How the Belt System Works
Upon completion of our 1-year full time programme, we award graduates with a belt. The colour of this belt is an indication of the level of competence of the academy graduate, with yellow being awarded to students who have met the minimum set of academy standards, and black belts being given to the top achievers. You can find out more about each of the belt levels below.
First Level
White Belt
The white belt is reserved for students who are only just taking their first steps on the Data Science journey with us. In order to graduate from the academy, students must learn enough to move on from this level.
Second Level
Yellow Belt
Students who have earned a yellow belt are able to process, query, and manipulate data. A suitable role for a yellow belt would be a junior data analyst operating as part of a team that could provide guidance and supervision to help them reach their full potential.
Third Level
Orange Belt
Students who have earned an orange belt are comfortable wrangling and extracting simple insights from data sets. They have demonstrated initiative and do not require constant supervision, but will benefit from guidance and mentorship.
Fourth Level
Green Belt
Students who have earned a green belt are comfortable with all aspects of the data analysis workflow: connecting, querying, analysing, and reporting. Green belts are able to communicate clearly with supervisors and clients, and can distil complex insights into concise reports and charts.
Fifth Level
Blue Belt
Students who have earned a blue belt have been exposed to some typical supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms, and have some experience applying these algorithms in order to solve problems. Blue belts are good learners, and, with the appropriate guidance, can become capable independent machine learning practitioners.
Sixth Level
Brown Belt
Students who have earned a brown belt have a broad understanding of the data scientist's toolkit, and are capable of using most of these tools to solve problems. Brown belts show initiative, and know how to ask the right questions to assist in their own development. They will thrive under a strong leader.
Seventh Level
Red Belt
Students who have earned a red belt are comfortable with core machine learning concepts, and can successfully apply the appropriate machine learning algorithms to a wide variety of problems. Their technical capability is backed by the ability to effectively communicate problems, insights, and solutions, at levels suitable for a range of audiences, and can create visually appealing data visualisations to assist them in this endeavour. Red belts are creative problem solvers, capable of adapting the methods they know to new problem spaces.
Eighth Level
Black Belt
Students who have earned a black belt can apply advanced machine learning techniques to most data sets with confidence, giving them the ability to solve a wide variety of different problems. Black belts are also expert communicators, easily conveying concepts and findings (from simple to complex) to any level of audience in an engaging way. The only guidance a black belt requires is a clear problem statement and a list of desired outcomes. Black belts are natural leaders, and will be a strong addition to any data science team.
