If something intrigued me, I would want to learn all there is about it. That's how I picked up python during my tenure at L&T as an electronics engineer. I had learnt the basics of python myself, and started utilizing it in my projects. Python was taking up more and more space everyday. Interested in pursuing it further, I started looking out for advanced python courses online.

I came across GreyAtom's python course, and then their Data Science program. I took some time to learn about the Data Science fields, and I saw that for a python enthusiast, a move into Data Science would be a natural progression. That's how I decided to get into Data Science.

I was sufficiently convinced with GreyAtom's approach to the subject and the track record of their Career Services team, and hence decided on GreyAtom. The 8-month long course was a packed ride.

On the weekends, we would have full day sessions. Looking back, I wonder how I did it. For the entire period, every weekend was spent on the sessions. I realize now that it was solely the encouragement and motivation that I got from my mentors and a sense of responsibility and belonging that I had with my fellow learners that kept me going. We learnt and executed projects as a team, and that made sure that I was there for the team.

During the week, our mentor kept us engaged through our WhatsApp group by sending out problems that we had to solve before the mentor session. It wasn't homework, but it was more of a small coding skill or concept that was needed for the next session. It was really interesting and we did not fail to do it because we saw the value in it. These small things constantly motivated us throughout the entire course.

GLabs was GreyAtom's online learning platform where we spent most of our time. The courses were divided into bite-sized pieces and that made the journey easy for us. Personally, I felt that their leaderboard, which let us track and compare our progress with the rest of the cohort played a huge part in keeping me engaged with the course. The way it was intuitively designed really tapped into my competitive instincts and motivated me to be on top of the competition.

Having Industry practitioners as mentors made a tangible difference throughout the course. I, along with my group of friends in the cohort, used to nit-pick each concept put forth by the mentor. The way the mentors were able to clarify doubts, delve into extracurricular topics, real life scenarios and issues they run into while handling projects for clients, etc., really put us in the shoes of an actual Data Scientist. That I would say has been the most valuable takeaway from GreyAtom.

I took the Data Science course just to boost my career. But once I came into the course and saw my mentors, I realized how narrow minded I was. Working with mentors who were so accomplished, earning well, yet still on their learning path and sacrificing their weekends to teach their skill to others really put me into perspective. The course has only been the first step to becoming a Data Scientist. I am one now, I'm loving it, and there is a long way to go.