Hi, I’m Patrick, I write about the job search. After graduating from Cornell, I became a content lead at UBS where I helped professionals at Fortune 500 companies understand their stock options, salary, and benefits. When I’m not writing about the hiring process, I write novels for teens. Check out my review of Pathstream.
- What does Pathstream do?
- Who is Pathstream for?
- What does Pathstream cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Pathstream
- Alternatives to Pathstream
- How does Pathstream compare to Pathrise?
What does Pathstream do?
Pathstream is a new online bootcamp that teaches people the skills they need to launch a new career as a data scientist, digital marketer, or tech sales professional. The program is self-paced and part-time. Students watch video lessons, study slideshows, participate in coaching sessions, work on labs, get access to lots of downloadable resources, and finish projects graded by instructors. Grads get co-branded certificates from both a tech company and a university like NYU or Emory.
Digital marketing
Students in the 18-week Facebook digital marketing course learn to run effective marketing campaigns using Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, and A/B tests. The course requires about 10-15 hours of work per week. In addition to working hands-on with social media marketing tools, students develop effective marketing strategies, manage campaigns, and optimize their marketing strategies based on data. Grads work on real marketing campaigns they can show employers to help them become a digital marketer.
Salesforce admin
The Salesforce administrator career course runs for 15 weeks and requires about 15 hours of work each week. The curriculum teaches students to build dashboards, generate reports, and improve business processes to drive sales. Students master core customer relationship management (CRM) skills as they build custom Salesforce apps. Grads leave the course ready to ace the Salesforce Administrator Credential exam.
Data analytics
The 18-week Tableau data analytics course teaches students to analyze data using Tableau, SQL, and spreadsheets. Students work for about 15 hours each week on creating exploratory data analysis (EDA) projects, creating dashboard objects with Tableau, and writing MySQL queries using the data manipulation language (DML) as well as the data definition language (DDL). In addition to learning to apply data to business analytics on the job, grads leave the program with both a certificate and a polished portfolio full of data projects to help them get a data science job.
After completing the technical curriculum, students participate in fairly extensive career services. Grads work with career advisors to write their resumes, craft a job search plan, and participate in mock interviews. Career advisors even refer grads to hiring partners in Pathstream’s network. The program’s partner firms continue to connect grads with paid internships or mentored projects to get immediate experience to beef up their resumes.
Who is Pathstream for?
People with no prior tech experience who are looking to launch a new career in sales, marketing, or data analytics could benefit from Pathstream. Their program is especially helpful for people seeking a flexible program that focuses on core in-demand tech tools. Busy professionals with full-time jobs and a fairly tight budget might also be a good match for the affordable part-time courses.
What does Pathstream cost? How much work is involved?
Tuition for any course is $2,399 upfront. Students can also pay in 12 interest-free installments of $208.
Unlike many other bootcamps, Pathstream does not have any formal admissions process. Courses are open to absolutely anyone regardless of experience. However, students may want to brush up on basic statistics and algebra before enrolling in the data analytics course.
Ratings and reviews
As a new program, Pathstream does not have many online reviews yet. However, they were on Course Report’s May 2021 news podcast. The program holds a 3.7/5 star rating on TrustPilot where they have only 2 reviews. One grad praised the “outstanding support” from dedicated instructors throughout the technical curriculum. This grad was also a fan of the career services. They were satisfied that the career advisors were often “checking in and seeing if there was anything they could do to help me on my job hunt.” The other grad agreed that the course was “supportive” and described the staff as “super knowledgeable.”
The program also holds a 3/5 star rating on Facebook. One student was convinced the app “gets you ready for jobs” with the practical curriculum. Overall though, most grads seemed satisfied with the self-paced schedule and the hands-on curriculum that included plenty of instructor feedback.
Alternatives to Pathstream
If you decide not to enroll in a Pathstream course, there are many alternative bootcamps and resources that can help you land a job as a marketer, sales professional, or data analyst.
- The popular bootcamp General Assembly also has data and digital marketing tracks with online learning options. Like Pathstream, their courses are project-based, meaning students graduate with polished portfolios to help them get a job. Their program features thousands of hiring partners, lots of 1-on-1 support, and a job placement rate of 91.4%. Learn more about General Assembly in our review.
- Another online program with data and marketing tracks is Noble Desktop. Their live instructor-led program offers lots of opportunities for hands-on practice with real marketing tools. Like Pathstream, grads get formal certificates they can add to their resumes.
- Students seeking a more comprehensive curriculum can check out Tradecraft. They teach courses in growth marketing, sales, product design, and more.
- The remote marketing bootcamps Digital Creative Institute and InternStreet both include a comprehensive curriculum and lots of hands-on learning.
- Students who want a brief online sales bootcamp can check out Flockjay. Their 10-week program teaches people the skills they need to launch a career in B2B software sales, with lots of personalized feedback. They offer an income share agreement (ISA) so students don’t pay until they land a job. Learn more about Flockjay in our review.
- The data program Metis offers both introductory and more advanced courses with onsite & remote options. Read more about Metis in our review.
- Aspiring data scientists seeking a flexible self-paced online program can look into Data Science Dream Job. Their program includes portfolio building, career assistance, opportunities for mentoring, and lots of downloadable material just like Pathstream.
More alternatives
- Another flexible data science resource is DataCamp. They host 300+ courses that last about 4 hours each.
- The incredibly popular Codecademy offers free self-paced courses on data science and many programming languages, including Python. Membership options range from $20 to $40 per month for greater course options and extra support. Learn more about Codecademy in our review.
- For those looking for a data science community focused on project-learning, Kaggle can be a good choice. They host 19,000+ public datasets and 200,000+ public notebooks, which helps people join a data science project.
- People who want a self-paced data course may be a good fit for Divergence Academy. While their program is flexible like Pathstream, they also offer live learning and even opportunities for 1-on-1 technical mentorship.
- Aspiring data scientists looking for a hands-on curriculum with lots of personalized support can check out Springboard. In addition to building projects and meeting with mentors, students get a 6-month job guarantee so they only pay if they land a job. Read more about Springboard in our review.
- Students seeking university courses on a budget can check out edX. Their platform hosts thousands of courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT, plus big tech companies like Microsoft. Students can choose to learn the fundamentals or dive deeper into specific topics, like Python for data science. Learn more about edX in our review
- Another affordable online program with hands-on data, marketing, and sales courses is Udacity. Students in their nanodegree program build polished projects for their portfolios and work closely with technical and career mentors. Find out if Udacity is right for your goals in our review.
How does Pathstream compare to Pathrise?
Pathstream teaches people the skills needed to land a job in data analytics, sales, or marketing. All their courses are designed for complete beginners and most students start with no experience. Pathrise fellows should already have some background in their field of interest so they can fully benefit from our more advanced technical curriculum.
In addition, Pathrise mentors help fellows in our program with all phases of the job search for as long as needed. Our experienced mentors have already helped 1,000+ people land their dream by working with fellows on their resumes & portfolios, reverse recruiting and cold emails, behavioral and technical interview preparation, salary negotiation, and more.
Pathstream is mostly self-guided, with lots of recorded video lessons and slideshows. All of our sessions are live, as well as recorded, meaning fellows can easily interact with mentors and ask questions whenever they come up. Pathrise fellows only have 2-4 hours of group sessions per week and can schedule 1-on-1 sessions as needed. We offer an income share agreement (ISA) so fellows pay nothing until they land a great tech job and start working. We never require upfront payments or deposits.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that optimizes the job search through 1-on-1 mentoring and personalized training. Fellows in our program see their interview scores double and their application responses triple, landing a job in just 3-5 months on average. If you are interested in working with one of our mentors to land your dream job faster, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
