January
January
Hi @channel, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Welcome to 2019! I hope you all had a fantastic new year, were able to enjoy time with family and friends over the holidays (if you celebrate them!) and are ready to grab 2019 by the horns!!
Data Foundations ends *MONDAY, JANUARY 7, at 11:59pm UTC!!!* Still have work to do? Don't panic!! You can do it!
Set aside this weekend to work on your projects- a few student leaders will be active in #dfnd_live_help to help answer questions, and a LOT of other people will be furiously working to get their projects done. We’re really down to the wire here, so while I would usually encourage you to try to figure things out on your own, *don’t waste time staying stuck on a problem! Ask for help!*
Remember, in order to graduate, you need to hit the “Finish and graduate!” button in your classroom after passing all your projects!
If you do not do this, you will not earn your Nanodegree certificate!!!!
This process is quick and automated for most people, but sometimes you may need to have someone at Udacity review your graduation. Due to the recent holidays and a very large volume of people graduating recently, the team who manages this is working hard but still processing requests from December. *Please be patient!!!* Your graduation will not be rejected because of delays from Udacity, even if you don’t hear back until after your program’s deadline! I apologize for any delay with this!
I also ask that you please not send in multiple requests; this just slows down the process for everyone! Issues will be resolved in the order they were received. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and understanding.
A new year means new goals for many people, and I want to hear about YOURS! Do you have professional resolutions? Big plans for the next year? Now is a great time to share them, *especially* with your professional networks. Remember, many companies’ budgets and headcounts reset in January, so this can be a GREAT time to look for your next position.
Even if you aren’t searching, recruiters probably are extra active on LinkedIn right now, so it’s still a great time to share your accomplishments from 2018 and your goals. Start building up your reputation!
Bertelsmann is eager to hear about your progress, so please tag your post with #poweredbybertelsmann and #udacitydatascholars so they can see your accomplishments and goals too!!
That’s it for this week, everyone! I’m really excited to kick off another calendar year with all of you!
I know this weekend is going to be busy for a LOT of people in this community, so remember to take advantage of this amazing group of supportive peers- ask for help when you need it, share motivation, take meme breaks, share your focus playlist- use each other!!!
No matter if you still have 1, 2, 3, or even 4 projects to go, stay focused- YOU CAN DO IT!
Greetings @channel!! Welcome to January 7, the last day of DFND!
Time has flown by since the course launched on September 7, and I could not be more excited for this group to take their next steps!
I will keep this short, since I know lots of folks are still trying to finish their projects (GO GO GO!)
WE ARE 8 HOURS AWAY FROM THE 11:59PM UTC DEADLINE!
Important notes for DFND students:
Alright, that’s it for now- I will be back later today with additional updates.
@channel That is *IT!* We’re here- the DFND deadline!!!
No matter if you graduated months ago, 30 minutes ago, or weren’t able to submit all your projects in time, you all have *SO* much to be proud of from the past several months. This was a community of 15,000 students last May, and the people in this group have consistently shown amazing dedication, engagement, and motivation. Life happens, and I know how hard it is to fit a Nanodegree in on top of everything else, so no matter where you are right now in your coursework, I am extremely proud of and humbled by this amazing group of learners.
DFND students will be hearing more from me tomorrow via email, but for now kick back, head over to #humble_brag to boast a little, and treat yourselves for the work you have put in over the past four months! Y’all are amazing.
Interrupting your week with a quick update: I know lots of folks have written in with questions about their Nanodegrees over the past couple of days. I am doing my best to respond as quickly as possible, and appreciate your patience!
I will respond to all your messages- if you’ve emailed into scholarships-support@udacity.com, I ask that you please refrain from DM’ing me to follow up (and vice versa) since this just makes it slower for me to keep track of everyone and respond!! I appreciate your patience and cooperation.
Note: if you were unenrolled before you could graduate, but you received a notification that your final project passed (even after the deadline), please write in to scholarships-support@udacity.com so we can make sure you go through the graduation process. If you have already emailed, no need to write in again- I’m working on it!
Thank you all, and happy Wednesday!
Hi everyone, and happy Monday! Major congrats to all the DFND graduates in this community!
I was thrilled to see a major push from lots of students to graduate before the deadline, and I really appreciate everyone who hopped online to help their peers out when it was crunch-time! It is *not* easy to manage a Nanodegree on top of work, school, family, and other life commitments, so everyone should give themselves a big pat on the back, no matter how far you got!
Attention all Business Analyst students! You should have received an email from me over the weekend alerting you that your final course deadline is now *April 4* instead of February 4- I hope this is good news! All projects must be *submitted and passed* by April 4, so please make good use of this extension! Can we get to 100% graduation rate?!?!?! :shrug: :muscle: :
A couple questions have come up recently about your project deadlines vs the course deadline, so I wanted to clarify:
I hope everyone has a great week ahead, and congrats to all DFND students! You have so much to be proud of, and I hope you’ll stay active in this Slack community and in the broader Udacity scholarships community!!
Hi @channel! Apologies for minimal updates the past week- I am supporting the PyTorch scholarship now in addition to Bertelsmann, and it has been a little bit hectic getting up to speed!
Some updates and reminders for this community:
There are awesome events, most of which are career-related, happening all the time. Keep an eye on what’s coming down the pike! Some things to check out over the next couple of weeks:
If you can’t attend live, then still RSVP- the recordings are available on YouTube so you can watch them at any time!!
All Bertelsmann students are entitled to four career project reviews, which you can access through the Bertelsmann Career Resource Center. Remember to complete your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn, and GitHub reviews before February 7 so you don’t lose them!
This means that there are only a little more than two months, or ten weeks, to be more exact, left in your Nanodegrees!
If you are behind or haven’t started yet, it’s ok!! You can catch up- it’s not too late to start now, but you will need to make a serious study schedule so you can stay on track to graduate by April 4!!
Let’s go- you can do it!
Hi @channel, happy Wednesday! Please read on for some updates and announcements for all three tracks!
Many folks in this community have shared resources relating to AI and ML, so I wanted to share a webinar I hosted a couple weeks ago with two members of Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence Research team, Joe and Juan.
Hear their input on breaking into the field, recommended resources to stay on top of all the changes, and exciting developments happening!
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29orPDM0tKc&feature=youtu.be
Want more resources? Here are some of their top recommendations!
A few folks they follow who are awesome:
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Building Your Career Startup
Wednesday, February 6 @ 12pm PST
How would you treat your career differently if you saw it as a startup?
In this session, Front End Nanodegree Program alum Andrew Huschka shares his perspective on how you can take the reins of your own career. A current manager at ExxonMobil and advisor to Skills Xcelerator, Andrew will teach you how to apply an entrepreneurial mindset to launch, grow, and develop your own career.
Agenda
About the Speaker
Andrew Huschka manages supply chain operations at ExxonMobil, where he leads a team of 11 employees. A dedicated lifelong learner, he also advises the Skill Xcelerator program at Kansas State University. The program unbundles the college degree to focus instead on skills, inspired by viewing students as startups and schools as incubators for launching your career. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering.
Learn more about Andrew’s story
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Thank you everyone for your patience while we resolved the static classroom access issue- I apologize it took so long to secure this!
All students should see DFND in their classrooms, regardless of whether or not you graduated! You are not able to submit projects, but you can access all of the content. Many people asked if they could continue working on the course despite not graduating by the deadline, and I wanted to make sure you have this option. Again, I appreciate your patience with this!
That’s it for now- I hope everyone has a GREAT rest of your weeks ahead!! We’re halfway to Friday!