There is a huge mismatch between the expectations of work and the reality that the data science industry faces today. The value of data science calls for tumultuous demand for professionals in this industry. However, it is believed that technological innovation is moving toward a societal good making business functions much efficient.
It comes as no surprise that the revenue that will be generated worldwide has increased from $122 billion in 2015 to $189 billion in 2019. It is also predicted there will be a significant rise of $274 billion by 2022.
As they reach for data science professionals skyrockets, there will be a need for more talent in the field of data science. Having said that, you must choose the right career path to harbor a career in data science. Let us look at the right career path for you to launch your data science career today.
Step 1: Identify your core objective?
What do you want to do with your data science knowledge? What kind of job roles are you aiming for: are you looking to become an analyst or a data scientist? If you’re a business professional, are you looking to leverage data science in your day to day workflow? Perhaps you’re a data science professional looking to enhance your data science career. The first and foremost step is always about being able to identify the destination or the path of the journey you’re looking to embark upon.
Step 2: Identify your skills gap?
Based on your capability, you must acquire skills that allow leveraging data effectively. For example, if you’re looking to launch a career as a data analyst, you must have the skills to collect data for multiple sources and accordingly collate it.
For data science professionals looking to leverage their skillsets in data science should identify their skills gap and choose data science certification programs to bridge the gap.
Data science being the heart of businesses today, it is the growing need to not only gather data but the ability to sift through and produce positive insights has prompted a huge demand for data scientists.
What are the skills that make you a great data scientist today?
Strong technical skills are a must, but there are other essential skills you need to master to set a data science career.
Must-have skills: –
- Python and R programming
Python and R languages have been considered as the backbone for a data scientist. While R is widely used for statistical analysis and Python programming for general purposes. As a data scientist, you can leverage the best of statistical prowess of R along with the capabilities of Python programming. How? You can easily embed SQL code within R or Python, or either blend R and Python together.
An added advantage is to have knowledge both in R as well as Python programming.
- Analytical skills
You must possess analytical skills in order to interpret data, trace the latest trends, and develop patterns by constructing predictive models.
- Statistics and mathematical skills
How can one build machine learning models without having skills in algorithms? Therefore, to become a data science professional you need to have extensive knowledge in linear algebra, algorithms, multivariate calculus machine learning techniques, and information retrieval.
- Communication skills
You should be great at communicating their insights to stakeholders and business leaders. Being a layman, one may not understand how data can be transformed into becoming business decision models.
- Data visualization
Data science professionals should learn data visualization tools such as plots and Tableau to demonstrate data in graphical representation or pie charts.
Machine learning, SQL database, business acumen, and teamwork are some of the essential skills a data scientist must possess.
Step 3: Locate the best online certification program
Based on the skills you lack, you must dig deep and identify the best data science certification programs as per your requirement. There are several online data science programs that are offering certification programs both for freshers as well as working professionals.
However, if you have no prior experience in data science but you wish to become a data scientist then perhaps you can enroll a master’s degree from top-notch universities such as Harvard and Stanford University.
However, to get the best of the latest skills in the current market, it is ideal for a professional to take up certification programs in data science.
