How To Become A Data Scientist?

So, what are the essential skills for a person to become a data scientist? Can people from any stream aspire to become one? Are there any other careers in data science that less experienced or beginners can aspire to?

If you decide that Data Science is your place to be and Data Scientist is what you hope to become, then your groundwork starts here.

You might have all the essential skills to transition as a data scientist, however, you need proper guidance, the knowledge of statistical languages and tools like Python, R, and Tableau, a good understanding of various Big Data tools like Hadoop, Spark, etc, and a road map. 

1. Learn Python

Learning Python is essential for Data Science because, Python is preferred by over 80% of the data scientists and also due to the extensive math, ML, and data visualization libraries such as Scikit-learn, matplotlib, seaborn, etc.

Learning ML libraries is the next step where you can learn different algorithms like Naïve-Bayes, K-Means, and many more.

2. Practice Hard

Start working on your projects, be it, at work, or in your learning group. Participate in hackathons. What you could learn in 2-3 days of work in a hackathon is far more than years’ work on projects. 

Participate in Kaggle Hackathons, competitions, and community projects which can help you emerge as an ML expert.

3. Networking

Working on hackathons and community projects also helps you build learn buddies and peers who are like-minded professionals and have the same aspirations as you.

This step helps in not just sharing knowledge but also helps in identifying various opportunities opening up in the data science field, getting tipped off on conferences being held, and more.

4. Mock Interviews

This step is where you are gearing up for the available opportunities. Prepare for the upcoming interviews by understanding the top interview question and answers, attending mock interviews held by hiring managers from Fortune 500 companies.

Groom yourself, build your confidence levels, employ the best practices to nail the interviews held by top employers.

5. Attend Interviews

Finally, you are ready for D-day, you are all set to face the interviews. Generally, a candidate for the Data Scientist position has to undergo 3-4 stages of the interview where the first step is more likely to be a telephonic round, followed by a technical round, video call in the 3rd round and finally closing it with a cultural fit round which is more likely to be an in-person interview.

Other Related Professions In Data Science?

While Data Scientists are the hottest and highest-paid professions of the 21st century, there are other suitable roles for beginners and the less experienced professionals who hope to be a part of the data science niche.

The following are the other career options in the data science niche:

• Data Analyst
• Data Engineers
• Machine Learning Engineer
• Statistician
• Data Architect
• Data Analytics Manager

If you are a candidate with an inherent passion to deal with data and using this data to solve big business challenges, then data science is for you.

The Data Science niche is booming and there are immense opportunities in this field in almost every industry.