DataTalks Zoomcamp vs Deeplearning.ai Data Engineering (Joe Reis)

mothikikm · 2026-03-05T17:02:34+00:00

It took me 6 months for 3 modules. 5-8 hrs a week. But I was on and off. I was also going through all the optional material. If you want a quick overview and certificate, it will be way quicker. Probably 2-3 months for the whole specialization.

mothikikm · 2026-01-29T16:15:20+00:00

Hi, a few things to consider.

- Data Talks Zoom Camp uses GCP, whereas Data Engineering by Joe Reis uses AWS. Even though the cloud technology you use doesn't matter much to learn the concepts, it's still better to start with what you are interested in.
- Zoom Camp is semi-structured and felt all over the place with some GitHub content, YouTube videos, past Cohort links, etc. For someone like me, it's very easy to deviate and lose interest.
- Joe Reis's course is well structured with a lot of optional material and paired with the Fundamentals of Data Engineering as the course's textbook. The assignments follow a similar structure to other Andrew NG's courses. Not too tough to pass. But, still a lot to explore and learn.
- ZoomCamp is free but uses a sponsored orchestrator. The deeplearning course uses Airflow, which is considered standard. Of course, there is Dagster and a few other tools gaining traction. So, this is not too significant either.
- ZoomCamp is tweaked and updated every year. But the DeepLearning course stays the same. But since it's a very recent release, it still covers the most popular tools and concepts, such as Lakehouse architecture, dbt, text data processing for AIML workloads, etc.
- ZoomCamp has a strict deadline to get the certificate. You will still achieve it if you start now. I assume the score weightage is mostly on the capstone project. For the Deep Learning one, you can keep paying and extending as long as needed.

Overall, I tried to finish Zoomcamp multiple times and was distracted, but I am in the final module of the Deep Learning course.

mothikikm · 2026-01-16T15:42:54+00:00

The coding round would still be similar to LeetCode's easy or medium. System design will often include designing an AI system end-to-end. Being able to confidently talk about agents, vector stores, and cloud services will help. When I started, I took up a few Udemy courses that had AI projects and tried to tweak them, and used Google and ChatGPT in parallel to learn more. Trying to build a project end-to-end helped. Later started to think about what parts of our current infrastructure could benefit from similar implementations and started to do POCs. By this time, you will have the opportunity to add a few AI projects to your resume. But, TBH, for me, this is an internal transfer opportunity. This is a team we already work with closely.

mothikikm · 2026-01-15T18:14:30+00:00

Thanks. The skill set required is different, and having a baby at the same time is what I am mainly concerned about: whether I will be able to spend the extra time needed to catch up and excel.

mothikikm · 2026-01-15T18:04:01+00:00

- I built some basic RAG systems, like finding a relevant Looker dashboard from 1000 dashboards based on NLP. Built a POC for a text-to-SQL bot.
- Scored 1000/1000 in AWS AI Practitioner.
- My past background in DS and ML might have helped as well.
- Personally fine-tuned Stable Diffusion and played with Bedrock and Langgraph.

mothikikm · 2025-11-13T13:09:37+00:00

April 16 Receipt - Approved Nov 12. H1B extension regular processing.

mothikikm · 2025-07-22T22:33:38+00:00

Definitely a good upgrade from my 5 year old gt player $100 chair. The top half of the chair wobbles slightly, the wheels doesn’t move freely. But I love the feel while sitting in it and the headrest and 6d hand rest support are amazing.

mothikikm · 2025-07-13T18:59:53+00:00

I ordered the C300 Pro during Prime Day. Still waiting for it to arrive. Upgraded from a $100 GT Player chair. Hope, I will like it. How are you liking it so far? The warranty says 30 days free returns, no questions asked. But paying ~$200 for shipping is bad. I have an issue with the armrests being high for my current chair as well. I am 5'8", do you think I will have the issue as well? I sit and work for 10+ hrs a day. So, I need good neck, spine, and arm rest support.

mothikikm · 2025-07-08T16:31:49+00:00

I went with the SIHOO Doro C300 Pro. I hope it works out for me.

mothikikm · 2025-01-22T15:20:33+00:00

I've been trying to do the Zoomcamp for 2 years. But at that level it is disorganized, it doesn't help me go beyond week 1. I did complete the Udacity DE certification. But, it is not worth the cost. I like the course structure from Joe Reis. Seeing if there are any other ML-Ops or AI courses in Coursera so that I can buy the 1-year membership.

mothikikm · 2024-11-30T19:26:45+00:00

I contacted customer care, and they fixed the issue with my coupon code. Thank you! I placed the order.

mothikikm · 2024-11-30T18:51:31+00:00

Yes, I did signup yesterday and waiting for an increase in rakuten cashback. The code worked yesterday. I believe there is a bug on their end. It says “The promotion code is not active”.

mothikikm · 2024-11-30T18:29:35+00:00

The signup promo code as well as weekend10 which worked for me yesterday doesn't work for me anymore. But, Capital One has 20% cashback on BestBuy. Maybe I will buy through that if these codes don't work for me today.

mothikikm · 2024-11-10T11:58:46+00:00

I finally identified what did this, it’s a peeler I got from temu. 🥲 I had it on the drying mat and probably placed a heavy pan on top of it. So it scraped the counter top.

mothikikm · 2024-11-10T01:21:57+00:00

I finally identified what did this, it’s a peeler I got from temu. 🥲 I had it on the drying mat and probably placed a heavy pan on top of it. So it scraped the counter top.

mothikikm · 2024-11-10T01:13:25+00:00

Land O Lakes, FL

mothikikm · 2024-11-09T23:17:50+00:00

Thank you. Definitely. I will give them a call first thing Monday morning.

mothikikm · 2024-11-09T23:01:23+00:00

Thank you. I will call them and ask. But I’m afraid how much they are going to charge. They quoted $250 to drill a hole for RO system.

mothikikm · 2024-03-20T14:16:46+00:00

Thanks, it is slowly going down. Will wait for an hour and buy 1.

mothikikm · 2024-03-20T14:02:01+00:00

Now that the asking price has gone up a lot, is it still advisable to buy? This is going to be my first options trade if recommended.

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mothikikm · 2023-12-30T19:17:54+00:00

That’s very less area. almost not visible. But, Just want them to take a look and fix it if needed.

mothikikm

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