Data analysts are in high demand today, and that outlook isn’t likely to change anytime soon. The role of a data analyst, as we know it now, hasn’t existed for long, and positions have traditionally been filled by experienced tech professionals who have transitioned into the role after already having some experience in tech.
To help meet this growing demand, there’s a need to train new professionals to start their careers in data. This can be done with a traditional college degree, but there is also another option that’s quicker and more affordable. Data analytics bootcamps were developed in direct response to the growing demand for data professionals, and they train beginners in all the essential skills required to qualify for an entry-level position in data analytics.
Here, you’ll find a comprehensive guide to what data analytics bootcamps are, what a high-quality bootcamp looks like, and how to choose the right one for you. On top of that, we’ve also listed our top five data analytics bootcamps in Florida.
Understanding Data Analytics Bootcamps
A data analytics and visualization bootcamp is an immersive educational course designed to train individuals for a career in data analytics. Rather than teaching data analysis as an academic subject, it focuses specifically on the skills and knowledge required to work as a data analyst in the current market.
Using hands-on projects and capstone projects intended for your professional portfolio, bootcamps prepare you to start working as a data analyst right after graduation. With a bootcamp, you’ll learn the following essential skills and more:
Data wrangling: the collection and cleaning of data to prepare it for analysis
Data analysis: using analytics tools and algorithms to find meaningful patterns in the prepared data
Data visualization: presenting the results of your analysis in tables, graphs, and charts to explain them to stakeholders
The tools you’ll use to master these skills include Python and R and their various libraries, SQL, Microsoft Excel, and Tableau.
Bootcamps are usually either full-time or part-time courses, and it’s important to pick an option that fits your schedule. Full-time courses can require as many as 50 hours of work per week, while part-time alternatives can range from 5-10 hours to 20-25 hours per week. Many part-time courses still utilize live online classes but you can also find some that rely on self-paced, pre-recorded lessons.
Comparison of Best Data Analytics Bootcamps in Florida
Bootcamps come in various shapes and sizes, with options for both beginners and intermediate students with varying amounts of free time. Here are our top five bootcamps in Florida.
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida’s Online Data Analytics Bootcamp is a beginner-level course aimed at professionals who are making a career pivot. Prerequisites for the course include English fluency, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, and two years of professional work experience.
The curriculum is delivered through flexible, pre-recorded content, but students receive a range of personalized support to guide and motivate them throughout the course. This includes a student advisor, a one-on-one personal mentor, a career coach, and access to a Slack community of other students.
With modules on data analytics, visualization tools, and data connectivity, the course teaches students everything they need to know to gain actionable insights from large sets of data. You’ll also complete a capstone project that you can include in your portfolio.
Rating
N/A
Features
100% online
Flexible learning
One-on-one mentoring
Capstone project
Duration
6 months
Price
$10,900
General Assembly
The General Assembly Data Analytics Immersive course covers a range of in-demand analytics skills, including responsible and ethical analytics, statistics and mathematics, and visualizing data. The course is delivered through daily live classes that take place Monday through Friday, with multiple scheduling options to suit various time zones. Students also work with a personal career coach to discuss their goals, develop a strategy, and narrow down options from GA’s hiring network.
General Assembly’s immersive course is only available in a full-time format, but they do offer a part-time course on the topic of data analytics too.
Rating
Features
Beginner friendly
Live classes
19,000 hiring partners
100% online
Duration
12 weeks
Price
$16,450
Noble Desktop
The Noble Desktop Data Analytics Certificate is licensed by the NYS Department of Education and students receive a verified certificate upon completion. The course includes 156 hours of live instruction during the daytime or in the evening, and students will also receive additional one-on-one mentoring outside of class.
The curriculum is based on real-world projects that teach students how to gather, wrangle, analyze, and visualize data to solve business problems. Throughout the course, students will study both predictive and prescriptive analytics by looking at various case studies.
If for some reason you have to put a pause on your studies, the course includes a free retake, so long as long as you restart the course within a year. There is also an additional option to create a custom class schedule if the existing ones don’t work for you.
Rating
Features
One-on-one mentoring
Part-time and full-time options
Live classes
In-person or online
Duration
24 weeks
Price
$4,995
NYIM Training
NYIM Training offers a range of specialized data analytics classes covering various skills and technologies. This allows students to study the specific subjects that matter to them, such as Tableau, SQL, Microsoft Excel, Python, R, and more. Each subject has beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes available, so students can learn exactly what they need to advance their careers.
Each course features live instruction, weekday or weeknight options, and the opportunity to retake the course if you can’t finish it for some reason. Prospective students can also see the prerequisites for each course and the exact amount of hours it takes to complete. Longer courses, such as the Python for Data Science Bootcamp or Python Machine Learning, are offered as bootcamps.
Rating
Features
Live classes
Specific technologies
Short courses
Duration
6-30 hours
Price
$249-$1,495
Thinkful
Thinkful’s Data Analytics Bootcamp offers students two ways to study: full-time and part-time. The full-time option runs for four months and requires around 50 hours of study per week. Live classes are held from 10 am to 5 pm every weekday, and students will also have live video sessions with personal mentors. Students go through the course as a tightly knit cohort, participating in pair programming and joint projects to facilitate learning and collaboration.
The part-time variant, however, is designed to be self-paced and more accessible for working professionals. Students will put in around 20-30 hours per week in total, watching pre-recorded lessons and completing independent assignments. At this slower pace, it takes students around six months to complete the whole curriculum. Throughout the course, students will still have live video sessions with their mentor and have the opportunity to participate in optional office hours.
Rating
Features
Full-time or part-time
One-to-one mentoring
Fully online
Career services
Duration
4-6 months
Price
$8,240-$13,475
The Growth of Data Analytics Bootcamps
The growth of data courses reflects the growth of demand for data professionals. Data science and data analytics courses currently make up 18.9% of the bootcamp market, but back in 2019, data bootcamps were not yet widespread, with most providers focusing on coding, web development, and software engineering courses.
The demand for data analysts in Florida is similar to the rest of the country—job sites like Indeed list around 1,000 job posts in Florida at any given time. To put that into perspective—Florida only produced 415 bootcamp graduates in 2021-2022, and that’s covering all courses, not just data-related topics.
Components of a High-Quality Data Analytics Bootcamp
Different bootcamps focus on different features and services, and you won’t find the same things offered everywhere. However, certain elements have become something of an industry standard and it’s a good idea to make sure your bootcamp offers a good amount of these features:
Relevant curriculum (check the skills against current job posts to validate them)
Live mentoring sessions to receive feedback (even if your course is self-paced)
Technical mentors or teaching assistants
Career services (that continue after graduation)
Professional certifications (Google, IBM, AWS, CompTIA, etc)
It’s also important for data analytics curriculums to make use of real-world data sets to create projects. This teaches students to create a problem statement, find a way to solve it, and produce real business-relevant insights. Once you graduate your bootcamp, here are some of the different roles you can pursue:
Data analyst
Business intelligence analyst
Operations analyst
Healthcare consultant
Data scientist
Business systems analyst
Financial analyst
The average salaries for data professionals in Florida are around $70,013.
The Benefits of Data Analytics Bootcamps
There are various advantages of choosing a bootcamp over a traditional college education. First off, the immersive and hyper-focused curriculums speed up the learning process by diving into the skills students will need on the job.
Bootcamps prioritize practical skills over theoretical knowledge. While a college student will graduate with much to learn about the actual role of a data analyst, a bootcamp graduate will know exactly what to expect on their first day on the job.
Bootcamps are also significantly more affordable and accessible than a college education. The overall cost is a fraction of the price, financing options are varied, and it’s much easier to continue working while enrolled in a Bootcamp.
The University of South Florida Data Analytics bootcamp focuses on providing flexible learning with one-on-one support. This combines the two best features of bootcamps: flexibility and personalized mentoring. It helps even the busiest students get the most out of their bootcamp experience and helps keep them accountable.
Preparing for a Data Analytics Bootcamp
Because different bootcamp providers aim their courses at different audiences, not every option you find will be appropriate for beginners. Before you get your heart set on a course, it’s essential to check out its enrollment prerequisites. These are conditions that a prospective student must meet before they can be accepted onto the course.
Even if a course has no prerequisites, they will often still have a technical skills test as part of the application process. This often won’t require any studying and is simply meant to assess your natural critical thinking abilities.
Other bootcamps will expect some prior experience with programming languages such as R or Python data science, and some want students to have one or two years of professional work experience.
No matter what kind of course you choose, there’s a lot you can do to prepare for your bootcamp. You can start with free resources like the IBM Introduction to Data Analytics course to learn a little more about the industry, the tools, and the vocabulary you’ll run into at the beginning of your bootcamp.
You can also look into the specific technologies you’ll cover by downloading software like Tableau and going through the tutorials. There are also tons of data analytics and data science blogs you can read. Even without a deep understanding of what you’re reading, you’ll start to build up a context and background knowledge of complex topics that you’ll run into during your bootcamp.
Your New Career in Data Analytics
The biggest advantage of a data analytics bootcamp is the ability to create a studying experience that truly matches your needs. If scheduling and flexibility are important to you, the University of South Florida’s data analytics bootcamp is a great way to combine flexible study with one-on-one support. You can enjoy all the flexibility of pre-recorded lessons while still receiving feedback and support in real-time from your personal mentor.
