15 Must-Have Skills to Become a Data Scientist
Data Scientist Skills – Overview Data science is a niche field that is steadily growing in popularity and demand. With India set to become the world’s analytics hub, many students are pursuing education and careers in data science. Even professionals from other streams are taking up data science to switch or boost their careers. However, data science is a different subject compared to conventional education. Therefore, you need to have certain skills to do well in this subject. You may possess some of these skills naturally, but even if you don’t, you can work on them and develop yourself into an ideal candidate for data science. The right skills can ensure that you thrive in your education and career, and take advantage of one of the fastest-growing industries in India. Required Educational Qualifications to Become a Data Scientist To become a data scientist, you need formal education in this subject. Right now, many students are opting for data science, but many government universities and institutes still don’t have good data science courses. This sphere is dominated by private institutes that have strong data science certificate, diploma, and degree courses. Once you finish your data science training in Pune at a reputed educational institute, you can pursue a career as a data scientist. Important Skills Required for Data Scientists? Data scientists are one of the most important and highest-paying progressions of the digital age. Not everyone can simply just decide to pursue this career. You need to have certain technical and soft skills. It is important to know about them before you decide to pursue data science. Here are the required data scientist skillset of technical & soft skills: A) Data Scientist Skills: Technical Skills Data science will test your technical skills to the limit as this subject involves the use of a lot of technology. Here are the top 15 technical skills required to become a data scientist: 1. Fundamentals Fundamentals are the basics. So, if you want to become a data scientist, you need to know the fundamentals well. Apart from common terminologies, you need to have some working knowledge of Database Basics, Relational Algebra, Matrices & Linear Algebra Functions, Extract Transform Load, Hash Functions & Binary Tree. You also need to know the difference between machine learning and deep learning, supervised and unsupervised learning, and data science, data engineering, and business analytics. These are all things you can learn on your own, so get learning now. 2. Programming Skills You need to have programming skills to become a data scientist. From developing data models to creating analytical models, many functions in data science require programming, so knowing one or more programming languages is going to be important. However, knowing just any programming language isn’t going to help. You need to know either Python, R, Java, or SQL if you want to do well in data science. You can also benefit from knowing about programming packages and libraries like TensorFlow. 3. Statistics & Math Data science is not just about coding. If it was, any coder could have become a data scientist. Data science is about statistics and mathematics. Only if you understand them well, will you be able to use them correctly to develop data models with accurate assumptions. You can also derive accurate conclusions with statistical and mathematical knowledge. If you have already studied these subjects and have good knowledge of them, you can consider becoming a data scientist. 4. Data Manipulation Data manipulation is one of the key skills required to become a data scientist. You will need to organise, arrange, and change data to make it readable. This is important because the raw data received will not make sense. It needs to be manipulated. Data scientists use data manipulation languages (DML). If you have the opportunity to learn these languages in advance, it will help you in your quest to become a data scientist. 5. Data Analysis The raw data, once processed and manipulated, needs to be analysed. This is one of the most important steps in the whole process. Without analysing the data, you will not be able to derive sense and meaning. You have to spot patterns, discrepancies, and anomalies in unstructured data for which you need to have an analytical viewpoint. You also need to have the ability to go through vast amounts of data without missing important details. 6. Data Visualization Data visualization is the ability to create a visual representation of the results. You should have skills to create accurate and easy-to-understand graphical representations like pie charts, bar graphs, and histograms. These graphical representations are important if you want to have a career in data science. If you have had experience making them, you will have a much easier time using graphical tools like Datawrapper, Tableau, Kibana, and Google Charts. 7. Machine Learning & AI Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are important aspects of data science. Therefore, if you have skills pertaining to these two subjects, becoming a data scientist will be a lot easier. If you have degrees or certifications in ML or AI, you can pursue data science. Even if you don’t, but have enough knowledge related to the subjects, you can still pursue data science as you will get an opportunity to learn about these subjects if you choose the right course. 8. Big Data Another important aspect of data science is Big Data. Both data science and big data go hand-in-hand when it comes to creating data and reports that help businesses make informed decisions based on the findings. Everything we do in the digital sphere generates torrents of data. Therefore, if you have professional qualifications in big data, you can choose to pursue data science and get an even better career. Big data is not just a buzzword, it is one of the most important aspects of the digital future. 9. Deep Learning Deep learning is different from machine learning. Machine learning tends to have a few limitations, whereas, deep learning does … Read more