Data Science is one of those technologies that are widely used by organizations across industries to boost their growth. By leveraging the power of data and analysis, they can identify opportunities, overcome threats, and take help of the insights drawn in their data-driven decision-making.
Data Scientists are the star professionals who look after end-to-end data science projects. Right from identifying business problems to developing a work solution model, they have to perform several tasks in between without compromising their efficiency. Because if that is compromised, then the data science model developed can prove to be devastating for the organization.
As the amount of data generated is growing every day, the demand for data science professionals who can make use of this ever-increasing data is also growing larger than ever.
In this article let us discuss how you can become a star data scientist and grab the opportunity available in the data science domain.
Who is a data scientist and what do they do?
A data scientist is a professional who wears multiple hats within an organization, and who is a master in different domains including mathematics, statistics, computer knowledge, business acumen, etc. The primary role of data scientists is to collect, analyze, and interpret data to help their organizations make better decisions and enhance and assist in business growth. For this, they use their above-mentioned skills as data scientists. For their skills and expertise, they are in high demand across all industries including finance, manufacturing, entertainment, technology, retail, and others.
A typical day-to-day life of a data scientist includes:
- Collecting and cleaning data
- Performing data analysis
- Building predictive models
- Communicating insights to the stakeholders
- Building and deploying data science/machine learning models, etc.
Skills needed to become a star data scientist
If you want to become a star data scientist who can shoulder all the responsibilities in their organization related to data and insights, then you must master the skills for the data scientist to diligently perform all your duties. Here are some of the skills you must be proficient at:
1. Programming languages:
This is the first and foremost data science skill you need to be good at. As a data scientist, you should have a strong command over different programming languages such as Python, R, SQL, Java, etc.
2. Statistics:
Data Scientists should be strong in their mathematics and statistics abilities to design and analyze data. Performing data analysis requires the use of several mathematical concepts.
3. Machine Learning:
It is highly recommended that data scientists know about machine learning tactics to build predictive models and extract patterns from complex data
4. Data visualization:
Data Visualization in an important skill for data scientists as it empowers them to convey complex insights in an easy-to-understand visuals so that non-technical audiences and stakeholders can fully understand and make better decisions.
5. Big data technologies:
Data Scientists should be familiar with big data technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, etc. so that they can effectively handle large-scale data processing and analysis tasks.
Data Science Industry Outlook
By now you must have understood the mandatory skills you need to master to become a star data scientist. In the following section, we will tell you how you can learn those skills with the help of top data science certification programs. But before that, let us have a brief look at what the future holds for a data scientist’s career.
- According to Business Insider, the global data science platform market is expected to hit a market value of $178 billion.
- According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment in data science domain will grow by 35%
- Also, the World Economic Forum has ranked data science jobs as the fifth fastest growing job in its latest employment report.
So, you can figure out how rewarding it will be in future to invest in your data science career.
Best Data Science Certification Programs to consider to become star data scientist
Here are some of the best data science certification programs you can consider to invest in for your data science career that will help you master the skills you need to become a star data scientist.
1. Certified Senior Data Scientist (CSDS™) by USDSI®
Offered by USDSI®, this course has been designed for beginner level data scientists and empowers them with the fundamental concepts of data science. CSDS™ is a self-paced online learning program that can be completed within 4-25 weeks and requires a time commitment of 8-10 hours a week. Candidates will learn data science significance, data science with R, elastic stack for data scientists, data science project management, and more topics.
2. Professional Data Engineer Certification by Google
This certification exam from Google evaluates candidate’s ability to design data processing systems, prepare and use data for analysis, store data, process data, and maintain data. Students need to pay $200 to register for the exam which is of 2 hours duration.
3. Data Science Professional Certificate by IBM
Available in Coursera, this data science certification program by IBM is a great program for beginners to develop their skills for data scientists. The course can be completed within 5 months at your own pace and master how to apply data science methodology and libraries, different languages and tools used by data scientists.
Conclusion
The data science industry holds a tremendous opportunity in the future, and the only question is are you ready enough to grab those opportunities? If not, then you can take help of these top data science certifications to learn and update your data science skills, validate and demonstrate your expertise to the employers, and ace your career in data science to become a star data scientist.
