One of the pre-approved DataCamp combinations that really stood out to me was Intermediate R & Forecasting Product Demand in R. I chose this combo because forecasting product demand in particular is something that I would realyl like to learn and potentially utilize in the future!
I found that intermediate R was very similar in formatting to the other R DataCamp exercises, so understanding how to answer the questions in the proper syntax was fairly simple. There were a few of the new concepts that I found really challenging to understand at first, but after watching the videos a few times, I was able to get the hang of it. Datacamp does a really good job with their videos, they teach the concept without giving you the answer. The videos are 100% a tool, and not something that you can just rely on for the answer, which has really helped me grow in this class.
I did find that while most of the videos were helpful for my own knowledge and gaining a deeper understanding of R, for the most part the videos didn’t help me in answering the questions, and filling in the answers. I found this to be a pro for my learning, but a con because it made completing the assignment really challenging. I think I would have been able to do the work without the videos, and wish that there was a bit more support why and how to use the concepts.
Though these DataCamp exercises REALLY challenged me, more than any other Datacamp exercises we have done, it was information that was extremely useful, and can be used going forward. Knowing that the information I learned can help me in the future was a huge motivator even though I was feeling discouraged at first. I was thinking about switching my second project after I couldn’t finish the first section, but I am glad I stuck with it, and learned everything that I could.
Forecasting Product Demand I was really excited to start, and was really interested in. I was immediatly discouraged. Watching the videos over and over didn’t help for some questions, and I ended up doing outside research and not finishing many answers there either. There was a lot of guess and check for me, which I think worked out okay. Because I had trouble starting and understanding the basic concepts from the start, it unfortunalty did not get much easier. But I got it done, and I learned a ton!
I have attatched both of my certificates to my final post