Professional Certificate in Data Science, Machine Learning & Analytics Engineering

Data Analyst
Data Science

Professional Certificate in Data Science, Machine Learning & Analytics Engineering

Transition into data from any background — analysis to science in one cohort

Get program updates

Be the first to hear about the next cohort.

6 Months
Duration
Hybrid
Format
Lagos, Nigeria
Location
Rolling 2025
Intake
CAREER SWITCH
Level
Yes
Certificate

What's included

Weekend Mentorship

Live cohort sessions with senior practitioners, every weekend.

Real-World Projects

Build a portfolio with hands-on industry case studies.

Community Access

Join a cohort of peers and the wider Firstlincoln alumni network.

Internship Pathway

Transition from learning into real industry experience through our internship program.

Weekend Mentorship Sessions

More than recorded videos — this is a live cohort.

Our Weekend Mentorship Sessions are live, instructor-led cohorts that run every weekend. Instead of watching pre-recorded lessons in isolation, you join a small group, work through real-world case studies, ask questions in real time, and get direct feedback from senior practitioners actively working in industry.

  • Live Q&A with senior practitioners every weekend
  • Real case-study breakdowns, not just slides
  • Cohort accountability and peer feedback
  • Career guidance, mock interviews and portfolio reviews
Sessions run Virtual or Physical — pick your format when you enrol.

What you'll learn

  • Write advanced SQL including CTEs, window functions, and performance optimisation
  • Build Python-based data pipelines with Pandas, NumPy, and automated transformations
  • Create professional dashboards and analytics reports in Tableau and Power BI
  • Apply supervised and unsupervised machine learning to real business datasets
  • Conduct time-series forecasting, NLP analysis, and A/B experiment design
  • Deploy and monitor ML models in production using MLflow and cloud platforms
  • Ensure data governance and NDPR compliance across your data products

Prerequisites

  • Bachelor's degree or HND in any discipline
  • Familiarity with Excel or basic SQL (advantage, not mandatory)
  • Strong attention to detail and comfort working with numbers
  • Laptop (8GB RAM recommended) with internet access
  • 10–12 hours per week of study time commitment
  • No advanced programming knowledge required

Who is this programme for?

  • University graduates seeking to enter the data and analytics job market
  • Finance, accounting, or economics professionals adding data science skills
  • Business analysts and reporting specialists transitioning to data science roles
  • IT professionals moving into data engineering or analytics engineering
  • Anyone with basic spreadsheet or SQL knowledge ready to go deeper

Curriculum

5 modules • 25 lessons • 6 Months

  1. PHASE 1 Analytics Fundamentals

    Weeks 1–4 · 5 lessons
    • Advanced SQL (CTEs, window functions, joins)
    • Excel advanced analytics
    • Statistics: hypothesis testing, regression
    • Business KPIs & metrics design
    • Tableau / Power BI for professionals
    • Python: Pandas, NumPy, Seaborn
    • Data cleaning & transformation pipelines
    • Web scraping for data collection
    • APIs as data sources
    • Project: Python-based EDA report
    • Supervised learning: regression, classification
    • Unsupervised: clustering, PCA
    • Model validation & cross-validation
    • Feature engineering best practices
    • Scikit-learn end-to-end pipeline
    • Time series analysis & forecasting
    • NLP for text data
    • Intro to deep learning (TensorFlow)
    • Experiment design & A/B testing
    • Build: Predictive analytics product
    • MLflow for model management
    • Data pipelines with Airflow
    • Cloud data platforms (BigQuery, AWS)
    • Data governance & NDPR compliance
    • Capstone: Full data product deployment

Personalized Roadmap

Start your journey with a learning path customised to your motivation and experience

Analytics Fundamentals
1
Python Data Engineering
2
Machine Learning
3
Advanced Data Science
4
Data in Production
5

Assessment & Certification

Assessment
Assignments (35%), Mid-term ML project (25%), Final capstone product (40%)
Certification
Firstlincoln Professional Certificate in Data Science
Delivery format
Firstlincoln Professional Certificate in Data Science

Career outcomes

Data Analyst
Data Scientist
Business Intelligence Developer
Analytics Engineer
ML Engineer
Internship Pathway

From classroom to a real industry role.

Top performers progress into our Internship Pathway — a structured placement programme of 3, 6 or 12 months. Internships are either sponsorship-backed or guardian-supported, depending on the arrangement that suits the learner.

3 months 6 months 12 months
Learn how the internship pathway works →

Get Expert Guidance

Need support? We've got your back — talk to a Firstlincoln advisor today.

+234 806 693 8330
10am – 7pm (Mon–Sat)
info@firstlincoln.net
You'll hear back in 24 hours.