Aspiring to be a Data Scientist in 2021 - Here are 5 Core Skills you need to learn

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The future of data science continues to be brighter than ever. Doubt it? Several studies have shown that data scientist topped in terms of job hunting and opportunities, and a good pay package. This is not only in India but Globally.

And if you think data science is limited only to tech companies, you are absolutely wrong! There are thousands of job openings in data science at various businesses, government institutions, non-profit organizations, retail and manufacturing businesses and more. Basically, everyone (or every organisation) that is involved in providing services, products, information or assistance needs a data scientist. All these organisations have big data and this is the data that needs to be analyzed and processed for solving several queries and coming up with solutions and studies.

If you're aspiring to become a data scientist in 2021, here are 5 core skills you must possess

1. Math

Did your eyes lit up with joy? Then this is definitely for you!

Much of the knowledge required is an extension of your school learnings in this subject. However, it is extremely important to be thorough with your foundation in maths with the following concepts

• Statistics: Key terms like mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and distributions are a must-know. Painting an understandable pie-chart should be your forte.
• Probability: Concepts of probability theory form the backbone of important concepts in data science. Probability helps one perform statistical tests with realistic outputs.
• Linear algebra: If you are specialising in Machine Learning, this is must-have knowledge. Knowledge of matrices and vectors will greatly benefit your data analysis.

2. Programming

• Python: The golden standard in data science - an easy to deploy, multi-purpose, object-oriented programming language that comes with an active data science community. This makes it a preferred programming choice in data science for top companies. The top Python libraries for data science include Matplotlib, Pandas NumPy, SciPy, Seaborn, and TensorFlow.
• R: This programming is more suited for research and academic work. It is an open-source language used for statistical analysis. It provides tools for presenting data-driven results.

3. Analytical tools

The knowledge of analytical tools is an important data scientist skill for extracting valuable information from an organized data set and provide useful frameworks for big data processing. SAS, Spark, Hadoop, Hive, Pig, are the most popular data analytical tools that data scientists use.

• SQL: SQL allows you to store, manipulate and query data in relational database management systems.
• Hadoop: Hadoop distributes big data processing across a cluster of computing devices. It is an open-source software library.
• Hive: A data warehouse software project for providing data summarization, query and analysis, it is built on top of Apache Hadoop.

4. Data visualization

It is the process of creating interactive visuals to understand patterns, variations, trends and derive meaningful in-depth insights from the data available at hand. Data visualization tools like tableau, D3.js, Qlikview and Microsoft Power BI help turn plain data into interesting charts, graphs, and other visuals.

5. Business acumen

It’s an extensive field and it’s only growing bigger. There are more data scientist intakes happening every year. This is paving paths for creation of new frameworks, and database tools. This means there’s more to learn and it’s only going to get more complex as the industry matures. Instead of considering this a threat, work on updating your skills on the latest available tools and prepare yourself to face work-life competition from all sides.

Although a completely non-technical skill, having strong communication and business acumen helps discover and discuss various angles of the data. Also provides a deep understanding of the same. Data scientists are in constant talks with company stakeholders which also makes it very important to have strong communication skills. By understanding data, stakeholders learn how to maximize minimize costs, efficiency, and work on new revenue opportunities.

How will you learn all these skills? Do you need to get a bachelors degree or a Masters in Data Science? Well, you can if you want to but these are time-consuming courses and if you are aiming to be a specialist soon by starting your career in data science in 2021, you have no much time.

Keeping in mind all such necessary factors, including the booming industry that is looking for data scientists, we have the best data science certification program for you. A 5-month online program designed specifically for freshers and working professionals with less than 3 years of work experience.

The course has a 92% success rate as of today, with our students being placed at India’s top reputed companies like Amazon, Kaseya, tact.ai and more.

Looking for online courses in data science? You know where to start!