DataCamp or Codecademy Pro blues with logo of mechanics in brain

DataCamp or Codecademy Pro [Best Place to Learn Data Science?]

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for a data scientist is $100,560.

And using DataCamp or Codecademy Pro can help you:

✅ learn data science fundamentals

✅ build your skills

✅ prepare for a data science career

And beyond.

Aside from that tasty 6-figure salary, why should I learn data science?

We can think of a few reasons:

  • growing demand – demand for data scientists is triple the national average of related fields
  • diverse skill applicationcareers in data science include data analyst, machine learning engineer, infrastructure architect, statistician, and much more
  • versatility – data science applies to healthcare, banking, teaching, e-commerce, etc.
The struggle is real: demand for data scientists is high. Image courtesy of quanthub

And that’s just for starters.

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You mentioned DataCamp or Codecademy Pro to learn data science. What are they?

They’re both video-based online learning platforms.

And they can help you learn data science using a series of lessons, quizzes, projects and more.

Plus in the age of COVID-19, we’re spending more and more time at home.

What better way to spend that time than to learn a valuable new skill set!

So what do we think? Which one is better… DataCamp or Codecademy Pro?

A blend of DataCamp and Codecademy Pro is ideal.

And here’s why:

DataCampCodecademy Pro
Learning StyleVideo-based, some textPrimarily text-based, some video
Focus on
Beginner
Courses
Focus on
Intermediate
Courses
Data Science
Courses
Data Science
Skill Paths
Data Science
Career Paths
Projects
Support and
Community
Certificate of
Completion
Cost$399/year$199/year

As you can see, both platforms have similar features.

But the big difference between their data science programs is the experience level.

What does that mean?

Well, if you don’t have the fundamentals of programming down, you’ll want to spend some time on Codecademy Pro first.

Learn more about Codecademy Pro here:

And if you’re ready to dive deep into data science, DataCamp could be the platform for you.

Check out our full DataCamp review here:

📚 TLDR: Codecademy Pro is good for learning programming foundations. DataCamp is decidedly all things data science.

Now let’s investigate. 🕵️

Codecademy Pro

⚠️ Level: Beginner

Codecademy Pro is a blend of text and video-based learning platform that offers data science-related courses, skill paths and career paths.

However, their primary focus is on building a foundational understanding of programming.

Length of a list instructions and code editor in Learn Python 3 course from Codecademy Pro
Learn Python3 learning environment on Codecademy Pro

So it’s an ideal platform if you’re just learning to code.

And if you’re ready to delve into data science, there are plenty of quality courses to get you started.

Programming Language Courses

This platform covers everything from programming basics to data analysis.

Tuples code in Python 3 explanation from Codecademy Pro
Learn Python: Tuples video explanation in Codecademy Pro

Some beginner courses relevant to your data science journey may include:

Learn Python3

Learn R

Learn the Basics of Machine Learning

Learn SQL

And much more.

Data Science Courses

While Codecademy Pro offers some data science courses, don’t expect to find a full spectrum. Especially when it comes to advanced learning of data science.

Some available data science courses on Codecademy Pro

But there are a few intermediate and advanced courses such as Learn Complex Data Structures, Learn Sorting Algorithms with Python, and Learn Data Visualization with Python.

Data Science Skill Paths

Skill paths contain a curated list of lessons, quizzes, videos and projects. They’re designed to help you learn and practice real-world skills.

So they typically take about 2-3 months to complete.

Codecademy Pro offers 6 skill paths related to data science:

  1. Analyze Data with Python
  2. Analyze Data with R
  3. Analyze Data with SQL
  4. Analyze Financial Data with Python
  5. Build a Machine Learning Model with Python
  6. Visualize Data with Python

Each skill path contains multiple lessons, quizzes, videos and projects.

multiple choice quiz on lists in Codecademy Pro
Python3 quiz on Codecademy Pro

⏲️ Time investment: Codecademy Pro data science skill paths usually take about 2 months to complete. ⏲️

Data Science Career Path

A career path is designed to give developers an in-depth foundational understanding of concepts in a specific career. Similar to skill paths, career paths contain lessons, quizzes, videos and projects to learn and practice real-world skills.

There is 1 beginner-friendly data science career path on Codecademy Pro.

And using 23 lessons, multiple quizzes and projects, you’ll learn:

✅ data science fundamentals

✅ SQL – basics, intermediate, analyze real data, off-platform

✅ Python – functions, logic, lists, loops, statistics

Len's Slice instructions to code a list of pizza toppings into code editor on Codecademy Pro
Len’s Slice Python3 project in Codecademy Pro

✅ data analysis with Pandas

✅ machine learning – supervised & unsupervised learning

And much more.

⏲️ Time investment: Codecademy Pro data science career paths typically take 6 months to a year to complete. ⏲️

Projects

Codecademy Pro features ample projects within their data science courses, skill paths and career path.

Projects in Data Science career path on Codecademy Pro

Support and Community

Codecademy Pro has a robust community forum where you can get help, share your projects, get answers to frequently asked questions and more.

Community topics on Codecademy Pro

In addition, the platform offers peer support.

Certificate of Completion

Codecademy Pro does offer certificates of completion.

💰 Cost

There are 3 subscription tiers for Codecademy:

FreeMonthly – $39.99Yearly – $199
🤩 Best Deal!
Course AccessBasic
Skill Paths
Career Paths
Real-world
Projects
Step-by-step
Guidance
Community
& Support
Certificates
of Completion

You can check out Codecademy Pro here.

DataCamp

⚠️ Level: Intermediate

DataCamp has over 300 courses that are a blend of text and video-based learning. And new courses are added regularly.

Plus, DataCamp has a Trello board. It’s an online sticky board where you can see their upcoming courses and progress.

DataCamp Trello board

And while there are programming courses on DataCamp, they’re limited and focus on basic programming concepts.

video presentation of calculate bmi with formulas and man explaining is datacamp worth it
DataCamp video explanation of Calculate BMI

So if you need to learn the fundamentals of programming, DataCamp probably isn’t for you… Yet.

Why don’t we take a closer look.

Programming Language Courses

DataCamp has some introductory and intermediate programming language courses in Python and R.

Is DataCamp worth it? The Python Interface explanations, instructions and coding editor
Python exercise on DataCamp

But you won’t get a full education on the fundamentals.

Data Science Courses

DataCamp offers 61 courses related to data science.

multiple choice quiz guess the type in is DataCamp worth it
Multiple choice Python quiz on DataCamp

From basic to advanced, topics covered include:

✅ Introduction to Python, R, SQL, Scala, etc.

✅ Practicing coding interview questions in Python

✅ Writing functions in R

✅ Building and optimizing triggers in SQL Server

✅ Object-oriented programming in Python

✅ Big data fundamentals

And much more.

Data Science Skill Paths

DataCamp skill paths contain a curated combination of lessons, quizzes, videos and projects. These are designed to help you learn and practice real-world skills.

There are 51 data science skill paths including:

And more.

Each skill path contains 3-6 courses related to the desired skill.

Data Science Career Paths

Career paths are designed to give developers in-depth foundational understanding of concepts in a specific career. Like skill paths, career paths contain lessons, quizzes, videos and projects to learn and practice real-world skills.

But there’s a much heavier work load and takes months longer to complete.

DataCamp has 14 data science-related career paths based on Python, SQL and R.

Some career paths include:

✅ Data Scientist (with Python or R)

✅ Data Analyst (with Python or R)

✅ Quantitative Analyst with R

Machine Learning Scientist with R

Data Engineer with Python

Data Scientist with Python

And more.

⏲️ But be aware: These career paths are massive, with some of them containing 20+ courses and clocking in at over 100 hours of materials. ⏲️

Projects

DataCamp has 81 projects you can work on such as:

  • Visualizing Covid-19
  • Exploring the Kaggle Data Science Survey
  • Wrangling and Visualizing Musical Data
  • Level Difficulty in Candy Crush Saga

And much more.

Some projects offered on DataCamp

Support and Community

You’ll get full access to DataCamp’s support and community only with a Premium membership.

Certificate of Completion

DataCamp does offer certificates of completion.

💰 Cost

There are 3 subscription tiers for DataCamp:

FreeStandard – $300/yearPremium – $399/year
🤩 Best Deal!
Course
Access
1st chapter
only
Skill
Assessments
Limit 1
ProjectsLimit 7
Skill Tracks
Career
Tracks
Community
Priority Support

You can check out DataCamp here.

DataCamp or Codecademy: Conclusion

DataCamp or Codecademy Pro? The answer is, it all depends.

If you’re just getting started in your programming career, we recommend Codecademy Pro.

You’ll learn the fundamentals of programming before delving into the world of data science.

Plus they have some decent data science courses to get you started.

And when you’re ready to upgrade to full-on data science, go with DataCamp.

There you’ll take courses focused on your data science career.

Up Next: Is DataCamp Worth It in 2020? [DataCamp vs Codecademy vs Educative]

  1. Which is better for learning data science: DataCamp or Codecademy Pro?

    When it comes to choosing DataCamp or Codecademy Pro to learn data science, it all depends. If you’re just getting started in your programming career, we recommend starting with Codecademy Pro. You’ll learn the fundamentals before delving into the world of data science. Plus, they have plenty of data science courses to get you started. But if you’re ready to learn data science, go with the pros at DataCamp. With DataCamp, you’ll you’ll take courses focused on your data science career.

  2. Where can I start my data science career?

    You can get started with your data science career by taking courses on DataCamp or Codecademy. If you’ve never taken any programming courses, Codecademy Pro is a platform filled with introductory and intermediate courses. And they have some data science courses, skill and career paths to get you started. But if you have programming fundamentals down, DataCamp may be a better option. They have over 80 data science courses. And their skill paths and career paths targeted towards specific data science careers.

  3. Where is the best place to learn data science?

    DataCamp or Codecademy Pro are two platforms to learn data science. If you’re just getting started with programming, Codecademy Pro has ample introductory courses for programming and data science. If you have some education in programming, DataCamp may be a better platform to start your data science journey. With courses, projects, skill and career paths, DataCamp has an expansive curriculum for aspiring data scientists.