FAQs - Questions and Answers
Are there any prerequisites for the course?
Reasons to do a training course
The demand for data experts is high. Around 4 million data experts will be needed in Europe by 2025. And in 2021 alone, more than 80,000 positions for IT professionals have already been advertised in Germany. Above all, the demand for data and AI experts continues to grow enormously.
But a decision for a career in data is so much more than just a safe decision for the future! As a data expert, you’ll deal with powerful, socially relevant topics, be a tech professional and be communicative and creative at the same time. The profession is varied, can be combined with most other professions and offers an attractive salary. And most importantly: you can learn the kills you need with us!
It’s impossible to imagine our (professional) life without data. In almost all areas, data helps you to understand facts better and to make decisions more precisely. Data skills are the key to being able to use and interpret data correctly. Although you may not realize it, you work with, interact with and generate data every day. This data is becoming increasingly important for companies and is the basis for decisions and business models. Being able to work with data secures your job and can help your career.
In our training courses you will learn all the basics that you need in a specific field or even for the career entry as a data expert, so that you meet all the data analyst and data scientist requirements for the job. The course offers you a mixture of video content with recorded lessons from our data experts, text content, short quizzes that reinforce what you have learned and, above all, programming exercises so that you can directly learn how to apply these skills to your circumstances in your day-to-day job. In the advanced training courses you will be optimally prepared for your job. At the end of our career paths and funded training courses (Data Analyst and Data Scientist), you can also expect a final project. After successfully completing the project, you will receive a certificate from us confirming your participation and the knowledge and skills you have gained.
Thanks to the mentoring we offer, we enable you to have the best possible learning experience and support you learning successfully in the long term. To ensure that learning content is not just quickly consumed and then quickly forgotten, we rely on mentoring by subject matter experts. Our data scientists will accompany you during the course and ensure that you internalize the learning content and can apply it to your everyday work. This includes:
- An uncomplicated onboarding and offboarding process
- A kick-off webinar
- Regular exchange in the learning forum
- Support by email, telephone and in the forum
- We help you learn to solve content-related problems yourself.
- A final project
- A 1-to-1 feedback session including personal evaluation of your learning success.
For participants
Basically, the same applies to data analysts and data scientists as to any other profession: if you’re motivated and committed, if you’re willing to learn and constantly develop yourself further, then doors are always open to you. Of course, degrees and relevant experience help, but they’re not everything, they can only shorten the path to your dream job. You probably won’t become a data scientist immediately by changing careers, but you can enter the data industry and gradually work your way up. If you didn’t go to college, you may still have gained important work experience in other important skills like analytical thinking or industry-specific expertise. These skills are very valuable when working with data.
No, the course is designed to be flexible in terms of time and can fit around your job. You can pursue your profession without restrictions and can schedule your learning times as they best suit you. If you suddenly have more time available, you can contact us by email and we’ll activate the learning content for the more intensive version in your account. In this version you can complete the training within just four weeks. If you find that you need more time, you can still complete the content in the regular time.
Yes, even if you don’t live in Germany, you can still take part in our training courses. Because our training courses take place online, you’re flexible in terms of both location and time zone. All you need to participate is a working computer or laptop, internet access and German or English language skills at a B2 level or higher.
Yes, we’ve designed our training courses to be flexible so that time off is possible. This means that you can decide for yourself when to devote yourself to the training content, regardless of whether you only have fifteen minutes or several hours on a given day. The course must be completed within the agreed time. How you organize your learning time is completely up to you.
You have a good foundation if you’re already interested in programming languages and have prior knowledge. In order to successfully participate in the Data Scientist course, we recommend that you have a good knowledge of Python and common modules (Pandas, Matplotlib), because the training course already requires them and builds on them. If you don’t have any previous knowledge in this area, we recommend that you first attend our course in Python programming or our Data Analyst course. We will be happy to advise you personally and work out a learning path together with you in a 15-minute meeting.
We offer our training courses in both English and German. Because we produce our content in German first, it can take some time before a training course is also available in English. However, we are continuously working on updating and expanding our course portfolio in both languages.
Your language skills need to be B2 level or higher in one of the two languages.
If this is not the case, the answer is unfortunately no. We want to make sure that you fully understand the subject matter and can get through the course in a timely manner. It would be a shame if you had to drop out of the course because of comprehension problems.
You don’t have to worry about that. You don’t have to be an ace at math to start a course at StackFuel, because many skills will be taught to you within the course. However, a basic understanding and openness for mathematics is helpful. If you are still unsure whether your previous knowledge is sufficient for our career paths (Data Analyst and Data Scientist), contact us and take our aptitude test.
For Companies
We distinguish between general and individual training needs. Data is becoming increasingly important and is already critical to success when strategic decisions are made. Accordingly, basic data skills are now essential in most departments and job roles. Deep data skills are now also required in most organizations, and companies are increasingly choosing to build these skills in-house to bridge the skills shortage. In order to determine the need for further training, L&D and specialist departments should jointly make information available and use internal questionnaires to determine the need for future skills. It is important to inform employees about these future skills and how they can affect career paths.
If there is a need for training in your company, the Qualification Opportunities Act applies. Different target groups are supported, from employees who want to develop or reorient themselves within an organization to bottleneck occupations and shortages of skilled workers. To qualify for funding, companies must find a certified training provider, such as StackFuel, identify their training needs, coordinate the funding with the Employer Services (AGS) of the Employment Agency. In this way, companies can benefit from the funding provided by the Qualification Opportunities Act and targeted training to qualify and motivate employees so that they are prepared for the future.
Requirements for the training course
There is a placement test. However, this is only obligatory for those who participate in a subsidized training program. The test helps to determine whether potential participants can really benefit from a training program and meet the necessary requirements to be able to successfully follow the learning content.
The placement test asks questions about general knowledge and basic requirements. These mainly relate to basic mathematical and scientific knowledge as well as an understanding of programming logic. Here we only ask about absolute basics, so you shouldn’t be afraid of the test, because it’s designed for your benefit. We simply want to make sure that you have the best learning experience with us and that you will be able to successfully participate in a training course.
We’d be happy to help you make this decision in a personal consultation, where we can find out which training program best suits you and your career goals. You’re welcome to book a consultation with us.
Unfortunately, this isn’t possible, because our course modules build on each other. In order to guarantee your learning success, we cannot take them out of the context of the overall course. However, we’ll be happy to advise you on which training course best meets your requirements and expectations. Please book a free consultation with us.
No, there are no additional costs. However, if you don’t already have access to a computer and the internet, you would have to take care of this yourself, which may involve costs.
What do I need to know before starting the course?
Technical requirements
In order to participate in our training courses, you need a functioning PC or laptop as well as internet access. This does not have to meet any specific technical requirements. However, your browser should ideally have the latest browser version. Please use Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is unfortunately not supported by our learning platform.
Unfortunately, no. You need access to the internet as we only offer our courses online.
Your browser should ideally have the latest browser version. Please use Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is unfortunately not supported by our learning platform.
Unfortunately, we cannot provide any hardware.
Training environment
We currently only give demo access to companies that want to book a larger number of training courses and need to determine whether the platform meets their company’s requirements.
Our courses take place exclusively online on the StackFuel learning platform. All you need is a computer or laptop and internet access. The PC does not have to meet any special technical requirements. You’ll receive your login data for the online learning platform by email shortly before the start of the course.
The course starts with a welcome webinar where we introduce you to what you can expect in the coming weeks and you get the chance to get to know other participants and our mentoring team. Our dedicated mentoring team will be available during the entire course period to provide you with advice and support through weekly group webinars, support options via email, telephone and forum, and regular check-ins. This allows us to ensure that we can support you in your training course and help you if you have questions or problems. At the end of the course, you will have to prove what you have learned about data analysis in a final project. If you complete successfully the course, you will receive an official certificate of completion from us.
What is important during the course?
Organizational questions
Yes, our online training courses are designed to offer you the greatest possible flexibility. Basically, we recommend that you plan six to eight hours per week for learning. When you schedule this time is up to you and is not prescribed by us. In our career paths, the Data Analyst and Data Scientist courses, we offer live webinars where you can ask our mentors questions, but you don’t have to attend if it doesn’t fit your schedule.
(This does not apply to participants in our funded training courses. They have to attend a fixed number of hours per week and are obliged to participate in the live webinars).
For persons participating in a state-funded training program, participation is mandatory. For all other individuals, the webinars are optional and are usually recorded.
In the live webinars, we answer questions that can come up during your course or content you would like to ask more in-depth questions about. You also get the opportunity to get involved in the questions and experiences of the other participants and to exchange ideas with them. This will give you an even better understanding of the content and your current learning progress.
Please contact us in this case. We would like to support you in managing your learning time independently. If you complete the contents of your training faster than planned, we will try to find a solution together.
We recommend the part-time version if you are doing your course during regular working hours and your company has given you a certain amount of time to do so. So, this variant is designed for six to eight hours of learning time per week.
We recommend our fast-track variant if you can arrange your learning time completely independently, e.g. if you are furloughed or if you want or need to complete the training as quickly as possible. However, we recommend 12 hours per week as a guideline in order to be able to absorb and process the learning content optimally.
By dividing the course into chapters, you have the opportunity to track your learning progress, and the percentage display for each chapter means that you can always see exactly how far you have progressed within a lesson.
Yes, absolutely. Our training courses are designed in such a way that you can easily complete them while working. If you have more time than six to eight hours per week, you can opt for our fast-track option. Just contact our support team and they will release the relevant course content for you.
Basically, we recommend that you schedule six to eight hours per week for the course. When you want to schedule this time is up to you and is not prescribed by us. Part of the course includes webinars where you can ask our mentors questions, but you don’t have to attend if it doesn’t fit into your schedule and you’re not participating in a funded training.
If you get sick, you can of course suspend your training for this period. In order to stay flexible, we’ve included a time buffer to allow you to catch up on the content you have missed. The same applies in the case of a vacation.
Please note: If you are financing the training with an education voucher, please inform us immediately on the first day of illness!
Content questions
If you have any questions before the start of the course, you’re welcome to contact our support team at any time. During the course you will be accompanied from onboarding to offboarding by our dedicated mentoring team as well as our support team, who will always be available to answer your questions. You can also use our community forum to exchange ideas with other participants.
In our online training courses, you will develop your data skills with interactive learning formats. You’ll learn how to deal with data in real life and get the full potential out of it. Our professional development content consists of eight percent text content, 12 percent video tutorials, 45 percent quizzes and business cases, and 35 percent coding challenges. At the end of our career paths, the Data Analyst and Data Scientist courses, there is also a final project and an evaluation of your learning success by our mentors.
By dividing the course into chapters, we want to give you the chance to spend no more than six to eight hours per week, so that you can easily organize your course. We have had the best experience with this schedule in order to ensure a balance between work and free time and to give you enough time to let the learning content sink in. If you have more time at your disposal, the fast-track option may be the right choice for you.
Yes, we can activate all learning content for your course immediately. This can take up to one business day, but usually only takes about an hour. Just contact our support team.
The Data Lab is our award-winning learning platform where we offer our training courses. With the help of the Data Lab, you can access your course from anywhere.
We place particular emphasis on ensuring that the content of our training courses is realistic and practical. With us, you will work on interactive learning formats from the real world with real business cases and coding challenges that prepare you optimally for working with data, using data sets from industry and business. With us, you’ll learn how to deal with data in real life and generate the most value from it.
You will receive a summary of the most important contents at the end of the following courses:
- Data Awareness
- Data Driven Management
- Python Programming
- AI Literacy
- AI Driven Management
- Data Analyst
- Data Scientist
What happens after the course?
It’s hard to believe, but data jobs are diverse and vary from company to company and industry to industry. That’s why the work experience you’ve already gained will help you get into a data job in your industry. If you also work regularly on a computer, think analytically, and are creative and communicative, you have an important foundation. You can learn everything else you need for a data job in our training courses.
Yes, after successfully completing the course, you will receive a certificate of completion from us that you can show in your job applications. Data Analysts and Data Scientists are desperately needed in many business sectors. Even without relevant work experience, your chances of finding an entry-level job are good. In addition, there are analysts in almost every industry, who may have different job titles, but the skills you need are the same as those of a data analyst or data scientist.
No, we don’t offer a guarantee, but we have had many positive examples so far and can assure you that the probability of entering a data profession after our training courses increases enormously with our certificates. The Data Heroes category on our blog contains several testimonials from participants who switched to a data profession after the course, e.g. this interview with Alex.
We are currently working on expanding our job and career portal. Although we don’t currently offer job placement, we do guide participants in a funded training program through specialized career coaching for the data industry.
Yes, absolutely! If you successfully complete the course, you will receive a certificate of completion recognized by ZFU and AZAV, which confirms your newly acquired skills. You will receive this as a PDF as well as a link to integrate and share on LinkedIn or XING, for example. You can use both to certify your new skills in job applications or to your employer.
As in other professions, your salary varies depending on the industry, company, location, field of activity and position. In a data profession, you can earn up to 108,200 EUR per year. In our blog posts “How to Become a Data Scientist” and “How to Become a Data Analyst” you can learn more about starting and average salaries, career opportunities and what to expect in a data profession.
Yes, our team of data nerds is always growing and we’re always looking for fresh talent. You can find our open job positions here: Open Positions.
What is special about subsidized continuing education courses?
Our Data Scientist (certificate and intensive course) and Data Analyst training courses are subsidized. To take advantage of one of these training courses with 100% cost coverage, all you need is an education voucher from the Federal Employment Agency.
You can receive further training thanks to an education voucher with the approval of the job center or the employment agency. In our blog post “Getting an education voucher made easy – this is how you get your training course”, we collected all the requirements and tips on how to apply so that you can easily get an education voucher and show you how to make a successful career change. If you still have questions after reading this article, we’ll be happy to advise you personally.
Yes, our subsidized training courses differ from the non-subsidized training courses in terms of scope and duration. We offer separate career coaching and mentoring to prepare participants for a career change into the data industry. In addition, participants must study for a set number of hours per week, and attendance at all webinars is mandatory.
Participation in all webinars is mandatory in funded continuing education courses. If you are ill, a doctor’s certificate is required.
What funding options are available?
Yes, there is! We offer state-subsidized, certified training courses that you can attend with an education voucher and with 100 percent cost absorption by the Federal Employment Agency. Employees can also qualify for an education voucher. You can find out whether you are eligible to apply for an education voucher in our blog post “Getting an education voucher 101 – Here’s how to get your free training course.
You can pay by credit card, PayPal or SEPA direct debit. Direct bank transfers are also possible.
If funding is still not an option for you, there is still the possibility that your employer (co-)finances your further education. If this option is also ruled out, we award scholarships from time to time to people who are in difficult circumstances. To make sure you don’t miss the next scholarship, follow us on one of our social media channels, where we regularly inform you about promotions and free content: LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook, Instagram.
What makes StackFuel special?
We are a certified training provider according to ZFU and AZAV guidelines by TÜV Nord.
We produce our own training courses with our own team of data scientists and experts, who provide you as a participant with personal mentoring during the course. In this way, we not only focus on realistic and practical content, but also ensure that all your questions are clarified directly in a personal exchange, thus guaranteeing your learning success. Thanks to our “learning-by-doing” principle, you will learn in our interactive learning environment with realistic data sets and real business cases from the industry, optimally preparing you for a successful career entry into a data profession.
A choice for StackFuel is a choice for the market leader and Germany’s most innovative learning platform to build your data skills in a practical way. In certified learning and career paths, you will learn online, with flexible scheduling and 80% interactive content such as practical projects, expert interviews and live coding challenges. In this way, you will succeed in your career as a data analyst, data scientist, or Python professional, and you will learn to use data and artificial intelligence professionally. Your new data career starts with your online course at StackFuel.
You can get to know StackFuel better here:
– Our learning environment: https://stackfuel.com/en/learning-environment/
– Our course portfolio: https://stackfuel.com/en/course-overview/
– And our team: https://stackfuel.com/en/about-us/
If you have any further questions, please contact our support team directly and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Your next career step is already in reach.
Make yourself data confident and prepare for the future. Whether you are looking for further training in your current job or for a career change – we will be happy to advise you free of charge and without obligation on your course options and discuss your funding options with you.
