Why did you choose the M.Tech Software Systems with Specialization in Data Science program by BITS Pilani?

First of all, my job required me to perform certain tasks that were not my specialty throughout college. Also, with the changes the industry has been through in the recent past, I thought it was time for me to change my domain into Data Science. Hence, this course grabbed my attention.

Apart from that, compared to the other courses that I had considered, the M.Tech Software Systems with Specialization in Data Science program offered by BITS Pilani was reasonable in terms of money. It costs only INR 55,000 per semester, which suits me better.

What were the admission criteria and the process for applying for the M.Tech Software Systems with Specialization in Data Science program by BITS Pilani?

We needed to fill a few forms and get an approval letter from the HR of the company at which we are currently working. We had to submit those along with the registration fees, mark sheets, ID proof, and an essay in which we were supposed to tell our background and experiences and why we wanted to apply for this program.

Moreover, the program required us to select a mentor from our workplace who would guide us throughout our session. We were to do so before we applied for the program.

You mentioned considering other programs before applying for the M.Tech Software Systems with Specialization in Data Science program by BITS Pilani. What made you choose this course and not the others?

I had attended a few webinars, including yours. They helped me figure out that most of the courses/programs were too expensive or had mediocre faculty. Being a working professional, I wanted to apply for an online course. Since my job kept me busy on weekdays and sometimes weekends, too. 

I would have to visit the campus and attend regular classes in some programs, which would have been a problem for me. With BITS offering this program online with a designated faculty, I automatically drawn towards this program.

What is the maximum limit of your batch? Is there proper networking among your fellow batchmates?

There are 800 people in my batch currently. The program adds in a new batch every six months. 

Yes, we have a group on Discord where almost all the students are active. The students created that group to keep in touch, discuss studies. But, online programs come with a drawback. You can’t have that one on one experience with your batchmates or the teaching faculty.

How would you describe your week? What does your class schedule look like?

My week schedule looks like this-

Tuesdays and Thursdays – Tutorials.

Wednesdays – Assignment Submission or Exams.

Saturdays – Classes.

My classes run from 8:30 in the morning to 6:30 in the evening. The tutorials can be around 2 hours long. We solve previous years’ questions papers, to understand how we should tackle the numerical that would be a part of the program.

Are you satisfied with this program, including its faculty and curriculum? Did the experience meet your expectations?

I had expected a few and very ordinary things from this course. For example, since I was applying at BITS Pilani, I was expecting excellent academic faculty to teach us how to implement the topics taught to us. Unfortunately, the program failed to meet this expectation. 

This is not just specific to this course. I had noticed this in most of the programs that I had considered. The professors are basically visiting staff, as per their LinkedIn profiles, and they paraphrase the textbooks. I hoped to find a course where the teachers would explain the topics and demonstrate their implementation as well.

The M.Tech Software Systems with Specialization in Data Science program by BITS Pilani became a full-time course for me. As it keeps me occupied four days in a week. Being able to access the program on weekends when I would not have to do my office work was the sole reason I chose to apply for an online course.

Based on your experience so far, would you recommend this program to others? If yes, what shall they keep in mind? If no, why?

It is totally up to the person if they like what the M.Tech Software Systems program by BITS Pilani offers. My advice if you were to apply for this program- being an online program, there might often be technical difficulties. You should prepare yourself for that beforehand.

We hope that the conversation with the student would help you get a better understanding of the M.Tech Software Systems with Specialization in Data Science by BITS Pilani through this review.

While sharing with AI Monks the M.Tech Software Systems by BITS Pilani course review, the student asked us not to reveal identity details; hence, they have not been provided here.

To learn about other colleges that offer similar courses, visit Counsel at AI Monks. If you have any queries about the preparation of the exam, you may also write to us at info@aimonks.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

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Below is the course experience of Ankit Sonthalia, a pass-out of PGDBA Batch 2015-2017.

Before PGDBA

While I had always believed that the ultimate goal is to turn data into insight and insight into action, my desire to learn and grow in the field of analytics kept my interest alive. Having completed my B.Tech in Electronics and Communication from Nirma University and being placed in an IT company, I had no hopes of entering the field of analytics.

After completing my graduation, I took up my first job as a Programmer Analyst with Cognizant Technologies Pvt. Ltd. During my tenure there, I worked in data mining and manufacturing. I was also working on researching data analytics, which was widely known to be an emerging field at that point in time.

Having gained hands-on experience in SQL, Python, and VBA, I had gradually developed my interest in exploring tools and technologies and learning new methodologies. While working in the IT industry for around 2.5 years, I realized being settled in the industry and didn’t want to change or leave the domain I was working in. I never wanted to enter the non-technical field. It was at this time that I heard of Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics which intrigued me to the core. So, I decided to pursue my higher studies in the field of Data Analytics, and hence, giving PGDBA a fair shot.

During my life at PGDBA

To sum it all, my journey at PGDBA was superb. Being the first batch, we were a very small group of students in the course, which ultimately led to building great bonds amongst all of us. Overall, the batch was varied with students from multiple domains, regions, and backgrounds. Moreover, being the first lot of students pursuing the course, the faculty paid extra attention to the curriculum and placements since we were uncertain of how the end result would turn out to be.

Being an integrated program of the top three colleges in the country, namely, IIM Calcutta, IIT Kharagpur, and ISI Kolkata, we had to travel to each of these campuses every semester. The colleges offered complete support in traveling, accommodation and handled all our queries with utmost priority. The provision of exposure to multiple campuses helped us in increasing industry interaction to a great level.

Life after Integrated PGDBA

After completing the course, I got placed in Larsen & Toubro Ltd. It was all the result of my learning during my PGDBA that I excelled in my professional career. With the help of the faculty members and the set curriculum, I grew throughout my journey and am still growing. The projects that I did during my internship at the end of the course still help me solve problems in my current organization.

Having gained specialization in the field of data science, I hold the capability to help my colleagues in their projects and solve relevant problems. PGDBA has provided me the knowledge on various topics such as neural networks and graph theory and has enabled me to act wisely in my career.

All in all, I suggest that if you have an interest in data science and business analytics, pursuing a course in PGDBA would probably be one of the best decisions of your life. The course will definitely offer you a thorough background study of the field. Additionally, having a little background knowledge of languages such as R and Python would be a cherry on the cake.

About Ankit Sonthalia

Ankit Sonthalia is a Data Science enthusiast currently working as Associate Director, Data Science with LendingKart. He had worked with multiple companies such as L&T, Gartner & Cognizant. Apart from the curriculum, Ankit Sonthalia is passionate about traveling & photography. Ankit can be contacted over Linkedin here.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

To learn more about the course, you can read more experiences as shared by current students and pass-outs at AI Monks Counsel. You may also write your queries to us at info@aimonks.com.

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Given below is the course feedback as shared by Neeti Pokharna, a pass-out of PGDBA at IIM Calcutta in the batch 2015-17.

During my pre-final year of engineering from BITS Pilani, I worked on Data Analytics and management projects at IIM Bangalore in summers. Immediately after, I interned with a networking technology company for 6 months as part of the BITS curriculum requirement and that’s when I realized that I liked a mix of technology+business and I decided to appear for CAT. When I got to know about the launch of the new PGDBA course, I thought to appear for it as well. I got admission in this course as well as a few other IIMs. I chose to take this course as I loved numbers and it provided a perfect blend of data, coding skills, and business strategy. Studying at three premier Indian institutes was another unique selling proposition. Now that I look back upon my time, it did teach me how to be agile and quickly adapt to the teaching methodology and lifestyle of different campuses.

The course was well-structured starting with a pre-semester in IIM Calcutta where we got an introduction to Finance, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour and the scope of Analytics. There were Industry talks from different sectors and Analytics games were organized throughout. The first semester was in ISI dedicated to statistics, database management and basic machine learning. This semester was instrumental in laying our foundation to data sciences substantiated with a full-fledged machine learning project.

The second semester in IIT Kharagpur was focused on Machine Learning (both theoretical and lab), time series modeling and Operation courses. We had an option to choose technical heavy courses like Complex Network and Information Retrieval which strengthened our know-how of data sciences.

The third semester at IIM Calcutta was a hectic one with lots of assignments and intern preparations at its peak. There, we had management subjects including Strategic Management, Project Management, Pricing, and Revenue Optimisation, Computational Finance, etc. We studied analytics courses as well with the focus on applications like Econometrics, Predictive Modeling, Categorical Data Analysis, etc. A couple of courses like Analytics in Payments were taken by industry experts. Case-based methodology and focus on communication at IIM Calcutta still helps me on how to approach and deliver projects at work systematically. There were case competitions conducted by different companies which improved our turnaround time and presentation skills.

The final semester was a 6-month-long internship in which companies like PwC, UHG, American Express, True North, etc. participated. I got my internship offer from True North where I was working with CXOs of one of their portfolio companies SeedWorks International on a variety of business cases ranging from building scoreboard of their distributors to defining their credit limit to building a shiny dashboard which could predict crop yields. The internship semester was a perfect end to this course as it taught us how to overcome real-time data challenges and interpret data such that it adds value to the business.

During the final placements, I got an offer from PwC for the position of Experienced Associate. There also, I worked across a range of industry sectors – from predictive and preventive maintenance to sustainability analytics and used Tableau, Alteryx, R, Python, and SAS. Having gone through the rigorous PGDBA curriculum, it was quite easy to adapt from one technology to another compared to peers. To master over a business strategy, I moved to DE Shaw where I am working as a Senior Analyst with the Energy Commodity group.

According to me, PGDBA is one of the best courses for people who want to build a career in analytics/data science while staying in India. It is very organized and prepares candidates holistically across analytics and business. We get the best of both worlds of MBA and analyst.

About Neeti Pokharna- student of PGDBA at IIM Calcutta

Neeti Pokharna is currently working as a Senior Analyst with DE Shaw India Pvt. Ltd. She is working on forecasting fundamental drivers in the Global Energy market. You can connect with her on her Linkedin profile here.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

To learn more about the course, you can read more experiences as shared by current students and pass-outs at AI Monks Counsel; you may also write your queries to us at info@aimonks.com.

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Given below is the experience of one of the students of this course.

Ques- What was your educational and professional experience at the time of taking this course?

• Education – M.com and BMS
• Experience – Risk Consulting

Ques- Why did you choose this course? What features/qualities made you finalize this course?

The scope and module of this course made me believe that it would help me learn various ways of business analysis. More from understanding a business, numbers, from an end to end perspective. However, analytics and intelligence is completely different

Ques- What are the other courses that you evaluated while joining this course?

Executive MBA and an executive PGP in Management

Ques- What were your expectations from this course? Were they met?

Honestly, I did not do end to end research and somehow, I misinterpreted the actual curriculum that I would learn in Business Analytics. I knew it would require some understanding of statistics and an element of analytics. However, the requirement of understanding these topics is more advanced than I imagined.

Ques- Would you recommend this course to other analytics and data science aspirants?

Yes, if I was able to understand it slightly better, the course was organized and executed well.

Ques- While joining this course, what all aspects should people be aware of before joining?

This course is not for those who are pursuing a career in consulting or operations. You need to have a good understanding of statistics, be open to learning basic coding/programming, etc.

Ques- How was your batch mix? Did you enjoy studying with them?

The batch had a diverse student profile. I interacted with a few during my team projects. Overall had a good experience.

Ques- How was the overall curriculum as per you? Did it cover an adequate amount of theory, coding, case studies, and projects?

It all went above my head. The curriculum involved way more analytics than I imagined. But the curriculum manages to cover all the topics. Given the number of assignments, it is difficult managing this course with your work (especially if you spend more than 40 hours at work per week).

Ques- Does the college provide any kind of placement assistance? If yes,

1. Which all companies visit the campus for recruitment? – No campus recruitments, but the college sends emails for job openings.
2. Did you see any improvement in your overall salary or job profile after completing this course? – the unrelated field, therefore, N/A

Ques- Are you satisfied with the course? Did the course meet your expectations?

No, I left the course and swapped to 2 different courses – Strategic design thinking and an SEO program

Ques- How did you find the overall industry exposure as a part of the overall program? Was there adequate interaction with industry people in the form of guest lectures/ projects/ partnerships/ case studies?

Yes, it was a good attempt. The final projects for the year-end had an industry expert as a mentor for each team. 

Ques- What were the different tools/software you learned in the program?

R, Tableau – there were more, but I do not remember.

Ques- Do you think this course has helped you in accelerating your professional career?

No. But again I was not the ideal target for this course

Ques- Were you able to manage the course curriculum, assignments, projects and other things along with your job? How easy or difficult it was?

According to me, PGP in Business Analytics and Business Intelligence is a fairly difficult course. You cant do this course if you have 40+ hours work weeks

Ques- Is there an internship as a part of the course? If yes, where did you do your internship? And, how was your experience?

No

The student asked AI Monks not to reveal identity/personal details; hence, they have not been provided here.

To learn about other colleges that offer similar courses, visit Counsel at AI Monks. If you have any queries about the preparation of the exam, you may also write to us at info@aimonks.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

The post PGP in Business Analytics and Business Intelligence, Great Lakes: Course Feedback appeared first on AI Monks | Counsel.

Ques- What was your educational and professional experience at the time of taking this course?

• I had cleared my CA in May 2016 and had 2 years of post-qualification experience in the domain of fraud investigation and forensic audits when I started with the course (September 2018).

Ques- Why did you choose this course? What features/qualities made you finalize this course?

• Based on my research, I felt that the course was best for the price (INR 2,35,000/-) for 11 months and was comprehensive in terms of coverage (SQL, Python, Tableau, Introduction to Big Data using Hadoop and Spark and Machine Learning).

Ques- What are the other courses that you evaluated while joining this course offered by IIIT Bangalore-UpGrad?

• I had limited my research to online courses as I did not want to take a break from working and amongst the online courses, I had evaluated the following apart from the one offered by UpGrad:
  • PGP in Business Analytics & Business Intelligence (Great Learning & Great Lakes)
  • PGP in Data Science and Machine Learning (Jigsaw academy and University Chicago)
  • Post Graduate Certificate Program in Data Science and Machine Learning (Manipal ProLearn)

Ques- What were your expectations from this course? Were they met?

• I had an expectation of learning about new tools and languages that would supplement my analytical skills along with using examples of how the same are implemented in real-life projects.
• The course covered the use of SQL, Python, Tableau, and Introduction to Big Data (using Hadoop and Spark). The modules for the program were designed in a way that there would be an assignment to be submitted based on the theory learned during the previous week. My expectations were fairly met as part of the course. 

Ques- Would you recommend this course to other analytics and data science aspirants?

• Yes, I would recommend this course to others based on my experience. My overall experience from the course has been satisfactory. Despite coming from a non-technical background, I could cope up with the course content so I would recommend it to others who would like to sharpen their problem-solving skills and enhance their analytics skillset.

Ques- While joining this course offered by IIIT Bangalore-UpGrad, what all aspects should people be aware of before joining?

• Some of the important aspects to be kept in mind while enrolling for the course are as follows:
  • The course requires an average of 10-14 hours per week and if you do not have fixed working hours you’ll have to be ready to spend most of the weekends on completing the course. The course has tight deadlines so it is essential that you plan for the studying schedule well in advance.
  • If you don’t have an engineering or statistics background, you’ll need to spend extra hours on the machine learning modules.

 Ques- How was your batch mix? Did you enjoy studying with them?

• My cohort included a good mix of professionals from different backgrounds. It included a mix of bankers, data analysts, system engineers, software engineers, etc. Each module of the course consists of one group assignment which gives you the opportunity to form a group with people from different backgrounds. I did enjoy the group assignments.

Ques- How was the overall curriculum as per you? Did it cover an adequate amount of theory, coding, case studies, and projects?

• The overall curriculum covered a good mix of theory, coding, and assignments (both individual and group). The course covered the use of various tools/programming languages including Python, Tableau, SQL, Introduction to Big Data (Hadoop and Spark) and Machine learning along with the necessary statistics.

Ques- Does the college provide any kind of placement assistance? If yes,

1. Which all companies visit the campus for recruitment?
2. Did you see any improvement in your overall salary or job profile after completing this course?

• Three months into the course, the program included sessions from industry experts to enlighten the learners about the options they have, post completing the course and included sessions on how to prepare for Data Science related interviews. UpGrad had provided the option for the learners to enrol for their placement assistance program (part of the course) wherein they would help you prepare for the interviews and post openings within the data science field amongst their partners. UpGrad has been frequently modifying their placement related offerings and anyone enrolling for the course should seek clarity on the same if the expectation is to get placement after or mid-way through the course. In my case, I had updated my profile on job portals based on the learnings for the course and had received an offer without the assistance of UpGrad. 

Ques- Are you satisfied with the course? Did the course meet your expectations?

• Yes, I am satisfied with the overall learning experience of the course. It did meet my expectations on most fronts but someone who’s from a non-technical background would need to put in more hours for the Machine learning modules, I had to put in extra efforts on that module except for that overall experience was good.

Ques- How did you find the overall industry exposure as a part of the overall program? Was there adequate interaction with industry people in the form of guest lectures/ projects/ partnerships/ case studies?

• Yes, there were adequate opportunities for interacting with people from the data science industry. Live sessions from industry experts would be conducted as part of the course over the weekends. The course also includes a capstone project where you’d be given an option to choose between one of the three domains amongst Banking and finance, healthcare and e-commerce. The capstone project would involve calls with industry experts before the final submission. Besides, there would be a couple of one-to-one mentoring sessions with industry experts as part of the course.

Ques- What were the different tools/software you learned in the program?

• The tools/software/languages covered included the following:
  • SQL
  • Python
  • Tableau
  • Hadoop
  • Spark

Ques- Do you think this course has helped you in accelerating your professional career?

• The idea behind enrolling for the course was to enhance my analytical skills which would enable me to independently analyze large datasets (which would be difficult in Excel). It has helped me professionally in understanding the challenges of dealing with data. It has enabled me to be a mediator and bridge the gap between the expectations between a finance team and the data analytics team. With the new analytical skillset, I can solve most of the data related issues and given my background in finance it has helped me to manage assignments with minimum reliance on the data analytics team.

Ques- Were you able to manage the course curriculum, assignments, projects and other things along with your job? How easy or difficult it was?

• The course duration is 11 months and on average, you would require to spend 10-14 hours per week. It is really challenging to manage both work and the course especially if you do have fixed working hours. The course has tight deadlines and hence requires additional efforts to be put in over the weekends.

Ques- Is there an internship as a part of the course? If yes, where did you do your internship? And, how was your experience?

• UpGrad has recently come up with this initiate wherein they would provide you internship opportunity in Data Science but I had not opted for the same. It would be advisable to seek clarity on the same at the time of enrolling for the course. UpGrad keeps coming with such initiatives for the learners.

You can find details about the course PG Diploma in Data Science at IIIT Bangalore, in association with UpGrad here.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

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I was fortunate to be a part of the premiere batch of PGDBA Course, the first graduating batch of ‘17. But this fortune was not without its fair share of trade-offs and leap of faith. The course offered a unique combination of experience in business, statistics and algorithmic computing at IIM Calcutta, ISI Kolkata, and IIT Kharagpur. Being among the most esteemed organizations in these disciplines, this unique concoction was untested in the industry. However, for me, taking such a decision required enough risk appetite in itself, to say the least.

The primary motivation for making this plunge came to me from my withstanding interest in AI and Machine Learning, across specializations like Particle Physics, Complexity Theory, and Computational Neuroscience. During my undergraduate, I did a few projects in Soft Computing, Computational Modeling, Evolutionary Optimization, Control Theory, etc. These projects offered an excellent background and perspective about what I was signing up for. I also kept myself abreast of the recent developments in the field of Deep Neural Networks which were starting to push the limits of what ML algorithms could do. I believe my prior interest in the technical aspects of the field really helped me through the challenging times in the course.

PGDBA Course really throws quite a few curves during the moving stay through the three campuses. Apart from changing the environment, radically different course content, pedagogy and expectations from the instructors, we planned our learnings beyond what was prescribed in the curriculum through electives, audits, additional projects, and online challenges. This was even more important for our batch since we had no clue what a stellar DS/BA profile looked like and what would the prospective employers look for.

What really proved to be a definite source of light out of our ignorance was our regular industry interactions with the behemoths in the domain of analytics like American Express (Amex), Deloitte, PWC, DIAC, ITC, LatentView, Fortis, Mytrah, etc. throughout our coursework. Interactions with senior leaders at these organizations really set the context for the analytics landscape in the industry and correlated with our coursework and relevant experiences. In fact, I would go on to say that these frequent interactions throughout our coursework helped us to see the rapidly transforming space of analytics across multiple industries like finance, consulting, manufacturing, healthcare etc. with such enriched and coherent lens that helped make sense of the state and direction of analytics, even better than many of the practitioners in the industry.

Post completion of my coursework, I was again fortunate to have the association and experience of working at multiple organizations at widely different stages of maturity in analytics. Starting from corporations like Amex and EXL to startups like Zomato and Cars24. Within these organizations I’ve had the opportunity to not only work across varied domains like captive finance, analytics consulting, e-commerce and auto tech, but also, to face and learn from unique set of challenges ranging from strategy analytics, client-facing analytics consulting, backend and tech integrated data science, to building data-enabled products and even setting up a Data Science team.

I would like to give due credit to PGDBA for providing me this opportunity of associating with the best educational brands in the country. Along with this, the PGDBA course also acquainted us with our professors, who gave us enough confidence to venture out in the unknown without hesitation.

I now see each successfully graduating batch behind us is setting even better benchmarks not only in terms of placements but also in terms of performance in external competitions. This course is setting a very solid presence not only in the Indian analytics landscape but all over the world.

I  will conclude by a message to all the aspirants who want to build a career in this domain- if you’re determined to follow your passion for data, algorithms, problem-solving, you should be ready to face a brief hustle. This course can set you up for an accelerated entry and growth with its comprehensive coursework, exceptional instructors, elite branding and a network of exceptionally talented alumni.

About Shashank Kumar, PGDBA Course Graduate

Shashank Kumar is an experienced Senior Data Scientist with a demonstrated career history in the automotive industry, e-commerce, finance, and semiconductor design. He is seasoned in end-to-end delivery of data science projects and at scale development, deployment and CI/CD of ML models through cloud-based technologies.

If you need guidance in preparing for admission to PGDBA, you may contact us at info@aimonks.com or read multiple other experiences that such graduates have shared with us here.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

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PGDBA – Course Feedback

About Arjun Gupta-

After completing his course in PGDBA, Arjun Gupta is now working as a Senior PMO with Zilingo, Mumbai, Maharashtra. You may get in touch with Arjun here.

If you need further guidance about the course and/or the admission procedure, etc., quickly write to us info@aimonks.com or visit AI Monks.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

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