interactions, Social Media Mining, SQL, Hadoop, Tableau, Advanced Statistics, Machine Learning, R, Git/GitHub, and more. In addition to classroom instruction, students will spend about 20 hours a week on outside projects and experiential learning activities and build a professional project portfolio to showcase their abilities and hone their competitive edge in the employment market.
Program enrollees also receive a range of career-planning services, portfolio reviews, recruiting assistance and extensive staff support. Area businesses that are part of the Data Analytics Boot Camp employer network will provide advice on curriculum, products and student needs.
Charlotte expanded its tech job count by 62 percent during the last decade and experienced the fastest tech job growth rate in the nation from 2014 to 2016.
The Coding Boot Camp at UNC Charlotte, which launched November 2016, has produced 94 graduates to help fill the hiring demand for full-stack developers in the Charlotte region. With this new Data Analytics Boot Camp, the University anticipates adding another pipeline of talent to the city’s booming tech employment sector.