Enhance your Career Journey as a Data Scientist
Data Science is evolving, and the learning process never stops. To become an expert data scientist, enhance your current skills and knowledge of the latest trends.
Data science is used in almost every industry right now. One after the other globally, industries are turning to data science to solve the most diverse problems. It resulted in a demand for expert data scientists. Many assume that when an individual becomes a data scientist, they know about this field well. But there is more to this. Data science is a field that keeps updating and transforming sometimes. To stay updated in this field and keep enhancing one’s knowledge not only to reach senior level positions but also to polish one’s skillset and competencies. It is essential to understand and improve one’s ways.
If you’re already a data scientist, you must boost your skillset based on the growing industry. Developing oneself will be helpful to:
- Get better employment and opportunities for senior-level promotions
- Understand the field more and better
- Marketing the products and services more effectively
- Create a positive impact on the clients or organization, mainly by using data in marketing
- Make challenging business decisions with ease
Essentials of Data Science
The first and foremost is to gain a good knowledge of the essentials of data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. One is required to know the topics like:
- Know about differences between machine learning and deep learning
- Knowledge of tools and terminologies
- Unsupervised Learning and Supervised Learning
- Regression versus Classification
In this article, let’s dive deeper and understand ways to develop one’s Data scientist skills.
Stay Abreast with Latest Trends and Technologies
Follow publications from conferences like NeurIPS, ICML, and KDD to stay informed about the latest research. Read the latest research papers that publish blogs, articles, and newsletters related to big data, analytics, tools used by the industries for building applications, the most used apps in the market, and more. Subscribe to channels that share inputs and send regular updates on industry trends and new technologies, such as DASCA. Several online platforms with influential personalities follow them so that you can stay updated with expert knowledge and thoughtful leaders.
Pursue Advanced Degrees
Knowledge gained never gets wasted. To become a data scientist, you must have a bachelor’s degree. Don’t just stop there after gaining experience. Continue your education by doing master’s or Ph.D. programs in data science, machine learning, or related fields. These advanced degrees from some of the reputed universities will help your skills and give you global exposure.
Develop Programming Skillset
One of the best ways to enhance your data scientist skills is to polish your knowledge in various data science programming languages like C/C++, SQL, Python, Perl, and Java. If you already know a programming language like Python, start learning new languages that help you solve complex problems and approach them differently. There are many that you can learn, such as:
- R
- Julia
- Java
- TensorFlow
- Hadoop
- Scala
Join Online Communities and Forums
Online communities and forums are among the best places to network, interact, and learn from other data scientists. Aspiring individuals who want to become data scientists can join online communities and forums that align with their interests and expertise level. You can also ask questions, answer queries, share resources, and get feedback from others by participating in online events like data science webinars, workshops, hackathons, and competitions. It will boost your skillset and demonstrate your knowledge and work. There are many online communities like Stack Overflow, Reddit, Kaggle, and Data Science Stack Exchange where one can join and gain more knowledge.
Work on Different Projects
Working on various projects is one of the perfect ways to develop as a data scientist. These projects help polish one’s existing skillset, inculcate innovative ideas, and display creativity and passion. One can also choose the topics they are interested in and design personal projects from fields like health, sports, politics, or education and start collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data about it. These projects help boost your portfolio because they hold the potential to impress employers and clients.
Focus on Soft Skills
Communication is the most crucial skill. The quality of an expert data scientist is to well-formulate the problem statement. One must clearly and effectively communicate the business perks of data, complex data insights, and computational and technology resources to non-technical stakeholders and business executives. And, about other sectors of interest to the organization. Build your critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to tackle challenging data science problems. Focus on your capabilities to work collaboratively with teams, such as cross-functional teams involving business, engineering, and other stakeholders.
Data Scientist Certifications
Mastering data science requires sound knowledge and skills. A data scientist certification will accelerate one’s career and allow an intensive learning experience. Many platforms such as Coursera, edX, and Udacity offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in fields such as machine learning, deep learning, and other data science topics. You can also enroll in the online specialized certifications from DASCA. DataCamp, General Assembly, and Springboard are some platforms where many actively participate in the workshops and boot camps.
End Notes
Data currently is the most prominent tool. Several organizations are seeking expert data science professionals who will be valuable assets. The ways to keep on developing as a data scientist are long. But by focusing on them, one will surely stand out, perform well in their career, and be an expert in this field.
