Some of the questions that most people ask themselves before trying out data science include questions such as: “Which language to learn— Python or R”, “What techniques to focus on?” “Should I learn to code?” “Should I learn statistics?” These among other question are some of the most common questions you will need to answer as a beginner who is interested in enrolling to a data science online course.
This article highlights some essential tips for people who are starting in Data Science. This guide sets a framework that can help a person who wants to learn data science online.
Pick the right role
Data Science is broad, and there are various roles in this industry to choose. Some of the common roles in the data science industry include:
• Data Scientist
• Data Engineer
• Machine learning Expert
Depending on the work experience you have or on your background, getting into one of the data science roles can be much easier than getting into other roles. For example, it is not hard for a software developer to shift into anything about data engineering. You need to be clear on what you want to become in the data science field, or else you will remain to be confused on the path you want to take or the skills that you are interested in honing.
If you are not sure on what you want to choose or what you want to become here are a few things that we suggest that might help you.
• Engage with people who are in the data science industry and try to ask them what their roles entail.
• Accept to be mentored by people who are in the industry—ask them some relevant questions about their profession.
• Try and figure out what you are good at and what you want in your life and choose the role that best suits you in the field of your study.
• Research online about what you want to do, this is because with the improvement of technology over the years it is now possible to learn data science online.
Take Up a Course
After deciding what you want to do, the next thing will be to put some dedicated effort in trying to understand the role. This will involve going through the requirements of the role. You can learn whatever you wish in data science because the demand for a data scientist is big. There are over thousands of courses and studies in data science that are out there to hold your hand. Finding the right material to data science is not hard, however; learning what you find may be hard if you make it because it involves putting on your efforts.
It is important to go through the course you take up actively. Make sure you follow the assignments, the coursework together with all the discussions that are happening around the course you have taken seriously.
Following the Right Resources
If you don’t want to stop learning, make sure that you engulf yourself to every piece of knowledge that you can find. The most useful sources of this information are from blogs or articles that are by the most influential data scientists around the world. Influential data scientists are always updating their blogs now and then. They are active, and followers of this blogs will always be updated by these scientists on any new findings in the field of data science. It is from these blogs that you will find any new posts that concern recent advancements in the field of data science.
If you read about data science every day, it will soon become a habit, and this will be beneficial to your career. There exist various influential data scientist online to follow, therefore; you need to make sure that you follow the right people who will help you with whatever you need.
Things every aspiring data scientist needs to know
Things that every aspiring data science learner needs to know include:
Ø Learn Statistics.
If you are an aspiring data scientist and lack good knowledge of statistics, right now is the right time for you to start. It can be quite a challenge for you to be in the data science field without any sound understanding of statistical concepts. Even though at some point it will get complicated for now begin only with the fundamentals of statistics and build on that.
Ø Learn Programming
Programming seems hard for people who don’t have the tech background behind it, however; you need to know that if you put your best efforts to learn, programming can be simple. With the internet on our fingertips nowadays, some online courses can help you to learn how to programme. Learning programming languages takes time, and that is why many experts recommend aspiring programmers to have patience, determination and consistency in their programming journey.
Ø Study & Practice
To succeed in data science, you need to dedicate
some of your quality time to practicing and studying. To be effective in this field, start with the
simple stuff and build upon them. There are some areas in this field that you
will need to study over and over again; this is because this field is wide and
extremely technical. Take this practice as an iterative process. Remember that
any time you practice there will always be more queries that come up and these
will force you to read again. Data Science is an applied field, and this is the
main reason why experts recommend aspiring data scientist always to practice
what they study and learn.