Data Science Labs Curriculum

Welcome to Labs!

Congratulations on reaching the final unit at BloomTech! You've come a long way, and your hard work has paid off. You now have a strong foundation in software development, but it's time to take it to the next level.

Labs is the perfect opportunity for you to put your knowledge and skills to the test. This course is designed to help you integrate everything you've learned into a complex project, allowing you to build and articulate your code contributions with confidence. You'll be ready to ace technical interviews and start your career as a successful software developer.

Get ready to work on challenging projects and components during our five-module structure. After completing onboarding, you'll move on to three build sprints that will give you the chance to practice and hone your skills in a low-stress environment. Our goal is to provide you with a platform to apply your skills and communicate your contributions effectively.

Not only will you have the chance to demonstrate your technical skills on a complex project, but you'll also learn about agile, kanban, and kanban software. Labs will simulate junior dev workflow, giving you a taste of what to expect on your first job.

We'll be with you every step of the way, offering support and guidance throughout the course. This is your chance to take your skills to the next level, so make the most of Labs today!

Before you begin, review the following pages and the overview video:

Course Syllabus

DS Labs

Labs Mission

Labs is a platform for you to apply what you've learned in core. You get to:

Apply and integrate skills taught in core on a complex project.
Articulate code contributions confidently in a technical interview simulation.

Job Driven Skills you will Learn in this Unit:

As part of your experience in Labs, you'll focus on developing these critical skills:

Code Contribution
- Demonstrate meaningful individual contribution to a project that meets hiring manager expectations
- Plan, manage their time effectively, deliver agreed-upon work, and measure the impact of delivery
Learning and Communication
- Take new concepts and challenging ideas and learn on your own
- Effectively describe key learnings, technical choices, and experiences in a way that demonstrates growth and personal skill

The goal: Show hiring managers in an interview that you've got these skills and back it up with real examples from your time in Labs!

How you will learn in this Unit:

We designed everything at BloomTech with one goal: to help you get a well-paying job faster. We design our courses with flexibility in mind; we allow learners to choose their schedules.

Labs offer an immersive experience where you'll gain valuable experiential practice that solidifies your core skill learnings. You'll learn how to follow a standard development process.

Labs are designed to be completable in four sprints. Each sprint, you'll participate in live events and on-demand content and work actively to ship software.

On-demand Content:

Core Competencies
Dive in and learn the basics. Read content and/or watch videos that explain learning goals, and follow along to practice new skills.
Check(s) for Understanding
Quiz yourself to see if you've got the concept.
Guided Project(s)
Our guided project recordings take you through core concepts while following along with a real-world problem. Navigate the guided project with chapters and searchable transcripts to find specific keywords or topics easily.

Live Content & Events

Team Standups
Team Standups are how you stay in sync with your team. Every weekday at the start of your Labs time slot, you'll have the opportunity to meet live with your team for 30 minutes to go over your standup updates. Standup updates can be submitted asynchronously if you can't attend live.
Workshops
Workshops are your opportunity to work on complex, job-ready problems with our expert instructors in a live and engaging environment. Workshops are one-hour live classes designed to offer deeper insights into learning your core competencies and are delivered seven days a week in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Because Workshops often delve deeper into a core competency, you will need to come to class prepared to have the best experience. Workshops are recorded if you can't attend live.

Additional Support

Office Hours
Your Labs managers will hold office hours regularly. Show up on your own or with teammates with questions, go deeper on concepts, ask for advice, or work through bugs.
Support Hours
Learning Assistants will hold additional support hours to help answer questions about content and project work.
1:1 Academic Support
Learning Assistants will also offer one-on-one support to help unblock you and keep you moving forward in Labs.
Support Queue, Chat (coming soon!)
The Help Center is your one-stop shop to submit tickets and schedule additional support so you never stay stuck.

Tech Requirements

Tech You Need for this Unit:

Required:

A Computer:

1.6 GHz processor
4 GB RAM
120 GB hard drive
Webcam
Microphone
Ongoing internet connection
Required downloads, installations, and account setups

Recommended computer specs:

2 GHz processor
8 GB RAM
256 GB hard drive (preferably solid state)

Engagement Expectations

Attendance and participation in BloomTech courses are measured in multiple ways, including but not limited to taking attendance in live instruction experiences, verifying module & sprint project attempts, and confirming activity in BloomTech's Learning Management Systems.

While learners may choose to attend live or view recorded sessions, attendance and engagement with the material are critical to success in the program. Learners who do not have activity on the Learning Management Systems for more than seven (7) days will be flagged as inactive, and BloomTech will reach out to verify enrollment.

While in Labs, you'll need to remain engaged and make progress on your project work. You'll need to:
Login to the Portal and work on your Labs project.

BloomTech may withdraw inactive learners to protect them from unintentional further vesting of tuition.

Learners who are unable to engage with the curriculum and make satisfactory progress due to extenuating circumstances may need to take a leave of absence.

How to Pass This Unit

This unit is graded with PASS/FAIL

In order to pass Labs, you must pass all Sprint Milestones (listed below).

Each Sprint Milestone is tied to a larger Labs Objective.

Labs Objectives

Achieve these objectives to pass Labs.

Complete the Labs course
Ship at least 21 story points
Review pull requests worth at least 42 points

Sprint Milestones

Sprint Milestones are a recommendation for how to progress through Labs—you don't need to complete them in order.

Labs Sprint 1:

Complete the Labs Onboarding module
Complete the Basic Planning module
Complete the Version Control module

Labs Sprint 2:

Complete the Architecture & Data Modeling module
Complete the Identity Providers & Auth module
Schedule a Labs Career Review appointment
Ship at least 7 story points
Review pull requests worth at least 14 story points

Labs Sprint 3:

Complete the Giving and Receiving Feedback module
Ship at least 7 story points
Review pull requests worth at least 14 story points

Labs Sprint 4:

Complete the Career Readiness module
Complete the Final Steps module
Ship at least 7 story points
Review pull requests worth at least 14 story points

Things to note for Labs:

You must pass your Labs Career Review and link your resume, LinkedIn profile, and GitHub profile to your learner profile to pass this course.
You must remain active and engaged with your team in Labs.
It is highly recommended that you retake the General Coding Assessment (GCA) as often as possible during your time in Labs to keep your technical interview skills sharp!

Modules

This sprint is structured to build your programming fundamentals and career readiness skills:

Module 1: Onboarding & Planning

Get started with Labs, learn about project setup, user flows, wireframes, and planning techniques.

View Module 1

Module 2: Build Sprint 1

Learn to work with your first ticket, start implementing features, and contribute to a real-world project.

View Module 2

Module 3: Build Sprint 2

Continue building on your project with more advanced features and additional tickets.

View Module 3

Module 4: Build Sprint 3

Complete the main features of your project and prepare for final delivery.

View Module 4

Module 5: Career Readiness

Prepare for job search, learn career coaching techniques, and develop strategies for outreach and applying to jobs.

View Module 5