Category Archives: General

What are the two specializations and how do you compare them?

The two areas of specialization are data engineering (DE) and analytics technologies (AT). The data engineering specialization delves deeper into data warehousing, the creation of distributed web systems, and building generative AI applications such as NLP, LLM, LangChain, and LLM agents, which are the main differences between the two specializations.  

Common core

  • DATA 220 – Mathematical Methods for Data Analytics
  • DATA 228 – Big Data Technologies and Applications
  • DATA 230 – Business Intelligence and Data Visualization
  • DATA 245 – Machine Learning Technologies 
  • DATA 255 – Deep Learning Technologies

Analytics Technologies

  • DATA 225 – Database Systems for Analytics
  • DATA 240 – Data Mining and Analytics
  • DATA 265 – Large Language Model Applications

Data Engineering

  • DATA 226 – Data Warehouse and Pipeline
  • DATA 236 – Distributed Systems for Data Engineering
  • DATA 266 – Generative Model Applications

What is Data Engineering?

According to the Silicon Valley survey, data engineering is one of the fastest-growing tech-oriented occupations recently. It was highlighted in the 2020 LinkedIn U.S. Emerging Jobs Report as one of the 15 most outstanding emerging jobs of the past five years. Data engineers play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between traditional data analytics and science positions and software and application developers.

Data engineers are crucial in managing and organizing data, creating systems to efficiently gather, store, and process large volumes of information. This field offers a dynamic career path, ideal for those who enjoy technology, continuous learning, and want to make a significant impact using data as oil across various industries.

View our course offerings in the curriculum. 

Source: https://www.interviewquery.com/p/job-market-update-january-2023

What are the differences between Regular Session and Special Session?

The MS in Data Analytics program is offered through two different sessions: Regular Session and Special Session.

Regular Session is state-supported and state-subsidized. The cap on the number of Regular Session students who are accepted to the program each semester is related to the amount of money received from the state. In addition to the state tuition fees (based on the number of enrolled units), non-California resident surcharge fees (currently $396 per unit) might be applicable. Regular Session students pay campus mandatory fees and are eligible to take advantage of San José State University student services, such as Santa Clara County transit services, student body organizations, student health care, and recreational facilities. Enrollment in Regular Session affords California residents other financial support options such as the CSU employee or CalVet fee waiver.

Special Session is completely funded from student tuition, and it does not receive any financial support from the State of California. Special Session tuition is assessed as a per unit fee. Students can opt to pay the same student fees as Regular Session students if they wish to access student services, such as Santa Clara County transit services, student body organizations, health care, and recreational facilities.

Regular Session and Special Session students must meet the same graduation requirements (e.g., same required courses, same number of elective units, same total number of units to graduate), and they will receive the exact same diploma when they graduate. The classes of both MSDA sessions are taught by the same instructor pool at the same location.

If you need assistance in deciding between the two sessions, please contact ms-data-analytics@sjsu.edu.

Who teaches the MSDA courses?

SJSU professors and industry experts teach the MSDA courses.  Professors are recruited from current instructor pools from five of SJSU’s colleges: the College of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Professional and Global Education, the College of Health and Human Sciences, and the College of Science.

 

What academic backgrounds do MSDA students have?

MSDA is designated as a STEM program.  Its students have earned their B.S., M.S., and/or Ph.D. degrees in computer science, engineering as well as natural, health and other sciences from Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Michigan State, Oregon, Penn State, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Washington, California State University (East Bay, San Bernardino, San Jose), University of California (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara), Indian Institute of Technology, National Taiwan University, State University of Campinas (Brazil), Tsinghua University (China), University of British Columbia (Canada), as well as other U.S. and international universities.