A Comprehensive Guide to Data Science

Data science has been the talk of the town since its arrival. There are several data science courses that people take to become professionals in this area. Many aspirants have the question in their mind- Why Choose Data Science for Career. Before finding the career aspects let us understand all about data science.

It helps companies get various projects and provides beneficial results. It has aided numerous employees in obtaining the desired job and companies in achieving their desired goals. However, one needs to learn tons of things to become a data scientist.

A single data science course is not enough for a person to become certified in data science. One needs to take up courses in various coding languages, analytical tools, and big data tools so that they can understand the concept of data science.

Though it may sound difficult, data science jobs are the most interesting jobs, and there are high scopes for appraisal and better job opportunities.

Data science is widely used in various areas. Be it aircraft, weather forecast, or defense, data science has acquired all the fields due to its various benefits. There are people who are taking up courses on this subject to get ahead in their careers.

There are many online educational websites that are offering courses in this field, like data science Coursera courses, courses by Udemy, and many more, which can help a person get a data science degree online.

Data science can help a person get a nice job at any company. Companies are looking for certified professionals in the field of data scientists who can help them with various projects.

Moreover, data science is an area that is quite interesting as compared to other software subjects. But what exactly is data science? Why is everyone so obsessed with this part of computer science?

Data Science Definition

As the name suggests, data science is the study of data, including the place from which the data came, its analysis, and the various ways in which the data can be used in various fields and create satisfactory outputs.

Data science is used on various platforms for its various benefits and uses. However, data science uses tons of tools to analyze, research, and store the data that the user has received.

Data scientists must be familiar with certain tools that will assist them in storing large amounts of data, transferring data, and even writing query solutions.

Data science is one of the major components in the software industry and is also known as the "heart" of every software company.

Why Choose Data Science?

This is one of the major questions that people come across while dealing with data science. Why should one use data science? There are other software and other techniques that can be used instead of data science. Then, why data science? The answer to this particular question is given in the following points:

• Data science helps the person find the root cause of the problem by asking valid questions.
• It helps the person perform a detailed study of the data.
• Data science assists people in modeling data by using various data science algorithms.
• It helps in communicating and visualizing the results via different forms, like graphs, charts, and many more.
• Data science has helped the industry plan routes and decides how to schedule direct and connecting flights.
• It has helped in creating predictive analytics models, which would help the airline know about delayed flights.
• This technology has aided in providing personalized promotional offers to customers based on their flight booking patterns. Due to this reason, most customers get special offers or discounts while booking a flight.
• It helps the industry decide on the types of plans in which they should invest for better efficiency and performance.
• Data science is heavily used in the field of predictive analysis. Due to this reason, it has been useful in the field of national defense. They are used in submarines, ships, and even in the army. Moreover, data science helps in creating models that can help in predicting the weather of an area.
• Data science has helped weather forecast companies know about the calamities that are about to occur. It further helps in taking precautions, which would help save the lives of many people.
• Data science is even used in effective decision-making. It is mainly being used in intelligent cars, in which the user can collect the data and accordingly give instructions to the car to take further steps.
• Data science has even helped companies get better product recommendations. It assists the company in determining which products are best for it by analyzing data and sending it to the company's CEO.
• There are other industries too that work with the help of data science. This technology has been the talk of the town as it helps companies in various ways. Several mining plants and steel plants have also benefited from data science. 

Data Science Applications

There are various applications of data science that the world is seeing currently. Some of the major applications of data science concepts are stated below.

- It aids in the detection of fraud, risk assessment, and credit scoring. 

- It helps in the field of energy management.

- Healthcare

- In internet search and targeted advertising

- Recommendation systems

- In gaming

- Augmented reality

Apart from this, there are other data science applications too. Data science is the technology that a person uses in everyday life. It helps the person know things better and makes things easier.

Data science is used by smartphones to determine the weather in another location. Likewise, there are other examples, too, where data science has been found to be applicable in daily life.

Business Intelligence Vs Data Science

Every technology has some alternative, and in the case of data science, the alternative is business intelligence. But how is data science better than business intelligence? Business intelligence is a field that focuses on the historical data of a company or a product.

It makes predictions about business trends based on this data. Moreover, business intelligence helps in getting data from both internal and external sources, and a person can even find logical answers to business problems by using this technology.

What about data science? Data science is the technology used to analyze data from both current and historical sources. This helps in creating better future predictions as compared to business intelligence.

It helps businesses know the answers to more open-ended questions, which would help them make wise decisions.

Data Science Vs Data Analytics

Another area that can be used as a replacement for data science is data analytics. Data analytics is a term that is often used instead of "data science." These two terms are the most confusing, and people find it difficult to differentiate between them.

In data analytics, the scope is at the micro level. Here, the problem of the project is already known, and the analyst is required to provide the best solution to this problem.

In data science, on the other hand, the scope is macro-level, and the data scientist tries to find and define new problems that may arise in a business and assists in innovating something new out of the problem.

In data analytics, the input is structured data, and the principles are designed based on the type of project. Moreover, data visualization techniques are used in the technology of data analytics.

For data science, the input is basically raw, better known as unstructured data. Here, the data is cleaned and organized, after which it is sent to the analyst for further steps.

Data analytics is used in healthcare, travel, tourism, finance, and similar areas. On the other hand, data science is used for internet research, image recognition, recommendation systems, and further digital usage.

Why Should You Consider a Career in Data Science?

As previously stated, data science is a field that has benefited numerous companies in the past and is even the most required software in global industries. A person who is building a career in data science is most likely to get a job easily at any of the companies.

As everything is slowly becoming digital, companies have started accepting data scientists and are searching for professionals in this field. There are various courses that a person needs to take to become a professional in this area.

There are data science courses for beginners that can help someone get an entry-level job in data science. A data science entry-level salary is far more than a normal person’s salary in the software industry.

However, there are other advanced courses in data science that one can take to remain updated and learn more about this field.

Advanced courses, such as data science masters, would assist the individual in gaining in-depth knowledge in the field. While data science basics teach the main fundamental concepts of the subject, the master's course helps the person know how to practically apply those concepts in real life.

After completing the course, a person would be a certified data scientist and could easily get a job in any company. Data science is going to be on the market for many years, and this is one of the safest fields in which a person can make a career.

The data science career path will help the individual advance in this field. If a person is interested in data analytics and wants to know more about data and its various transformations, and then data science is the field in which they should build a career.

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Who is a Data Scientist?

A data scientist is a person who recognizes important questions, collects important data from a variety of sources, stores the data, and organizes it as per requirement. Moreover, the data scientist even has to translate the data and decode it into solutions that can be used for the benefit of the business.

Apart from all these, a data scientist is also a person who acts as a leader, is responsible for major projects in the company, and is even required to provide effective results to the stakeholders.

A data scientist is a technical expert in the company whose job it is to maintain the data and arrange it accordingly. Furthermore, they assist in detangling the code from the data and providing it to project teams as solutions to their problems. 

The data scientist has to ask the right questions in order to know the problem that the team is facing and then provide appropriate solutions.

The job even includes converting the raw data into a format that the project team and the stakeholders can understand. He or she is even responsible for preparing the results and providing the stakeholders with appropriate charts and results in the meetings.

Skills Required for Becoming a Data Scientist

Apart from data science education and a degree, there are certain skills that a person should have to get a job in this field. There are certain skills that a person needs to have to become a successful data scientist.

While some are software or technical skills that are required, there are also non-technical skills that a person should have in order to become a good data scientist. Below are the skills that are considered important for becoming a data scientist.

Technical Skills

Python Coding: The first necessary skill for becoming a data scientist is Python coding. Coding is important for a person who is entering the field of software, and when it comes to data science, which is one of the core subjects in software, it is quite important to know how to code.

Python is primarily used for analyzing and researching data. It is one of the most used software languages, and a person should know how to code in this language.

Though there are courses in data science on various websites, it is highly suggested that a person take up a separate course for learning Python. It would help the person understand the language better and thus gain a better understanding of the subject. 

R Programming: The next important skill is R programming. This is an analytical tool that is used by data scientists in many companies. It is designed mainly for the use of data science. It helps the person know the problem and the ways in which he or she can solve it within a certain time.

Most of data scientists use R programming for solving statistical problems and have found success with it. This particular tool is taught in courses on data science because it is considered an important tool for a data scientist.

SQL Database: SQL Database is designed to help the data scientist get access to the data. Not only that, but it also teaches the data scientist how to communicate and work with the data that has been provided to him or her.

Though SQL is not considered that important as it is not a major part of data science, a company expects the data scientist to know how to write and execute the various queries in SQL.

It helps the person know how to carry out various algebraic operations and analytical functions. Moreover, SQL will help the person learn more about relational databases.

Hadoop Platform: Hadoop has been considered a skill that a person should have if he or she is opting for a career in data science. The Hadoop platform has been on the market for years and has proven to be highly useful to data scientists in many ways.

It has helped data scientists in sending various data to other servers and in expanding the memory of the system to store the data.

A person who knows how to work on the Hadoop platform would find it easy to work on data without worrying about space or other problems. It even helps in the areas of data filtration, sampling, and even exploration.

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Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence: These two are the two most important things that a data scientist should know. As stated earlier, data science is mainly used in aircraft, ships, and submarines. It is important to know about machine learning and AI, as it would help scientists work in these areas.

Moreover, machine learning would help the person develop problem-solving skills so that they could solve problems and make better predictions for the companies.

In the case of intelligent vehicles, artificial intelligence is very important, as it would help the data scientist give orders to the vehicles.

Apache Spark: Apache Spark is a big data technology that is being used all over the world. It is mainly used because of its benefits. Apache Spark, which uses a framework similar to Hadoop, is intended to help people run complex algorithms much faster.

With that, the data scientist would be able to get faster results and provide them to the teams for further processing. Moreover, it helps the data scientists avoid any kind of loss in data that can result in a loss for the projects.

With the help of Apache Spark, a data scientist can analyze data and even distribute it to other servers.

Data Visualization: Another important software skill that a data scientist should have is data visualization. It would help the person visualize the data with the help of various visualization tools.

It would also assist the person in better analyzing the data and decoding it in order to provide the project team with various solutions to the problems. Moreover, data visualization would even help the person know the serial correlation, or p values, in a better way.

MATLAB: This is numerical-solving software that is used for processing complex mathematical operations. It is highly used in data science due to its various benefits.

One of the major benefits is that it can solve any kind of complex equation within minutes and provide the data scientist with the appropriate results.

Non-Technical Skills

A data scientist should have some non-technical skills in addition to technical skills. Some of the most important non-technical skills are listed below.

Curiosity: Having curiosity is good for a data scientist. A person who has intellectual curiosity is more likely to find a solution to a problem than other people.

A data scientist should always be willing to learn new things that will help him or her achieve better results on projects. As time passes, new technologies are entering the world.

Everything is getting updated, and a data scientist should also remain updated all the time. It would assist him or her in learning about new technologies that could benefit him or her in the future.

Communication Skills: A person who only knows technical terms and has poor communication skills will struggle to fit in at any company. Having good communication skills is essential in every field of work.

A data scientist must have strong communication skills because he or she is required to present project results to stakeholders on a regular basis.

If a person does not have efficient communication skills, he or she will find it difficult to conduct the meeting and answer the queries. As a result, a person should learn this skill because it will help him or her adapt to a new company.

Teamwork: A data scientist is a person who needs to work with a team. If he or she does not know how to work in a team, it will be difficult for both the individual and the company. Here, teamwork is important, as it would help in lessening the burden and working together to solve problems.

A person needs to communicate well and know how to adapt to a team while working on a project. A data scientist needs to have the qualities required to work in a team, one of which is teamwork.

Business Acumen: A data scientist should also have some knowledge about business, as at the end of the day, they are working in a business company and are required to provide solutions to problems.

Having business knowledge would help the data scientist think outside the box for solutions that would benefit the business and even help them acquire more projects. Hence, companies look for data scientists who know about business and workflow in various areas.

Other Roles In Data Science

Apart from data scientist, there are other roles that one can find in the field of data science. The two most important roles that are found in data science are discussed below.

Data Science Analyst: The first role is that of the data analyst. The role of the data analyst is to act as a communication bridge between the data scientists and business analysts.

These people work on specific problems or queries and then find the results by organizing and analyzing the various data in the storage. They have the job of translating the technical analysis into action items and then providing them to the stakeholders for further processing.

Data Science Engineer: A data science engineer has the job of managing a bulk amount of data that keeps changing rapidly. These people need to manage the various data pipelines and infrastructure of the data so that they can transform and transfer the data to the specific data scientist for further work.

In simple language, the data engineer is a person who is responsible for providing the data scientist with the correct amount of data to work with. Without data engineers, the data scientist will be unable to obtain the correct data for working, resulting in problems.

These were some of the major skills that a person who wants to become a data scientist should have. Apart from this, a person should opt for a data science course that would assist him or her in getting certified.

Not only would that, but having a practical hand in the field of data science also is beneficial. There are various data science internships that many companies are offering, which would help the person get practical knowledge in the field.

Furthermore, it would help the data scientist know the areas in which they need to improve and the areas in which they can benefit. By doing an internship in the field of data science, a person gets to learn how to critically think about a problem and create a solution for it.

Conclusion

There are various data science courses that offer data science degrees, but not all courses are good enough. One must conduct thorough research on the courses before enrolling in one. There are courses for data science and analytics, data science algorithms, and many more.

However, it is highly advised that a person first take up courses in the essential coding languages that are required in the field of data science. By taking a course in a coding language, the person would be able to get an upper hand while doing the course in data science.

As data science also requires coding experience, and most of the courses do not even teach coding, it would be better to take a coding course first. Apart from that, there are several data science books that are quite helpful for students who aspire to become data scientists.

These books are designed or curated by experts in the field to help the reader gain sufficient knowledge in data science. Not only that but a person's data science knowledge must be updated.

As mentioned earlier, technology changes every day, and with the change in technology, a person also needs to update his or her knowledge. In the case of data scientists, they need to continuously update themselves and learn new skills that are required for the job.

For more awareness about data science, you can explore DASCA.

To explore certification programs in your field, chat with our experts, and find the certification that fits your career requirements.  

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