Data Science for everyone! A Hoax or an enlightened path!
Prasann Prem
On a mission to help people with Tableau skills | Tableau Visionary (Fka Tableau Zen Master) I Tableau Social Ambassador | Data Visualization Lead
Hi everyone!
Pursuing a program in data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, business analytics.......Ring a bell? Yes, I am talking about the most trending technological keywords of the decade.
But why this trend?
The answer is, it comes with a notion that anybody can dive into it, whether be it Mechanical, Civil, Electrical engineering graduates, or an Economics, or a Mathematics graduate, who have zero to none knowledge of programming languages. So, Is it true? I would say, to an extent.
But who am I talk about this? I am just a fellow colleague who went through all the questions you must be facing, when you are about to start this venture. So, let me try to give you a head-start, if it helps.
Everything starts with a question, right? So, here are the firsts that went through my mind.
Where to start? What program to choose? Will the program be able to land you a job? Do I have the required threshold to complete the program?
Keep the points in my mind which I am about to mention, and I think you will go sailing through for the first few questions (P.S.: It took me some months to figure out):
- Take your stand, whether you are gonna do it online or offline? For graduates other than computer science, I would recommend offline/full-time.
- Check your budget. Offline courses are mostly expensive as compared to online, but some online courses in the good category such as offered by Upgrad will cost you almost same. So think wisely, you are not going to change domains always,right?
Now what?
Suggestion: Buy No Courses Now! Yes, You heard it right!
Next Step:Prepare yourself and get a head-start. But How?
- Check the paid courses curriculum and try selecting some basic topics such as Python and R to build your premise.
- Use the free online e-books and materials present on packt.com, w3schools.com, and Youtube to gather knowledge. Hunt for more materials, you will get them.
- Use the most efficient tool, LinkedIn. Follow and connect to as many data science influencers you can, many of them such as Kabir Naik are posting videos for us to learn for free.
Try to follow this, and in a month you will be able to build a foundation, to start the next course, which I will discuss in my next article, i.e, "Selection of a data science program"
P.S. I will try to cover all the aspects of programs out there with the data I have, I hope it will be of some help.