It’s no secret that bootcamps don’t fully prepare you for a job in data science. Having gone through my share of data science courses/bootcamps/MOOCs on Udacity, Udemy, Coursera, EdX, and General Assembly, I can attest that no interviewer ever said, “I see on your resume that you took a data science bootcamp, you’re hired.” In fact, none of my interviewers ever mentioned my education from online courses and bootcamps.

The truth is that data science bootcamps aren’t some silver bullet to getting your first job in data science. They’re often marketed as a magical solution that if you spend 4 months in the program, you will learn all that you need to get your first job. In reality, bootcamps are more like launchpads. They’re a great start for transitioning into a data science career.

Drawing from my own personal experience as a data scientist and asking my colleagues in industry, here are five skills that we see most applicants lacking when applying to their first data science job.

Intermediate SQL

You’re probably pointing out that you already know SQL from your courses. That’s why I say intermediate SQL. All data science programs will cover SQL, but they don’t take the time to go in depth on SQL. Remember that 80% of your time will be spent on data wrangling. SQL is part of that 80%, and knowing how to write SQL well will save you lots of time.

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