How I Became A Data Scientist In Just 7 Months

Breaking into tech can feel overwhelming, especially when you're starting from scratch. But what if you could land your dream role as a Data Scientist in just seven months?

That’s exactly what one ZTM student did. His journey is a testament to what’s possible with focus, determination, and the right guidance. In this article, he shares how he made it happen - and how you can too.

So let’s get into it…

Meet Sean

Hi, my name is Sean Afamefuna, and I’m from Abuja, Nigeria.

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and I currently work as a Data Scientist at Uniccon Group.

In my role, I specialize in gathering, cleaning, preprocessing, and modeling data for my company’s AI products and services.

How long have you been in this role, and what did you do before?

I’ve been a Data Scientist at Uniccon Group for about a month now. I managed to secure the role in just 6 months after finishing the ML and Data Science course!

Before transitioning into Data Science, I worked as a Petrophysicist intern, focusing on interpreting oil well logs. I wanted to automate certain processes in my work, and when I looked into it more, it sparked my interest in Data Science and Machine Learning.

I will say that this new role is technically not my first work in Data Science, as I’ve been doing some personal and paid project work also while I was still learning. So you could say I’ve been a paid Data Scientist even earlier. However, I never fully had the role until now.

How long did it take you to complete the course, and what was your previous programming knowledge?

I had zero programming experience when I started out, but that was never an issue.

I took and completed Andrei and Dan's ML and Data Science course in about six months. That being said, I pretty much covered the first 60% of it in the first three months and then started working on projects alongside the course.

Editor's Note: this is definitely the way to go and what we always advise our students. The sooner you start trying to build your own personal projects, the faster you'll learn and the faster you'll get hired (if that's your goal).

The framework and best practices were invaluable for this. They helped me build a strong portfolio and gain confidence in real-world applications, and ultimately led to me being hired.

For example

To overcome my lack of experience and formal computer science background, I collaborated on projects with professors from my university who were interested in integrating machine learning into their research.

This experience led to my first role as a self-employed tutor, hosting online courses and bootcamps. I then worked as a tutor for a tech institute before landing my current position.

When did you realize you needed something like ZTM Academy, and what other resources did you consider?

Almost immediately. Obviously this is a very professional career, and so I realized I needed a structured course with both theoretical and practical foundations if I wanted to succeed.

I chose ZTM because it was highly rated and I was impressed by the course preview videos, which showcased a clear and engaging teaching style.

Click here to preview this course, and watch the first few videos for free.

What were your biggest hesitations before joining, and how was your learning experience?

My main hesitation was whether I could keep up, given that I had no prior experience with Python or programming. However, the course’s strong focus on frameworks, best practices, and beginner-friendly content made the experience seamless.

Editor’s note: Everything you need to learn is taught inside the course. You don’t need any prior knowledge of programming or even statistics ahead of time!

I particularly enjoyed how the theoretical aspects helped me understand key concepts deeply.

How do you feel now, and what advice would you give to others?

Honestly, it’s just such a huge sense of achievement. I can’t believe I’ve done all this within just one year of taking my first Data Science course! If you do the work and put in the effort it pays off.

My advice to anyone reading this who’s interested in pursuing a career in Data Science, Machine Learning, or AI is to focus on building projects and collaborations rather than chasing numerous certifications.

Certificates can look good, but interviewers care about project work - and so applying those skills in real-world projects is what truly sets you apart.

This definitely helped me to get hired, and will work for you too.

So what are you waiting for? Be like Sean and start your new career in Data Science!

It’s as easy as:

Taking the same ML & Data Science Bootcamp... start it for free here.
Building your own projects (after getting the hang of things from completing the course projects)
Applying for jobs

We’ve got your back with all this and more. In fact, by becoming a member of ZTM, you have access to every course in the Zero To Mastery library, so that’s every course in this article and many more.

Not only that, but you’ll get access to the ZTM private Discord community, where you can ask questions from your course teachers, as well as chat with other students and working Data Scientists!

There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain, so get started today.

It doesn’t matter if it's the first step to a new career or the next step - we’ve got you covered.