5 things to know about Insight (Spoiler: it’s not a bootcamp!)
Setting the record straight about the best program for transitioning to careers in data and tech
Over the past seven years, Insight has helped more than 3,000 Fellows transition into new careers in data and tech. For these Fellows, the experience is transformative; many of our alumni cite Insight as the best career move they’ve ever made. But for those who haven’t been through it, the program’s unique model can be hard to grasp. If you’re considering transitioning to career in data, here are the top five things you should know about Insight.
1. Insight is different from a bootcamp
We get it — many organizations providing professional training programs fall under the category of bootcamps. It’s true that Insight provides training in an environment that promotes fast-paced learning, but it’s not a bootcamp.
Bootcamps typically cater to people with no or low skills in a specific area — for example, coding bootcamps, which are typically targeted towards those who have never coded before and want to learn. Some bootcamps also support and help their students find jobs in that field following the training. Most bootcamps have instructors who guide students through a pre-set curriculum.
Insight’s model is very different from this. First, the Fellows admitted to our programs are already highly skilled before Day 1 of the session. Whether they’re looking to transition to Data Science, Health Data Science, Data Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, DevOps Engineering, Decentralized Consensus, or Security, Insight Fellows typically already have 90% of the skills they need to succeed in the field. They come to Insight to get that final 10%.
Our training environment is also radically different from most bootcamps: we don’t have instructors, there are no lectures, and Fellows aren’t asked to complete standardized “homework” assignments. Instead, our process involves assembling a cohort of highly skilled Fellows from diverse backgrounds, and providing a structure that supports each Fellow as they work on a self-directed, hands-on project that builds cutting-edge skills in their domain. For example, Data Engineering Fellows work on a project that leverages industry-standard distributed computing frameworks and other data engineering technologies.
As they work on their projects, Fellows also benefit from a unique opportunity to meet hiring managers from Insight’s partner companies, allowing them to learn more about trends in the industry and get behind-the-scenes knowledge about the company’s open roles. Once their projects are complete, Fellows are then matched with opportunities that best fit their skills and experience, and have the chance to present their work to the teams hiring for those roles.
While we do have program directors, coaches, technical advisors, and alumni mentors who help guide Fellows through their project work, Insight promotes a collaborative environment where Fellows learn from one another as they work alongside each other. They share experiences, exchange ideas, and help each other make rapid progress on their projects and larger professional development goals.
Insight offers financial support through need-based scholarships that help Fellows reduce the living and transportation expenses they have to cover during the program. (We try to provide aid to as many Fellows as possible, so this support is modest — but it does help lower some of the financial barriers that would otherwise prevent some Fellows from participating in the program.)
2. Insight is for more than just data science
When Insight launched its first Fellows program in 2012, it specialized in helping science and math PhDs transition to industry data science roles.
But as the industry has evolved, Insight evolved alongside it. The demand for well-trained data scientists has remained high, but over time, there’s been an increasing demand for other crucial but hard-to-fill roles on data teams.
In 2014, Insight started its first Data Engineering program. In 2015, we added Health Data Science, and then Artificial Intelligence in 2016. In 2018, we began offering a program in DevOps Engineering, and this year, we launched the Decentralized Consensus and Security programs.
While each program focuses on a different specialization, we often accept Fellows who have skills and interests that bridge multiple domains. For instance, in Insight’s Data Engineering program, there are some Fellows who come in with data science experience and participate in the engineering program to gain hands-on skills using distributed computing technologies that enable machine learning at scale.
3. Insight is for more than Fellows with PhDs
While Insight’s Data Science and Health Data Science programs generally admit Fellows who have earned or are wrapping up a PhD, our other programs — Data Engineering, DevOps engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Decentralized Consensus, and Security — do not have an educational requirement.
In our experience, many teams are most excited to hire data scientists who have completed years of training in quantitative and computational research. But when it comes to data engineers, DevOps engineers, AI professionals, and other core members of a data team, hiring managers are open to considering candidates from a wider variety of backgrounds, including academia and industry.
For example, some of our Data Engineering Fellows come from a PhD program where they spent years working with data or coding, whereas others have worked as programmers before completing a Master’s program. We’ve also had incredibly successful Data Engineering Fellows who are recent bachelor’s graduates, or who are looking to transition from a software industry role to one specifically focused on data.
When we assemble our cohorts, we intentionally consider applicants from a variety of educational and experiential backgrounds. We have seen time after time that being surrounded by a diverse community of learners — whether these skills and perspectives were gained in academia or in industry — is the key to Fellows’ success.
4. Insight is worth it
Insight does require Fellows to make a full-time commitment to participating in the program.
That commitment is well worth it in the long-run, because no other training opportunity compares to what Insight Fellows do in just seven weeks: rapidly learning cutting-edge skills, forming relationships with a diverse network of ambitious professionals, getting the chance to meet your future manager before the interview, and gaining a privileged peek at the problems being solved by top tech teams.
During the 3-week project phase of the program, Fellows receive expert technical mentorship and guidance as they scope, design, and execute a hands-on project that leverages industry tools and challenges them to work at an industry pace. Beyond the skills and experienced earned in completing that work, Fellows gain a portfolio piece that adds to their body of evidence and can be used to demonstrate their expertise.
Insight’s process of connecting hiring managers to Fellows is highly valued by both hiring managers and Fellows. If you’ve ever applied online for a job, you know this experience: you dedicate a lot of time to completing an online application, but it feels like you just threw your resume into a black hole; you may never hear back, and it’s unclear if anyone is monitoring the content or if the role is even real.
In contrast, Insight Fellows benefit from face-to-face meetings with hiring managers, first in a collegial group setting that allows them to learn more about the team, its open roles, and their hiring process. Then, later in the program, Fellows meet some of those same hiring managers (plus other members of the team) in a more personalized way, as they present their completed Insight project and answer questions that showcase their deep technical abilities and background. Meeting small groups of Fellows and learning more about their Insight projects provides hiring managers with an efficient way to deeply evaluate candidates — beyond just a resume — and make more informed decisions about who they’d like to invite to interview.
Fellows regularly tell us that Insight helped them level up in ways that even graduate programs or decades-long careers couldn’t do, and these are just a few reasons why.
5. Insight is more than just a 7-week session
While Insight’s fellowship training program formally lasts for seven weeks, the Fellow experience extends much further.
First, while Fellows have the opportunity to meet dozens of companies during the official seven weeks of the program, we continue to introduce them to hiring teams beyond that. Insight Fellows benefit from having access to an ongoing stream of exciting open roles as we work hard to connect each Fellow with the hiring teams that represent the best fit for their skills and experience.
Second, after the 7-week program ends and Insight Fellows begin to actively interview, they continue to receive coaching and professional development from our team and alumni community. We encourage them to continue to come into the workspace and stay tightly connected with their fellow Fellows, because we’ve seen — session after session — that Fellows who do this are the most prepared for and successful at interviewing.
Third, being an Insight Fellow doesn’t end when you get a job. We like to say that Insight Fellows are “Fellows for life.” Participating in Insight unlocks lifelong access to a vibrant and ever-growing network of data scientists, engineers and others, an invitation to an alumni knowledge-sharing platform, and a suite of professional development, personal growth, and networking resources exclusively available to Insight alumni.
We stay in touch with our program alums as they become leaders in their fields, and we’re grateful that so many of them choose to “pay it forward” and act as mentors to future Fellows, just as the previous sessions’ alums did for them.
Are you interested in working on high-impact projects and transitioning to a career in data and tech? Sign up to learn more about the Insight Fellows programs and start your application today.
To learn more about specific Insight programs and get tips on how to transition to those fields, check out some of our other blog posts:
